Chapter Twenty-One
“G rant’s right,” Pat said, walking into Bull’s office.
Bull looked up, and behind him was Grant.
“Of course I’m right.” Grant let out a laugh. “Wait, what am I right about? I mean, I’m right about a lot of things, and people tend to—”
“Ranford,” Pat said, cutting Grant off. He had a tendency to just start talking and not stop, which was fine but also a little annoying. “Grant’s right, it has to be Ranford.”
“Look, I know you didn’t like Ranford, in fact, no one has liked Ranford from the beginning.”
“This is different,” Pat said.
“Ranford always said that when he took on the cartel, he had nothing to lose, right? Think about how we’re getting attacked,” Pat said.
“This is close to home, but Ava is a new deal. None of you guys have truly met her. Other than Halloween, Ranford has to be the one responsible. He’s working for the cartel.
He is the only one who would know about the security cameras around town, around the sheriff’s building.
He would know what to do, when to attack.
With Ava, it is sending a message. That shit has cartel written all over it, but the baseball bat, that’s Ranford.
Think about when he took his city. The man was known for being a beast, and he used his fists and. ..”
“A baseball bat. It is what made him feared,” Bull said. “Because he didn’t just shoot to kill. He got personal.”
“Every other hit does not have that personal element, but this one is personal,” Pat said.
“Does this mean Ranford has a problem with you?” Grant asked. “Like a personal vendetta?”
“No,” Pat said. “This is anger. Ranford hates himself.”
This time, Grant burst out laughing. “That makes no fucking sense.”
“It does, if you think of it like him,” Pat said.
“He lost his brother. He lost his city. He couldn’t find his brother’s body.
It was making him desperate, and what does a desperate man do?
He makes a deal with the enemy, turning your back on those that gave you a chance.
This was personal to Ranford. This was about him reminding himself exactly who he is. ”
Bull dropped the pen he was holding. “And he can hide within plain sight.”
“He told us he was in Carnage for over four months without us knowing.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Grant asked.
“It means, he is here right now.”
“And that’s how Lidia got hit,” Grant said. “She knows Ranford. The two talked a few times. She saw him around the club.”
“Exactly,” Pat said.
“How the fuck did this guy operate before?” Grant asked. “Is he just some kind of invisible dude? I mean, he is a pretty big guy, right, and a fucking vegan, wouldn’t that shit have started to create gossip?”
Pat made his way toward Bull’s window and looked out at the parking lot, and that was when it struck him.
“He stole a leather cut,” Pat said.
“What?” This came from both Pat and Bull.
“Think about a few weeks ago, Gaz told us he had lost his leather cut, remember? He reckoned some chick stole it as he hadn’t seen it since working on his bike out front,” Pat said.
It had seemed insignificant at the time. He hadn’t even thought about chasing it up. “That’s how he’s getting around town with no gossip,” Pat said. “He’s using our own club against us.”
“I’ll call Carl and Beatrice. Ask if they have seen a guy matching Ranford’s description,” Bull said. “You need to round the boys up, and we need to find this fucker before he does anything else.”
“Wait,” Grant said. “What is the guy’s end game?”
“Divide and conquer,” Pat said. “That is why he has gone after the women, but going after Lauren, he made a mistake.”
“Uh, why is that?” Grant asked, looking a little dumb.
“Because he just pissed me off, and trust me, he does not want to deal with me.”
And with that, Pat made his way out of Bull’s office, finding Violet and Hazel at one of the tables in the clubhouse.
Both women stuck out like sore thumbs, as their clothing was very colorful, and they were covering up most of their bodies.
The other women were dressed in black or dull colors, and were close to being naked.
“I need you two to stay here. Don’t leave and don’t let Ava leave either, okay?”
“Okay,” Hazel said.
Pat wanted to say more to the other woman, to apologize for all her daughter had seen, but now was not the time. He would deal with Hazel later.
He made his way out toward the main parking lot, and he didn’t get far before Grant was there.
“What’s the plan?” Grant asked.
“Find him. Remember, Ranford has done this before.”
“Done what?”
“Taken a city, so I imagine a town is not going to be a problem for him.”
“Hold the fuck on right now. You think Ranford’s end game is taking the town?”
“It’s what the cartel wants, right?” Pat asked.
“Think about it, this place is the prime zone. Think about what my pop said. It’s the ideal place to store and distribute.
We already have the local law enforcement on our side.
The cartel sweeps in, take this place, and then they have no holds barred on all their shit getting through. It’s the perfect place.”
“And you think Ranford is willing to risk it all to get his brother back?”
“Yeah, I do, seeing as he risked his own city and lost it. He has nothing to lose, Grant. All he wants is his brother’s body, and to do that, he’s willing to sell us out.
” With that, Pat revved his engine and took off.
The other brothers would have to do what they needed to.
Pat was heading to the cabin, the one place he knew his father had a supply of guns, and was probably already preparing for war.
Pat made his way toward his father’s cabin, he didn’t waste time and stayed focused.
With each mile he took, he remembered the look on Ava’s face last night.
The sobs that came from her mouth echoed through his mind.
He saw the video replaying the footage of Ranford murdering an innocent woman.
Finding Lidia, unconscious, with the drugs injected into her arm.
He remembered it all, and as he did, he felt that piece of himself he kept locked up tight start to loosen. Pat didn’t fight to keep it locked up. Ranford had messed with his woman, put her life at risk, and now that piece of shit was going to pay the price.
Arriving at his father’s cabin, he parked his bike and made his way to the front door. As he did, Doc opened the front door and was carrying a shotgun. “I heard what happened to your woman,” Doc said. “I’m sorry.”
“I need to see your weapons.”
“They’re ready for you.”
His father didn’t need to ask questions. There was no need. Pat made his way into his father’s cabin and went straight down to the basement. His father had gotten out of the life, but that didn’t mean he relied on being free.
The Chaos and Carnage MC had many enemies, and with the cartel, those enemies were unpredictable.
“You can take anything,” Doc said.
There were several hunting knives, guns, shotguns, even explosives. Pat looked at them all, along with the ammunition.
“Dad, if this gets ugly, and I don’t make it, you need to get Ava and her family out of here.”
“Son, I am not leaving this town,” Doc said.
“I know, but they don’t deserve this. If I don’t make it out, they deserve a second chance. They’re good people. Ava’s only mistake was wanting me.”
“That woman loves you,” Doc said.
“And I love her, Dad. I love her more than anything in the world, and you know I would stay with her if I could. She is my everything, but I got to make sure she is protected and taken care of. Especially if this is about to get ugly. I know you’ll make it right,” he said.
Doc sighed. “I will get her to safety, but that is all I am promising you. I will come back to Carnage to fight. The cartel is responsible for taking my wife, because if they hadn’t gotten to Bull’s father, it would never have turned out the way it did. If they take you, then I will end them.”
Pat started to load up his bag, placing the weapons he would need.
“Where are you going?” Doc asked, once he had finished loading up.
“Where all the shit happened,” Pat said. “Back at the farm where they started the dogfighting.”
He made his way toward his bike. “You shouldn’t stay here, Dad. If the cartel is coming, and I bet they fucking are, you need to be at the club.”
And with that, Pat revved his engine, knowing there was a chance it was going to be the last time he saw his father alive.
Pat rode through the streets, going straight to the old abandoned farm that had started it all.
Maddie, Bull’s wife, had been the cause of them finding out the cartel was working on their land.
Bull had shot Craig, Ranford’s brother. It was the cartel who took Craig and beheaded him while he was still alive.
It had been a brutal ending, one that had set this course in motion.
Pat couldn’t believe how they had gotten to this point.
He parked his bike at the old abandoned farm he had set fire to what felt like months ago.
Everything had been cleaned out ages ago.
The cages were gone. The guys had dealt with the bodies of the dead dogs that had been left in a pile to rot.
These were the kind of pieces of shit they had to deal with.
No respect for dogs, no respect for anything.
It sickened Pat as he looked around, and then he grabbed both guns.
His gut told him there was real danger around.
Pat slowly moved around the building. The ground was covered in a thick layer of ice, the cold building as the winter months started to close in. During his military time, he’d been through all kinds of weather—blistering hot, freezing cold, humid, dry, wet—he’d done it all, and without complaint.
Making his way toward where they had first met Craig Ranford, Pat came to a stop, as he saw the tent.
“Fucker!” Pat said.