Chapter 7 #2
Since I’m the highest rank here, I speak first. “Jack wants to see you in the cafeteria.”
“What? Why?”
I’d been hoping we could convince them to walk themselves into the fucking chiller, but they already look spooked. No wonder. They’re guilty as hell. What the fuck had they been thinking?
“You don’t get to ask questions.”
Several of the other men surround their bikes, ensuring they can’t take off again. Slowly, the three men climb off.
I jerk my head. “Come on, let’s go.”
Eddy’s eyes widen in fear. “I don’t know what you think we’ve done, but we haven’t.”
“What is it we might think you’ve done, Eddy?” Ace asks, hooking an arm around his shoulders and propelling him toward the cafeteria.
We grab Duke and Paulie.
“Err… nothing,” Eddy blurts.
“Where’s your cell, Eddy?” Ace presses.
Eddy’s eyes flash. “I dunno. I guess I left it in the cafeteria this morning.”
“That’s right, you did. Not your smartest move, but then I never did take you for one of the smart ones. You know that cell phone security isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it’s pretty easy to get into one.”
Eddy throws a wild-eyed look of fear over at his cousins.
“Fuck,” Paulie says.
Duke yanks on the grip of the two men he’s being marched between. “We don’t know anything about that girl. It was all Eddy.”
My tone is ice-cold. “What girl, Duke? Did we say anything about a girl?”
We haven’t put out word to the rest of the MC that a girl has been snatched off our compound, so, theoretically, these three shouldn’t know about it.
He lets out a sob, and I almost feel sorry for the asshole… almost.
“You got lucky,” I tell the three of them. “The Prez wants you alive, for the moment. But if we don’t get the girl back in one piece, I promise you’ll also end up in pieces, and I mean it literally.”
We reach the cafeteria and head into the kitchen to where the huge walk-in cooler is located. It has a safety catch to prevent people being stuck inside, so I take a moment to disengage it.
“Your new home is all ready for you,” I tell the three Numbnuts.
“At least you won’t get hungry. Now, hand over your phones.
” I look to Paulie and Duke and with a sigh, Paulie does as I say.
Duke, however, freezes, and that moment tells me that he’s in on this, too, despite what they might say. I wonder what we’ll find on his phone.
“We’ll give you guys a little time to think on things, and when we come back, we really do hope you’ll cooperate and tell us what we need to know. If you don’t, things will get very bad for you, very fast.”
Ace and the others throw them inside, and I slam the huge, heavy door on them. They’ll start to feel the chill pretty fast, and we will let them panic for thirty minutes before we try to interrogate them.
“Stay on guard,” I tell two of the men. “Don’t let anyone open the door.”
“Yes, Sarge.”
My cell buzzes, and I wonder if it’s Rook. I check the screen, but it’s Jack, telling us to get to the main gates because his old chapter is due any minute. Looks like we dealt with the Numbnuts at just the right moment.
Ace and I head back to the main gates to find Jack already there.
“We did as you asked,” I tell him, letting him know those three idiots are confined.
He folds his massive arms across his chest. “Good.”
He turns his attention to the road.
The approaching MC chapter is like the rumble of distant thunder.
It grows louder. Dust rises in a cloud behind the large bikes as they make their way down the road, toward the main gates of the compound.
Large men in leather cuts and skullcap helmets appear, small at first, and growing bigger the closer they get.
Jack opens the gates to greet the new arrivals, the Jackal Riders MC. He welcomes them with wide open hugs and smacks to the back. Despite the severity of the reason they’re here, the atmosphere is almost jovial.
I stand back and observe, studying each of the new arrivals for faces I don’t recognize or people who I instinctively mistrust.
It’s strange seeing him with his old chapter. It surprises me that I experience a little… jealousy? No, not jealousy. More like possessiveness, perhaps? I’m not going to worry about Jack going back to his old chapter. He’s got his daughter nearby here, and now there’s Camile…
Or there was Camile.
I don’t want to put that into the universe. She’s still with us. Still ours. I care for her even if she and I haven’t spent much time together. It’s probably better for her that way.
Emotionally, I’m not good with relationships.
The things I saw when I was in the service have stayed with me.
It’s something that will never leave me.
I’ve watched men with limbs blown off try to drag themselves to safety.
I’ve slept in ditches with the sound of explosions happening all around me and bullets flying overhead.
I’ve taken the lives of men who were my enemy only because some old man in power has started a war with another.
During that time, I was fully immersed in it, feeling everyone’s fear and pain like it was my own.
It took time to learn how to cope, how to withdraw into myself until I was able to hold everything and everyone at a distance.
It’s a coping mechanism that worked for me, and though I’m no longer in the middle of a warzone, I haven’t managed to switch it off again.
Another coping mechanism is being suspicious of everyone.
I’ve met some of the guys from Jack’s old chapter during the meetings that were held before our chapter was created. I tell myself the MC members are my brothers, which means this other chapter is, too. We might be separate after all, but we’re part of the same wider club.
Jack welcomes the last of the chapter onto the compound and then turns to me.
“Let’s get down to business.”