Chapter Fourteen. #2
Cates coughed. “There’s too many, Falcon; Myka’s in the safest place possible.
As is Jayes. If you go somewhere alone, you’ve no backup.
The Beauregards will kidnap Myka and do terrible things to her.
The Beauregard men believe women don’t have the right to say no.
And when I say they’ll take turns, I mean that. ”
I stared at Cates, horrified at the thought. “What do we do? I won’t let Rawson have her.”
“We’re doing everything possible, but Myka needs to stay here. The problem is that you’re on the water. Anyone can approach from that,” Cates replied.
“Not as easily as they might expect. We’ve got motion sensors in the water and trees and buried around the shoreline. If someone comes from that, we’ll know about it,” Calamity said.
Cates widened her eyes. “Really? You have cameras out there?”
“Yeah,” I grunted, trying to figure out a plan of action.
“Calamity, I need the footage,” Cates demanded.
“You can have it from the night Smith rolled up, but there’s nothing on it. We checked. The body just washed up. He was dumped further down the lake,” Calamity replied, guessing what Cates was after.
“Calamity, I still need to view it,” Cates insisted.
“Sure, I’ll have Glitch email it to you.”
“Thank you. I’d better get back. Thanks for the food.”
“Sheriff, you made the notification yet?” I asked.
“No. I wanted to give you guys a heads-up.”
“This goes a long way,” Calamity answered after a few seconds. Cates was trying to make amends. Fair enough; we could meet her halfway. But if Cates shit on the club again, our help would be cut off.
Cates left, and I spun to Calamity. “Get Myka and Jayes out of here.”
Calamity infuriatingly bit into a piece of bacon. “You claiming her?”
“Myka’s mine.”
“Then Myka stays here, as does Jayes. Cates is right. If we split up, you’ll lose her. The Beauregards are sneaky fuckers. They’ll lay a distraction while someone else grabs them. I’ll have Glitch put the water security system on twenty-four-seven. The kids will have to use the pool for now.”
“Darlin’, I’ll shadow with her. Myka won’t want to risk upsetting her mother-in-law,” Mom said, and I turned around and found Mom and Dad at my back.
“Eventually, you’ll need to return to Rapid City; you can’t stay here indefinitely,” I argued.
“No, especially as your dad is Veep. But we can for a week. Falcon, we could probably even stretch to two weeks. The club’s damn quiet apart from the allies’ drama.
Drake will be fine, particularly if he knows it concerns your old lady,” Mom replied.
She sat down as Dad fetched their breakfast and coffee.
“It will give us a chance to know Myka better and help her settle into the family,” Mom added. She turned to Calamity. “If that’s okay with you, Prez?”
“Yeah, just keep the kids under control. Our Satan’s Spawn aren’t as wild as the Hellions, and we want them to stay that way,” Calamity warned.
Mom grinned. “Sure thing, Prez.”
Calamity’s phone rang. “Yo.”
I sat up straight as I heard a panicked voice. Calamity was already rising.
“Mom, don’t let them out of your sight,” I ordered as Calamity headed for the exit.
“I swear,” she promised. That would do me. Nobody would get past my mom. I chased after Calamity.
“What happened?” I demanded as he dialled someone while straddling his bike.
“The garage is on fire. Falcon and I are riding,” he said down his phone and hung up.
I set my jaw as I hit my hog and rode out behind him.
Calamity had probably called Hunter, and he’d alert Savage and Gauntlet.
Crap. As we headed into town, we could see the smoke billowing dark in the region of the garage.
Despite how early it was, there were people on Mill Street as we raced down it.
The garage was at the corner of Grange Hall Rd and Mill Street.
As we neared it, the smoke thickened, and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I was beyond surprised when it came into view, and we saw it was still standing.
Flames licked at the front and left walls, but from what I could see, it hadn’t spread. The fire department had contained it.
Parking up, we crossed the street to where several deputies blocked the road from the nosy fuckers who’d turned out to watch. An ambulance was on scene with its doors open, facing away from us. Calamity nodded to Chief Deputy Rick Farell.
“How long has it been burning?” I asked.
“About an hour. A witness saw it spark into life, and then he said it climbed the walls. I’m thinking arson, but fire investigation will answer that.”
“Fuck.”
“One of your guys was here. He got the vehicles out but got burned,” Farell said with a nod at the ambulance. Neither Calamity nor I hesitated and rushed forward. Sitting inside it, on a stretcher, and glowering was Felix.
“You just earned your colours, prospect,” Calamity stated.
“How badly is he hurt?” I asked a paramedic.
“Felix has burns on his hands and wrists. He’s also got smoke inhalation and needs to keep the fuckin’ mask on,” she growled and replaced it over Felix’s mouth.
“That’s the fourth time he’s removed it to speak to someone.
And the patient should also shut up because every time he speaks, he has a coughing fit. ”
Felix stared at the woman who held his gaze fearlessly. He raised his hand, and she slapped it. Despite the circumstances, I was amused as Felix glared.
“Keep the mask on, prospect,” Calamity ordered. “Did you see who did it? Nod or shake your head.”
Felix shook his head.
“Was the fire burning when you arrived?”
Crap, Felix shook his head. He’d been inside the building when it went up.
“Next time, leave the damn vehicles and get the fuck out!” Calamity snarled.
Felix pursed his lips and began hacking.
“I’m taking him to the hospital. I don’t like the sound of his cough,” the paramedic said.
“Take him. I’ll follow,” Calamity replied as he backed out of the ambulance.
“You’re not riding alone,” I stated.
“I’ll…”
“No. Your own orders, Prez. Some brothers will be along soon; you’re waiting with me,” I retorted.
“Mouthy fuckin’ kid. Why did I give you Veep?” Calamity bitched.
“Because Klutz didn’t want it.”
“Nope. Well, yeah, he didn’t, but I’d planned to break ranks and have two Veeps. You were owed this Falcon,” Calamity said. That shocked me speechless.
“Two?” I finally managed.
“Yeah. Rage love bucking the trend. The plan wasn’t to leave you behind. I was taking you no matter what,” Calamity announced. Before I could form an answer, Harleys roared, and six riders came into view. Gauntlet, Hunter, Savage, Klutz, Ghost, and Priest.
“Ghost, Klutz, you’re on Prez; he needs to go to the hospital. Felix was taken in. Prospect was here when the fire caught, but he got all the vehicles out,” I said.
Eyebrows rose. “How badly is Felix injured?” Hunter demanded.
“Burns and smoke inhalation, but the paramedic didn’t like his breathing,” Calamity replied.
He headed for his bike, with Klutz and Ghost dogging his heels. Priest whipped his phone out and began typing. Moments later, my cell beeped, and I glanced at the group chat message. Priest was sending everyone to the hospital to support Felix.
“Looks like they’ve saved the building,” Hunter said.
“The tyres we had stacked up there have gone up; that’s why the smoke’s so bad,” Savage agreed.
My shoulders sagged at their words. Tyres were easily replaceable. At least it was nothing expensive. We watched as the flames died down and then, in a blessing, the heavens opened.
“Great timing.” I laughed as within moments we were soaked.
“Can’t moan at that, Veep. God likes us today,” Gauntlet agreed.
Ray Banks walked across to us. “Going to be an hour before it’s finally out, but the rain is helping. Luckily, it didn’t breach the building, although everything piled up against the two walls is gone.”
“Did you have to make a vent?” I asked.
“Nope. As said, it hadn’t breached the walls. Gotta tell you, boys, this reeks of arson. How your prospect described how it acted, sure seems manmade.”
“We have cameras, Chief. We can pull the footage,” Hunter said.
“You’ll need to air the inside out. There might be some smoke damage, but fire-wise, everything inside should be good. Get your electrics checked before using them. Melted wiring and shit. You know what to do.”
“Thanks, Chief, we’ll just hang around for a bit. Keep an eye on things,” Gauntlet said, and Chief Banks nodded and headed back to his men.
“We don’t discuss this out in the open. Wait until church later; Prez will call one.”
Grim nods met me. One of our vandals had just upped the ante again.