CHAPTER 28
Maverick
I storm up the basement stairs into the common room. I take one look at Leo, Flip, and Dom and they start moving.
Gator stands. “Should we come too?”
I shake my head. “No! We need you prospects here to keep an eye on the girls, if we need any of you, we’ll let you know. Where’s Shade?”
“Guard shack.” Dom says as he checks the magazine of his pistol before snapping it back in place.
I head toward the door. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we headed?” Leo asks as our boots clomp across the gravel lot.
“Green Street. Guy’s name is David Briar. Wife, kid, and unemployed,” I answer as I climb on my bike.
I don’t wait for a response or any other questions and quickly start my bike.
I rocket out of the lot with the three of them close behind.
Green Street is only a few blocks away on the east side of town.
It runs parallel with the park. I turn down the road past the one hundred and two hundred blocks consisting of mostly duplexes and smaller bi-level homes.
As we get toward the higher numbers the houses got smaller and more unkempt.
582 is a single-family home with grass so tall it must have missed its last thirty mows.
There are boxes and trash on the front porch piled so high it goes to the middle of the front window.
I pull up in the center of the road with the front of my bike pointing at the house.
Dom, Leo, and Flip do the same. The four of us creating a semi-circle aimed right at David Briar’s house.
We rev our engines over and over causing a few neighbors to walk out on their porches to investigate.
To their credit, they’re smart enough to go back inside without saying a word.
After about ten minutes the front door of 582 opens.
A woman sticks her head out and raises her hand at us.
Her brown hair is up in a messy bun. She’s overweight and wearing a floral nightgown.
We kill the engines without moving from our positions in the center of the road.
“Where is your husband?” Dom calls out.
“I… I don’t want any trouble. David’s not here,” the woman stammers.
“Ma’am, with all due respect, if he doesn’t come out, we’re coming in to get him,” Leo threatens.
Her face pales, which tells me he’s in there. She pulls her head back inside and says something to someone in the room. Her voice raises and finally the voice of a man meets hers in both volume and anger. They get louder, screaming at each other, until I’ve had enough,
I get off my bike and march across the street and up the steps onto the porch. I rip the front door open causing the screen door to crash into the house.
The woman steps back yelling. Her words aren’t clear, just a garbled mess of cries and vowel sounds.
I make eye contact with David across a very disgusting living room carpet that missed as many cleanings as the lawn did mows.
He turns like he’s going to run toward the kitchen where I can see a backdoor. Stupid.
In three steps I have him by the neck. In one motion I slam his face into the door frame between the living room and kitchen. David screams out in pain. His wife is now on the couch, crying.
“What did you do? David! You did something to Carnage?” she yells, as I drag her husband back through the house and out the front door.
By the time I reach the street Shade is there with the box truck.
The back door swings open revealing Gator and Doug.
I throw David toward them. They grab him and quickly pull him inside.
I slam the doors shut and turn back to the house.
David’s wife is standing there watching with tears streaming down her face.
I return to the porch. She stares directly at me as I stand outside the door, nothing but a screen between us. Her face is worn, and only now do I notice a bruise under her left eye. “Is he a good husband?” I ask her.
She sighs and shakes her head. Her eyes glide from me to the truck as it drives away with David inside. “He hits us,” she whispers. “He drinks all day every day.”
I hear a noise from within the house and look past her.
A girl is there, probably around fifteen, appearing scared with her arms wrapped around herself.
She eyes me curiously. I give her a tip of my chin and return my attention to her mother.
“Your husband almost killed my woman and my friend. He won’t be coming back. Ever.”
She studies me more, for a long moment. “Promise?” she asks in a shaky voice.
“Promise.”
I give her a nod and leave, returning to my bike. David is about to regret every choice he’s made in his entire life that brought him to this day. Leo, Dom, and Flip waited for me staying in the same positions I left them in. We start our bikes and head back to the clubhouse.
By the time we return Shade already has David tied to a chair in the old springhouse.
The stone building sits at the back of the Carnage property reserved for uses just like this.
It’s a small building with walls thick enough to drown out the loudest of screams. My posse of three enter with me.
David has duct tape across his mouth. His eyes are bloodshot and full of fear. Good.
“He wouldn’t shut the fuck up.” Shade says.
“Did he say anything useful?” Flip asks.
Shade shakes his head.
I walk up to David and grab the tape, quickly ripping it from his face. His head flies forward as he whimpers in pain. Some of his skin peeled off along with it. I feel nothing. I feel absolutely no remorse for this piece of shit.
“Why did you bring that truck to Dogwood Motors?” I ask.
“I… I didn’t. I don’t own a truck.” David tries.
Dom pulls a knife from his boot and stabs the table in front of David’s face. “You want to try again motherfucker.”
David gasps staring at the knife in front of him. “It’s not mine. I was just helping a friend.”
“Who?” I roar.
“Reese! Reese Norris. He paid me to bring the truck to the garage.”
“Did he tell you there was a fucking bomb inside?”
“Uh... Well, um…” David’s voice goes higher and higher with each pathetic sound that comes out of his mouth.
Flip grabs a handful of David’s hair and pulls his head back while simultaneously pulling the knife from the table. He holds the blade against his throat. “Answer the fucking question.”
“Yes! He told me! He said your club murdered his friends and that you needed to pay!”
Flip drops David’s head roughly letting it bounce off the table.
“And where is Reese now?” I ask cooly.
David shakes his head. “I can’t.”
“Oh you can, and you will.” I say.
Shade comes up behind David with a belt and wraps it around his neck, pulling back, cutting off his air supply.
He holds the belt tight as David’s face turns purple.
His hands fly up, trying to fight against Shade’s hold, which is useless.
Just when it looks like he might pass out I raise my hand and Shade loosens his grip, allowing David a few lifesaving breaths that he greedily sucks in.
“Where is he?”
David’s eyes shift between us. “You’re going to kill me.”
I nod. “And your cooperation will decide if it happens quickly or very fucking slowly.”
David pinches his eyes shut as tears stream down his cheeks. “But my wife…” he sobs.
“David, David, David, I talked to her. It seems as though she’s not going to miss your abusive ass. She went as far as to make me promise that you wouldn’t be coming home.” My words are even and cold.
His gaze slowly comes to mine. He lets out a few more whimpers before finally answering in a shaky voice. “He’s staying in Colton at the old mill. Him and Daryl are hiding out there.”
“Thank you for your cooperation,” Leo says. “You just bought yourself a fast execution.”
I pull my gun from my holster and walk behind our captive, who is now a blubbering mess of cries and begging.
I feel nothing as I place the muzzle against the back of David’s head and pull the trigger.
Blood covers the table as his head drops forward with a thud.
I re-holster my gun and glance at Shade, who gives me a chin lift.
I walk out of the springhouse with my conscious clear. Nobody puts my girl or my club in danger and gets away with it.