CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
-:- TwoCents -:-
I don’t want to get off the bed and leave Pais sleeping alone, but I have things to do. Grabbing a coffee from the kitchen, I head to my office. It seems a bit strange being in here now. I’ve practically lived in here, alone, for months at a time and it hasn’t bothered me. Now, it’s become just a workspace. Come in, do my stuff, get out.
Obviously, this is a reflection of being with Pais and the fact that I have something in my life now other than just work. I like the way my life has taken a turn.
Knocking at the office door has me coming back to earth, and I look up and see Hammer leaning on the door frame.
“I know that look, brother. I’ve caught myself in the same frame of mind too many times not to recognize it. You and Paisley, right? I was the same when I got together with Tilly.”
“Yeah. I suppose it’s the same with all the brothers. We never seem to expect it to happen and then ‘Wham…’ it hits us. What can I do for you, anyway? You sure haven’t come to discuss feelings and relationships.” I laugh at that because if any of us needed to do that, we’d all be there for each other, I’m sure.
“I need you to check out the figures on the construction business. I have a new crew in mind, but I don’t want to offer jobs out that the business can’t afford.”
“I don’t think that’s likely unless you intend to triple the workforce?” I give him a doubtful look as that’s not the sort of thing Hammer would do without going through Pres and church.
We have mentioned the construction business quite a bit lately and the purchase of the new yard went through ok. Watching Conrad squirm when we attended his office and signed the deal was a gem. It went far quicker and smoother than I expected. The thought of his wife and Consuela sharing his wealth and him ending up with nothing was quite an incentive.
“Well, I want to double it. There are four of us brothers on the books now, I want to add four more bodies to that. They’re not brothers, but they are the best out of the sub-contractors we use regularly.”
“What sort of wage are you thinking of?” Knowing how fair Hammer is, I’m sure it will be a good wage and not some industry minimum.
“Here’s the thing. I don’t want them on the same pay level as the brothers. That wouldn’t be right. It’s a club business, after all. If I called the brothers to work extra hours, they’d be there right off the bat. I thought of starting the new guys at twenty percent below the brothers on a six-month contract. That will be a little more than their current salaries, and if they work out at the end of six months, we give them a five percent raise. How does that sound to you, and can the financials support that?”
“Hell, I think that’s a great idea. It gives them a double incentive to be the best they can be. An immediate raise in their pocket and the potential of more in six months. Just for doing what they already do. How can that be a bad thing?” I give Hammer a chin lift and tell him to let me have the names and the date he wants them on board. “I can get the payroll set up then so they don’t have any weeks without pay. I know that can be a ball ache when changing jobs.”
“Hahaha. Ball ache? Star or Meat? I notice he’s coming out with more and stranger sayings lately, too.”
“Crap. I don’t think any of us realize when we’re saying these things unless someone points it out.”
“TwoCents! I need to see you, pronto.”
Hammer rolls his eyes. “Sounds like Specs has something for you. I’ll get out of your hair and I’ll drop you a text when I have the dates for payroll and give you the names then, too. Good luck. I think it sounds like you’ll need it.”
Hammer disappears, and I make my way to Specs’ office.
“You called?” I say as I walk in.
“Take a seat. I found out some information that you need to know. I’ll let you decide how you tell Paisley and Axel. He needs to know, too.”
“This sounds serious, Specs. Spit it out, man.” I take a seat and wait for him to begin.
“What we know so far…Paisley was married off by her dad to ensure she was kept safe and in a good relationship. Said relationship broke down. She knew something that she ‘shouldn’t’” said with air quotes, “and got a quick, clean-cut divorce with a good payout. She took an alias and got on with her life.” Specs gives me a look that says ‘okay so far?’ and I give him a nod.
“Right, to add to that, then. We know the Senator was into some dirty stuff. Drugs and trafficking women seem prevalent. Her diary, photos and paperwork seem to confirm all this. It doesn’t appear that she has ever used or distributed any of this information. It looks more like she made herself an insurance policy. Somewhere along the way, though, someone has decided that they are cashing in her policy. They probably want all the evidence she has accumulated, and they will want her out of the picture, too.
“I haven’t been able to pin down who it is that’s searching for her. I don’t think it’s the Senator, himself. It doesn’t have any of the red flags that would normally pop up if it was an agency, either. My educated guess, for what it’s worth, I think it’s whoever was working with the Senator.”
“So, what you’re saying, Specs is, it could be the cartel that was involved with Charles Irvin? The DeSantos cartel? I thought we’d already confirmed that?” I’m getting a bit confused now with what exactly we know ‘for sure’ and what we ‘think’ we know.
“So far, TwoCents, we have Paisley”s information and nothing concrete outside of that to confirm it. The thing that links everything for me is this, and I’ve saved it till last. Paisley and Senator Brooks’ divorce settlement was sealed by the FBI. They don’t get involved in divorces, as we all know. I would stake my reputation on Paisley’s information being correct and the FBI don’t want it out there. They could be protecting the Senator, or investigating the Senator, which makes no sense if they have Paisley”s evidence. Or they’re using Paisley as bait to catch someone we haven’t encountered yet.”
“Okay. I’m going to throw this at Pres. He can speak to Forest and decide where they think we need to go with this. I’m not having Pais hung out as bait, though. Fuck that. Thanks, Specs.”
Throwing all this at Pres doesn’t take long. I leave him talking to Forest with a promise that he, too, won’t let Pais become bait.
Entering our room quietly so I don’t wake Pais, if she’s still asleep, I see the bed is empty. Hearing the shower running, I debate getting naked when the shower shuts off. Damn, too late. I’m just reaching for the bathroom door when a voice behind me startles me.
“Hi, husband. I’ve just got a coffee. Want me to fetch one for you?”
“What?”
“Coffee. Want one?” Pais smiles at me.
“What? You’re here…”
“Have you been drinking? What’s got into you? Get your own coffee. Damn, that was hard work.”
The bathroom door opens and Lina walks out. “Hi, TwoCents. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You okay? All done Pais. Thanks for that. Saved me coming back later.”
Once Lina has left, I stare at Pais. “Please don’t do that again. I thought that was you in the shower when I came in and heard it running. I almost got naked to surprise you in there!”
“I think you’re the one that would’ve been surprised. Especially if I’d walked in and found you naked with Lina! I don’t normally swear and get angry, except while I’m so darn confused at the minute, but that would have turned nasty very quickly. I have to admit, it would have been hilarious to see Lina’s face if you had barged in there with your dick on display.” Pais starts to laugh at the thought of it.
“You’re mixing with all the wrong people, Pais, and your karma is fierce, but it needs to go back to being my sweet woman.”
“Ha, Mr. Righteous. I’ll start making a note every time you come out with something crude or cursing in the future. See who is worse then, shall we, and you notice I’ve blossomed since I became part of the MC?”
“Okay, let’s not do that. Come on. Let’s get out of here for a while. I’ll take you to Club Whisky and we can chill for a bit in a different atmosphere. We’ll be well-covered too with the number of brothers that will be around.
Taking one of the club SUVs rather than my hog seemed a safer bet at the moment. Not knowing exactly what might happen, I took my weapon, too. I don’t think there’s going to be any precaution too small right now.
Arriving safely at the club, I park around the back near the back door and drop a text to Silver, announcing our arrival. When he responds that he’s watching the cameras and sees nothing out of the ordinary, we head inside.
Knowing he’s in the office, we head straight there and oh my God! We both stop dead in our tracks as we walk through the door.
“Silver! What the hell have you done in here? How can you work in this? It’s the most godawful thing I’ve ever seen.” Looking around the walls, the room is hideous. Pais stands rooted to the spot, her mouth hanging open.
“I could not work in here. Don’t you get headaches and eye strain? Why would you do this? It’s lime green, for heaven’s sake. And why have you done the floor and ceiling the same color? It’s like a green box.” Pais looks like she’s going to throw up any second.
Silver looks painfully at Pais. “It gets worse.”
“How on earth can it get worse?”
Shaking his head, Silver states, “Come in and close the door.”
As soon as the door is closed, we see what he means. The door, its hinges and the handle are all green. You can hardly tell there is an exit.
“Let me out of here. NOW! I need to get out.” Pais rips the door open and stands in the hall, taking deep breaths. She’s holding my hand and I swear she’s about to break every one of my fingers.
I look at Silver, and I can see he’s not happy about his office.
“Why the hell would you choose this color?”
“I didn’t, and I didn’t know it was going to be this color.” He glares at me, as though it was my fault. “Someone offered to give up their weekend to get it done for me while I had the weekend off. Stupidly, I accepted with good grace, and this is what I came into on Monday morning. Now, I’m going to have to spend a weekend repainting it. Probably twice, because I doubt many colors will cover this shit in one session.”
“Who did…NO! You didn’t trust him with this, did you?” Watching his eyes, I see the shame clearly.
“Yep. He must’ve caught me at a weak moment. I never saw it coming.”
Having regained some form of normal breathing, Pais looks from me to Silver. “Who would do this to you?”
Speaking together and in tandem, we answer, “Wings!”
Silver abandons his office and joins us at the bar. We all sit and shoot the breeze with colas or sodas and it’s nice not to be worrying about Pais’ shit for a while. Silver seems to sense this, and to his credit, he keeps the tone light and funny.
The mood changes when I get a text from Forest asking me to bring Pais to the Sheriff’s Department for a catch-up. Dep and Sober are back now, so he will have debriefed them and want to share what they’ve discovered.
Walking into the Sheriff”s Department, we see Forest, Dep and Sober sitting around the Deputy’s office. Forest waves us in when he sees us, and we grab an empty chair each.
“I’ll get straight to the point. Dep and Sober have been calling in favors, making threats and even throwing some green around to see what they could come up with. I know, TwoCents, that you spoke to Specs earlier. We’re not a lot better off now, to be honest. There is a lot of rumor, speculation and guesswork going on. Pais getting her memory back would be the best thing that could happen for us.”
“For me too. I can’t say I like all this walking around in the dark, on eggshells, being spied on and not knowing anything. I’d like to help, Sheriff, I would.” Pais looks around the room as though everyone thinks she’s keeping secrets.
“We know that. I meant nothing by it. We’re ninety-nine percent sure that the Cartel is the DeSantos Cartel, but what we don’t know is if Senator Brooks is in bed with them. They are huge and extremely dangerous. They have been linked to trafficking, drugs and gun running. There are rumors now that they have higher goals that may involve terrorism. In the grand scheme of things, Pais is small fry, and it makes no sense to go after her. There has to be more to it than just what”s in the diary and folder. We just can’t seem to get a handle on it.”
Looking at my wife’s distraught face has me ready to kill some fucker.
“If it’s not in the hardware, it has to be in the software.” Sober mutters to himself and we all look at him.
“What the hell does that mean? There was nothing on her laptop. Specs went through it time and time again. There’s nothing on it.” I stare at Sober as he looks at me.
“No. We haven’t covered all the bases. We missed one. If it isn’t in Paisley’s paperwork, which is her hardware, it has to be in her software. Her memory. She witnessed something, or they think she did, and she can’t remember it.”