Chapter Five
Wheels
Nobody said a damn word.
The blueprint stayed spread across the church table where Goldie had unfolded it. Every set of eyes in the room bounced between the faded lines on the paper and the woman sitting beside me.
A tunnel.
Hell, I’d expected a lot of things when Goldie started laying out everything she’d found. Corrupt city officials. Bribed inspectors. Fake companies. I hadn’t expected to find out we’d unknowingly bought the front door to whatever the hell The Ledger had been protecting for decades.
Twister rested both forearms on the table and studied the blueprint for another long minute.
Nobody interrupted him.
One thing I’d learned the first week I wore a Saint’s Outlaws cut was that when Twister got quiet, it meant he was thinking. The smartest thing the rest of us could do was shut up until he finished.
Finally, he looked up. “So,” he said calmly, “let’s separate what we know from what we think.”
I leaned back in my chair. Good. That’s exactly where we needed to start.
Twister pointed to the envelope. “We know somebody has been buying up damn near this whole block.”
Goldie nodded. “We know they wanted this building.”
Another nod.
“We know they tried buying The Badger’s Den.”
Tempi folded her arms. “Twice. I wish back then I had known to ask more questions than to just say no.”
Goldie’s head turned. “They offered twice?”
Tempi shrugged. “First offer came about a year before Twister and the guys moved into the clubhouse. I wasn’t interested.”
“And the second?” Goldie asked.
“It was a couple of months before the guys came to town, and almost double what they offered the first time.”
The room got quiet again.
“I still wasn’t interested,” she shrugged.
Twister reached over and laced his fingers with Tempi’s. “They couldn’t buy either building.”
Goldie nodded. “So they switched tactics.”
“Permits happened, then,” I said.
She looked at me. “They buried you in permits.”
“Yes.”
“The inspections.”
“Yes.”
“The fire.”
Her shoulders sagged.
“Yes.”
Swift pushed off the wall by the front door. “The shooting.”
Goldie’s eyes dropped to the table. “Yes.”
Hodge muttered a curse under his breath.
Method shook his head.
“That’s a hell of a lot of work just to buy a damn building.”
“They aren’t trying to buy a building,” Goldie said quietly. “They’re trying to get rid of the people inside it.”
Britta crossed her arms against the kitchen doorway. “If that’s true...” Everyone looked at her. “...why not just kill all of us?”
The question hung there.
Nobody answered right away.
Goldie rubbed her palms against her jeans before finally speaking. “Because that brings attention.”
Twister tipped his head. “Explain.”
“If this clubhouse suddenly became the scene of a mass murder...” She looked around the room. “...the police wouldn’t be the only ones investigating.”
Rev nodded once. “State police.”
“Eventually.”
Gramps spoke from the bar. “Maybe federal.”
Goldie nodded. “Exactly.”
She looked directly at Twister. “The Ledger doesn’t want headlines.”
“No?”
“They want you frustrated.” She looked at Tempi. “They want your insurance to become impossible.” Then at Swift. “They want your businesses tied up in paperwork.” Then back to Twister. “They want you bleeding money.” Her voice stayed even. “They want you to decide Madison isn’t worth it.”
Sully leaned both forearms on the bar. “So all this...” He motioned around the room. “...was supposed to convince us to leave?”
“I think so.”
Nugget barked out a laugh. “They picked the wrong damn motorcycle club.”
Chewy grinned. “Amen.”
Magnum pointed his beer toward Nugget. “For once, I agree with him.”
“Write today’s date down,” Nugget said. “Doesn’t happen often.”
Even Twister’s mouth twitched, only for a second, then he looked back at Goldie. “You said they need the tunnel.”
“I think they do.”
“You don’t know what’s down there.”
“No.”
“You’ve never been in it.”
“No.”
“You’ve only found references.”
“Yes.”
Podge flipped open his notebook. “What kind of references?”
Goldie reached into the envelope again and handed him another copied page. “Inspection reports.”
He adjusted his glasses. “These are from...” He frowned. “Nineteen twenty-eight.”
“That’s the oldest one I found.”
Podge flipped another page. “Then nothing.”
“Exactly.”
He looked up. “No inspections after that?”
“Not mentioning the basement.”
A low whistle came from Chewy. “Convenient.”
Goldie nodded. “Every inspection after that skips directly from the first floor to the foundation.”
Rev frowned. “Almost like someone wanted people to forget there was another level.”
Goldie met his eyes. “That’s what I started thinking.”
Method rubbed the back of his neck. “So where’s this tunnel go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have a guess?”
She hesitated. “I think it connects to more than one building.”
“Based on?”
“The blueprints.” She slid another copy across the table. Lines spread beneath the clubhouse across the alley toward The Badger’s Den. Then farther. Much farther.
Twister studied them. “So this wasn’t just us.”
“No.”
“They’ve been collecting this whole block.”
“Yes.”
“And if they already own most of it...” He tapped the clubhouse with one finger. “...this is the last piece.”
Goldie nodded slowly. “I think so. Along with the Badger Den and Marv’s, but I think the clubhouse is the key. Without it, nothing else connects and makes sense.”
I watched Twister.
He wasn’t looking at the blueprint anymore. He was looking around the room, reading every face and calculating.
That’s what made him our president.
Finally, he pushed his chair back and stood. “Here’s what’s gonna happen.”
Nobody spoke.
Twister looked at Hodge. “You, Method, Sully, and Chewy sweep every inch of the basement.”
Hodge grinned. “With sledgehammers?”
“No.” His grin disappeared. “You aren’t tearing down walls.”
Method nodded once. “We’re just looking.”
“Exactly.”
Twister turned toward Podge. “You and Gramps go through every page Goldie copied.”
Gramps groaned. “Paperwork.”
“You’ll survive.”
Podge already had his notebook open. “I’ll start tracing every company name.”
“Good.”
Twister shifted his attention. “Rev.”
“Yeah?”
“I want every piece of history you can find on this block.”
Rev nodded. “I’ll start at the library.”
“Magnum goes with you.”
Magnum tipped his beer. “You got it.”
Twister looked toward Swift. “You and Nugget go talk to Marv’s family.”
Nugget frowned. “The dead antique guy?”
“The same.”
Swift crossed his arms. “You think they know something?”
“I think Marv was on this block longer than anybody.” Twister shrugged. “If he did know anything...” His expression hardened. “...his family might know something, too.”
Swift nodded. “We’ll head over after lunch.”
Finally, Twister looked at me. “Wheels.”
“Yeah.”
He jerked his chin toward Goldie. “She’s with you.”
Goldie immediately shook her head. “I don’t think—”
Twister cut her off before she finished. “I wasn’t asking.”
She blinked.
“You don’t leave this building without Wheels.”
She opened her mouth again.
He didn’t give her the chance. “You don’t answer the door.” Another beat. “You don’t go anywhere alone.”
Goldie crossed her arms. “I don’t really get a vote, do I?”
“No.”
She sighed. “I figured.”
I looked over at her. She didn’t seem angry. Annoyed, sure. Maybe frustrated, but not angry. Like some part of her already knew Twister was going to make that decision before he opened his mouth.
Twister looked at me again. “If she needs clothes...”
I nodded. “I go with her.”
“If she needs anything from her apartment...”
Another nod. “I’ll take her.”
“We don’t know if it’s compromised.”
“I know.”
“So you don’t go alone. Take at least two others with you. We are stronger together.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
He looked around the room one last time. “This isn’t a treasure hunt.”
Hodge sighed dramatically. “There goes my afternoon.”
A couple of the guys chuckled.
Twister ignored them. “We aren’t chasing tunnels because we’re curious.” His gaze swept across every patched cut in the room. “We’re protecting what’s ours.”
Nobody argued.
Twister reached down, folded the blueprint carefully, and slid it back into the envelope. “One more thing.”
Everyone looked at him.
“If The Ledger’s been planning this for decades...” He paused. “...they’re not going to stop because we figured out one piece of the puzzle.” His eyes landed on Goldie. “They’re going to come looking for what they lost.”
I felt Goldie tense beside me just enough for me to notice.
Without thinking, I rested my forearm on the table between us. Not touching her. Just...there.
Twister looked at me one last time. “Keep her alive.”
I didn’t hesitate. “With everything I’ve got.”
Goldie turned her head toward me. For just a second, all the fear I’d seen in her since she’d walked into the clubhouse eased.
Then she looked away, and the room started moving.
Chairs scraped across the floor. Men gathered paperwork. Assignments were already turning into action. The meeting was over.
The hunt had just begun.