Chapter Five
Friday, June 6 th .
Riverside District. Austin.
I couldn’t remember falling asleep when I came home from Regan’s bar, but when I opened my eyes, it was definitely daylight and sun was streaming through my windows.
The apartment was warm but not hot enough to crank on the air. Some days were brutal up here, but those were few and far between. Overall, I loved my little man cave.
First thing I did was check for blood and there had been no leakage during the night.
Bonus.
Judging by how fuckin’ weak I was, I had no more blood to spare.
I dragged my ass out of bed and got the day started. After I used the bathroom, I made a loose plan for the hours ahead of me.
I’d go out and grab some breakfast and coffee and at the same time, I’d get a burner phone for Cindy and drive it up to Rosedale.
After I’d made good on that promise, I’d hit the Dragons’ clubhouse and ask about one of their members called Akito.
If they didn’t give me anything—and they probably wouldn’t—I’d go visit Kamps and see what he could dig up. I’d made up my mind to find that rapist and make sure he didn’t rape any other girls.
Rosedale Women’s Shelter. Rosedale. Austin.
I drove-thru for breakfast and coffee, sat in my truck in the parking lot and ate my two breakfast sandwiches. I was a lot hungrier than I thought I was.
Before I finished the last of my coffee, I took my pain meds and figured I’d be okay for the next three or four hours. That’s about all I needed to get my shit done.
After breakfast, I stopped for gas and grabbed a burner in the convenience store for Cindy and headed to the shelter up in Rosedale.
One of the girls I’d met there the day before let me in and showed me where Cindy and Flint were. Cindy was sitting on the carpet holding her baby in her arms while kids played all around her. Lots of young moms with small kids were staying at Neil’s shelter.
He's doing a good thing. These girls would be on the fuckin’ street without this shelter.
My cousin had bought an old, abandoned school and renovated it and turned it into a really nice place. Everything smelled new and the whole place was shiny clean and high end.
I watched Cindy for a few minutes from the doorway and she was smiling and she seemed to be fitting in with the other girls.
When she turned her head and saw me, she jumped up and came running over with Flint in her arms. “Did you bring me a phone, Lukas?”
“Yep. I put my number in there so you could text me. You doing okay?”
“Yes. Me and Flint are doing real good. Everybody is nice to me, and the other girls are nice too. They give you food here. Like breakfast, lunch and supper. All you have to do is help out with the food prep and the clean-up. It’s easy and I’m kind of learning how to cook. I found out that the other girls are as scared as me.”
“It ain’t right that any of y’all have to be scared. Text me when you need to. I’ll be around and when Neil comes back to Austin I’ll talk to him about getting you a more permanent place.”
“Thank you so much for everything, Lukas. You saved my life and Flint’s too.”
I winked at her and got going to my next stop.
Dragons’ Clubhouse. Downtown Austin.
Nice and polite, I knocked on the door of the Dragons’ shitty clubhouse. A few months before, Blacky had a hard on for the Dragons and decided to knock them down a few tiers. He arrested dozens of them and burned the old clubhouse down.
A definite setback.
This dump they were using in the worst part of the downtown core is where they moved to. An abandoned garage facing an alley lined with reeking dumpsters.
A definite step in the wrong direction.
After fighting my way past a bunch of starving feral dogs, I banged on the plywood door and a kid about fifteen opened it a crack. Joint in his mouth and a gun stuffed into his waistband.
“What do you want, cop?”
“Need to talk to Paco.”
“Ain’t here. He don’t talk to cops anyway. Spits on them and he’ll do the same to you.”
“Like to see him try that with me.”
“Paco will kill your ass. You one of them Donovans he’s always talking about? Hates the works of y’all.”
“Good to know.” I shrugged it off. “I’m not too fond of him either.”
“Don’t give a shit.”
“Who’s here with you? Diaz or Perez?”
“Sarge is here.” He tilted his head a little.
The kid didn’t open the door any wider to let me in, so I gave it a quick, hard shove that surprised the hell out of him. The door knocked the kid on his ass.
He reached for the gun stuck in his ripped jeans and I had my blade at his throat before he took his next gulp of oxygen.
“Bad idea, kid. Get up and show me where Carlos is.” I jerked the Glock out of his hand and shoved it in my own waistband.
“Gimme that. It’s mine.”
“Shut up.” I gave him a shove and propelled him forward into the main room.
“Carlos, you got company. One of them Donovan asshole cops.”
“Thanks for the introduction, kid. I won’t forget you next time I come to kill me a bunch of Dragons.”
He grinned. “Yeah, big cop talk. I could take you.”
“Don’t, Leon,” hollered Perez when he saw it was me. “Shut your mouth and get away from Lukas.”
The kid walked away and leaned on the wall.
“What do you want, Donovan?”
“You got a member named Akito… something?”
“Nope. Don’t got no Akito belonging to the Dragons.”
I looked at the kid’s face and knew Perez was lying.
“Never mind. I’ll find out another way. You wouldn’t want to be accessory to rape, Carlos. Punk like you couldn’t do the time. You’d be baby girl to one of them big bald fuckers with a swastika tattooed on his dick the minute you got past orientation.”
“Shut the fuck up, Donovan.” Perez hissed at me and his hand went to his blade.
“Come on, Perez.” I motioned for him to come at me. “I learned new moves I’m dying to show you.”
“Get the hell out of here, Donovan. This ain’t a social club. This is a business and I ain’t talking to you. I’ve got work to do.”
“Consider yourself lucky I ain’t taking your work with me and booking your ass for trafficking.”
I jumped into my truck, lit up a smoke and if the pres was home in bed like Perez said he was, I decided to pay him a call before I went another route.
Vincent Residence. East Congress. Austin.
I banged on the door of the stucco slum Paco Vincent lived in and he didn’t answer the door. Sick of waiting, and my arm starting to throb, my patience gave out and I ran around behind the shack, knocked garbage and bike parts out of my way, and kicked in what Paco was using for a door.
Splintering sound of me breaking in worked as good as an alarm clock and Paco ran into the kitchen in his boxers pointing a Glock at me.
My Sig was already pointed in his face. “You didn’t answer the door, Paco.”
“What the fuck, Donovan? I was asleep and you almost gave me a fuckin’ heart attack.” He put the Glock on the kitchen table, and I shoved mine into my waist holster.
Paco grabbed a beer out of the fridge and didn’t offer me one. He chugged half of it down then asked me what I wanted.
“Guy named Akito belongs to your club. The asshole is a rapist, and I want him.”
“Got no rapists in my club.”
“Yeah, you do. I’ve got proof and as soon as I get him, you’ll be one member short of a full load.”
“Think you’re looking in the wrong haystack, Donovan. I got nobody named Akito.”
“You sure? I find out you’re lying to me, Paco, you sure as hell don’t want me coming back at you. You sure fuckin’ don’t.”
“Why you care about dis thing, Donovan? You don’t investigate rapes. Ain’t your thing.”
“Personal.”
“Aw, fuck.”
“That’s right, Paco. This rape is personal. I pull my rapist out of your club, there will be shit coming down like you ain’t never seen.”
Paco laughed. “Never seen the funny side of you before, Donovan.”
“You’re gonna die laughing, Paco. Do what you gotta do and live like every day from now on is your last. Mark them off on your calendar ‘cause there won’t be many more.”
“You don’t scare me, Donovan.”
Paco pissed me off and I grabbed him by the hair, dragged him over to the fridge, shoved his head in and slammed the door on his head a few times before I left.
Old West Austin.
Next stop was Chet Kamps. The research guy for the Agency who could find just about anything or anybody. He worked from his townhouse in an old part of the city.
I knocked.
Didn’t know he had a housekeeper, but a lady called Inez let me in.
“Mister Kamps is upstairs in his office, Mister…?
I flashed her my badge. “Ranger Lukas Donovan, ma’am.”
“Come in, Ranger Donovan. Would you like coffee?”
“If it’s no trouble. Thanks.”
I ran up the stairs and the door to the office was open. “Hey, Kamps.”
He grinned. “Don’t get many personal visits from you, Lukas. Good to see you.” He pointed to the chair in front of his desk, and I sat down. “What’s up?”
“I’m looking for a rapist.”
Kamps raised an eyebrow. “Not your zoo.” He pointed at my arm.
“Caught a blade and got me some stitches. You’re right, rape ain’t usually in my wheelhouse, but I’m making this one-time exception.”
“Reason?”
I told him the story of meeting Cindy at the laundromat.
“She’s in Neil’s shelter with her baby? That was a good move on your part.”
“Yeah, first thing I thought of for a quick solution and she seems okay there, but the asshole who grabbed her is a loose end. I want him and there were other Dragons with him at the time of the rape, but only the one name.”
“So they could’ve gang-raped other girls before Cindy.”
“That’s a probability.”
“What name did you get?”
“Akito…something. Dragons’ cut. All I got.”
“Okay, let’s see. Akito ain’t too common and that will help us a lot. I’ll give it a shot and see what the search comes up with.”
A tap on the open door and Inez brought coffee for us on a tray. “Thanks, Inez. I could use a coffee.”
“You’re welcome, sir.” She smiled at her boss.
I figured Inez was close to fifty. Nice Hispanic lady who could probably make killer enchiladas.
Wish I could afford a housekeeper.
We drank coffee while the computer program searched for a biker named Akito .
“Have a muffin,” said Kamps.
“Might do that, thanks. I haven’t had lunch yet. Been busy on this little side hustle. Went to the clubhouse and to Paco Vincent’s rathole and he wouldn’t give his guy up.”
Bing.
The computer signaled when the search was done.
“Okay. Here we’ve got two or three guys named Akito. One is too old. One owns a TV station and by the process of elimination, we are left with Akito Rodriguez, with an address in East Riverside.”
“Not far from where I live. That’s got to be him. The piece of slime.”
Kamps glanced up. “I thought you lived with your Aunt Gail in Cherrywood.”
“Right, I do, but I also keep another place when I’m doing… stuff for Blacky off the books.”
“Good idea. Keep those two things separate.”
“Blacky’s idea.”
“He’s full of ideas, ain’t he?” asked Kamps.
“Smart guy.” I stuffed in my last bite of blueberry muffin and thought about eating another one.
“I’ll run Rodriguez through the DMV and if you can get a tag on his ride, that will help you out.”
“Sure will.”
Kamps ran Akito Rodriguez to see if he had a driver’s license and it came up with the same address as the computer did. “License is valid, and he owns a ten-year-old Harley Sportster. I’ll jot the tag down for you.”
“Thanks. Be great if I could bag him today and wind this up.”
“He’s got no priors for rape,” said Kamps. “Possession. Avails. Trafficking.”
“Could have done it before but never got caught. When Cindy described it to me it sounded like a gang rape that got interrupted.”
“Lucky for her,” said Kamps.
“Yeah, Akito was first up, and he was barely done when they heard sirens and ran off.”
“He might have a juvie record,” said Kamps. “Chances of me getting into that are slim.”
“The kid I saw today at the Dragons’ clubhouse was no more than fifteen,” I said. “Vincent is dragging them off the street real young and bringing them into the life .”
“Huh. That’s a crime in itself and what Annie’s always been fighting against. Kids forced by a bad situation into a worse situation that will eventually ruin their lives.”
“Yeah, she’s about the only one who’s ever trigged into that fuckin’ clusterfuck and actually does something about it. There’s nobody like her and never will be.”
“Copy that,” said Kamps. “I wasn’t a kid when she dragged me out of the alley, but I owe her everything.”
“We all do,” said Lukas.
“Go check out the address and see if he’s there. If not, try the clubhouse later and tag his ride. Then you’ve got him.”
“Good copy. Appreciate the help.”
Rodriguez Residence. East Riverside. Austin.
The place where Akito Rodriguez lived in East Riverside wasn’t much more than a hut. Four wooden walls—unpainted—a corrugated tin roof and a chipboard front door.
Sitting on about a forty by sixty-foot lot overgrown with weeds, the whole works was surrounded by sagging chain link.
No Harley in the yard.
The rapist wasn’t here.
The gate squeaked open, and I walked to the door. Knocked twice and an old lady opened it a crack. She looked scared so I showed her my badge. “Akito here, ma’am?”
“He’s at work.”
“Where does he work?”
“At the big Amazon warehouse.”
“I know where that is.”
“Is my grandson in trouble with the police?” Her voice trembled and I felt sorry for her.
“Just need to ask him a couple of questions.”
“He’s working steady, and I don’t want trouble.”
“No trouble, ma’am. Thank you for your time.”
Amazon Warehouse. North Austin.
The place was goddamned huge. I parked my truck in an area marked for visitors, then I hoofed it a quarter fuckin’ mile to the employees parking lot and strolled through rows and rows of cars, trucks, bikes, vans.
Hundreds of people worked in that warehouse. Might even be thousands. If I could get the bike tagged, I’d be ahead of the game, but there were too fuckin’ many vehicles here for me to look through. I’d have better luck at the clubhouse.
Out of breath when I got back to my truck, and it soon would be time for more meds and more sleep.
I’ve got to take care of myself and get home. I start bleeding again and that doc is gonna fuckin’ kill my ass.
Riverside District. Austin.
By the time I got to my little home away from home, I was late taking my meds, and I was paying for it. My arm throbbed and I could barely keep my eyes open.
When Blacky and I had our last little talk, he was right about one thing—he said I shouldn’t be working.
I took the meds and before I laid my head down, I checked again for a text from Regan.
Nothing.
Felt let down when she didn’t say something to me. Didn’t care what the fuck she said, I just wanted her to say it. That would mean she was thinking about me. Made me sad because she wasn’t.
I wanted Regan to text me, but I hardly ever texted her. I pulled out my cell and typed text me , then closed my eyes and went to sleep.
Another huge sleep—thanks to the mega-powered pills, but I needed it. I had work to do and I couldn’t do it feeling weak as a dead kitten.
When I got up and shook off the groggy effect of the meds, I made myself a sandwich and drank a cold Coke.
Feeling better, I cleaned up a lot and checked my cell for messages.
Still no text.
Not happy.
Dragons’ Clubhouse. Downtown, Austin.
I drove downtown to the new home of the Dragons and parked far enough away that the stink of the dumpsters didn’t get on my truck.
There was a big meeting going on inside. Rows and rows of bikes were parked tight to the side of the building.
Not a thousand to look through like at Amazon.
I grabbed my flashlight out of the glove box, stepped out of my truck and went for a stroll.
Chances were good that one of the Dragons would come outside and catch me, but I had to take the risk. I wanted that fucker Akito for Cindy.
Taking my chances with the dumpster dogs, I plowed ahead and searched row by row.
Bike after bike, I stared at the tag numbers and tried to match it to the one Kamps had written down for me. Then my tired brain kicked in with a thought and I remembered Kamps saying Akito rode a Sportster.
Duh.
That sped up the search for me.
From then on, I only looked at Sportsters and I found the bike and tagged it.
Job done.
I ran back to my truck and took off for my next destination. Time to have a beer with Regan—the hot girl who didn’t text me.
Mahaffey’s Bar and Grill. Montopolis.
Regan smiled when I grabbed a stool at the end of the bar, and as soon as she had a free minute, she brought me a pitcher of Shiners and a frosted glass.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m better.”
“Good.”
Between customers Regan came back to talk to me, and she chatted while I watched my phone. Waiting to see any movement of Akito’s ride.
“What are you doing?”
“Working,” I whispered.
Regan laughed. “That kind of work doesn’t look too stressful.”
“Nope. It ain’t. Might pick up later.”
Regan picked up the pitcher and refilled my glass. I had time for one swallow before the tracker started to move. “Got to go. Text me.”
She laughed as I ran out the door.
Easy Rider Sports Bar. Downtown Austin.
It was getting late as I drove across the city. After one in the morning when the bike stopped moving. I caught up easily at the Easy Rider dive bar where the Dragons drank and bragged and smoked and got high and hit on girls.
I used to be just like them.
Before my brother found me.
I lit up a smoke and sat in my truck watching for Akito to come out and hop on his Sportster.
Long wait and not one of the Dragons came out the door until the bar shut down for the night. Then the works of them came out together, drunk and high and laughing. Some of them with girls they’d been lucky enough to pick up.
They jumped on their rides and scattered six ways from Sunday.
Akito followed a few other bikes, and I followed him. We wove through the city, and I recognized the streets I’d been on earlier in the day. Had to figure we were going to Paco’s house for some after-hours fun and games.
Vincent Residence. East Congress. Austin.
I slowed down, parked in the shadows and watched the Dragons set their kickstands and go inside Paco’s shack. All of them drunk, hooting and hollering and laughing themselves silly.
I gave them a chance to get settled in and start doing their drinking or drugs or whatever pulled their chains, then I circled around the house and walked in through the door I had trashed earlier in the day.
Paco Vincent had invited his VP, Ramone Diaz, and the club Enforcer, Carlos Perez along with three other club members who were getting special treatment for whatever reason.
One of them being Akito Rodriguez. They were all shooting up and the sight of it made me want to puke.
I leaned on the kitchen counter where they couldn’t see me from the living room, and I watched them until they were so high they were out of their fuckin’ heads.
Laughing and talking crazy.
No way they’d care or even notice I was there.
I smiled as I pulled the pin and rolled a live grenade into the midst of the fun-filled Dragons.
Time to go.
I beat it out the back door and ran hard for my truck.
Boom.
Adrenaline pumping through my veins like liquid energy, I slid behind the wheel and headed for home.
One loose end tied up.