Chapter Ten
Krampus
(Three days later)
Drac enters my bedroom all smiles. “You were gone for a very long time today, again.”
He knows why. That familiar twinkle says so.
“Shut up.”
“What?” He smirks knowingly. “I just made an observation. Why so touchy?”
“I’m not touchy.” But my tone says otherwise. My tone says if he doesn’t watch his shit, I’m gonna pummel him, Prez or not.
“No sweets today?” he pokes.
With a clenching jaw, I turn to face him, my arms folded across my chest, and my foot tapping in annoyance. “What do you want, Prez?”
He laughs. “I hate to drag you away from your sweet stalking gig, but I need you to do some recon tonight.”
“Okay? Where?”
“Silver Springs.”
“Again?”
He nods. “Yeah, there’s movement at their warehouse again.”
“Fuck. What are they peddling this time?”
Drac’s mouth tics slightly. “If my intel is right… people.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
He shakes his head. “Moseley is switching shit up. When he lost Arturo, he lost his contacts and suppliers too. So, instead of running stolen goods and guns, he’s apparently trafficking people now.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. That’s why I need you to run some recon. Take Voorhees and a few others with you. If they are trafficking people, we need to stop that shit before it gets out of hand.”
“Do you think the Misfits are involved at all?”
He nods. “Despite what the motherfucker says, he’s still doing business with them. I just can’t prove it, not since they disappeared from town. Things have been far too quiet lately, and I think it’s because he doesn’t want us to interfere.”
“Moseley is capable of a lot of things, but trafficking people? That seems like a lot, even for him.”
He takes a swig of the beer in his hand and sighs. “The best offense is a good defense. We need to know what they’re running, and if it’s people, well, we need to take that operation down immediately.”
“I’m with you there, brother. Alright, I’ll grab Voorhees and head to Silver Springs.”
“Take a few others with you too.”
“I don’t know, Drac. If we have too many people with us, it might be harder to stay concealed.”
He thinks thoughtfully for a second. “Alright, at least take someone else with you.”
“I’ll take Gremlin.”
“You sure have been hanging out with him a lot lately. He must be growing on you.”
“Like a fungus I can’t quite get rid of,” I joke, though the guy hasn’t been too bad lately. Honestly, he was a big help the other night with the whole baking debacle. Pretty sure he’s a pro at washing dishes now.
“Well, fungus or not, that guy’s been your right hand lately. So, if you want to take him with you, I guess it means you trust him. Which says a lot, since we both know you don’t trust people easily.”
That too was true. Trusting people has always been hard for me, mainly because every time I have trusted someone, they’ve done something to break it. The only two constants in my life have been Voorhees and Drac.
“Anyway, I’ll grab Voorhees and Gremlin and head out. Any idea where to start?”
Drac nods, handing me a slip of paper. “If shit’s going down, it will be at this address.”
Nodding, I slip the address into my pocket. “Got it, Prez.”
He stands there for a second, looking lost.
“Everything okay?”
He shrugs. “I just feel like I’m always delegating tasks to people instead of getting dirty with you guys.”
“You got a family to take care of. Besides, Voorhees and I don’t mind.”
“I know. But as Prez of the club, I should be riding beside you, not barking orders from the sidelines.”
My hand slaps down on his shoulder, forcing him to look me in the eye. “No one in the club thinks you’re any less of a man just because you stay back. Someone’s gotta run shit behind the scenes. That’s you, Brother.”
“You’re right, but that still doesn’t change how I’m feeling. Maybe I should go with you guys?”
“Amber would kill me if I let you.”
He sighs. “Damn it, you’re right.”
“She’d filet my balls and serve them over pasta if I let you put yourself in danger again. Face it, Brother, you wifed it up and traded your gun for a baby carrier,” I inform him, smirking.
Drac rolls his eyes but doesn’t deny it. “I hate how right you are.”
“Yeah, well, someone’s gotta be the responsible one in this club. Thank God it’s you and not me.”
He flips me off, but it’s all in jest. “Just check in when you get there. And don’t be a hero. We’re not looking for a fight tonight, just intel.”
“When am I ever the hero? But you know damn well if shit goes sideways, we’ll pull out. I’m not about to walk into a possible Misfits’ den blind.”
Drac still looks uneasy, but nods. “Good. Be safe.”
I give him a swift chin lift and head out into the hallway. As soon as I hit the common room, I can already hear Voorhees bitching at Gremlin about something.
“What in the dollar-store MacGyver shit is that?” I ask, coming up behind them just as Gremlin wraps some duct tape around a tiny flashlight, attached to his pistol with a strangely familiar rubber casing.
Gremlin straightens from where he’s perched on the arm of the couch, and beams. “I overheard Drac telling you to take me and Voorhees with you tonight. You know how dark Silver Springs can be, so I’m making us some modified bang-bang flashlights. It’s gonna be our tactical advantage tonight.”
Voorhees slaps it out of his hand. “Dude, you just put a condom over a flashlight and duct taped it to your gun. When are you gonna learn to stop touching shit?”
“It’s not a condom. It’s a modified thermal buffer. I read online that thermal rubber buffers help absorb shock and vibration. I’m basically making my own LED silencer. Jealous?”
“It’s a condom,” Voorhees repeats flatly. “A Magnum Trojan, to be exact. The gold wrapper near your knee is a dead giveaway.”
Gremlin shrugs. “It needed to be ribbed for my tactical pleasure.”
I look over at Voorhees, who’s standing there shaking his head in shame. “Why do we bring him places?”
Voorhees deadpans, “Community service?”
A half snort, half belly laugh, belts out of me. I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Are you two ready yet, or are we too busy playing with fucking rubbers?”
“It’s a thermal buffer!” Gremlin shouts in annoyance. “Not a goddamn condom. It stopped being a condom when I put it over my gun instead of my dick.”
Voorhees smacks his own face, running his hand down it in disbelief. “Who’d you steal it from? God knows you aren’t packing anything magnum in your pants.”
“It’s mine.”
“Yeah fucking right.”
“Will you two stop arguing, and get ready?” I yell, making Voorhees turn to look at me, but Gremlin’s too caught up in making his “silencer” to pay attention to me.
Gremlin struggles with his duct tape. “Almost done. There! Perfect!” He points the gun at my face and almost gets the shit kicked out of him.
“Put that shit away, Prospect, before you hurt someone!”
He frowns. “I know how to use a gun, VP. I’ve been practicing.”
“I still want to know who you stole that condom from?” Voorhees gripes. “I swear if you got in my condom drawer again, Gremlin, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you.”
Gremlin hops onto one of the couch cushions, putting some distance between him and Voorhees. “I tried, Voorhees, but it turns out I’d need a magnifying glass to see your stash, and left mine back in my room. I didn’t know condoms come in fun-size like Snickers bars.”
My hand goes around Voorhees’ chest before he kills the wise-cracking prospect, who seems pretty damn proud of his little jokes, not realizing that my best friend’s feral and ready to scratch out his eyes.
“I’m gonna kill him, Krampus. Let me go so I can lay his ass out.”
“He’s not worth it, Voor. Let it go. He’s just fucking with you.”
Gremlin laughs. “They say it’s always the angry ones who are compensating for something.” He makes a small penis gesture with his hands.
The second I feel Voorhees tense up, I let him go. “Fuck it! Have at him. Even I can’t protect him from that remark.”
Gremlin lets out a girlish scream and vaults off the couch just as Voorhees dive bombs him, missing him by an inch.
The little prospect might be small and scrappy, but he’s no match for Voorhees, who’s tackled him within seconds.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Gremlin shrieks just as Voorhees pins him up against the wall.
“I took it out of your drawer. Don’t hurt me though, I’m the one with the fancy gun now.
” He puts the gun up against the wall, showing off his pathetic attempt at gunsmithing.
“Even you can’t deny how beautiful this piece is, now that it’s rocking that Trojan protection. ”
Voorhees shakes his head, holding back his laughter. “This motherfucker isn’t worth the punch.” Before he walks away, he knocks the gun from Gremlin’s hand, sending it clattering across the worn wooden floor. “Let’s go before I kill him.”
“Gear up, Gremlin. We’re riding out in fifteen.”
Voorhees immediately follows me, but Gremlin’s distracted by shiny things, and bends down to pick up his contraption.
“God damn it, Prospect! Leave the condom slinger here. We don’t need it,” I snap.
His bottom lip juts out in frustration. “You guys are no fun. The government would pay big money for this weapon. I should patent it.”
Vorhees scoffs, mocking him with laughter. “You wish, Prospect. Now come the fuck on, we got some recon to do.”
Fifteen minutes later, we’re rolling out of the compound, our bikes slicing through the cold night air as our engines rumble low, the road dimly lit beneath us by a half crescent moon. It’s the kind of night where trouble feels like it’s sitting on your shoulder, whispering nefarious things.
Silver Springs comes into view like it always does… bleak, quiet, and smelling faintly like rust and regret. On the outskirts of town is one of Moseley’s oversized warehouses, a large, black, ugly mass hidden behind the dark tree line.
We kill our engines a quarter of a mile out, rolling the bikes behind an abandoned storage unit. From there, we move on foot, staying low, using the brush to conceal us.