Chapter 3
-:- CHAOS -:-
Walking into the clubhouse, I give a head nod of acknowledgement to everyone who is around as I pass through the common room. Mia is with Summer in the kitchen and I finger-wave her as I pass the door when she looks over.
Knocking on the door I enter when Specs shouts, “Come in.” As Specs looks up from his keyboard, he gives me a nod. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“Yeah, I suppose you have,” I reply with a huge smirk on my face. But I’m thinking why did I not know he would already be on the case. “Who have you looked into?”
Taking a seat, I wait for Specs to reply.
“Well, your little lady, Victoria Meadows, is a software developer. She’s damn good at her job, and she’s sought after.
She is a freelancer. She specializes in testing and debugging systems. She is very private and doesn’t socialize from what I can see.
She has no social media activity, in fact, she is not on any I can find. ”
“What’s your gut telling you, Specs?” I ask because I can see something is puzzling him.
“You would expect that with her skills she would be out there wanting to be seen to get more work. But it’s like she’s covering her back so nobody can find her.
I’ve found her bank accounts, and yeah, I’ve gotten in without leaving a footprint, and she’s fairly loaded.
Makes a mint with the work she does. She worked for Wells Fargo Bank and cleaned up a bug in their system two years ago.
That got her noticed in the banking world, and she’s had work from other banks since.
My worry is that she’s gone dark. It could mean someone wants her to do something illegal, and they have been pressuring her.
” Specs looks at me with such a serious look that I know this is his conclusion.
“Can you update Axel? I want nothing to happen and us be on the back foot.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Specs looks back at his screen, then flicks his eyes to me again.
“What?”
Turning to look at me he folds his arms as he leans back in his seat.
“The woman and child that Victoria saved…I looked into them. It was odd that nothing had shown them enquiring about Victoria’s health.
I even asked Forest if he had had any inquiry, to which he said no.
But we both felt something was off. I’m digging and will update you when I know more. ”
“I thought something was off too, and I was going to ask you to check it out,” I admit as I stand and head for the door.
“I’ll keep you informed, Chaos.”
Leaving Specs' office, I head out of the clubhouse and compound and make my way over to the Sheriff’s Office. I know something is amiss, and digging around can’t hurt.
Walking into the Sheriff’s Office reception area, I wave at Zack, who is sitting behind the reception desk. Now, he’s a great man and everyone likes him. He is very efficient and yet can be a hoot when he’s in the right mood.
“Morning, Zack,” I quickly say as I head toward the reception.
“Hi, Chaos. How are you? Long time no see!”
“I’m good. Is Forest in?”
Zack shakes his head, “No, he’s out with Dep. They are looking at a spate of break-ins that have been happening on Broadbank.”
“Not heard about those. Is Aaron around?” I asked particularly for Aaron as he’s prior FBI, so may have contacts if we need them.
“Yeah, he’s in the deputies’ office. Go through.” Zack turns back to what he’d been doing when I entered, and I quickly walk into the deputies’ office.
“Aaron, you got a minute?” I ask and give Francis a nod when I see him working at another desk.
“Of course, is it okay here, or do you want privacy?”
“No, here is fine,” I launch into what happened at the river, the kid and his mother, my suspicion is something isn’t right, and then what I know about Victoria. Francis I note has stopped working and is listening intently.
Clicking on his computer for a moment or two, Aaron looks up at me. “Nothing in the system for Victoria Meadows. Which means nobody is looking for her, or as a computer whiz maybe she’s covered her tracks?”
Francis speaks, and I turn to look at him. “Let us check out the family and anything we can find on Victoria. I agree, Chaos, something feels off.”
“Go have a quiet word with the nurses where the kid was at. If they saw anything odd, I’m sure you can charm it out of them,” Aaron smirks, and yeah, he knows about my reputation.
“I’m going over tonight, or earlier if I can get chores done.” I head out of the office, and when I straddle my hog, I take out my phone and send a message to Target.
Chaos: I’m going to the clubhouse and sort Jack out with your old hog. I’ll not be at work this week, got far too much to do. Can you cover for me while I'm away?
Target: No problem. I’ve spoken to Axel, and he’s good with Jack working here. Get Jack set up and watch your girlfriend, ha ha.
I mumble, “Fucker,” under my breath but can’t hold back the smirk because girlfriend is feeling okay with me. Just will have to sweet-talk Victoria into the same thinking.
****
“Come on, Jack. I’ve got something to show you.”
We walk over to Meat’s place and inwardly I am smirking because Jack just doesn’t know what the fuck is going on, but he’s holding back his curiosity and not questioning.
Meat opens the shed as we reach him, and he’s giving Jack a serious look, which I notice has Jack squirming a little.
We all, however, turn when we hear Star shouting as she walks towards us.
“Jack, you are a lucky boy. You have all of us and a mentor like Chaos.” She kisses Jack’s cheek, which has Meat grunt, grab hold and drag Star to him.
“What do you mean, Star?” Jack looks so confused that I slap his back, causing him to take three steps forward with the shock of it.
I step into the shed and slide the Harley Electra Glide out.
It’s got some rust showing and needs a new seat.
It’s a fixer-upper if ever I saw one. “This is a gift from Target. He said to do it up and use it. It’s yours and the title is here for you.
” I take the title out of my back pocket and hand it to him, while Meat pushes him toward the hog.
“Come on, Jack, close your mouth and grab your girl,” Star says as she’s hopping from one foot to the other with excitement.
“Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Mine?” Jack who I’ve never really heard curse before, drops this out.
Star and I laugh at the shocked look on his face.
Meat pushes him out of the shed, locks the door, and grabs Star.
She is over his shoulder and as Meat heads back to his house, Star is waving at us over his shoulder while her other hand is playing with Meat's ass.
“Come on, Jack. You need to get this girl working so you have a vehicle to get to and from the shooting range.” I slap his shoulder once more and walk away, leaving him to push that heavy ass machine down the compound.
Good physical exercise I think to myself, but don’t stop the smirk that crosses my face.
****
Three hours later, and much earlier than I expected I walk into the corridor with the nurses' station where the kid had been admitted. Two nurses are at the station, and they both give me interested looks as I walk over to them.
“Hi, can we help you?” Nurse One asks.
“I’m looking for a little information on the kid that was brought in after nearly drowning.
My girlfriend was the one who dived in and saved him.
We are waiting for her to wake up, but I thought I’d best check because you and I know she’ll ask how he is as soon as she does.
” I give them the ‘you know what I mean’ look.
“Corey Plaskett, nine years of age,” the nurse is mumbling to herself as she searches the system.
“He was released the day after and was fine. No aftercare needed.” She looks a little closer at the monitor in front of her, then looks at me.
“He has been admitted twice before, once with a broken finger and once with a concussion from a fall.”
The second nurse walks behind the first and looks at the screen. She is frowning and purses her lips. “We should have picked this up. Flag it, Pauletta, if he comes in again it needs a follow-up.”
“You think skullduggery is afoot?” I ask, but keep it as light as I can, without it looking flippant or too interested.
“I don’t know,” the second nurse answers, but I can see she’s not happy with what she has seen.
“Do you remember what the mother was like with the kid?” I ask and watch them both intently because first reactions to questions are always hard to hide.
Nurse One frowns. “She wasn’t very loving. In fact, she only came back once to pick him up when he was discharged. The father came one time, and after he left, the kid didn’t speak a single word. We couldn’t get anything out of him, but up to then he had been quite okay to speak to us.”
“None of you thought that was a red flag?”
“I didn’t even realize it until this minute when you asked the question.” The nurse looks embarrassed, but she looks upset as well.
“Thanks for the information,” I throw out as I turn and head out of the place. I quickly make my way to check on Victoria, but message Specs.
Chaos: Pull up the camera at the hospital and find out what happened with the kid and his father. I want to see what the father looks like, too.
Specs: Will do. Leave it with me.
Stepping into Victoria’s room, I take a seat, hold her hand, and tell her all about my day.
Now and again, I feel a finger move, and I’m not sure if she can hear me or not, but I keep talking.
“So, I’ve just been down to the kids' ward, and I found that something happened with his dad. After he’d been to see the kid, the kid didn’t speak again.
That says he was told to keep his mouth shut about something.
Very suspicious, and we’ll get to the bottom of it.
But I need you to wake up so you can tell me what you saw. ”
Another twitch, and it felt stronger than the last. I study Victoria’s face and no change as yet.
But I know I’m not imagining it. “Anyway, I’m going to speak to Sheriff Forest and get him to look into the family.
Something doesn’t add up. Oh, and I know you are a software developer.
Pretty darn clever, I’m thinking. You helped Wells Fargo Bank get rid of a nasty bug or something, which had other banks chasing you down. It’s fucking impressive, Victoria.”
The door opens and a male nurse walks into the room. “Hi, you Victoria’s family?”
“Boyfriend,” I state clearly.
“I’m just checking Victoria’s IV and then I’ll be out of your way.”
I watch him closely, and something about him feels off. But when I see him take a syringe out of his pocket and lift it to the IV bag, I’m out of the seat and grab his arm. I turn the arm so the syringe is against his chest and give my asshole grin. “So, what were you going to inject her with?”
He stares me down, probably thinking I’m nobody to worry about. But I snap his wrist, and the syringe falls to the floor. I then spin him, get him into a sleeper hold and have him out before he could shout ‘help’.
Taking out my phone, I quickly make the call to Wings. “Need you to collect something from the hospital. We may have to guard Vicky’s room.”
“Be with you shortly, keep the fucker out. I presume he’s out?” Wings snarls.
“Oh, yeah, he’s out.” I kick the fucker in the head to make sure he stays out too.
Bringing my seat around so I can kick the fucker if he starts to come around, I take hold of Victoria’s hand. “Well, it seems someone wants to take you out, or something else, don’t know yet. We’ll have the syringe checked out.”
It’s only twenty minutes before Wings, Drag, and Stitch walk into the room. But I smirk because Stitch has a gurney and is wearing a porter’s coat.
Wings and Drag pick up the prick and throw him not so gently onto the gurney. Stitch injects him with something, and I point at the syringe on the ground, which he picks up, caps and places into his porter’s coat pocket.
“See you later, Chaos,” Wings says, then looks at Victoria. “Oh, she’s a pretty one.”
“Get the fuck out and ask Axel what we are going to do about protection for Victoria?” I realize sometimes I call her Victoria and other times Vicky, but both come easily so I don’t mind either.
When my phone rings, I quickly answer, “Yeah, Wings, what did he say?”
“He’s sending Jack to sit with her overnight. Then we’ll make sure she has coverage between the rest of us.”
“Okay, I’ll leave here when Jack arrives.” The call closes out, and I turn to Victoria. I stare because her eyelids are flickering. That is new, she’s not done that before!
“You waking up, Vicky?” I ask lightly and give her hand a squeeze.
Slowly, her eyes open, and I don’t even try to stop the smile that crosses my face.
Her green eyes focus on me after a few moments, and they open a little more as she stares at me.
“Hi Vicky, I’m Chaos, your very own boyfriend,” I stupidly say, and that gets me a frown, right before she giggles.
“Say something, babe. You are safe now. Do you remember anything?” I don’t press to tell anyone she’s awake because I need this moment for her reaction and any first comments.
“Is the boy okay?” she groggily asks, and I nod as I grab the water and place a straw in for her to sip from.
“The boy is fine; he went home the next day. Have a little drink.” I hold the straw to her mouth, and she takes a sip.
“Who are you?” She asks, and I give her my most charming smile.
“I’m Chaos, your boyfriend.”
Now, she takes in my kutte, then my arms, flicking up to my face. She gives me a serious look, and I nod again. “Yeah, your boyfriend,” I state once more.
“Fuck me!” she says quietly, and naturally, I respond, “Later, babe, later.”