Chapter 15 #2
“If you don’t help right the wrong you committed, I just might kill your mother myself,” I growl.
When Cray snorts a laugh, my head snaps up. “Do you mind, I’m trying to interrogate the prisoner?”
Turning back to Weaver, I tell him in no uncertain terms, “Don’t give us that shit about being coerced. We already know you work for Darkness and that you collaborated with Bran. You’re gonna tell me where they took her or I’m going to take out my knife and begin carving you up.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” he stammers. “You’re not like them.”
I grab a fistful of his hair and jerk his head back. Staring into his eyes, I say, “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m exactly like the others, only ten times more vicious because while you’re wasting my time playing games, Darkness could be doing anything to my wife.”
“You can’t win against Darkness. He’s too powerful and has too many men. I should know. I tried.”
I release his head and move back. “Look around,” I tell him.
“Count the men standing behind me. Every single one of them will kill you if you don’t tell us what we want to know.
Even now my family is gathering upwards of a hundred men to move against Darkness.
You don’t work for Darkness anymore. From now on, if you wanna keep on breathing, you work for me. ”
Weaver’s eyes dart around the barn, taking in Rock’s hard expression, Mac’s crossed arms, Cray’s bloody knuckles, and all the others. I can see the moment his survival instincts kick in hard and fast.
“Dead Man’s Pass,” he says, the words tumbling out. “There’s a cave system underneath the ridge. It’s where Darkness stashes his inventory. Guns, drugs, cash. It’s where he goes when he doesn’t want to be found.”
“How do you get to it?”
“Fire road off Route 9, about two miles past the pass marker. There’s a chain across the road. You follow that road for maybe a mile and there’s a clearing with a campsite. The cave entrance is on the north face, behind a tree line.”
“How many men does he have there?”
Weaver swallows. “His core crew. Maybe six or eight, plus Bran.”
“What does he want with Nova?”
Weaver’s face goes pale and he looks at the floor. “I don’t know everything. Just what Bran tells me. Darkness wants to destroy everything connected to the promises you made at the regional council meeting. The businesses, the territory, and...” he trails off.
“And what?” My voice doesn’t change pitch, but something in my face must shift because Weaver flinches away from me.
“He wants to make an example of her,” Weaver says hoarsely. “He wants to ruin her completely, her face, her body, everything. Then dump her somewhere public so the whole world sees what happens when Ragers make promises they can’t keep.”
I feel Rock’s hand close on my shoulder. Not to hold me back. To let me know he heard every word and he’s right behind me.
I stand up slowly. “You’re coming with us,” I tell Weaver.
“What? Why?”
“Because when this is over, you’re gonna call for backup and lead your fellow officers into that cave. They’re gonna find a weapons cache, a drug stash, and the members of a criminal organization. You’re gonna be the cop who cracked the biggest bust this county has seen in years.”
“I don’t understand,” Weaver whispers. “Why are you letting me go?”
“I’m not letting you go. I’m motivatin’ you. As long as we get to my wife before Darkness ruins her, your role in all this will remain hidden. I’ll exact my pound of flesh by allowing you to work out your punishment by being my man on the inside. You’ll do what I say, when I say it.”
“What if we don’t get to her in time?”
My booted foot comes out to kick Weaver off the straw bale. “If we don’t get there in time, it’s going to be a fuckin’ blood bath and you’re the very first person I kill.”
Cray steps forward and Weaver scrambles back, trying to lean away from him while his wrists are still zip-tied.
“Get up, asshole. We need to move now.”
***
The area is just how Weaver described it. Jasper is there with what looks to be about forty men, far in excess of what we need for this operation if the intel Weaver gave was accurate.
Speaking of that asshole, he scrambles off the back of one of the bikes and pulls the heavy chain aside and we ride in nice and slow, careful to cut the engines just before we’re close enough to the clearing to be heard.
We surge forward, intent upon getting to Nova as quickly as possible. After hearing what Darkness has in store for her, I can’t get to her fast enough. If he’s touched a hair on her head, I’ll kill him slowly while he screams for mercy that never comes.
There’s a campsite visible through gaps in the tree line. A dying campfire, beer cans scattered on the ground, and a line of men going in the cave Weaver mentioned. This is a sloppy situation.
We creep forward and move through the cave entrance in pairs.
There are a couple of men standing guard just inside and we dispatch them easily.
A short passage opens into a larger chamber with a stone fireplace built into the wall with crude ventilation cut through the roof of the cave.
There are bed rolls and supplies scattered around.
Crates are stacked everywhere. The air smells like a cross between a gym locker and a dive bar bathroom.
That’s when I hear his voice. Darkness is addressing his crew. He’s talking shit. All bluster about what he’s gonna do to Nova and how he’s gonna ruin her. This fucker isn’t even drunk. He’s completely sober, just rotten to the fuckin’ core.
My heart jumps into my throat when I see Nova with her wrists tied to a large c-hook embedded in the wall. Her hair is a mess and there’s a bruise on her jaw. But she’s sitting upright, shooting Darkness a look of complete loathing. I can’t be sure, but it looks like we got here in time.
I hold up my fist and everyone behind me stops. We listen, partly for the evidence, but mostly because I want every man in our crew to understand exactly what we’re dealing with. I glance over my shoulder and see Mac is recording every word Darkness says.
“Once we’re done with her, we’ll dump her body in public, maybe in town. I want to send the message loud and clear. The Sons make promises they can’t keep and Vulture’s precious granddaughter paid the price for their arrogance.”
That’s enough for me. I make the gesture for us to move forward and we move as one.
We come around the corner hard and fast, flooding the chamber.
Darkness’s remaining men scramble. Two go for weapons, but Jasper and Rock are on them before they clear their holsters.
Bran tries to run. Cray picks him up and slams him face first onto the stone floor.
I cross the room in three strides and drop to my knees in front of Nova. I cut the zip ties binding her. She reaches for me, running her hands over my cut. “You really came for me.”
“Of fucking course, I did. I’d die for you, kill for you, whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
Her expression turns emotional and she throws her arms around my neck, whispering, “Deep down inside, I knew you would.”
“Everything’s gonna be alright, darlin’,” I assure her because it’s true. I’m gonna make sure Darkness ends up with as many criminal charges as possible. If and when he gets out of prison, I’ll be waiting for him.
When Nova pulls back, she says quietly, “Told you I wouldn’t break.”
I just pull her close again, because she’s equal parts breaking my heart and making me so fuckin’ proud of her.
When I pull her to her feet, Darkness growls, “This ain’t over Rager. At some point, you’re gonna be under my knife and I’m not gonna hesitate to go for the kill.”
I step out to face this enemy that I never knew I had. Darkness’s face is twisted with anger. Before I can speak my old man does.
“Goddamn, Darkness. Where’s all this hate coming from? We’ve been cordial our whole lives. What happened?”
Darkness spins around and snarls. “I’m sick of every fuckin’ thing in our world landing in your favor, Rock.
Everything comes easy to your club. It always has.
You get territory handed to you on a fuckin’ plate, your businesses make money hand over fist, and you’ve got men beating down your door to ride with you.
And beautiful women who dote on you like you’re the fuckin’ second coming.
” His voice drops, becoming bitter and raw.
“And you’ve got four strong sons to carry your name and your legacy forward.
That’s more than any man has a right to. ”
I move closer to stand beside my old man, and Darkness points a finger at me.
“Me and Vulture were cut from the same fuckin’ cloth.
We built our clubs from nothing. His territory should have gone to someone who understood that.
Not some college-educated weekend biker from a club that already has everything.
Nova and the territory were supposed to be my chance to finally get ahead, but you had to fuck it up. ”
I don’t care about all this bullshit justification. He stole my old lady with intentions to use her to break me. “It’s over,” I tell him. “Your men are down, including the perpetual turncoat, Bran. You really picked a winner with that one.”
Darkness isn’t amused. He shakes his head, not taking his eyes off me. “You’re just an arrogant asshole who thinks he’s better than everyone ‘cause he’s got a fuckin’ college degree. You deserve everything I’m gonna do to you.”
My voice turns steely. “You’re not gonna do anything, asshole. This ends right here, right now.”
He takes a step back and lifts his chin defiantly, “You’re not in charge of shit, Rager,” he says as his hand moves to his back waistband. Almost before I realize what’s happening, he pulls out a gun and points it at Nova.
I don’t even hesitate. In one smooth motion, I pull my own gun from my leg holster and draw down on him. Aiming at his chest, I squeeze the trigger before he can get a shot off.
The shot catches him center mass. He goes down and struggles as a pool of bright red blood spills out beneath him.
I move forward, with my gun still trained on him and watch him try to sit up with a look of absolute disbelief on his face.
Within seconds he’s flat on his back, staring blankly up at the ceiling.
He thought he had it all figured out and he sure as hell didn’t see this coming.
My old man squats down, as my club brothers move into a tight circle around me. He closes the older biker’s eyes and murmurs, “Sleep well, Darkness. I never meant to make you my enemy, you brought this on yourself.”
There is a moment of silence for this broken fallen man before Flint hands my old man a bed roll. My father uses it to cover his body. Respectful to the end, that’s always been his way, even with someone like Darkness.
Suddenly, Nova is pressing against my side. “I can’t believe he tried to kill me,” she says.
I pull her closer and murmur, “You’re safe now, darlin’. I’ve always got your back.”
Cray jerks his chin at me, “I got this, Mica. You take care of my niece.”
“Thanks,” I say. I turn Nova away without glancing back down at the man we couldn’t save from himself. We all move outside, leaving Cray and his crew to secure the cave. It should be an easy task since all our enemies are zip tied.
I stop just outside the entrance to give Weaver instructions. I can tell he’s too shaken to realize I just gunned down the man he was too terrified to disobey. I can see the fear he had for Darkness transferring to me in real time.
“Call this in. Report the weapons, the drugs, and the suspects you have in custody.”
“What about how I got here? How do I explain that?”
“You followed a tip, arrived on scene, and realized we were here trying to get my wife back. You witnessed Darkness try to shoot Nova and I was forced to shoot him in order to protect her. Don’t embellish the story.
Keep it clean and stick to the exact same story no matter who asks. This isn’t complicated shit, Weaver.”
“Yeah, I get that. I’ll do exactly what you said and hope for the best.”
“We don’t fuck around hoping for the best. We create the success we want. If things go sideways, your one call needs to be to me. We have a club attorney to help sort shit out for you. Remember, you work for me now. That means we have your back for as long as you’re useful. Are we clear?”
“Yeah,” he whispers, nodding. “We’re clear.”
“Good. If we need to, we can come to the station later and give a statement. Or you can come to the clubhouse. Tell them Nova was too upset to stay. They won’t like that, but they’ll believe it.”
“They’ll believe it, mostly because it’s true,” Nova adds.
We walk out of the cave, and the night air hits us clean and cold. Nova tips her face up towards the sky and takes a deep breath. I keep my arm around her and let her have the moment.
“I’m taking you home,” I tell her.
I guide her to my bike, and we head out with my father, brothers, and cousin at my back. Her arms tighten around my waist, and she lays her cheek against my back.
My mind is conflicted about discovering my family are apparently victims of our own success in the biker community.
I never would have thought that in a million years, because it feels like we’ve fought for everything we got in life.
Darkness’s words about our family being successful echoes Cray’s reasoning for approaching my family for an arranged marriage with Nova.
Family ties got the wife of my dreams but got her targeted for death as well.
Success and danger are two sides of the same coin.
I file that lesson away for future reference.