Shadow Chapter 13
Everyone was gathered for our five o’clock church.
It was a few minutes until then, and Cambria and I just walked into the clubhouse.
The buzz was loud. All heads turned to us.
The text sent by Wrath had hinted that we had more information on Cambria’s problem.
That was the extent of what it said. I had no idea if Crusher and the others who had read the letter had told them more.
As for the letter, I’d sent screenshots of it to our president so he could read it for himself. The expletives I got back said it all.
Immediately, Betty and Jalisa, who had Dora in her arms, hustled up to us. There was deep concern written on their faces. Betty put an arm around Cambria.
“Come with us, honey. You can sit and talk to us,” Betty said kindly.
“Yeah, we’ll do real talking. Not that pretend manly shit they do in church. We know the truth. They sit there, swap stories, scratch their asses, and tell tall tales of impossible feats,” Jalisa added, smirking as she grinned at me.
“I’ll have you know I don’t scratch my ass in public. And all the stories I tell are true. And my brothers are the same,” I defended myself and my club.
There were a few seconds of silence, then all three ladies tossed back their heads and laughed loudly.
This response naturally caught my brothers’ attention, who flocked over to see what was going on.
When they arrived and asked, I told the truth.
The lively debate over the next few minutes was fun.
It helped to ease the overwhelming tension in the air and in Cambria.
However, eventually it was cut short by Wrath.
“Alright, if you’re done defending our honor, let’s get our asses into church. Lunatic, I’ll have to teach you not to doubt my brothers and me.” He gave her a challenging stare.
“Anytime you want, Hercules,” she replied.
Wrath secretly loved it when she called him that.
His eyes burned brighter. Uh-oh, we’d better get this meeting started before our president carried off his old lady for the night.
Giving Cambria a brief yet passionate kiss, I left her with the ladies and followed my brothers into our meeting room.
The doors were shut and locked behind us.
Phones were put on silent. Some clubs didn’t allow them in church at all, but Wrath wasn’t going to be without contact with his old lady, and neither was Rage.
So that ban had been lifted when Betty became Rage’s.
“Thanks for getting home early for this. As I said in my text, we had an update on Cambria’s situation today. I’ll let Shadow share it with you. I think they need to hear what was in the letter,” Wrath directed to me.
“Thanks, Pres, I do too. To set the stage, Cambria received a letter today from High Desert State Prison in Nevada. It’s where her sperm donor is. Listen to what he had to say,” I stated bluntly.
Then, I jumped into reading the letter I took out of the inner pocket of my cut. When I was done, the room was deathly still. It was as if no one was breathing, let alone moving. Suddenly, Ryder’s fist hit the table, producing a loud booming sound.
“That son of a bitch dares to threaten your old lady? He has a fucking death wish. His ass waiting on death row needs to end. As for those so-called ‘friends’ that he says will take care of her for him, I dare them to try. We’ll slaughter those sick, motherfuckers,” our enforcer snarled.
The others grunted and muttered their agreement with what Ryder had said. I agreed.
“I believe the same. Which means, in addition to finding who leaked her real identity on the dark web, and finding out how Garen Brooks got that letter out of prison and who told him where she was, we have to deal with a psycho on death row. The latter may be difficult, which is why I called in some reinforcements,” Wrath said.
Reinforcement? I was about to ask who when there was a loud knock at the door.
Eagle was the closest to it. After glancing at Wrath and getting a chin lift, Eagle got up, unlocked, and then opened the door.
I straightened when I saw who came walking into our church.
It was Undertaker, Sloan, and surprise, surprise, Smoke and Everly.
The relief that went through me at the sight of those last two was immense.
Wrath and Rage stood and grabbed two more chairs each from against the wall, placing them at the table. The rest of us shifted down to make room. We always kept extras for when we had guests. The four of them took their seats and nodded in our direction. Sloan was the one who smiled.
“As you can see, the Dark Patriots are taking a big role, and we have Smoke and Everly free for the moment. Thanks so much for coming,” Wrath said in a way of an introduction.
“We’re glad to be here. We’ve been helping with the search end of things, but the truth is, the guys in the clubs and these two are the ones who have the true skills to do what you need.
Our people are skilled in various areas, but not so much in this in-depth search.
Which is why we would love to steal from the clubs, but we won’t poach,” Undertaker said.
Sloan rolled her eyes. “I swear, only you could come to help and make it seem like you're here to steal. Anyway, we’d love to be of help. The creation of the new identity for Cambria that you wanted is well underway. In this, our people do excel. As for finding out who outed her identity and how Garen Brooks discovered her location? We’ve brought Everly and Smoke to deal with that,” Sloan said.
“We’re sorry it took us so long to be free.
We were on lockdown with no outside communication.
We heard about your problem as soon as we got home yesterday.
We contacted Wrath earlier today, and he informed us that you were meeting tonight and that Undertaker and Sloan were also attending.
They stopped in Knoxville, so we hitched a ride on their plane. ” Smoke explained.
“We have the gist of what is happening, but could you give us a better rundown?” Everly asked.
I noticed that as Smoke and Everly spoke, each was pulling out a laptop. Like me, they rarely went anywhere without one. Even when the club went on a run or to a bike rally, I took mine with me. The same applies when visiting our various friends.
I, with a bit of help from Crusher, filled the four guests in on all the details. I even shared part of what Cambria told me about her dad and how he was caught. When we were finished, Everly and Smoke sat there with frowns on their faces, but their fingers never stopped moving over the keyboards.
Sloan frowned, too. Undertaker’s fury was frightening to see. No wonder he scared the shit out of most people. His glower, combined with his massive physique and the tattoos that covered his arms and more of his body, would intimidate anyone, even hardened bikers. I’d never seen one challenge him.
“You let me take care of Garen Brooks. I promise you, when I’m done, that cocksucker won’t be breathing. He’s a monster, and fourteen years on death row is ridiculous. His appeals are over,” Undertaker growled.
“How? He’s inside, and we’re not,” I reminded him.
An evil grin spread across Undertaker’s face.
“Easy. All you need to do is get someone else on the same cell block as he is. They aren’t locked up twenty-four hours a day. When they aren’t, it’s easy to kill a motherfucker when no one is looking,” Undertaker answered.
“You have someone who can get into him?” Wrath asked.
Undertaker’s grin broadened. “You’re looking at him.”
This remark caused excitement and a lot of talk. Wrath had to pound on the table to get us to stop.
“Explain before they go rabid,” Pres said to Undertaker.
“Simple. Anderson will get me inside under an assumed name and a rap sheet of appropriate crimes. I’ll sneak in to see Brooks. I’ll question him and get what I can before doing the deed. Then I’ll go back to my cell and wait to be released.”
“What if something goes wrong? What if Anderson can’t get you in or out?” Smoke asked.
“It hasn’t been a problem the times I’ve done it before,” the Patriot answered.
“You’ve done this before?” I repeated.
“I have. Not all enemies to the clubs or our country are running free. Sometimes, we have to go inside to get the information we need, and then we don’t leave the monsters behind to get out or continue running things from the inside.
With my tats and looks, I easily fit the look of a hardened criminal. ”
He wasn’t lying with that last part. He did have the appearance of a thug who would kill you rather than look at you. Sloan gave her husband a loving look.
“While we work on Brooks and the new identity for Cambria, I assume all of you will be doing your digging to find the people Brooks referred to as his friends and the one or ones behind outing her in the first place. We need to time it perfectly so that when Cambria ‘dies’, there has to be no doubt she’s gone, and not Mariette Cambria Aubert.
If it’s alright, Undertaker and I would like to stay and work from here.
It makes sense to have this be command central,” Sloan said.
“I agree. If it’s okay with you, Everly and I will stay, too. We’ve already cleared it with Terror. We’re yours,” Smoke added.
The absolute relief that hit me hearing that and their plans made me feel like crying. The stress of worrying about my old lady and wondering if she might end up taken from me had been immense. I tried to hide it so she wouldn’t be upset, but it was hard.
“I-I…” I cleared my throat and tried again. “I can’t thank you guys enough for doing this,” I croaked.
“No thanks are needed. This is what family and friends do for each other. Your fight and pain become ours,” Everly said.
As the others murmured their support, I fought to stay strong and not lose my composure. My worry over Cambria had been growing the longer it took us to figure out who exposed her. Adding Brooks to the mix had skyrocketed my concern, though I worked to hide it from her. She was stressed enough.
As things settled down, we established which tasks would be done by whom. When we left here, the schedule would be complete and action taken. If all went well, we could have this cleaned up by the first week of November.