Chapter Two
When Mountain was done with the telling, the room went quiet.
James slowly shook his head. “Bane has mentioned... well, he has said that he treated Cricket horribly and that was one of the very few regrets he had. But from what I found out, he also saved her and all of you by facing that MC who wanted to kill her and destroy all of you. It actually was the reason Bastian found him dying.”
The men in the room all looked spooked by this.
“Bane had said it was because the man was after him, due to Bane’s refusal to do a contract on Cricket.”
“Maybe that was also true, but he truly admires Cricket. This was a fact I found out the last time we came here to this house. I’d asked him why he left it to her when he allowed the world to believe that he had died.
He told me she was the only person that would take proper care of it.
That she was so like her mother. A person full of love and warmth. ”
The Sins all seemed to think this over.
Sam tossed his arms up. “The past cannot be changed. No matter how checkered it might be. It stays there.”
“Yeah Bones, and you know that fact well, don’t you?” Mountain teased him.
Hound chuckled as he and most of the Sins loved it when Bones and Mountain got going.
“Man, let that go, will ya?” Sam shook his head at him. “Just because you are jealous of all the women I’ve bedded. I couldn’t help it that they all fell so hard for me, can I?”
Mountain stared at him then he laughed. “Oh man, you are so self-delusional. Being proud of fathering children all across the USA? Damn, so not gloving up was a skill no one could match, eh?”
Deke, James and Hound all snickered at this one.
Sam scowled at him. “Never mind your envy of my past. You know what they say about men as big as you, right? That you are small everywhere else.”
“Whoa, Dad!” Deke raised his hands and wanted to save his dad from a possible smashing into the floor from a sized 16 boot. “Let’s just go see what Bane found in the basement.”
Everyone grabbed a box and hauled it all into the Infirmary so they could all see the results of just how bad this situation might be.
When they entered they found papers in both Shay and Stone’s hands.
Stone was also on the phone with Trudy.
Shay looked up at Deke. “We got what we needed to take the whole damn family down.” He waved a hand at Bane. “He told us it was Spencer that rigged his engine and if his car hadn’t been built like a tank, all five of you would have been dead.”
Mountain nodded. “Yeah, we are glad to still be here. Much like you and Pappy are after that copter wreck. We saw him plant that bomb in living color. There was no doubt it was Wagner.”
Shay nodded. “My men are almost there. They will take him into custody and take everything in the warehouse.” He raised the papers in his hands.
“These are going to lead us to every contact Jasper and his family has and believe me when I say that we will investigate each and every contact we can find. Stone is already beginning to connect the dots with Trudy’s help.
Miranda has shit going back years and we’re about to connect all of them to Mommy Miranda. ”
“I want five minutes with Spencer,” Bane spoke quietly.
Shay studied Bane then slowly shook his head. “I get it. I do. He wanted to turn you all into kibble. But I can’t do that, this is one case that we go by the book on. It’s the only way we can bring the whole family down.”
Bane glared at him then said, “Then I will get my five minutes before your men even get here.” His eyes were still cold. “Either way I’ll make him pay.” He stood and walked out of the room.
Shay couldn’t say anything for a full minute after Bane left the room. Then he looked at Stone and back at the door. “Holy fuck,” he muttered. “I hope he doesn’t do anything that comes back on us.”
James shook his head. “If you think that, then you don’t know Bane very well.
He knows what’s at stake, not only for him but for the case as well.
And he won’t foul things up. Not for a man like Spencer Wagner or Jasper Owens and Charlie Midland.
” He paused to look around at every man in the room.
“You may not know this or even care, but in his past Bane only took out the men the world would never miss. He also never took a contract out on a woman or child. He had his own standards but he did have them.”
Stone stared at him and asked, “What do you think he’s going to do now?”
James scoffed. “Knowing Bane he’s going after Spencer Wagner.
But don’t worry, he won’t kill him, he’s just going to convince him that he’ll kill him.
In case you didn’t know, Bane is a master of convincing someone he will end their lives, leaving them begging for death, they will beg him for mercy and he has none.
Then men like Jasper Owens and Spencer Wagner, he goes super scary on them.
He likes to play mind games with criminals. ”
“What does that mean?” Sam frowned.
James smiled faintly. “Bane runs files on everyone he thinks might be interesting. Like the file he showed you earlier on Spencer. He looks at the little things, things no one else looks at. He’s got an amazing mind and he remembers everything, then he uses that against them when he can.
He will torture Spencer to the point where he will be a babbling idiot, willing to spill every rotten deed his family has ever done.
Maybe even to the point where Spencer begs to go to prison thinking that’s the only place that’s safe for him. ”
Shay looked at James and asked, “You seem to know Bane quite well.”
James looked thoughtful. “Yes, I should by now. I’ve been watching him since Bastian gave him a do over.
I for one was like all of you. I hesitated to trust him at all.
I’ve seen him do things that took days for me to figure out why he did them.
But I finally learned that he’s really quite good at what he does.
Some say I am a genius but men like Bane use their high IQ for things we can only guess at.
Bastian has also been watching him, but I believe he has a better understanding of Bane than anyone.
Maybe it’s because of what Bastian did as The Priest. I think Bane knows we’re watching him and so far he hasn’t done anything about it.
And someday he might call us on it, but that day hasn’t come yet. ”