CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Unexpected Visitors
Rio—
By the end of the week, a For Sale sign goes up at the garage Shelby inherited, and I waste no time putting in an offer, buying it under a shell company the club has set up.
I make no conditions for inspection, and don’t need an appraisal as it’s an all-cash deal, so we close quickly, and it’s not long before I’ve got the keys and am standing with Zig and the rest of the boys in our new garage.
“We need to get a sign made up,” Zig says.
“If it’s going to say Saint’s Outlaws, we’re going to have to come out in the open about being the new MC in town,” Mauler advises.
“Speaking of that, we’ve got everything we need, right?” I ask Zig, my arms folded as I stand in the open garage doors.
“Yep. Got it all ready to go,” he replies, and the rumble of motorcycles carries to us. Faint at first, then growing stronger.
I walk out to the parking lot and look toward the cross-street half a block down, which is a four-lane highway that runs through town. My mouth drops open when they ride past, and I get a look at them. Six guys, all wearing black leather cuts. I’d recognize the emblem on their backs, even if I couldn’t read the rockers.
Devil Kings MC .
“Son of a bitch,” I mutter under my breath.
“Fucking DKs,” Zig hisses. “What the hell are they doing here?”
“You tell me, VP. I’ve been out of the loop for a decade,” I whirl on him.
Zig lifts his palms. “Last I heard, they weren’t in New Mexico.”
“Well, it looks to me like they’re thinking about making a move. We can’t let that happen, boys.” I drill Bagger and Blue with a look, pointing my finger at them. “You two. Follow them. Move.”
They dash to one of the pickup trucks we came in, and I shake out a smoke, dip my head to light it, and exhale toward the sky, my mind a whirl. This could fuck up everything.
“We’re gonna have to show ourselves,” Zig says.
I nod, dragging in another hit. “And before we can do that, we’re going to have to take control.” I dip my head and meet my VP’s eyes. “Time to make a few visits to the homes of our local officials.”
“When?”
“Tonight, Zig. Means we make our move tonight. We’ll start with the sheriff and work our way down from there. By morning, this town is going to be in our hip pocket.”
“You say so,” he mutters.
“We got a fucking choice?” I snarl, throwing my hand toward the direction the bikes went.
“All in one night?” he questions.
“It’s got to be. We’ve got to get them all on board. They’ve got to know they have no options.” I drop my cigarette and grind it under my boot. “Let’s get to the clubhouse. I want to go over everything we’ve got on them. There can be no fuckups tonight.”
We lock up the garage and head back.
We’re not there long before I get a call from Bagger and put it on speaker for everyone to hear. We’re gathered around at the bar, and everyone leans closer.
“They headed out of town and kept going, Prez. All the way to the border.”
“El Paso?” I snap.
“Yep.”
“Did you see them cross into Juarez?”
“They pulled over and took their colors off a few miles before they got there, then split up. We lost them in El Paso.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“Sorry, Prez.”
“Get your asses back here. We’ve got a job to do,” I growl and toss my phone on the bar top. “Son of a bitch.” I look over at Zig. “Who do you know in the Devil Kings?”
“This side of the country? I know Big Ed used to run things, and he had a mean son-of-a-bitch named Taz who did all his dirty work, but I heard he disappeared years ago. Probably dead. Why?”
“You think Big Ed still runs things?”
“He’d be close to seventy by now, but it's possible,” Zig replies. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find out.”
“We’ve got shit to do tonight, but tomorrow I need you to get on that.”
“You got it.” He lifts his chin to a big map of Las Cruces tacked up to the clubhouse wall. “I marked off the locations of the Sheriff’s house, his deputies’ homes, and the District Attorney.”
We move to the wall and study the map.
Zig taps a spot. “If you want to start with the sheriff, this is his place. He doesn’t work nights. Leaves that to his deputies and patrol officers.” He taps another spot. “This is the DA’s house; he sometimes works late.”
“If we have to wait for him, we’ll wait.”
“Maybe leaving him to last is a good thing, then.”
“Tonight’s perfect for this. The sheriff’s wife will be at bible study from six to eight. He’ll be all alone,” Zig informs me.
I nod. “Good. And we catch the deputies on the job alone somewhere. What about the DA? His wife?”
“She goes to her sister’s house across town for book club.”
“Perfect,” I whisper.
Once darkness falls and Bagger and Blue make it back from El Paso, we pull out and head across town. We’re in two pickup trucks and wearing black hoodies. Once this night is over, we’ll never have to do this bullshit incognito crap again.
The sheriff’s neighborhood is quiet when we coast to a stop.
“This the place?” I ask Zig, dipping to look. It’s a nice house in a well-to-do neighborhood.
“Yep.”
“Let’s roll,” I order, and we all exit the vehicles. Blue goes up to the door just like we planned, and the rest of us hide out of sight.
The sheriff comes to the door, the buttons of his uniform shirt undone and its tails pulled out. He leaves the glass storm door shut.
“What do you want?” he barks.
“Have you seen this girl? My little girl was selling cookies in the neighborhood, and she hasn’t come home.” Blue holds up a photo of a little girl who’s actually his niece.
When the sheriff opens the storm door to get a better look, Blue yanks it open, and we all rush up, driving the man into his home and tackling him to the ground.
Zig slams the front door, and I motion for Mauler to search the house for anyone else.
We get the sheriff in a chair, and I lean in his face. “You home alone?”
“Yeah,” he spits. “Who the fuck are you? Do you know who the hell I am?”
“You’re Sheriff Torres, and your wife, Margaret is at bible study.”
He frowns. “What do you want?”
“I’ve come to tell you there’s a new balance of power in town, starting tonight.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
We peel our hoodies off, revealing our cuts underneath.
“Saint’s Outlaws? Who the fuck are they?”
“Your worst nightmare,” Zig says with a grin.
“From now on, we run this town, and you don’t touch us,” I growl.
The man laughs in my face. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”
I jerk my head to Zig, and he digs out his phone and scrolls to a video, turning to let the man see.
It’s the fat sheriff banging his mistress on her king size bed.
His face pales. “Where did you get that, you son-of-a-bitch?”
“We wired your mistress’s house. You know, the one you visit twice a week down in San Pablo.” I turn to Zig. “What was her name again?”
“Suzanne. Sweet Suzanne Newcastle. He likes to call her Peaches.”
“Right. Peaches.” I grin in the sheriff’s sweating face. “I bet it would break Margaret’s heart if she saw that video of you banging Peaches’ brains out. Bet she’d divorce you so fast it would make your head spin.”
“And take her money with her,” Zig adds.
The sheriff’s face turns boiling red. “What do you want?”
“From now on, we’re golden. You don’t pull us over, you don’t concern yourself with us, and you leave the townsfolk alone. No more collecting protection payments. No more letting your vile deputies pull over teenage girls to get their kicks. No more harassments. None. Got it?”
His jaw locks tight.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering how you’re going to get your force to go along with it. Well, we can help you out with that.”
“How?” he bites out.
“We’ve got something on all of them, too.”
His mouth drops open. “All of them?”
“Yep. And if you’re thinking the DA will back you if you make a move, forget it. He won’t be touching us with a ten-foot pole. Any charges you try to make, he’ll refuse to prosecute.”
“How is that possible? That guy wouldn’t hesitate to get a shot at you. He’s running for re-election next year.”
“Every man has his kryptonite. We found them all, even his. Now we make the rules, and you sit back and collect your paycheck and live your life quietly. You’re up for retirement in two years. I wouldn’t do anything to fuck that up now.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You try to make any waves, you won’t live to see the sunrise. Understand?”
His jaw locks, and he glares at me.
My voice drops low. “I said, do you understand?”
He jerks his head in agreement.
We take his ammo so he can’t shoot us in the back on the way out, then leave, slipping out as quietly as we came.
“That was fun,” Zig says, grinning from behind the wheel.
I point down the road. “Let’s go find Deputy Dumbass. I can’t wait to show him the photos you found on his laptop. The ones of him dressed in women’s underwear.”
“And he named the file Victor’s Secret,” Zig snorts. “He really is a dumbass.”
“I’m just glad we didn’t find any child pornography. I’d have to put a bullet in his brain, and that would fuck up our plan.” I watch the businesses flash by as we drive across town.
By the end of the night, we’ll have both deputies and the district attorney blackmailed. Tomorrow is going to be a fucking fantastic day.