Chapter 9 #2
“How’s it going out here?” I ask Monroe, one of the brothers from our chapter who moved over here, walking a little away from the main crowd.
“Not so bad, most of ‘em have settled into their new reality.”
“Has to have been hard.”
“Mace weeded out the guys who couldn’t accept it. Three of them got kicked out within a month.”
“And you think it’s all good now?”
Monroe studies my face. “Someone ask you to get intel?” he asks suspiciously.
“Nothing like that, brother,” I assure him. “This is me asking. Never expected to be sent here.”
“You don’t need to worry,” Monroe pulls a cigarette from behind his ear and cups his hand around it as he lights the end then blows out a plume of smoke into the sky. “I’m happy here. Mace is fair and everyone gets on.”
“Seems too good to be true,” I muse.
Monroe laughs and takes another drag on his cigarette. “Nah man, you get the usual bullshit but there isn’t anything to worry about with the other shit,” he adds.
Meaning them changing from Kingsmen to Devil’s Chaos.
“Let’s roll,” Jefferson calls out, and everyone starts towards their bikes.
We’re heading to a warehouse to pick up the van we’re transporting first but I will hang back with Quincy, the Tail Gunner and another brother who is working as the second blocker.
I’ll be away from the action, but this role comes with its own set of dangers and is probably one of the worst to have on a run.
I can’t help but wonder if I’ve been put in this position on purpose.
I scratch it as quickly as I think it. Mace might not like me very much, but he isn’t the kind of man who would knowingly put men in danger.
Ink will have told him I can handle this shit, and with minimal argument or question. Would I have preferred to spend more time with the two men I’m working alongside and potentially trusting my life with? Of course, but we’ve all done this before.
I’m given a burner phone as we head to our bikes, the numbers I need are pre-programmed. Then Quincy hands me a gun, and I check it’s loaded, and the safety is on, noting the serial numbers have been burned off, before securing it in a holster under my cut.
Jefferson and Talon claim they’ve not foreseen any issues, and they have paid off law enforcement they have control over, but it’s a long ride to Ohio and things can go sideways at any given point even with the best of planning.
The first part of the ride is uneventful, we get to a block of garages where Mace and Talon meet a guy.
He opens one of the garage doors and a van pulls out.
We’re parked out by the main road, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious but I watch Mace as he strides back to his bike.
He waits for Jefferson to move ahead of the van and the formation moves into place ahead of and behind it.
We’re nearing the Ohio border when Quincy starts speaking.
He’s answered a call through his Bluetooth.
For now, I’m not concerned. I check my mirrors to see what’s going on behind us and everything looks clear.
Quincy lifts his hand and points to an upcoming road with two fingers, indicating we’re leaving the route.
This isn’t normal and my instincts kick in, adrenalin spiking as I watch the van and bikes head off the main highway and along a quiet back road surrounded by forest. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, which has its pros and cons.
We stop a little way back and watch from a distance as everyone else comes to a stop. We can see the road from the junction where we’ve stopped. No one followed us up here but I’m getting a bad feeling.
Jefferson and Talon get off their bikes and walk to the van which makes me think it’s an issue with them rather than the route.
“I’m gonna go check what’s up,” Quincy gets off his bike and takes off his helmet.
Hozier removes his helmet and wipes his brow. Riding all wrapped up in leathers for a long distance does tend to make you sweaty.
“What do you think is up?” he asks me.
My response is a shrug. “When they want us to, we’ll know,” I tell him.
He mutters something under his breath, but I don’t care to ask him what he said because the back of the van is opening. Should there be someone in there? My hackles go up and I reach for the gun, as Talon yells out a warning.
“Fuck,” I get off my bike but don’t leave my post. I still have a role and whatever is going down might not be the only issue.
“We stay and watch our six,” I tell Hozier.
There is more shouting as men get off their bikes and draw their weapons. A small woman jumps out of the back and the driver runs around with his hands up screaming at everyone to stop.
Mace was front and center as soon as the door opened. I didn’t see him move, but he grabs hold of the driver as Talon pulls the woman back, and she starts to shriek.
“What the shit?” Hozier says in shock.
I turn at the sound of a car approaching. We’re sitting ducks here. I recognize the man from the garage back in Stroudsburg behind the wheel.
He looks tense as fuck, but his hands are up too as he rolls to a stop, he’s waving them back and forth to show that he’s empty handed.
“Move,” I tell Hozier and without a second thought we hurry to the car. Hozier stands at the front with his gun aimed at the man’s head, I move around to the door and pull it open, dragging him out.
“Wait, it’s not what you think. I’m not armed.”
He carries on yelling as I toss him on the ground. He lets out a shriek but keeps his hands where I can see them.
“Get on your stomach,” I yell at him. He complies and I check Hozier has him covered, then holster my gun and drop my knee on his back, making him grunt out in pain. I pat him down fast and don’t find any kind of weapon. “Don’t fucking move,” I warn him.
I don’t like the way Hozier is shifting his weight, the gun still pointed our way. If he does something stupid, like try to shoot the guy, he might hit me. Then I’ll be really pissed. I need to know what in the ever loving fuck is going on here.
“What does he want? Why is he here, does he have a gun?” he shouts.
“Check the car,” I tell him. “He’s clean.” Keeping one eye on him and all my weight on the man on the ground, I grab his wrists so they’re locked at the base of his spine. He grunts but doesn’t protest.
Hozier still has the gun aimed at us and hasn’t moved. Shit I’m more at risk from one of our own fucking men right now. He is caught up in something inside his head.
“Lower the gun,” I tell him in a low, firm voice. Something tells me yelling right now is not going to help. I’m not a yelling kind of guy, I’ll do whatever I can to diffuse a situation without causing harm but his eyes are wild.
“I need to cover him.”
“You need to check the car. He’s secured,” I tell him again, voice softer but no mistaking the intention. “I got him.”
“Hozier.”
The authority in the tone leaves no mistake who it is. I glance at Mace, but never take my focus off Hozier.
“We’re good,” Mace says, moving to stand between us.
Once Hozier sees the man blocking him and that he’s pointing his weapon at his Prez’s chest, it snaps him out of whatever state he’d gone into.
“Check the car,” Mace instructs him. Hozier goes to do it and confirms it’s empty.
“Why are you following us?” I ask him once I’m sure Hozier has put the gun in a safe place and I’m not at risk of getting shot.
“I had to be in Ohio. I needed to make sure the van got there. When you pulled off, I thought there was something wrong. I swear I’m not here to cause trouble.”
Mace turns to look down at him. He lifts his chin at me. I clamber back and drag the man to his feet, keeping his wrists locked at his back.
“What the fuck?” Mace snaps. “That is human cargo up there.”
“It’s not like that,” he says, his voice shaky, his body is trembling.
Mace snaps. “Tell me why I have a beaten woman in the back of that van.”
I don’t visibly react but that has my anger spiking.
“She’s… You weren’t supposed to look in the van.”
Mace steps up closer, behind him I see the woman and driver on their knees with a gun pointed at them. This is a volatile situation, anything could go wrong at any moment.
“Do you have any fucking idea what you’ve done,” Mace snarls at him.
“I should have told you. I’m sorry. I was scared-”
“Damn fucking right you should have told me. I don’t transport human cargo. Look up there,” he grabs the man’s throat and tugs him away from me, then shoves him to his knees. The man looks up and his face is stricken as he sees the guns trained on his driver and the woman.
“Please don’t hurt her. Please?”
“You lied to me,” Mace stands over him and pulls out his gun. I almost take a step forward to stop him but one angry glare from Mace tells me not to try it. My mind is working overtime, connecting dots.
When I was working at the carnival, the place where Dirt found me, this kind of thing happened there. No one talked about it and a lot of people weren’t aware of it, but I was more observant than most people and for a guy who kept to himself, I got interested.
Every now and then women would show up, sometimes for a couple of hours, others stayed until the following evening, but they were moved on in the dead of night. Most of them were beaten, nervous and shrunk away from any kind of attention.
“Prez.”
Mace visibly reacts to me calling him that. I can’t tell if it’s a good or a bad thing. But this situation needs to be de-escalated as quickly as possible.
“Can I talk to him?”
Mace’s jaw clenches. When he doesn’t say no, I step closer to the man on the ground.
“Are you part of a network?” I ask him, quietening my voice. This guy is close to shitting his pants.
“No,” he shakes his head, his eyes change as he realizes I know what is going on. “I’m taking her to… I’m not supposed to say,” his voice breaks. “They said I had to get her to a meeting point.”
I crouch down in front of him and hold his eyes. They’re full of so much pain.
“The Veil Line?”
He’s shocked at my quiet words but after a moment, he nods.
Shit. I stand up and stare off into the distance. It’s been a long time since I heard that name.
“What is he talking about?” Mace asks as quietly as I spoke to the man. “What network?”
Nodding at the man on the floor to let him know it’s okay, I turn to Mace and indicate I want him to move away. He tells Hozier to watch the guy but not to pull his gun again. That tells me a lot about Hozier.
When we’re far enough away I blow out a heavy breath. “He’s taking her to an underground network in Ohio called the Veil Line. They will make her disappear.”
Mace’s face grows angrier, misunderstanding what I mean. I hold up a hand.
“She’s escaping a violent situation. He’s doing it to save her life.”
From the look on his face, he’s starting to figure it out. I take a moment to decide if I trust him. Despite our issues, he’s not a bad person, he’ll handle this the way it’s supposed to be. I take a chance.
“I was once a part of the Veil Line.”