Chapter 10
TEN
SNIPER
I have to give it to Dagger; he was a clever bastard.
I don’t even glance over as Bullet and I ride our bikes past the pawn shop that’s currently being raided. Though a sense of pleasure runs down my spine at the thought of everything that is about to be found in there. It took a few days, but I, Bowie, and Frost were able to get all the evidence we needed that Vlad is using the place to run his drugs out of it. Namely, in the items they sell.
I’m not sure how Bowie was able to get in there and figure it out, but he did, and I watched him emerge with pictures that proved it. Either way, it was enough that Cryos was able to send an untraceable, anonymous tip to the Feds and they came to tear the place apart. Which clearly tells me that they’re definitely looking into Vlad and trying to take him down.
They won’t succeed, but I suppose giving them a bone once in a while keeps things even.
Bullet and I head for the bar, since we’re reopening tonight, and I’ve had Rose working most of the day with the new staff we hired to make sure they’re up to snuff. Sandy’s girl did actually show up, apparently needing the job too much to say no, and from what Rose mentioned, she’s shy, sweet, and determined to make as much money in tips that she can. Though I’m not sure how that’s going to work with her being shy, but as long as she can make the drinks and collect the money, then Sandy can help her.
The other few people we hired were a busboy, and two servers, all three of whom thankfully have experience working in fast paced bars, so they shouldn’t have too much of a problem. But Rose has them running drills to make sure they’re up to snuff. Considering she used to run the place before finally taking a step back, I know she’s the best one to do it.
By the time we reach the bar, I’m feeling far more relaxed than I have for the past week. Mostly because when I’m not at the bar, I’m at one of the other businesses searching for that journal, or out trying to track down Vlad. Something I haven’t had to do after the shooting, but I’m not about to be distracted.
Not even by a certain blonde?
I ignore that voice the same as I’ve ignored it all week. The same as I’ve avoided her brother this week so I don’t have the reminder of her when I stare at his face. They might be fraternal twins, but they still look enough alike that there’s no escaping it. It’s not a long-term solution, but it’s one I’m going to use to keep my sanity for now until I figure out another solution.
Walking inside, I see the two new servers working to set up the tables. Both of them are in their late twenties, with bleached blonde hair, tastefully done make-up, and a seductive smile when they spot us. They’ll be a hit with the men for sure, though time will tell if they’re equally liked or hated by the women. As long as they don’t start shit and respect the Old Ladies, then I won’t have a problem, but if they do, they’ll be out on their asses. I give them a curt nod before I turn away and look behind the bar where Sally is talking with the new bartender
Katie is the opposite of the other women in a big way. And she’s a contradiction that I can’t quite figure out yet. Considering how shy she seems to be, she certainly doesn’t portray herself that way. Her hair is a mixture of blue and purple, cut short and shaved on the sides, leaving the top thick and long enough for her to let it lay to one side. Her make-up is intricate, with thick fake lashes on her eyes. Her top is low cut, and wearing what looks to be a pair of tight leather pants. She’s probably more suited to a night club or some fancy bar than a biker bar, but what the fuck do I know? She glances at me, nods, and then turns her attention back to Sandy. Fine with me. I don’t have time for that right now anyway.
Bullet and I make our way to the office and that’s where I find Rose sitting, going through all the paperwork on my desk. The moment she spots me, she glares at me. “What the hell is this, Sniper?” she demands, waving her hand at the stack of papers in front of her.
“A pain in the ass,” I quip. “And now that you’ve messed up my system, you get to handle it all for me. Thanks, honey.”
“Don’t you honey me.” She sniffs. “You have things here that should have been dealt with two weeks ago. What the hell have you been doing around here? And I swear to God if you say you’ve been fucking women in here instead, I’m going to make you wish you built that jail you mentioned to Shadow.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t have time for that, Rose. I’ve been trying to keep up but with having too few staff, I spend a lot of time filling in and working the bar instead of in here.” I give her a winning smile. “And since you’re here, you can help me out now, can’t you?”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t think I don’t know that you purposely left this stuff here for me to see. If you want me to do that, just put a note next time, huh?”
“Thanks, Rose,” I say, leaning down to kiss her cheek, making Bullet growl at me.
Rose’s eyes flash with amusement. “Oh, now, if I knew doing that would get me a kiss from you, Sniper, I’d have offered sooner,” she flirts shamelessly.
“Woman, you’re going to get your ass spanked,” Bullet warns her, stepping toward her.
“None of that shit in my office,” I warn them when Rose just gives Bullet a look that tells him he can try and also how much she would enjoy it. The two of them are worse than teenagers, I swear. “Bullet, you can deal with your Old Lady later, because right now we have shit to do.” Then I walk back out of the office and down the hall to the second storage room at the end of the hall. It’s where the club keeps spare things.
Bullet thankfully follows me after another low warning to Rose, who just laughs. I shoot him an exasperated look but he just smirks at me and steps inside with me. “What are we doing first?” Bullet asks, glancing around at the slightly messy room.
My inner need to get this straightened up has me frowning, but I push it aside. I’ll deal with it later. “We need to move some of the bigger shelves first. This place would be a good spot for Dagger to hide it if he didn’t want it found. He would have had access before we changed the locks.”
“The fucker figured he was getting one over us because we wouldn’t look too deep into this stuff,” Bullet mutters as we make our way over to a half empty shelf. “Alright, get this shit off and then we’ll have a look.”
It’s heavy, dirty work as we pull everything off and set it aside. Most of it is covered in a thick layer of dust. “We need to have this shit cleaned up,” I grunt as I move a heavy box full of papers aside. I don’t know what kind of papers, but I make a mental note to go through them soon. “Should get one of the Prospects in here to do it.”
“Get Kaleb. The kid might be a slob in his own space, but he’s fucking OCD about anything else,” Bullet suggests as we both grab hold of the large bookcase and pull it away from the wall. The fucker is heavy and full metal, but we manage it. I grab my phone, turn on the flashlight, and look behind it. I see nothing but the plain drywall. “Was it like this when we put this shit up?” Bullet asks curiously, feeling along the wall for any hidden seams.
“Don’t know since this place is before my time. But if the other one is different behind it, then we know it’s been patched recently enough that it could have been Dagger,” I remark as I move to the shelf a few feet away from this one. This one is just as heavy and we grunt and bitch as we manage to move it. Finally, once we have it out of the way, it’s easy to see the old green color that the wall used to be. “Guess that answers that,” I say grimly.
Bullet narrowed his eyes at it. “How the fuck did he manage to move this by himself, though?” he wonders aloud. “It took two of us to move this fucking thing, and there is no way that skinny fucker could have done it alone.”
“Maybe he had help from someone here, or he had some of Dmitri’s men in here to help after hours,” I suggest. “I don’t want to think about the alternative.” The idea of another one of our brothers working with Dagger and still being a part of our club infuriates me, but also just doesn’t feel right. But then a thought hits me. “Wait, there was that Prospect, wasn’t there? Matthew? Who’s to say that he didn’t help him?”
“Timing would be right,” Bullet agrees. “And he would have been here with Dagger minding the bar after hours. Alright, we need to get this open. Call King or Stone and have one of them get here so we can take this apart. I want to know what’s behind that wall.”
I nod and pull out my phone. When I hang up, I announce, “Stone is on his way, but he’ll be half an hour.”
Bullet nods. “I’m going to see my woman then while we wait.”
I smirk. “Might want to lock the door since your offspring seem to always like to open it.”
His grin is quick and fast. “Where’s the fun in that?” Then he stalks out and I just chuckle and shake my head. If I ever have a woman, that’s the kind of relationship I want. But I don’t have the time or inclination, so I guess I’ll just have to deal with Bullet and Rose instead.
Liar.
Again, I ignore that little voice. I don’t need that thought in my head. Not right now. Instead, I head out of the room, locking it behind me and head down the hall to the main room. I head over to the bar and Sandy walks over and smiles at me. “We’ll be set for when we open,” she assures me. “And Katie’s got a good handle on everything. The servers, we’ll see, but Rose had them running drills for a couple of hours, so it’s sink or swim.”
I nod. “Alright. I’ve got some club stuff to handle tonight, but I’ll be around for the busier part of the night. Rose agreed to hang around, so if I’m not here, see her and she’ll get it figured out.”
“Sure thing, Boss.” She turns and heads back over to Katie, who doesn’t even glance my way. Hopefully, she gets over her shyness, or we might run into some problems.
I turn and stop when I see both servers heading my way. I barely manage to keep my expression neutral when I see the way they look me over before giving me flirtatious smiles. I bite back a sigh. These two are going to be trouble, I can already tell. But if they do their jobs, I can’t say much.
“Hey, Sniper,” Amanda, the one on the left, practically purrs. “We just wanted to make sure that you’re doing okay? Did you need anything?”
“We’re happy to help,” the other, Blair, asks huskily, leaning into me, and fluttering her lashes delicately.
“You both set up for tonight?” I ask briskly, careful to look around the room critically and not at them. I can all but feel the waves of annoyance from them that I’m not giving them the attention they’re looking for.
“All handled,” Amanda promises brightly, lighting touching my forearm. “We can handle a lot when we work together.”
“And we can handle anything you want to throw at us. Even if it’s at the same time,” Blair adds softly, touching my other arm.
Fuck, the men are going to lose their shit with these two. I just have to hope that they don’t go after the taken men or shit is going to go off the rails.
“Good. Then you can help Sandy and Katie get the bar set up, and if there is still time after that, you can help in the kitchen,” I say briskly, stepping back from them. Best to make sure I’m discouraging this now.
Both women share a quick look, and I nearly groan when I see the determination in their eyes when they both look back at me. Fuck. “Sure thing, honey,” Blair replies. “But if you need anything, you come and find us.” Then they move toward the bar, hips swaying and round asses bouncing just enough that I have to force myself to look away.
Damn it to hell. I’m too old for this shit. But I’m a man, so I can appreciate some fine ass when it’s in front of me. I’m old, not dead.
I head back down the hall to the store room, opening it back up and going inside. “Fucking hell, can’t even go in my own fucking office,” I mutter. Considering the noises I faintly heard on the other side of the door when I walked by, it’ll be a bit before Bullet joins me again. I glance around the room, trying to figure out if there is anywhere else Dagger could have hidden it, just in case this turns out to be a dead end.
I spend the next twenty minutes searching through more boxes and in crates that have collected layers upon layers of dust but come up empty. Though I’m not all that surprised. These would have been easier access to someone possibly finding it. If Dagger had a secret second journal, then he wouldn’t have made it easy to find. Though dry walling it behind a huge-ass cabinet seems a bit extreme.
Then again, Dagger did something of the same in his room so it would make sense that he would do that here. I walk back over to the wall, running my hands slowly and carefully over the area again. The one in his room looked like the wall had never been touched, but there was just the tiniest lip that you could feel with your finger when you touched it, but it would be invisible to the naked eye. But here, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps because he only planned on coming back for this if absolutely necessary. Or it could be nothing is behind this and it’s just a forgotten repair.
The door opens, and I turn and see Stone and Bullet stepping inside. Bullet looks relaxed, and Stone looks irritated. “You opened the door, didn’t you?” I chuckle.
“Fuck off,” Stone huffs as he moves to my side. “Next time, put a fucking sign on the door.”
“Learn to fucking knock,” Bullet tosses back. “And teach your kid that skill too.” Stone flips him off, still looking at the wall.
“Dagger didn’t do this,” Stone says confidently. “This looks too clean to be his work. The shit he did when he was a Prospect and after when he worked with the construction company was messy as hell.”
“Any point in opening it up?” I ask him.
“Dad said something about that old Prospect helping, so I think it’s better to open up to make sure. I don’t remember if that Matthew prick spent any time with the company, or if he had the skills to do this kind of work or not. But can’t knock the possibility.”
“Then open it up,” Bullet orders. “The sooner we have our answers, the sooner we know if we need to intensify our searches at the other businesses.”
Stone nods and gets to work on carefully removing that section of the wall. It’s messy work, but once it’s pulled away, he pulls a flashlight from his tool belt and peers inside. “Well, I’ll be damned,” I hear him mutter and reach inside. Then he pulls out what looks like a small notebook.
Stone hands it to Bullet, who quickly opens it and scans the pages. He curses and holds out the notebook to me. I take it and narrow my eyes when I see Dagger’s handwriting throughout the pages. But then, when I start reading, I curse, too, because it’s just gibberish that makes no sense. “What the hell are we supposed to do with this?”
“Dagger clearly hid it, which means it means something,” Stone mutters, also sounding annoyed. “And he’s clearly got it written in code in case someone finds it so that someone would probably think it fell out when they were putting up the wall. I mean, look at some of these pages with designs of the wall and dimensions.”
“Probably figured people would see that and give it back to him without much other thought,” I agree. “Could it be another kind of cipher like Misha used on his phone?” Considering that Crypt is currently working on decoding the one that Cryos managed to get off of Vlad’s old underboss’s phone, he might be able to see if it’s the same kind of one or something different.
“Call Shadow first,” Bullet orders. “We’ll need him to have a look at this. Then, once we talk to him, we’ll call Church to decide what to do next.” He looks at me. “Rose offered to stay and watch the bar, and I’m going to put Theo and Hulk here to watch while we head out. Or do you need to stay?”
I shake my head. “Rose has this place well in hand, and Sandy is a good back-up.”
“Alright, then let’s ride out and figure out what the hell this fucker was hiding now. I’m about done with all this bullshit. Might be time we get back to boots on the ground and find Vlad the old-fashioned way.”
“You won’t hear a complaint from me,” I tell him as I follow him out.
“I’ll patch this up later,” Stone offers. “And it might not hurt to have Syn come in with the dogs after hours or first thing in the morning when no one is here to check and see if Dagger hid anything else in here too.”
“She feeling up to that?” I ask, knowing how badly the morning sickness has been affecting her.
“She’s trying to be as normal as she can,” Stone replies. “I’ll talk to her, and she honestly will probably want to anyway. She’s worried the dogs will regress in their training since she doesn’t have as much energy. I offered to help her, but she about bit my head off at the suggestion, so I don’t think she’d agree to me bringing one of them myself.”
“Welcome to life with a pregnant woman, son.” Bullet chuckles. “When your mother was pregnant with you, she alternated between sobbing, laughing her ass off, or throwing shit at me. It was a roller coaster ride for nine months. She did better with your brothers though. Clearly, you were the problem.”
I snicker, and Stone ignores him as we step out and shut and lock the door again. We make our way down the hall, with Bullet stopping to let Rose know we’re heading out. I follow Stone out to our bikes. I ignore the pouts that Amanda and Blair send my way when they try to get my attention.
“Those are the new servers?” Stone questions once we’re outside and out of earshot. Hulk pulls up just as I straddle my bike. I nod. Stone sighs. “Brother, those two are going to be trouble.”
“Yeah, I know,” I grumble. “But I need servers.”
Stone chuckles. “I don’t have to worry about Syn since she’s not going to be in here for a while since she can barely stand the smell of alcohol right now, but I can already imagine if those two get too friendly with King or Viper, there’s going to be a catfight.”
“I think Izzy would get scrappy,” I muse thoughtfully. “She’s quiet, but she’s wily.”
Stone nods. “Yeah, true. Still, it’s trouble in the making, brother. I hope you got a back-up plan.”
“Not yet, but I will.” I sigh as Bullet comes out. Then I give him a wry smile and add, “Just means we might need to top up that bail fund a little more.”
Stone chuckles. “We just might.”
“Let’s ride,” Bullet announces as he climbs on his bike, nods at Hulk, then starts it up and we’re heading back into town, the notebook securely in the breast pocket of my cut. Time to see if we can figure out what secrets Dagger was trying to hide.