Chapter Five
Bane walked inside and looked at Shay. “Mission accomplished.” He stepped aside as he motioned for Drew and James to enter the kitchen.
Drew looked up and saw about seven men standing there. He went from face to face until he found the one he was looking for. “Shay.” He rushed forward and grabbed his brother into a hug.
Shay’s arms wrapped around him as well. “I’m still alive but barely. Thanks to these men I’m alive, both me and Stone. He’s got a broken leg and I just had my head scrambled for a while. We got shot down in the woods behind the house a couple of miles away. So we’ve been recuperating here.”
Sam looked over at the two identical men and shook his head. “You can tell the pair of you are brothers, that's for damn sure.”
“Yeah, identical twins,” Drew admitted. “That fact alone comes in handy once in a while.” Shaking his head he added, “But you wouldn’t believe me if I told you it also had a down side too.
” He turned to Shay. “Those men tonight, they kept calling me by your name. They didn’t know you had a brother. ”
Shay narrowed his eyes at him. “What did they tell you?”
“They were going to use you to get Spencer free. To propose a deal where they would trade you for Spencer. Then by the time the exchange happened they would free their boss but all the government would get back was your body, your very real, very dead body.”
“How many of their men were at that hotel tonight?” Bane asked in a low tone.
James snapped his head up to stare at Bane. He’d seen him in action when he used that tone of voice and it never ended well.
“Maybe a dozen or so give or take,” Drew replied.
“Only three were left before the fire department got there,” Bane told the group. “So we have to hunt down the others and wipe them off the map.”
Sam narrowed his eyes at Bane. “What happened tonight anyway?”
Bane didn’t answer, instead he headed down the hall toward his security room.
Shay looked over at his brother and shook his head. “He’s not a patient man, but that worked in your favor as he immediately went out to get you.”
Drew stared at him and described what happened, “I don’t know how he got inside the room but suddenly he was just there. Like he appeared out of the dark silence, ya know?”
“Yes, that sounds about right.” James nodded. “Scares the fuck outta most people when he does that. Only most of them never live to tell anyone how scared they were.”
Drew stared at him for a full minute to gauge what he meant by that.
He got no answer from anyone there. Then he went on with his story of the fast-moving events, “He walked over to the other bed and quietly ripped the throat out of the man who was watching me. Then he cut the rope holding me. When I was free he sneaked into the room next door, then when he came back, he went and killed the guard in the hall with a knife to his spine. The whole rescue took like three whole minutes as he literally spilled buckets of blood silently. Then we simply took the stairs like anyone normal...like we did not just escape from a deadly group of armed men. And wow, he did not even hurry. We simply walked away like we were just gonna take a stroll outside and when we came out back, his friend here took out another man by the trees.” Drew motioned at James.
“Next, this rescuer of mine remotely exploded a bomb he’d planted.
I guess it was what he left in the next room I suppose?
He blew everyone to hell. By the time the fire department got there the whole motel was in flames and only three men made it out, as far as we could tell.
I don’t even know his name or this guy’s name. ” He motioned at James.
James smiled and said, “I’m James and I work for the big guy. His name is Bane.” He looked around the room then said, “And all of this?” He motioned to the house. “It belongs to Bane as well. Welcome to the violent but well controlled chaos.”
Drew just stood there for a moment. “He seemed angry just now at the threats the Blood Wolves made to you, brother.”
“Yeah, he doesn’t like threats,” James stated. “Let’s go and see what he plans to do about it.”
Sam and Deke hesitated as they looked at each other.
Mountain and Hound did as well.
Pappy chuckled. “You all act like Bane’s gonna beat your asses or something if you follow him.”
“They all have common sense, Stone,” Shay explained. “When it comes to Bane, they move with caution. Maybe you got a ticket to always being safe since Bane married your sister but the rest of humanity is still a bit cautious about him.”
Deke nodded. “We have known Bane for a bit. He used to be this...” He shook his head as his description never came.
“Demon?” Sam cut in.
“Nah, never that,” Mountain interjected. “Demons have feelings.”
Pappy shook his head. “Well, y’all sure aren’t a Bane fan club.”
“Not true,” Deke defended. “Why do you think we are here?”
“You were bored and you like adventure?” James quipped.
Sam looked disgusted. “Nah, man.”
“It’s sort of a complicated thing,” Deke tried to explain.
“That is what they all say,” James teased.
Sam shook his head. “Bane saved our lives but he never let on that he did that.”
“It’s true.” Deke explained, “And we were never going to find out until Cricket finally shared it. A vicious MC had been crossed badly by Bane’s daughter, Cordy.
When he got out of jail, the MC of that club wanted Cricket dead.
Because he believed it had been her that stole from him.
He also planned to wipe out our entire MC for protecting her.
See, Cricket’s sister did that a lot. Framed Cricket for her crimes so that she herself never had to pay for the thefts and all the screwing over she did to some very dangerous people. ”
“So that’s how Bane died?” James asked curiously.
Sam nodded. “Bane blew up their clubhouse and thought he got them all. But the Prez shot him. Then your Priest friend came and got him.”
“Yeah, I helped Bastian load him up in the car,” James said. “We got him to the doctor. He was very close to dying. Then he started a new life in the VIM.”
“He has changed in many ways,” Deke noted.
“Then he is the same in other ways,” Sam added.
“Except when he faced Cricket,” Deke said. “When an old enemy took Dusty.”
“Man, I don’t think I will ever forget that day,” Sam agreed. “Never seen Bane taken off guard like that before or since.”
Deke nodded as he told this story...
“Cricket didn’t betray you when she finally told us about you being alive,” Deke told Bane. “She should have told us as soon as she realized it but she didn’t. I get the whole second chance thing. I do and if this hadn’t come up, you would have had it.”
Bane stood tall and glared at the other man. “Could have, should have, would have, it doesn’t matter anymore. My past will always be there anyway. Men like me, we don’t get a second chance.”
“No Bane, that isn’t right,” Cricket told him. “Everyone deserves a second chance, even you. You can change the course of your life if you want it bad enough. But that’s the thing, you have to want it bad enough to try.”
Bane turned to stare at her. “I did want it bad enough to try, but someone out there doesn’t want to let me.”
Cricket took a step closer to him and got right up in his face.
Bane would have stepped back but she grabbed his shirt and wouldn’t let him move.
She snarled, “Then you do what you do best. You protect your family with everything you’ve got.
You told me once that you begged Grace for forgiveness for forcing yourself on her and you told her that Orrin was a better man for her because he could show her the kind of love you never could.
Well, step up to the plate, Uncle Bane and show them how much you’ve changed.
Protect your grandson. Protect Grace’s blood, your blood.
” Cricket let go of his shirt and shoved him out of her way, then she turned and went back into the clubhouse.
Bane just stared at her disappearance and for a moment, he couldn’t believe she had challenged him. Then he shook his head and looked over at Deke. “Is she crazy?”