Chapter 2 #2
Originally, the motorcycles had just been fun. Something for them to do on weekends, but as more people joined, the more Steel realized that the men, and eventually women, needed more structure than a simple hangout place.
The Via Daemonia Motorcycle Club had been born.
There were seven Original members: Steel, Lucky, Bulldog, Jumper, Demo, Scar, and Bear.
All seven had taken Officer positions. After Scar had left, Ghost had been named as their new Enforcer and had remained as such, despite Scar’s return, until he’d been nominated as the club’s new President.
Now, they were going to have to find yet another Enforcer.
Recently, the club had also added an eighth Officer position.
Keys, their resident computer wizard, was now the club’s Tech.
A lot of changes, Steel silently mused. And not just the amount of red that now coated the club’s hands.
They’d had two funerals in recent years, though one had turned out to be not necessary.
Scar’s death had been greatly exaggerated, but Conner’s had not been.
The prospect had given his life to save Harper’s, Lucky’s ol’ lady.
Unknown to anyone at the time, Harper had also been pregnant, meaning Conner had saved her baby’s life too.
Pumpkin’s recent brush with death had shaken many of them, and not just because they had also thought they’d lost Scar.
It was a reminder that they could die at home as easily as they could overseas.
Steel’s desire to protect the club, his family, was what drove his decision to step down as President. Since Jenna’s diagnosis, his priorities had shifted, and he was no longer the best man to lead this club. They needed someone who was entirely devoted to them, and Steel was not that man anymore.
Jenna was his sole concern.
“We all came into this club with secrets,” Steel reminded his VP, evenly. “If you recall, it wasn’t until Harper had entered your life that many of the club learned Scotty wasn’t your biological son or the circumstances behind you adopting Sissy and Scotty.”
Lucky’s cheeks reddened.
Steel turned his attention to Bulldog. “None of us had heard Abby’s name prior to Carlos finding her on the side of the road in that rusted old minivan.
We all accepted your history with her without batting an eye.
Why is it so hard to believe that I had a life, family, outside of the club?
Or is there another reason the two of you would doubt my leadership now? ”
Both men stiffened.
“It’s not that,” Lucky defended. “We trust you implicitly, always have.”
“It’s just a shock,” Bulldog continued. “At least for me, because I never knew.”
“And now you do,” Steel said shortly. “Can we move on to the point of this meeting now?” Lucky and Bulldog smartly clamped their mouths shut before taking seats opposite Steel.
He sat back, looking at the next highest ranking members of the club.
Men he trusted with Jenna and his children’s lives.
“I know you were keeping something from everyone at the meeting yesterday, including me. What is it?”
Lucky barely moved while Bulldog turned his head, cracking his neck. The two exchanged a look before Bulldog said, “There was a break-in at the consignment store while you were in jail.”
Steel’s outward expression did not change. “Anything taken?”
They shook their heads. “Keys was busy, but he sent Tom over to take a look,” Lucky explained.
Tom was Keys’ new business partner. While he wasn’t a member of the club, he was a friend.
His wife, Simone, was also Tally’s best friend, and therefore their entire family fell under Scar’s protection. “He found three hidden cameras.”
If Steel wasn’t here at the clubhouse or at his own home, he was at the consignment store with Jenna. Someone clearly wanted to watch him.
Bulldog ran a hand down his mouth and long beard before he added, “The panic alarm that was installed under the counter was also disabled.”
Steel stiffened. There was a chance that the cameras were placed in the consignment store by the Feds, that there was a surveillance warrant on the place.
A very small chance, but still a chance.
Steel would have had Keys look into it before making other inquiries, but the second that Bulldog had said the panic button was disabled?
All other concerns went right out the window.
After Angel and Bree had been attacked in her tattoo studio, Keys had installed security measures in each of the club’s businesses, as well as on each person.
The dog tags the club wore were not given to them by Uncle Sam.
They were trackers with the warning If you’re close enough to read this, you’re close enough to die engraved on the back.
The ol’ ladies had them in their earrings or jewelry, and the club kids had trackers in their shoes.
Each business had a panic button behind the reception counter by their registers. There were many issues with this news, but the biggest was the fact that whoever had broken into the consignment store had known of the panic button’s existence and had reason to disable it.
A very different sort of fire than the one that had fueled him only hours ago now burned in his veins.
“Jenna is to go nowhere alone,” Steel ordered. “I want both prospects fully armed and on her at all times. Get Carlos to deputize them if needed.”
Bulldog nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “What about Ollie?”
“Jigsaw has him at school,” Lucky said quickly. After Pirate had quit his job as the local high school’s security guard, the club had put Jigsaw in his place. The new member had been between jobs, and Principal Rockland had been happy to have another former military guard.
It was unlikely that someone would attack Ollie at his high school. It was too public, but it wasn’t hard to hide someone’s motives. Unfortunately, active shooters in schools were not uncommon in their country, and someone could disguise themselves as such to get to Ollie.
“Chip,” Steel said. “Get him a janitor job or something at the school. I don’t want just Jigsaw there.”
Chip had recently come to the club. He wasn’t prospecting, but he was living on property. The formerly homeless veteran was still finding his way and just needed a place to get on his feet before he decided what it was he wanted to do with his life.
“And if he has an episode?” Bulldog asked, which was a valid question. Chip had PTSD, and loud noises affected him.
“What if we don’t post him in the school?” Lucky suggested. “Set him up outside. Have him constantly patrol and in contact with Jigsaw so we have the inside and outside covered?”
Steel nodded his approval. “Make it happen. I also want Keys on Ollie, and I don’t give a shit if the teens are just heading to the diner for a milkshake. I want eyes on them at all times.”
Bulldog typed into his phone.
“Were the cameras in the consignment store removed?”
“Yes,” Lucky answered, crossing his ankle onto his knee. “Keys said a lot of technical stuff I didn’t understand, but basically, the cameras couldn’t be hacked without a replacement feed and he didn’t have enough time to create one.” Lucky frowned. “I think.”
“They fixed the panic alarm too,” Bulldog informed him.
“There were already cameras in the store,” Steel said. Jenna loved that store. How dare someone threaten her in it? “Did they show who did this?”
“Yes and no. Keys says his cameras can’t be hacked unless the person is better than him,” Lucky explained. His voice said Keys’ ego played a big part in that statement. “But the perp was wearing a balaclava and gloves. No useful footage.”
Bulldog added, “He was in and out in thirty minutes.”
“Why didn’t we know about the break-in while it was happening?” Steel inquired.
Lucky did not look happy as he admitted, “Because the alarm system wasn’t set.”
Anger rose up in Steel, and he had to school his face to keep from showing it. “Who closed up on Friday?”
“Ollie and Aaron,” Lucky said. Before Steel could respond, the VP held up his hand. “I’ve already spoken to both. It was an honest mistake. Each one thought the other had set it before they left.”
An honest mistake, but also an opportunity.
“He’s stalking me,” Steel concluded. It was already a possibility. Whoever was framing him for murder hadn’t just pulled his name out of a hat. It was personal enough that Dixie Gilbert had been killed by a sniper shot, Steel’s former profession before he’d taken command.
If someone was going after the club’s sniper, it would be Angel. When the club had attacked the Black Python’s clubhouse, Angel had been the one in the roost, not Steel. Which meant someone had pulled his military records.
It was too personal. This wasn’t about the club but about him. Who would have the motive? Steel could think of a number of people with motive, but one would think they would go after the club as a whole. Why him?
If Cheryl had any family who cared about her, he could understand that revenge.
He’d been the one to pull the trigger, obviously.
But she didn’t. Her family had disowned her years ago for what they considered her loose morals.
Pumpkin had fathered her son, and there’d been nothing against him.
His accident had been wrong place, wrong time as far as any of them knew.
Beyond that, no one outside the club knew about Cheryl’s death.
Her disappearance was just another one to add to the void.
Pigs had taken care of the rest, minus the teeth.
Why Steel? Who had he pissed off so much that they would frame him for murder?