Chapter Three Spock
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I watch Chloe’s taillights disappear down the road.
After the chaos of our arrival and the ambulance's departure, the place now feels empty and quiet. I walk back inside to stand before the message painted on the wall. I clench my hands into fists and resist the urge to punch them into the wall to obliterate the message. We need to figure out who is doing this and put an end to them. I stare at the drops of blood left behind from Bill’s injury and fume.
Puma steps into the room next to me and growls.
“Let’s get this place cleaned up.” He pulls out his phone and makes a call. The person on the other end picks up immediately. No one ignores Puma.
“Wildcard,” he says. “Need every prospect we’ve got available to come down here. Bring trucks, lights, and cleaning supplies.” He provides the address before continuing. “Yeah, Chloe with DC Construction is having some trouble.”
As Puma relays the information, I grab a discarded cloth, dampen it, and scrub the bloodstains from the concrete while Puma continues issuing orders.
“I promised Chloe we’d figure out who is harassing her and take care of them.
She said the problems started soon after she won the Inferno Ridge project.
Spock can put together a list of who lost out on the bid.
They may or may not have anything to do with this, but it’s a start.
See if Spark has any security cameras that we can install on the site.
Tell him to order a dozen or so if we don’t have them.
I want this place covered. Tell everyone that we’re having Church in the morning, and the focus will be on protecting Chloe.
She’s building our future. I don’t like that someone is messing with her. ”
He ends the call and slips the phone back into his pocket.
For a moment, he surveys the site with his hands on his hips. Then he turns toward me.
“Spock.”
“Yeah?”
“You need to put together a list of every contractor who bid on Inferno Ridge. Have Spark do a background check and then start digging. It may not be one of them, but it’s a place to start.”
I nod as I stand up and toss the cloth into a nearby trash receptacle.
“I can do that. Spark has already researched each of them. That’s how we narrowed our choices down to DC Construction.
However, I’ll have him dig further. I’ll also have him include those companies that we interviewed but didn’t make the original cut.
They could have waited until we decided to seek revenge. ”
“Good idea. None of these companies may be involved, but it’s a start. We’ll go over all of it at Church in the morning. We’ll put together a plan to protect Chloe and this place.”
I nod in agreement. Puma was right about Chloe building our future. Inferno Ridge is where we all plan to raise our families. For Puma, there is nothing more important than family.
After Puma rides off, I pull out my phone and call Spark. As soon as he picks up, I explain what’s been happening and pass along Puma’s instructions.
“That sucks. I like Chloe. You’re right, I still have all the data I pulled on the construction companies that didn’t make the cut. Let me dig deeper. Our supply of security cameras is limited, so I’ll order more. In the meantime, I’ll send what I have with the prospects.”
“Thanks.” I spot the foreman walking toward me, Steven Blackwood. He has dark brown hair and a day’s worth of growth along his jaw. We’d left him behind when Chloe got the call about her dad.
“Hey, Spock, I wasn’t expecting you to be here still. I heard what happened from Declan. I guess Chloe is with Bill? How is he doing? Do you know?” He scans the room, his eyes widening at the message on the wall. “Well, shit. Declan said they left a message this time. But I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Chloe mentioned that she’s been having some trouble. Any idea of who could be behind it?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “Who knows. A competitor, maybe. I know there are some guys out there who don’t like competing against a woman. Hell, we have problems hiring workers because most don’t want to take orders from a woman. They think she doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
I glance at the message and consider his words. Is that what this is? Simple misogyny? Maybe.
“You don’t have a problem working for her?” I ask.
He laughs. “Nah, she’s a good boss. She knows her stuff. Her dad helps out, but she’s the one in charge. We’ve had to sack a couple of guys because they couldn’t handle taking orders from her.”
I consider his words and make a note to have Spark look into those men. If any guy had the small dick energy to bash a guy on the back of the head and then write a threatening message, it would be an asshole who considers women beneath him.
“Can you get me the names of the guys you sacked?”
Blackwood balks at the request. “You don’t think they’re the ones causing problems, do you?”
“We want to check them out. We’re going to find out who is causing Chloe problems.”
“Why do you care? They haven’t attacked the Inferno Ridge site. Just this one.”
I study Blackwood for several seconds before responding. “Chloe is one of ours now. We protect our people. What Chloe is doing at Inferno Ridge is important to us. We won’t let anything happen to her.”
Blackwood looks ready to argue with me, but before he can say anything, I hear a vehicle pull in outside. Blackwood follows me out of the building to where Gears has parked the club SUV. Gears and Reggie spot me and make their way over.
“Puma said you had some clean-up work for us,” Reggie says.
“Yeah, follow me.”
I lead them inside and show them the painted wall.
“I want this message gone. Not a trace left. Got me?”
Gears nods. “Absolutely.”
“Also, check the floor for bloodstains. I don’t want Chloe seeing those, either.”
Gears raises an eyebrow, but he doesn’t question my orders. They immediately get to work gathering supplies.
“We could take care of that,” Steven offers.
I shake my head. “Puma promised Chloe that he’d handle it. Puma never backs down on a promise. Chloe is too important to our club. Inferno Ridge means too much to Puma.”
Steven nods. “Yeah, that was a big contract for Chloe. She was pretty excited when she heard she won it.”
“How long have you worked for Chloe?”
“I started working for her a couple of weeks before she won the contract for Inferno Ridge. She was betting on winning it and hired me to take over this project since Inferno Ridge would be a massive undertaking.”
“Chloe said that the vandals started hitting this site after she won the contract. Is that how you remember it, too?”
He considered my question before slowly nodding. “Yeah, that sounds about right. We didn’t have any problems when I first started. I almost didn’t take the job because I didn’t think she’d win the contract. I’m glad I was wrong.”
“Why did you think we wouldn’t have selected her? She had a solid work history. I’ve seen her projects. She does good work.”
“Well, yeah, but it was you guys.”
I frown at his statement. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re bikers. Aren’t bikers usually misogynists? At first I thought you believed that either Bill or I was in charge, which is why you picked us. You wouldn’t believe the number of clients that passed on us when they realized Chloe owned the business.”
His comment has me wanting to hit something. “I picked DC Construction because of Chloe. Of everyone I interviewed, she was the one who saw what we were trying to build.”
He nods. “That makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you picked us. But a woman running her own construction company has made it harder for us to get jobs. I suggested having Bill be the face of the company, but she declined. Chloe is stubborn.”
“But you’re still here?” I ask.
He looks shocked at my question. “Why wouldn’t I be? Chloe is amazing. Don’t think that I’m badmouthing her. I’d never do that. I was just pointing out that she’s faced some challenges as a woman in a man’s world.”
I don’t respond even though something about the guy makes me want to punch him. “Right. Well, I should be heading back to the clubhouse. I have some calls to make.”
Before leaving, I check in with the prospects. They’ve cleaned the message off the wall and washed away the blood. Now they have a bucket of paint and are covering the wall so that no trace of the message remains. I nod in approval. “Did you bring the cameras?”
Reggie nods. “We’ve got them. We’ll put them up before we leave.”
“Good. When you’re done with that, take a look around the site and take some pictures. Spark can use them to figure out how many more cameras we’ll need and where to install them. Then get back to the clubhouse.”
They give me twin nods before I head to my bike. As I point my bike toward the clubhouse, I call Spark. “Add one more name to your list. Steven Blackwood. He’s Chloe’s foreman. There is something off about the guy.”