Chapter 54
Reaper
“I know you’re new to town, but you have no clue as to what the Steel Archangel’s have done for this town,” Dixon tells him, just barely reining in his anger.
“Just because you’ve only had experience with the wrong kind of MCs does not mean every MC is full of criminals.
In fact, the club has actually helped us lock up quite a few criminals. ”
“Um,” Mae starts to say and then hesitates as she glances between Thor and Sam. “Before we go further, maybe we should call Creed. He needs to be kept in the loop on this.”
Sam, Brady, and Dixon’s backs all snap straight at that.
“Why do you think that, Mae?” Sam asks her.
Mae licks her lips nervously, but doesn’t look away from him. “Because I recognized the voice of the person shouting at us to hand over the women and children and they’d let the guys live.”
The three of them curse and Reilly frowns as his gaze bounces between Mae and Sam, Brady, and Dixon.
“He’s already on his way, Baby Girl. He was in town on other business. Should be here soon,” Smoke tells her.
“Who’s Creed and why does he need to be here for this?” Reilly asks.
Something in Reilly’s voice has me tilting my head and watching him closer. He seems pale. Or at least paler than he was a moment ago. Why? What spooked him? Was it the mention of Creed’s name?
“Because there is an ongoing federal investigation into an organization that has caused a lot of problems here in town as well as across the US. The club has been working with Agent Creed Weber since a few of the men tied to said organization have kidnapped two of these ladies before, and that is all you need to know,” Sam tells Reilly and I’m really glad he didn’t mention anything about the whole Black Plague mess.
Reilly narrows his eyes at Sam and opens his mouth to say something, but Sam cuts him off.
“You may have come highly recommended to our station, but until the Chief gives me the approval, you will not be part of conversations going forward. The only reason you’re here is because you’ve been temporarily paired with Hughes and you two were out in the field when the call came through.”
Reilly’s eyes narrow even further, but thankfully he doesn’t argue.
Someone’s phone vibrates and Smoke grunts. “Creed’s here. Opening the gate for him,” he says as he clicks a few buttons on his laptop.
Beast steps up next to Thor, whispers something quietly to him and Thor gives him a chin lift in response.
“How about we go into Church? Mae, Wildcat, Lark, Miracle, you’re with us. Prospects too.”
“We’ll be in the kitchen then since that appears to be untouched. Erik and Dom are downstairs still with the kids,” Mama Astrid tells him before squeezing Mae’s hand and heading toward the hallway, taking up the rear of the group as they walk.
Reilly’s eyebrows rise in shock at the mention of the kids and his eyes widen even further as his gaze bounces between Mae and Levi. Did he miss the part where Thor said this weekend is Mae’s baby shower and that X wanted the women and children?
Beast and Odin move to stand by the entrance to the hallway but also in front of the pass-through window, effectively putting themselves in Reilly’s way should he try to talk to any of the women.
The door opens and Creed walks in, but surprisingly, he halts in his tracks before dropping his briefcase, pulling his gun and pointing it at Reilly. A second later, Sam, Brady, and Dixon also have their guns out and aimed at Reilly.
“Hands behind your head. You’re under arrest, Mason Fuller.”
I step in front of Lark, shielding her, and I notice the others doing the same with Mae, Half-pint, Miracle and even Sasha, though Sasha scowls at the back of Cowboy’s head.
At the same time, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Punisher blocks the hallway closest to us, and Ryder blocks the door to Church.
Beads of sweat form on Reilly’s, or whatever his name is, forehead. “You have me mistaken with someone else, Agent,” he replies but makes no move to raise his hands.
“No, I don’t. Now, hands behind your head, Fuller.”
Reilly smirks and I bet he thinks he’s coming off as unaffected, but he’s failing big time. His fingers are tapping on his utility belt and his right eye is twitching.
“What makes you think I’m this Mason Fuller person? You have no proof.”
Creed smirks in return and Reilly’s confidence shatters even more.
“Actually, I have a ton of proof and was just on my way to notify Chief Cane when I got Smoke’s call. Chief Cane is on his way here as we speak.”
Dixon and Brady inch closer and Reilly’s gaze darts around frantically but there’s nowhere to go.
Not with all the exits blocked. And since the windows are still shuttered up, he’d be shot before he got one open to escape that way.
My fingers twitch, wanting to pull my gun, but I know that would just complicate things.
At that moment, Reilly moves to pull his gun. As his hand wraps around the handle, a gunshot rings out and hits Reilly in his right arm. His gun clatters to the floor before he covers his wound with his other hand, gritting his teeth as he glares at Creed.
“Fine. You think you have proof, then prove it.”
“I will once you’re in handcuffs. Hughes, if you would be so kind?”
Dixon keeps his gun trained on Reilly until he’s close enough to nudge Reilly’s gun back away from him and across the floor toward Sam.
Brady steps closer, also keeping his gun trained on Reilly.
Dixon steps behind Reilly, holsters his gun, and starts to handcuff Reilly.
I bite my cheek to keep from smirking when Dixon is a little rougher than necessary when he tugs Reilly’s right arm behind his back.
The others holster their guns and Brady steps forward, unclipping Reilly’s utility belt and sets it on a table out of reach. Sam puts Reilly’s gun on the same table. Then Dixon and Brady each grab ahold of one of Reilly’s arms.
“Chief Cane just arrived,” Smoke says.
“Well, then I’ll wait so I won’t have to repeat anything,” Creed says as he picks up his briefcase, which I’m surprised didn’t bust open when it dropped earlier and steps further into the room so that he’s not in front of the door.
A few moments later, Chief Cane comes in, his frown deepening as he takes in Dixon and Brady holding a bleeding Reilly in handcuffs. His gaze sweeps over to us before he glances back at Reilly and then fixes on Creed.
“Agent Weber,” he says and shakes Creed’s hand. “Fill me in.”
Creed unlocks his briefcase and pulls out an accordion style folder before passing it to the Chief.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Mason Fuller, who has been using an alias of Johnathon Reilly, has been up to the past several months. There is more, which I will show you later, but this is what I can show you right now.”
Chief reaches in and pulls out a section of stappled papers, flipping through them, but making sure none of us can see what is on the papers. The more he flips, the more furious he becomes. Halfway through the stack, he snaps it shut and puts it back in the folder before handing it back to Creed.
“I’ve seen enough. Officer Hughes and Officer Morgan, if you could both escort Mr. Fuller outside, Officer Jones and Officer Daniels will escort him to the hospital where he will be treated and then booked. Let us know when you’re going to arrange federal transport, Agent Creed.”
“You’ll regret this,” Reilly, er Fuller, seethes as Brady and Dixon guide him toward the door. “You’re making a mistake. I’m not this Fuller person. Someone is setting me up.”
None of them respond to him which only makes him angrier, but thankfully, the doors shutting blocks off the rest of his rants. A moment later, Brady and Dixon return.
Chief Cane turns to Thor, before glancing at Sam, then Creed, and finally back to Thor. “Officer Hughes?”
Dixon steps forward, a voice recorder in his hands. “Is it okay that I record this for your statements?”
“Yes,” we all reply and once he has the recorder up and running, we all introduce ourselves when he gives us the signal.
“So, tell us what exactly happened here today?”
Smoke gestures to Mae and then at the decorations in the room.
“We were celebrating my daughter’s baby shower.
Mae and my sister Nikki were over there by the window when a bullet grazed Mae’s arm and embedded in that table, which the other women were sitting at by the way.
They fired off a few more rounds at the clubhouse for a bit before going silent.
They’d somehow knocked out some of my cameras on the west side, which is the main side that they attacked from, but thanks to Lark’s quick thinking, we got some video of what happened. ”
I look down at Lark and she blushes at the attention but doesn’t shy away.
“How did you secure footage?” Sam asks her and Lark gestures to a pin on my cut.
“I left mine in place up there just in case, but those of us with cuts have a camera that Smoke came up with a while ago.”
I detach the pin and pull the attached battery out of an interior pocket, showing them the device. Stepping forward, I set it down on a table near them so they can look at it and then step back beside Lark.
“I pushed the pin into the wood of the window frame and tried to hide the battery pack as best as I could. I’d already overheard Smoke saying they’d knocked out some of his cameras which was why I asked Miracle and the Prospects to go up to the widow’s walk to get eyes on the situation.
The other women and kids were already down in the panic rooms by that point. ”
“Seeing what Lark did, the rest of us did the same thing in case they managed to knock more cameras out,” Lex told them.
“Alright. Let’s start with what footage you have from your cameras before seeing what’s on the body cameras.”
Smoke plays the video feed and for the next ten minutes, we watch everything play out. I shake my head at that.
Ten fucking minutes.
It sure as fuck didn’t feel like ten minutes.
“Per Sasha’s and Miracle’s cameras, as well as our own cameras, there was no movement from the south or the east, like Lark stated before. I’ll start with Lark’s camera, which faces west, and then we’ll see Lex’s from the north.”
After he plays both videos, Chief glances around the room. “Did any of you recognize the voice that spoke asking you to hand over the women?”
Mae raises her hand as she nods solemnly.
“I did. It was X. His real name is Kristoff Davenport from what we’ve gathered,” she pauses and points to Creed.
“Creed’s got all that information. I don’t know how much he shared with you guys, though.
X is the man in charge of Oasis and is part of the group that had kidnapped me twice.
It’s the same group that had ties to the people that kidnapped Mary a little over a week ago as well. ”
Mae pauses again as she licks her lips and turns back to Creed.
“Is Officer Reilly, I mean Mason Fuller, X’s new attempt to infiltrate the police department?” Her eyes widen and she holds up her hands. “I mean, if we’re allowed to know that. I get it if we aren’t.”
Creed gives her a soft, yet strained smile, as he tilts his head.
“That’s about all I can confirm, but yes, he is X’s most recent attempt to get someone on the inside again.
I’ll be keeping Chief Cane updated as we continue the investigation into Kristoff Davenport and his associates since they seem to be focusing heavily on your club.
” Creed frowns as his gaze bounces between Smoke and Mae before settling back on Smoke.
“We have intercepted a lot of intel that Kristoff is focusing on you as well as Mae and her unborn children. You need to be on high alert, especially with this attack. He’s escalating and I don’t know what all they’ll do to get their hands on Mae and her children.
We’ve also confirmed that Kristoff is wanting to take the other women and children in the club as payment for interrupting his plans and brining heat down on him.
Interruption he’s blaming on you because you are Mae’s father.
” His frown deepens as he looks at Lark, Miracle, and Mama Astrid before his gaze meets mine.
“Being here may bring your club under fire as well. You all need to stay alert.”
I give him a chin life. “We will and as Thor already knows, our club is always willing to step in and help each other out as needed. As are the other chapters.”
“Okay. Smoke, if we can get copies of all the footage you showed us, we would appreciate it.”
Smoke unhooks a thumb drive from his computer and hands it to him. “Already done.”
“Thank you. Now, if you can show us where all there was damage, we can let the forensic team know.” He pauses and turns to Mae.
“I’m sorry that this disrupted your celebration, but it will be a while before we’re done here.
I’ve been notified that one of the houses and a couple of the condos took damage, so you’ll need to steer clear of those buildings as well for right now. ”
“Which ones were damaged?” Timber asks.
Dixon looks down at his phone. “The most western ones. The last house on the path and the last two condos.”
Timber curses. “That’s our house.”
Mae buries her face in Timber’s chest and he wraps his arms around her.
Fuck. I hope the assholes didn’t mess anything up with their nursery. I know they just recently finished it.
“Please let me know when your teams are done with everything. At least, I’m assuming I’ll need to wait to assess the damage until your team is done?”
The cops all nod in unison. “Yes, I’m sorry, but we can’t contaminate the scene.”
Levi pulls something out of her cut and hands it to Thor. “Here’s the master set of keys for the clubhouse. How about we all head over to our house in the meantime so that we’re out of the way and not inadvertently contaminating a scene?”
Thor takes the keys from her and dips his chin. “Sounds good, Wildcat,” he starts to say and then frowns before turning back to Chief. “If everyone heads down the path, will that cause any problem with your teams?”
“I can walk with you guys to make sure there wasn’t anything missed,” Brady says as he steps forward.
“Okay. Wildcat, I’ll join you guys after I’m done here.” He leans down kissing her forehead and then steps forward toward the Chief and Sam.
I squeeze Lark’s hip. “Come on, Darlin’. Let’s head out.”