Chapter 7
TRACKER
As I walk into church, I can’t help but feel somewhat amused by Cilla.
She’s hardly what you would call normal, but she’s not particularly nuts either.
It’s proven that what she is telling me is factual and telling me the code name verified to me she is speaking with Bono.
There is no chance she would know that code unless he told her.
Taking my seat, I check that all the brothers are here.
Cap is sitting with his arms folded over his chest, while Finger looks ready to take on the world if necessary.
Books, Coin, Hot Rod and Keys are waiting for any instructions I throw at them, and Rides is chewing on a BLT.
Now where the fuck did he get that, and he knows food isn’t allowed in here.
He pushes the rest into his mouth as soon as he sees I’ve noticed, and his cheeks are puffed out like a damn chipmunk.
Shaking my head, I ignore the asshole and open the meeting.
“Okay, I have a picture of the fucker that thinks he’s going to plant a bomb here and blow us all sky-high.
Keys, send the pictures to everyone here.
Make sure you know what this fucker looks like because you are going to educate every brother and prospect, and make sure they know who they are looking for.
I want you all out on the streets tomorrow and find this fucker.
” I hand Cilla’s phone to Keys who quickly sends the pictures to everyone here before handing the phone back to me.
“I’ve got the facial recognition running now, Pres.
All I can do is wait on that, but the brothers can show the picture around and see if anyone has seen him.
The motel on Stonelake might know his face?
Then again, it might be too nice a place for him to be staying.
” Keys looks at each officer, and when they nod they have the picture, he looks down and starts tapping on the keyboard again.
“Do you want me to postpone church with the brothers?” Cap asks, and I give him a nod in response. “We can cover normalities any time, but I’ll make sure I speak to the brothers about what’s happening. Keep things under wraps shall we, Pres? From the clubwomen, I mean.”
“Okay, Cap. Make sure everyone knows what’s going on, and I’m going to speak to my sources to see if they know who this fucker is.”
“I’ve seen him in town,” Hot Rod our Road Captain states, pointing to his phone. “He was hanging around in front of old man Searby’s grocery store last week.”
We all look at Hot Rod and wait for anything else he can impart. But from the frown on his face, this is as much as we are going to get from him.
Cap sighs. “Any more to tell, Hot Rod?”
“No, I can’t say that I saw anything else. It was just the way he was looking around. It was sneaky-looking, and it held my attention for a minute or two before he walked away and I got on with my business.”
“Okay, so get out and see what you can find. Keep me informed, because we don’t have long before this fucker is going to get onto the compound. Keys, up surveillance on the cameras. Finger, speak to the prospects because I don’t want them out on their own. They pair up and watch each other’s backs.
As we leave church, we hear a ruckus in the kitchen and dash to see what the fuck is going on. I’m shocked to see Brewer holding his neck and gasping for breath while Cilla is passed out in Whistle’s arms.
“What the fuck is going on?” I ask while storming into the kitchen.
Jo and Anna are fussing around Brewer and Cilla. But Jo looks up and has no color in her face whatsoever. “Pres, something attacked Brewer. It was choking him to death. Cilla stopped whatever it was, but I’m not sure what happened because she passed out.”
Whistle looks up while holding Cilla bridal-style. “What should I do with her, Pres?”
“Well, that’s a stupid question, isn’t it?” I shake my head because sometimes my brothers are total brainless idiots. “Find somewhere to lay her down, idiot,” I can’t help but snap. Before he can move Finger walks over to him, takes Cilla out of his arms and walks away with her.
I follow Finger, along with Cap and Scalpel, our medic. “She’s a medium or something, isn’t she Pres?” Scalpel asks, and I give him a frown as I answer, “I don’t know what the fuck she is, but she speaks to the dead and apparently can now do something to them.”
“Hmm, probably zapped her psychic energy. She’ll need rest, then lots of food to recuperate.
I’ll put her on an IV to get fluids into her because we don’t know how long she’s going to be out.
" Scalpel sets up what he needs as Finger lays Cilla on the bed in the medical room. “Out, all of you, out! I’ll stay with Cilla and make sure she is okay. She doesn’t need you all in here watching her.
It could freak her the fuck out waking up with all of you standing around. ”
“How long do you think she’ll sleep?” I ask, then wish I hadn’t with the look Scalpel gives me.
“She’ll wake whenever she is rested fully. If she isn’t awake in two hours, we need to let Shelby know she’ll not be working tomorrow. We don’t want her losing her job now she just got it,” Scalpel states, and I nod because he’s right that she has only just started at the diner.
“I’ll speak with Shelby, Pres,” Joker surprises me by saying. I didn’t even know he was behind me. Turning to walk away, I’m shocked to see probably ten brothers standing around looking worried.
Walking back to the kitchen I sit across from Brewer. “What the fuck happened?”
Brewer shakes his head. “I was eating and suddenly it felt like someone was choking me out. But no one was touching me. Cilla jumped to her feet and was shouting as though someone was there. She said to get the fuck off me, then she said the weirdest thing...”
I’m not the most patient asshole, so when he paused I snarled, “What weird thing?”
“She said, 'Bono, stop this arsehole.' But, Pres, she was seeing someone who wasn’t there. Then she said, to get the fuck off him.”
“Interesting, very interesting. As long as you are okay now we’ll speak with Cilla when she wakes.
” I’m mumbling to myself as I walk back to my office but look up as I close the office door behind me.
“Thanks, Bono. I don’t know if you can hear me, but thanks.
” Yeah, I feel a fuckin’ fool, but at least I’m alone in the office so the brothers won’t be taking the piss out of me.
Joker popped his head into the office, informing me all was good with Shelby, and she was understanding about the fact Cilla wouldn’t be at work tomorrow, but said to tell her to recover properly. Good woman, Shelby. It’s a shame one of the brothers hadn’t taken up with her.
Sitting at my desk, I allow my thoughts to wander, and I admit I’m wondering why anyone would want to throttle Brewer.
He’s a good man and has done a lot of charity work by being the grunt when setting shit up for charity fundraising evenings.
It has to stem from his time in the service.
He wasn’t one of my team members, but many of the brothers here are ex-military, so we’ve all had incidents that were good or bad.
Maybe Cilla will tell us more when she wakes from this psychic sleep she’s having.
Picking up my phone, I search Google for nickname ideas for Cilla.
I’m gonna get under her skin. I can’t hold back the chuckle and then give a large smirk because I’m going to call her ‘Seer’ as that’s an old name for a female with psychic abilities.
Yeah, that’s a good one. Let’s see how she handles that.
“Are you seeing this, Bono? We are gonna call her Seer.”
Unknown to me, Bono is standing, looking over my shoulder at my mobile phone and the suggestions I found. *Yeah, good one, Tracker. Good one* I’ve no idea why but a chill runs through me and the old saying, ‘Someone just walked over your grave,’ comes to mind.
Two hours later and deep in the paperwork Coin handed to me I’m frowning at the figures. They are not adding up, and I’m sure Snake is stealing. We just have to figure out how and where he is stashing the cash.
A knock on the door catches my attention. “Come in.”
Finger saunters into the office and takes a seat. “I didn’t want to disturb you if you were deep in something, Pres. Scalpel said to inform you Cilla is past the unconscious stage and is now sleeping. When she’s fully awake, are we asking her what happened from her point of view?”
Leaning back in my seat before answering, I give a brief nod. “Yeah, we’ll ask Cilla the Seer what happened.”
“Cilla the Seer. You know she’s gonna rip you a new one for that Pres,” Finger laughs, and I don’t stop the huge smirk that crosses my face.
“She can try,” I laugh, then continue. “Okay, I want you to be on protection detail for Cilla. This guy might have seen her taking pictures of him. I don’t want to take the risk of something happening to her. She’ll probably cause a ruckus, but you can handle that. Wherever she goes, you go.”
“Okay, Pres, but you know it’s gonna be fuckin’ boring following her around and sitting in the diner for hours.”
“When she’s working at the diner you can do your other duties, but take her and get her home safely. Then stay with her. She’ll not like it, but tough. She’ll have to cope, and you’ll have to sort her out if needed.”
Before we can discuss more, the door opens and Keys walks in.
“Found the fucker, Pres. He’s Nicholas Denning.
Former Marine, was thrown out for doing shit he shouldn’t.
Dishonorable discharge it’s called, but I call it justice for the two fellow Marines he had badly injured because he ignored his duties. ”
Keys plants a wad of paper in front of me, and studying it, I see this prick is going to be meeting the acid bath.
Since leaving the service, he’s become nothing but an assassin.
For a service brother to not give a fuck about murdering multiple brothers for a few dollars shows how far gone he is.
“We take the fucker out when we catch him.” Now, I’m showing the Tracker to my brothers that they know will not bend, bow or sway from the decision I’ve made.