Chapter 19
NINETEEN
SNIPER
I know the Heaven’s Misfits are on our side, but that doesn’t mean shit can’t turn and go sideways.
Church is crowded with fourteen new people. Arson and his crew are exactly as I remember, other than some more gray hair, wrinkles, and in the case of one of them, some golden dental work that gives him a bit more of the stereotypical biker vibe. The mood in the room is relaxed, though I don’t miss that their own VP, Angel, isn’t looking all that jovial like he normally does. If anything, he looks downright miserable once you take in the scowl, lines around his eyes and mouth, and the fact that he’s grown out his dark hair to almost his shoulders instead of the short, almost military style he normally sports.
I make a mental note to talk to him alone later. At one point, the two of us had been good friends, but time and distance have resulted in us losing touch, but clearly I need to fix that.
“Alright, let’s get down to business,” Bullet announces loudly, halting the conversations in the room. “First, I’d like to thank Arson and his club for coming to help us out with everything.”
“Always happy to help,” Arson says with a brisk nod. Arson is what I like to call a wild card, and he certainly looks like it seeing him now. He’s got short hair, though still slightly thicker on top, with a short well-kept beard, but that’s about where the normal ends for him. He stands at six-two, and has an edge about him that makes you want to give him a wide berth. Under his cut, he’s wearing a red and black plaid shirt that he’s rolled up to his elbows, showing off his full sleeves of tattoos. He’s got his gun strapped to his pack in a leather holster, but there’s also a knife handle sticking out of his front pocket. His jeans are ripped, and he’s wearing a couple of large skull rings that he’s been collecting since he became president ten years ago. He told me once that they were for the heads of his enemies or some shit, but he’s always tended toward the dramatic instead of just saying he took out a problem.
Probably why he prefers to use fire to make his point.
“Arson told us what’s been happening, so we’re up to speed unless something’s happened since yesterday,” Angel adds.
“Only thing is that the cops and fire department are still searching the remains of the bar for anything that might point to who did it,” Bullet answers. “Though we already know, but we’re going to keep up the act that it has to do with the asshole that was there the last time they shot it up and this was them just trying to tie up loose ends.”
“Convenient.” Arson smirks. “So how about you let us in on what you need from us?”
“Before we get started on that, I volunteer to watch over the women,” Silver, one of their Enforcer offers with a wicked grin. “You’ve gotten a few more interesting ones around here since the last time we were here.” Silver’s what I call an enigma. He gives off the air of a biker, long dark hair that he’s currently wearing back in a low ponytail at the base of his neck, with a dark beard that he keeps cropped short to his face, and intense blue eyes that can go from amused to lethal in one blink. He’s even sporting some new piercings in his ears, and thicker silver chains around his neck that he didn’t have the last time I saw him. But once he gets talking, you realize just how smart the man is and knows it. He might be a biker, but the man has a genius IQ. Lucky for his club, he didn’t have any aspirations for such things, but his smarts have gotten them out of some tight spots in the past.
“Don’t remind me,” Bullet groans. “They’re all amazing women, but when the lot of them get together…” He leaves it at that and shakes his head, earning a few chuckles throughout the room. “I think the best course of action is having you help us patrol and search for Vlad and his men. We haven’t been able to find his base of operations.”
“And there’s no obvious signs of his men coming and going from one place? Not even those that you know are his right hands?” Dozer, their other Enforcer, asks curiously. The man is built like his namesake, and I’m surprised there’s a bike that can hold him. At full height, he tops out at six-eight, with thick muscle that he must spend hours a day working to keep, and I’d put him well over three hundred pounds. He’d give Hulk and Crypt a run for their money in a fight, that’s for damn sure. His eyes are a silvery gray, and he keeps his dark blond hair cut short, and his face clean shaven. His arms are covered in ink, and he’s currently standing at the back of the room, too large to sit down comfortably at the table. Not that it looks like he’s bothered.
“Nothing,” I answer. “The issue is wherever they are, they know we’re looking for them so they must have either something completely off grid that can’t be easily seen, even from satellites, or they are outside our territory where they know we won’t go looking. We do okay with the two clubs around us, but one of them we know is in Vlad’s pocket, so us being on their territory won’t be a good decision.”
Dozer nods. “And what’s this I hear about a journal or some shit?”
Bullet gives them all a rundown version of Dagger and his alliance with Dmitri and possibly other groups and then a small history of Bull’s connection. “We’re finding out that Dagger planned for him to get caught and he’s encrypted both the journals we’ve found, along with any other information we were able to get from Vlad’s former right-hand man, Misha. We only recently found the second journal, but considering Dagger and his penchant for making us run in circles, he’s probably got more around somewhere, and could be that none of these are anything and just decoys.”
“Sounds to me the fucker got what he deserved,” Arson quips.
“And you haven’t been able to crack whatever code is in those journals yet?” Whip, their Sergeant at Arms asks. Whip takes his road name seriously, and does that Indiana Jones impression with his whip on his hip at all times. It’s a thin piece of wrapped leather that he’s worked for years to perfect to his exact specifications. He’s got long silvery white hair that hangs down over his shoulders, dark green eyes, ink covering both arms and hands, both hands full of rings that look scuffed and worn, no doubt from the constant ass beatings the man doles out. He’s not known for being a kind man but to those he considers family or important to him in whatever obscure way matters to him.
Hell, there have been times I’ve seen him go off on members of his own club and they know better than to fight back against him. Even Dozer sometimes seems wary of him, which is exactly why I’ll keep a close eye on him while he’s here. We don’t need any fighting in house while we’re dealing with all this shit.
“One of our Prospects, Crypt, is former Special Forces and this was something he dealt with, so we have him working on it,” Shadow informs him. Then he glances at me before adding, “But we may have another faster option that we’re exploring.”
I scowl at that but don’t say anything. I want to rage that Thea is not going to be involved, because that is only inviting danger to her door and she’s been through enough. The surge of protectiveness I feel toward her has only grown since last night, and I know that she’s going to fight me tooth and nail on it. Thea isn’t going to cower after last night, she’ll run headfirst into the trouble.
Vlad isn’t playing anymore, and there is a very good chance when he realizes her connection to us, she’ll become a target, and I won’t be able to stand it.
“I take it that Sniper isn’t a fan of whatever that plan is,” Arson summarizes. “And that wouldn’t have anything to do with the sexy blonde that came down with him earlier, would it?”
I don’t react to his statement, just hold his gaze and ignore his growing grin.
“We haven’t decided what to do where the journal is concerned,” Bullet interjects. “But I’ll answer that because we need to get to work on it and fast before Vlad figures out you’re all here and launches another attack. Sniper’s woman, she’s former Special Forces as well, and one of her major skills was encryption and deciphering communications.”
“Why the fuck are you allowing a woman into club business? Or even considering it?” Magnum, their Treasurer, demands incredulously. “That goes against every biker rule out there.” Magnum gets his road name from his choice of weapon that he likes to carry around with him, but he’s also a bit of a wild card. He’s got thick black hair that he keeps brushed back out of his face and falls to the base of his neck. His beard gives off Wolverine vibes, with some strands of gray starting to show through. His eyes are a dark brown, and he’s got a couple of star tattoos on either side of them. If my memory serves, he’s done hard time in the past, and he’s not one you want to piss off and meet in a dark alley because he’s not afraid to go back.
“She works for the club as a specialist in our bodyguard and security business,” Bullet replies calmly, though I can sense the tension in his shoulders. He’s not one who likes his leadership questioned, but especially not from someone who is supposed to be our ally. “Also, she’s not involved in anything yet, because she hasn’t been briefed about anything that is going on with our club where she’s so new. However, all of the women have been targets one way or another and have had to be involved in club business in the past because Vlad has brought them into it. Thea has skills that could be helpful, and we’d be stupid not to consider it.”
“No women in club business, it’s that simple, so you should find another way,” Magnum says firmly. “I don’t even tell my Old Lady anything and she knows better than to ask. If your women are involving themselves, you need to take them in hand and remind them of their place.”
There are a few more murmurs of agreement from their men, but our men say nothing, stone-faced. I glance at Bullet, and we share a quick glance that says it might have been a mistake to bring them in on this one if this is their reaction.
“I think you’re all forgetting that we are not an outlaw club,” Viper reminds them smoothly, though his tone is firm. “We don’t have shit that they need to worry about overhearing and talking about in open court. And like Bullet already said, we didn’t involve them, they were involved by Vlad. They were put in situations where they told us what was going on. My woman works for the courts, she overheard Vlad bribing a judge and telling him to go after me. We had no idea, and she saved us a hell of a lot of time and headache. Shadow’s woman, and King’s woman were both taken and told by Dmitri before we killed his ass about parts of what is going on. So before you all start judging and critiquing us you might want to consider that.”
“Not to mention, it was my woman who found out where one of their operations was and was almost killed by Dagger in the process,” Torque adds coldly. “And she’s the one who brought to our attention the kind of operation they are running in our territory. You really think that we want any of that shit to happen? For them to be harm’s way?”
My gaze is on Arson, who looks like he’s mulling over what’s been said. Finally, he says, “Magnum meant no disrespect.” He pins his Treasurer with a hard look, who gives a curt nod, before he continues, “You’re right, we’re not used to this kind of involvement with women in our club, but obviously it can’t be helped in this situation. We’ll do our best to understand that, but we’re set in our ways, so it’s going to be an adjustment. As for involving the new woman, Thea, it seems she’s not of the same circumstance as the others so perhaps it would be best to leave her out of it for now.”
“And now that we’re here, we can see if someone from our group can decipher it,” Cobra, their Road Captain, offers. He’s what I normally consider the quiet man of the group as well as one of the oldest. His hair is a long silver, with a long thick silver beard to match. His beer belly protrudes over his pants, and he’s got wrinkles and lines that prove the hardness of his life. His eyes are an amber color, and he wears a gold chain around his neck that was given to him by his first love all those years ago before she passed from cancer. He’s never been the same since, but I know he’s found another woman in his life, though he doesn’t mention her much.
“Any of you have any experience with ciphers and codes?” I ask, looking around the room.
“If anyone can solve it, it’d be Silver,” Crow, their secretary says. He’s one of the youngest men in their club. I wouldn’t put him past mid-thirties, with thick black hair that he keeps swept back in some kind of trendy style, and a barely there five o’clock shadow on his face. He looks too pretty to be a biker and has no visible tattoos. I don’t know much about him, but clearly he has no trouble rising in the ranks or speaking when the moment calls for it.
“I’m happy to look at it,” Silver offers. “Can’t hurt to have a fresh set of eyes on it.”
I glance at Bullet, and he nods. “Alright, you can get together with Cryos and Sniper to see if you can figure anything out,” Bullet tells him. “If after that nothing can be sorted, then we’ll revisit our other options.” I’m appeased by that but I also don’t have a good feeling in my gut either. Somehow the idea of letting Silver see the journals feels off, but I can’t pinpoint why, so I push the thought aside.
“Good,” Arson says with a nod. “Then we’ll figure out the rotations and get to work on finding out where these bastards are hiding. Could be that knowing you’ve asked for our help will flush him out.”
He might be on to something, but I also know that it might not be in the way he’s thinking. We just have to hope we find Vlad first and get him the hell out of the way.
It’s another hour before we finally have everything sorted and we leave Church. When we walk out, I’m not surprised to find Thea sitting and talking with the women, but it is a surprise to find Macy sitting in her lap, braiding her blonde hair into what is looking like a knotted mess. But Thea is just smiling and chatting with the other women, seemingly content.
I want to walk over to her, but we need to get to work on deciphering the journal, so I head toward Cryos’s office with Silver, Arson, Bullet, and Shadow. The faster we find out if Silver can figure it out, the better. And I’m also a bit relieved that we won’t need to involve Thea.
Once we’re in Cryos’s office and he hands over both the copies we made of the notes in the journals and in the documents that Cryos’s contact sent us from Dagger and Misha’s phone, Silver flips through them. Nothing on his face give anything away until he finally says, “On first glance it looks like it’s a kind of basic code where you just flip some letters around in the words or sentence, but I imagine you already tried that?”
“You’d have to ask Crypt because he’s the one working on it,” Shadow replies. “He’s probably in his room. He’s still on medical rest from a couple of bad blows to the head in short succession recently. He might even be working on it now.”
“He’s a Prospect, isn’t he?” Arson asks, the disapproval clear in his tone.
“He’s a Prospect who has more experience with this than any of us and I’m not going to be sitting around and wasting time with my thumb up my ass trying to solve it,” Bullet tells him bluntly. “Arson, if you and your men have a problem with how we run our club, then I think we need to consider if this is going to be a good fit. We don’t need questions getting in the way when we have someone gunning for us.”
“And we’re not a 1%er club,” I add firmly. “So we don’t subscribe to the same life and rules that you do. If we were at your clubhouse, we wouldn’t be questioning the way you run your life.”
Arson is quiet for a moment and I see him share a glance with Silver. “I don’t mean any disrespect,” he finally says. “But you have to admit it’s strange and any other ally would say the same thing if they were here.”
“And we’re a bunch of ex-military men with a lot of strengths that most don’t have,” I reply sharply, irritated that this has to be defended yet again. “It’s not the first time we’ve involved Prospects, and I know that most allies have had Prospects brought into the inner workings of the clubs when the need calls for it. We are no different. We have lost one brother because of this, and if involving Crypt means we don’t lose any more, then we’re going to fucking do that. If you have a problem with it, then you and your men can leave and we’ll find someone else, or keep your thoughts to yourselves.”
Arson just regards me for a moment, his gaze and expression giving nothing away. Finally he says, “It’s going to be an adjustment for us considering how you run your club versus how we run ours. And considering that for a long time we’ve never had anything like this come up before, I’m sure you can understand our surprise.”
“I can, which is exactly why I’m not telling you to get out,” Bullet tells him tightly. “We’re well aware that we haven’t had to face anything like this as a club in many years, and if I had a choice, we wouldn’t ever. Especially not since Hammer and I worked damn fucking hard to get us out of that kind of life after what Bull and his minions put the rest of us through. We’re doing our best, considering what has been happening, and I’m using every fucking tool we have at our disposal to make sure that we don’t lose this fucking war that the Russians have brought to our door.” Then he gives him a furious look and adds, “And until you see your Old Lady lying in a hospital bed, unsure if she’s going to wake up or if you’re going to be alone for the rest of your days, then you can’t say shit to me about what you will or won’t do.” Then without another word, he stalks out, slamming the door behind him.
“Fuck,” Arson huffs, running a hand through his hair, then he strides out after Bullet, no doubt to repair the damage he’s just done.
“He always was one to cause trouble as soon as we got anywhere,” Silver remarks with a chuckle. “Now, I’m going to find a quiet spot to work on this. Though I sometimes work better after I’ve had my cock sucked, so if you know if any of the women would be interested…” He waggles his brows at us, and I just roll my eyes.
“I’ll find one of the club girls for you,” Shadow offers drily. “But none of that shit is happening until after the kids have gone to bed. You know our rules, Silver, and if my daughter sees or hears something she shouldn’t, I’ll be kicking your ass myself.”
Silver waves a hand at him. “Of course not. Besides, I’m going to head outside, so just make sure she stays inside. And I prefer blondes, by the way.” He grins that, shooting me a wink, before heading out of the room, whistling.
I fight back the urge to follow him and warn him away from Thea, not missing that pointed statement, but I stay put, clenching my hands into fists at my side instead. “I’m probably going to end up killing him before this is over,” I mutter.
“Bowie and Frost probably have the perfect vantage point around here for you to do it so no one will see you,” Cryos offers back in amusement, clearly overhearing me as he sits down at his computer.
I don’t reply to that. Because Bowie and Frost might know places, but I know them all. Even the ones that no one knows will work best. Those I keep to myself because you never know when that kind of information is going to come in handy.
“I’m almost considering telling Rose and the rest of the Coven to make sure to keep these boys on their toes,” Shadow drawls. “You know, just to make the point that they have it easy with their women compared to us.”
I chuckle at that. “Something tells me that Rose would be all for that. She’s not a fan after their last visit. Well, not of Silver anyway. You think he’s going to be able to figure out those journal entries?”
Shadow is silent for a moment. “He’s smart, and maybe he’ll be able to figure it out, but I have my doubts. And if I’m going to be honest, I’m not all that comfortable to have someone outside the club looking at it.”
I agree with that. As much as I know the Heaven’s Misfits are on our side, that doesn’t mean shit can’t turn and go sideways. I learned a long time ago to not trust just anyone with anything.
“I still say we should look at Thea having a look at it,” Cryos interjects, holding up his hands when I turn to glare at him. “I know you don’t want her to, but honestly, as smart as Silver is, he’s not military trained, and to me, all that looks military.”
“What we need to do is find out where Dagger hid anything else,” I say tightly. “Including possibly the answer key, because no way he memorized all that shit.”
“He did have a long time to do just that,” Shadow reminds me. “I mean, it’s clear that he was working on this for a long time, which means that he also might have used Bull’s, but changed it to make it his own instead of chancing someone finding it and figuring it out if Bullet or Hammer had known what it meant somehow.”
He has a point. “Fuck, this is a fucking mess and I’m done with this bullshit.” I turn toward the door, needing to get out and away for a bit. “I’m going to do a little hunting. Who’s coming with me?”
“I’ll come,” Shadow offers, following me out. “I want to check out the old farmhouse we found they were using before. It could be that since we didn’t find anything, they might have deemed it safe to use again.”
“You think Vlad would be that stupid?” I ask as we walk out of Cryos’s office and down the hall.
“I think he’s getting desperate, and desperate people do stupid things.”
When we get back into the common room, I see Macy is now doing the other side of Thea’s hair. I walk toward them, smiling down at Macy when she looks at me. “I’m going to make her hair supper pretty, Uncle Sniper,” Macy says proudly.
“You’re doing a great job, honey,” I praise her. Thea smirks up at me, knowing full well that I’m worrying how the hell we’re going to get all the knots out of it. Clearly she’s not worried though, so I guess she has to have a plan. “We’re going out, and we’ll be back shortly,” I tell Thea, placing my hand on her neck and giving it an affectionate squeeze. I want so badly to taste her again, but with Macy in her lap, Shadow will probably kill me. “Behave,” I warn Thea instead, squeezing just enough to make her understand how serious I am. “Any issues, tell one of the brothers and they’ll get in touch with me.” Then I release her and head for the door.
The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can come back and finish what we started earlier. And the sooner I can convince her there is no way in hell that she’s going anywhere.