Chapter 21
Trick/Jase
I accepted her change of subject gratefully. I’d been trying so damned hard to keep things casual like she wanted, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could manage it. Her tears had gutted me, even more than her anger over the situation with DD.
“King started calling me that when I got a BMX bike for my fourteenth birthday,” I chuckled.
“I used to do all kinds of tricks on it, jumping off ramps and popping wheelies and shit, so he shortened my last name to Trick. Then, when I was a prospect, I wrecked my first Harley by trying to pop a wheelie on it, too. Broke my leg and was in a cast for eight fuckin’ weeks.
It was miserable. I patched in a couple of months later, and King announced it as my road name. ”
I told her about Mom signing my cast. “She thought riding on two wheels was bad enough, and I didn’t dare tell her that I was actually only on one wheel when I crashed.
She would have given me hell for it. I was a large baby – imagine that – and her labor was pretty rough.
She always used to tell me that she’d worked too hard to bring me into this world, and she’d appreciate it if I’d quit trying to take myself out by doing stupid crap.
” I laughed at the memory, then told her that she and my mom would have had a lot in common.
“Mom always called me out on my shit, and she hated to cook, which is probably why she wasn’t very good at it, either.
That’s the reason I took the job bussing tables and washing dishes at the diner, instead of bagging groceries or stocking shelves somewhere.
At the diner, a free meal was included with each shift.
Then, once I learned my way around a kitchen, she was happy to let me take over cooking at home. ”
“Well, my stomach and I both thank you for that decision,” she teased.
A few minutes later, Bull texted me to meet him in his office. Lauren tensed, asking if she should go, too.
“No, this may be club business, which is restricted to patched members. If it’s anything about Beau or Dustin, I’ll let you know when I get back.”
She nodded, then said she was going to read for a while to try to get her mind off things. After a quick kiss, I pulled my shirt back on and made my way to Bull’s office.
I walked in to find Viking and King already there. I closed the door and propped myself against the wall since they were sitting in the two guest chairs.
Bull smiled grimly. “I found Beau, and the emails. The fucker’s back home in Pittsburgh, and he logged onto his gaming system about an hour ago, so I was able to get in and poke around.
I found the ‘Your Soulmate’ emails in his sent folder, as well as the VPN and encryption software that he was using to send them.
He’s still on the schedule to work tomorrow.
His shift starts at seven in the morning. ”
King exhaled heavily. “That doesn’t give us enough time to come up with a solid plan, drive to Pittsburgh, take care of him, and stage the scene to cover our tracks.”
“I agree. If we have to rush, we’re more likely to fuck it up and I have no intention of spending the rest of my life in a cell because of that piece of shit,” I pointed out.
We started making plans for the best way to get rid of Beau but quickly decided we needed more information about the layout of the condo building and the area around it.
“The blueprints and site plans for the building will be on file with the city planning department, and they’re a matter of public record so I can easily access them.
I’ll check on the layout for surrounding buildings, too.
There are some websites that show where street cameras are located, and Google Street View might even be detailed enough for me to see exterior cameras on some of the buildings. ”
As I listened to Bull rattle off all the things he could research, I made a suggestion.
“There are too many unknown variables in trying to plan this thing long-distance. We need to get eyes on it ourselves, maybe follow Beau for a day or two to figure out his routine and the best place to do this out of sight of any witnesses.”
“You’re right,” King agreed. “We can have someone head to Pittsburgh in time to follow Beau home from the fire station when he gets off work Saturday morning. He’s supposed to be off Saturday and Sunday, so hopefully we can gather enough intel to make a clean hit by Sunday night.
If not, we’ll wait until Tuesday when he’s off again.
He may even try to come back to Indy while he’s off, and we can take him out here on our own turf. ”
“Who do you want on surveillance duty?” I considered Bull’s question. Part of me wanted to be boots on the ground planning this shit. The bigger part of me needed to stay here to make sure Lauren was safe and then head to Pittsburgh when it was time to act.
Before I could voice my thoughts, King answered him. “I think Trick needs to stay here to guard Lauren just in case Beau manages to slip out of town undetected. I’ll send Lucky and Wrangler.”
I nodded, happy that he chose those two. I knew I could count on them to stay sharp and get the job done.
“That will work,” Viking said, then demanded to go with us when it was time to confront Beau.
“If your back is up to making the ride, that’s fine with me,” King said, then told us about his meeting with Randy earlier.
“He put a guard outside Dustin’s hospital room just in case that bastard tries to go after him again. When Randy asked if we had any idea who the stalker was, I told him that Lauren just moved back here a few months ago and doesn’t know many people yet, so we assume it’s somebody random.”
“Is there anything new on Dustin’s condition?” I knew that was the first thing Lauren would want to know.
“According to the hospital records, he hasn’t had any more seizures since the one right after he got there.
Vitals are still stable. They plan to taper off the sedation tomorrow morning, and then they’ll be able to assess him fully.
They’re still thinking he’ll make a full recovery,” Bull informed us, then asked King if Randy was able to get anything from the footage of the surveillance cameras in the parking garage.
King shook his head. “Not much, and nothing that helps identify the suspect. He said the lighting in the garage is bad, the cameras are pretty shitty, and they only have them at the garage entrance and near the elevators. Luckily, Dustin’s assigned parking spot is close enough to the elevator that most of the attack was caught on camera.
” He sighed and rubbed his finger along the bridge of his nose, a familiar gesture when he was frustrated.
“He told me that Dustin pulled into the garage shortly before two-thirty this morning. He got out of his car and started toward the elevator. Beau was hiding behind the car parked next to Dustin’s.
He jumped him from behind and put him into a rear choke.
They struggled, and Beau slammed Dustin’s head into a concrete pillar.
Dustin appears to have been knocked out by the blow, and fell to the ground, where he hit his head again.
Beau rifled through his pockets and stole his keys, wallet, and phone, then ran off out of camera range.
They couldn’t find him on any security cameras nearby either. ”
“The cops couldn’t identify Beau at all?” If they could, that would make killing him even riskier for us.
“No,” King said. “He was wearing all black, including a sweatshirt with the hood pulled tight around his face, and the resolution on the cameras is so low that they can’t make out any details of his features.
The only thing they could determine about his physical appearance is that he was a white guy, roughly the same height as Dustin.
Randy said they don’t have any leads, and I think he would tell me if he did. ”
He smirked, then added, “He told me he’ll leave Lauren’s name and the email threat out of his report for now since – and this is a direct quote – ‘he has a hunch that the situation will resolve itself’.
Then he reminded me that stalking cases can be difficult to prosecute and told me that if it was one of his girls, he’d take care of that shit on his own. ”
I raised my brows in surprise, and Viking let out a sharp cackle. “Well, fuck me runnin’, that sounds to me like we got the thumbs up from the cops to put that shitstain six feet under.”
King shrugged. “From one cop, anyway. We still need to cover our asses. Remember, we don’t have any pull with the police in Pittsburgh, and Ella will kick my ass if I get arrested for murder again.”
Bull barked out a laugh and pointed out that at least it wouldn’t be a false accusation this time.
“Not helpful, brother,” King growled as he flipped him off, then slapped his hand down on the desk, signaling an end to our meeting. “We’ll regroup to fine-tune the plan once Lucky and Wrangler get a chance to scope things out.”
I started to go back to the VIP suite, but Viking pulled me aside, and to my surprise, thanked me for keeping an eye on Lauren for him.
“I’m happy to do it,” I assured him, then couldn’t resist giving him shit about it. “I thought you didn’t want me anywhere near her, though.”
“I asked you to keep an eye on her, motherfucker. You’ll keep your dick in your pants, or I’ll shove my boot so far up your ass you’ll be choking on the bootlaces!”
Since he hadn’t tried to maim me yet, I had a hunch that Viking had no idea I was staying in the VIP suite with her, instead of in my own room.
“Calm down, old man, she’s in good hands with me,” I snickered. Viking eyed me sourly and I left before he caught on to the hidden meaning behind my words.
When I got back to the suite, Lauren was curled up on the loveseat reading, with Elvis stretched out next to her. I was pleased to see that her eyes weren’t red and swollen from her crying jag earlier, and she seemed to be a little more relaxed.