CHAPTER TWENTY
-:- RUGER -:-
Sunday morning after breakfast I made sure Punkin was in the playroom sleeping.
I kissed Penny and took my seat in church.
It’s been an interesting morning as training went well.
Penny joined in, but she’ll be stiff I’m sure, in the morning.
Jack has been following Mia around, which could have gone one of two ways.
She could have been biting his head off, or mothering him.
Thankfully, we have all seen her mothering him, as have the Three Stooges.
We have him on gate patrol this morning, mainly because what else is there to do when the women are now up at Star’s again.
I’m not sure what’s going on there, but Meat asked permission to be with them this morning, if nothing in church was pressing.
To my surprise Axel said yes. I’ll find out what the fuck is going on from Penny later.
Halfway through church I find my mind wandering to what Rosemarie is trying to do. I mean, why would she want Penny dead? It makes no sense. But she is a psycho, so I suppose sense isn’t her middle name.
“You listening, Ruger?” Looking up when I hear my name I notice all the smirks around the room, and give my attention to Axel who is sitting back in his seat, arms folded across his chest, and a questioning eyebrow raised. But he does all that while holding a scowl on his face, too.
“Sorry Pres, my mind wandered,” I admit. No point in trying to get myself out of this mess because it’s obvious to everyone I was not paying any attention to the matter at hand. What that matter is, I have no idea.
“Okay, back to our discussion.” Axel gives me another scowl, and I nod that I’m paying attention. “This nutjob who has Ruger in her sights, is she still in the psycho place, Specs?”
Specs doesn’t bother lifting his head as he replies.
“Yeah, I’ve got eyes on her now. She has a thing going with one of the male nurses.
Honest Pres, it’s enough to make you heave.
They are doing it in every fuckin’ washroom, laundry or anywhere else that they can get together.
I’m doing searches of his background. I’ll find out if he has any way of contracting a hitman of any type. ”
“Hitman…” I jump to my feet because thinking hitman is a new thought in my head, to go along with all the other panicking bullshit I have rattling around. I look around the room and find myself staring at Target. He’s a fuckin’ sniper. Doesn’t he have contacts with people who know hitmen?
Cool as you like Target speaks, “I’ve spoken to my contacts, and so has Winter. We have found no contract for Penny. Whoever did this is not a professional. If Rosemarie has paid someone to do this, they are a nobody needing cash. It makes it harder to find them.”
“Sit, Ruger.” Axel knocks the gavel down in front of him, and I slam my ass back onto my seat. Colton looks at me with a stony stare, and I’m feeling what he’s trying to convey, which is calm down, think straight, and do something viable.
“I’ll keep my eyes on the bitch, Ruger,” Specs states, and lifts his head to let me see he’s serious. I give him a nod, and he steadily looks down again at his keyboard.
The conversation moves, and it’s not long before we leave church. Colton slaps my shoulder, gaining my attention. “If that bitch gets out I’ll go with you, and we’ll find her, and we’ll take her to Nell’s. For the first time, I’ll ask Nell if I can watch Jaws feed.”
Nodding, because if this crazy bitch gets out there is no telling what she’ll do.
But in the meantime, we have to keep Penny and Punkin safe.
I know she’s not going to want to be held at the clubhouse for long, so we’re going to need to get her to work and back safely on a daily basis. I need to get back to work too.
“I’m going to ask at security who can help me transport Penny back and forth to work. She’s not going to stay home long, Colton.” I rub the back of my neck with the tension I can feel building.
“We’ll all help. It’s already been discussed, and with the new security team it’ll be easier. It’s Sunday, so come on let’s get lunch.” Colton shoves me with his shoulder, and then we both make our way to the kitchen.
The kitchen is busy. It looks like the entire club is here, but I’m shocked when I see Colton wander over to sit with Nyx and the four old ladies. It looks like they have joined the MC family!
Spotting Penny with Star and Blake, I head over to the table.
Taking a seat after kissing Penny on the top of her head, I chuck Punkin’s cheek as she’s sitting in the highchair slapping something down and then squishing it through her fingers.
I’m not asking, and I’m not touching it either. It looks like mashed banana!
Sybil walks over before I can speak and takes Punkin out of the highchair. “I’ll get her cleaned up, Penny. She’ll be in the playroom where the kids are all going to be napping. Well, all except the twins, because I don’t think they ever nap these days.”
“Thank you, Sybil,” Penny tickles Punkin’s belly before Sybil walks away with her.
Blake smiles when Mav takes a seat beside her, and Colton with Nyx walks over and take seats also. “So, what have you all been doing?” Mav asks Blake.
“Nothing much after training.”
Now, Blake is usually quite chatty, but she’s not saying more, which has me looking from Blake to Nyx to Penny. They are saying nothing, but all three are looking at their plates as though they hold the answer to the universe.
“Hmm…” Colton wraps an arm around Nyx, pulling her closer, then whispering into her ear. She blushes before flicking her eyes to Blake who gives her a squinty-eyed look in return.
Something is going on, but these three are saying nothing, and by the look of it, they are going to hold out on us for a while at least. I kiss Penny on her temple as I pull her to my side. Dragging her seat with her. “You got anything you need to tell me?” I mumble into her ear.
“No, nothing.” But she has a flush rising up her neck and onto her cheeks. Yeah, something has gone on, and I’ll find out given time I’m sure.
The rest of the day breezes past. Jack is hanging out with the women who have taken him under their wing.
It is obvious they are all mothering him, and he’s sucking it up with no sign of embarrassment.
Watching him smile at Eden when she says something to him, you can see he’s not only loving the attention, but it’s going to make him protective of them.
Maybe this was Axel’s idea, and looking over at him I see him watching what’s happening the same as the rest of us.
He, however, has a smug look on his face.
After bathing and getting Punkin in her crib, it doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep.
She’s loving the attention, which also tires her out.
She loves everyone and holds her hands out to be carried by anyone who happens to be nearby.
Watching tough men carrying a baby just because she wants up is amusing, but endearing at the same time.
Sitting on the bed, back to the headboard, I wait for Penny to come out of the bathroom. She gives me a broad smile, and I can’t help but blurt. “Can I get on a promise?”
Studying me for a moment, I’m shocked then delighted when Penny grins. “No, you don’t need to be on a promise. You can just come to me anytime, and if it’s the right time, then it’s the right time.”
“Okay then, it’s the right time.” I give a huge smile, waggle my eyebrows and pat the side of the bed. You can use your imagination as to what happens next, but we keep the noise down because, hey, we don’t want to wake Punkin.
Tapping on the door a few hours later has me sliding out of bed gently.
Penny is puffing little breaths, and Punkin is blowing bubbles and farting all at the same time.
Sneaking to the door I crack it open, and am a little shocked when I see Chaos and Wings standing outside.
Now, Chaos lives above the range, so rarely stays at the clubhouse.
That makes it even more shocking that he’s knocking on my door in the middle of the night.
“What’s up?” I whisper as I step into the hallway and pull the door closed behind me.
“You want to come on a recon mission?” Wings asks.
“Um, what recon mission?”
Wings looks up and down the hallway to see if anyone is around. When nobody is, he speaks again, keeping his voice low. “The warehouse. Chaos heard something’s going down tonight. We know you were there when the shit went down, so we thought you may want to join us.”
“Okay. No Meat then?” Because everyone knows he gets involved in shit like this.
“No, he’s on a promise. He has more on a promise than anyone I know.” Chaos chuckles.
“I’ll meet you downstairs in a few minutes.” I sneak back into the room and get dressed. Pick up the Ruger I keep out of sight, and kiss Penny on the top of her head before sneaking out of the bedroom.
Sitting in the back of the club's SUV, I lean forward and look at Wings, who is driving. “Do you have any plans? Or are we just going in blind?”
Chaos laughs, “Oh, we are going blind, but we stay together. My intel tells me the owner of the warehouse isn’t innocent in all that’s gone on. The stock in the warehouse that is arriving tonight is drugs that the owner is having distributed in three towns.”
“Fuck!” I rub my hands on my thighs, nerves rattling because when you are talking drugs anything can happen. Anyone involved in the drug trade is usually unstable. “Okay, we stick together.”
Once we have the SUV parked in a field, we make the trek over to the warehouse area. I have my Ruger tucked into a holster against my spine. Making our way to the west side of the warehouse, we hunker down and wait.
Checking my watch, I see it’s 3:00 a.m. and I’m thinking nothing is going to happen. Sighing quietly, I close my eyes because a rest wouldn’t hurt while we are waiting.
A nudge on my shoulder makes my eyes snap open. Fuck, I must have dozed. “What’s goin’ on?” I whisper.
“We've got company,” Chaos mumbles, then takes off to the right. I can’t help but watch him move with a stealth I could only wish for. It’s very obvious that he is ex-military. Although I have never asked what he did in service, it’s becoming plain that he did recon in some way.
Wings taps my shoulder and nods to the left.
I give him a chin lift in response, while following him as quietly as I can.
Now, to say Wings is a born idiot who loves to get into any kind of mischief is an understatement, but he is also great with gadgets.
When we stop he takes out a small tablet, fiddles with the tablet for a moment before he releases a drone from his backpack that looks like a dragonfly.
He fiddles on the tablet and the dragonfly flies away, but I’m glued to the tablet screen, where we are watching the door to the warehouse get closer.
Once inside the drone settles on a beam, and we can see four men passing packages from one to another from a van to the middle of the warehouse where a tarpaulin has been laid on the ground.
“Fuck, they are unloading the merchandise. Do you think that is drugs?” I ask, and Wings nods his head. But the look on his face is unusual for me to see. His face is set so seriously that it’s a wonder his jaw doesn’t crack.
“Yeah, it’s drugs, and I think the owner of this place needs taking down, or out.
The info we have so far shows the man who tried to have the place torched is actually the good guy.
He knew what was happening but couldn’t go to Forest as this asshole had forged info to take him down if he did.
I don’t like shit like that, so let’s sort this fucker out.
” Wings packs his gear, laying it next to a tree stump before taking off to the side of the warehouse.
I’m sticking with Wings as his backup. He has more experience than I do. Although I’m construction, I’ve been a bouncer, and I can fight, I’m not used to sneaking around like this.
Wings lunges forward, and is inside the warehouse before I can say shit.
I run inside behind him and come to a stop when one man is down already.
Chaos has another with a knife at his throat.
Wings has one on the ground and he has a knee on his spine.
The last one takes out a weapon, and I don’t stop and think.
I grab my Ruger and shoot the fucker. I see the hole in the middle of his forehead as he collapses in a heap dead on the ground.
“Nice shot, Ruger,” Chaos states matter-of-factly.
Wings looks at Chaos, and they have this silent conversation. Before I can ask Chaos cuts the throat of the one he has hold of, and that leaves us with one.
Wings drags him onto his feet, slams him onto the stack of packages, and gives him a deadly look. “So, did the owner of this place send you with the packages?”
“I’m not saying anything.” The idiot does not know what could happen to him, but I’ve seen most things at one time or another. I would not want to be in this prick's shoes right now.
“Oh good,” Chaos chortles as he takes his phone out and types out a message. “We have retrieve and remove coming.”
Now, I’ve heard that said somewhere before…it takes me a minute before I realize that means Nell’s team fetches this prick, and they find out what is needed then remove all evidence he existed.
We say nothing more to the man, but he’s thinking he has gotten away with this shit.
He has another think coming. I’m surprised Wings and Chaos didn’t push to interrogate him, but I’m not going to worry about it.
I did my part by shooting the idiot that was looking at Wings’ back.
A thought crosses my mind, and I look up at Wings. “How do we get this past Axel?”
“We don’t need to, he is informed, and gave the go-ahead. We just have to report.” Chaos smirks.
It doesn’t take long for Graham and Richie to appear, then take the asshole after looking at the merchandise. Graham confirms this is in fact, drugs and he’ll speak with Vitale because he’ll not be happy someone is selling near his turf.
Before we leave, we make sure the vehicle is as far into the warehouse center as we can get it, then we torch the place. I give a heads-up to Forest while Chaos contacts Pres. Wings is watching for anything amiss, but we are far enough away at this point to be innocent spectators.
Walking back to the SUV I’m holding my junk because Wings had us remove all our clothing so no evidence could be connected to us.
Chaos is walking in front of us stark naked and not giving a shit who sees him either.
For fuck’s sake, I didn’t think I’d start Monday morning walking naked through a fuckin’ field, with a naked Chaos and Wings!
Fuck me, how do I explain this to Penny!