Chapter 36 #2
He looked up and saw the president a few feet away. Rollo wasn’t looking particularly presentable himself, with blood along his jaw, his shirt torn and a chair still hanging from one hand as though he had forgotten he was holding it.
“Alive.”
This time the order got through.
Reeze looked down at Chris. The vice president was on his knees among the remains of the table, blood running from his nose and one eyebrow. His confidence was gone now, and for the first time what he had been trying to hide showed clearly on his face. Fear. Good.
Reeze bent down, grabbed his cut and hauled him upright.
“You chose the wrong club.”
Chris didn’t answer. He probably couldn’t.
The last resistance inside the clubhouse died almost as quickly as it had begun.
A few of the Sunkholes guys kept fighting even though it was already obvious they were losing, but it seemed more out of habit than conviction.
Most were either on the floor, stumbling towards the exit or being more or less helpfully escorted outside by men who were in no mood to be gentle.
Billy took over Chris and Reeze released him without even looking to see what happened next.
He was looking for Charlie. She was still standing farther away among the wreckage of what had only minutes earlier been a fairly ordinary morning at Wallhalla.
Tony had positioned himself in front of her as though sheer stubbornness alone would stop the next attack, and two of the Assholes guys remained nearby.
Glass covered the floor and several tables had been broken.
Mia was already patching someone up while swearing at the man so loudly that anyone listening might have assumed she was the one who had been injured.
Reeze barely saw any of it. His gaze locked on the blood covering Charlie’s shirt.
His mind managed to produce a dozen different conclusions before he reached her. “Are you hurt?”
Charlie blinked, then followed his gaze down to herself. “That’s not mine.”
He heard her, but his body didn’t quite believe the words. His hands moved over her arms and shoulders, up along her neck and jaw, searching for something that would explain the blood.
Finally, she caught one of his hands between hers. “Reeze.” He stopped and looked at her. “I’m okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.” Charlie put her hand against his cheek and waited until his gaze stopped moving over her.
“No one got hold of me.”
Those were the words that finally got through. He drew a slow breath and nodded before looking at Tony. “You don’t leave her alone.”
The prospect had blood on one cheek and his shirt was torn, but he automatically straightened.
“No, MaA.”
Nothing more needed to be said. Tony looked almost offended that Reeze would even consider the possibility that he might leave Charlie unattended.
Behind them, Chris coughed and spat blood onto the floor.
Billy sighed. “If you two are finished?”
Reeze started to turn, but Charlie caught his hand before he could leave.
“I’ll be here when you get back.”
He looked at her for a few seconds before nodding. “Good.”
She released him, and Reeze followed Billy and Chris through the clubhouse.
Men moved aside as they passed. All around them, others were tending to their own, carrying away broken furniture and helping injured men off the floor.
Someone held a towel against a gash on his forehead while Mia threatened to stitch him up without anaesthetic if he didn’t stop whining.
Typical Wallhalla chaos. Aside from the blood.
The farther they moved from the clubhouse, the quieter it became. First the sounds of the workshop took over, then even those faded until all that remained was the sound of footsteps in the corridor.
Reeze walked behind Chris and let his mind work. Something still didn’t feel right.
Sunkholes hated Wallhalla enough to start a fight and certainly enough to storm the clubhouse if they thought they had something to gain from it.
But this had been different. Someone had pointed Charlie out.
Someone had told them exactly who to look for.
When Billy opened the door to the boiler room, Reeze saw Chris’s gaze fix on the darkness beyond it.
For the first time since the attack began, he looked genuinely worried.
Billy smiled. “Now we can talk in peace.”
The boiler room had never been a place where people felt comfortable, but then it had never been intended to be.
Pipes running along the walls gave off a constant heat that made the air heavy, while somewhere in the background came the monotonous thud of the system that kept the clubhouse warm during winter.
It was cramped, dirty and far enough from the rest of the building that nobody would hear much if someone started screaming.
Chris seemed to understand that. He tried to keep his expression under control as Billy sat him down on the chair, but his hands shook when he wiped the blood from his mouth and his gaze kept drifting towards the door. The lock clicked. Chris continued staring at it.
Until now, everything had been about survival. The beating, the fight and getting out of the clubhouse on his feet. Now he had time to think. That quickly turned out to be worse.
Blood tasted of iron in his mouth, and every time he moved his jaw pain shot up towards his temple.
Billy stood against one wall looking mostly irritated, as though this were simply another inconvenience that had ruined his morning.
Rollo had his arms folded across his chest and didn’t look angry at all.
Reeze said nothing. He was the one Chris kept looking at.
He stood in the middle of the floor and waited. No restless pacing, no threats, no performance. Just a dark gaze that stayed exactly where it was.
The longer the silence dragged on, the more Chris began wishing somebody would just say something.
Finally, he laughed. It sounded more tired than amused.
Billy raised an eyebrow. “What the fuck is so funny?”
Chris shook his head. “He said it would be easy.” Nobody answered. “He said you’d lose your mind.” Chris looked at Reeze. “That all they had to do was give you a reason, and then Wallhalla would do the rest themselves.”
Rollo still didn’t move. “Who?”
Chris looked at him. “Dennis.” The silence changed. Not much. But enough. “That was almost the first thing he said when we met.”
“Go on,” Rollo said.
Chris put a hand over his mouth and looked at the blood across his knuckles.
Then he began talking, cautiously at first, with pauses between the words, but once he got started it seemed as though something had come loose.
Names followed names. Meetings that had seemed insignificant at the time took on an entirely different meaning when placed together.
Things Dennis had said in passing turned out to have been planned much earlier than Chris had realised, and slowly a picture began to emerge of a man who had been working on this for far longer than any of them had thought.
It wasn’t a matter of weeks. Probably not even months. Dennis had been gathering information for a long time. Chris ran a hand over his face and grimaced when his fingers brushed his swollen jaw.
“You still don’t understand who you’re dealing with.”
Billy snorted. “Enlighten us.”
Chris looked at him before shifting his gaze to Reeze. “Dennis didn’t start with you.”
Rollo lifted his chin slightly. “What do you mean?”
“He collects people.”
“Collects?”
Chris nodded. “Information. Pictures. Reports. Phone numbers. Anything that might be useful later.” He gave a dry laugh and immediately regretted it when his jaw protested.
“You really think a man who beats his own wife for years without going down for it is just lucky?”
Nobody answered.
“He’s had people covering for him for years. And he keeps things on them. Colleagues, informants, criminals... anyone who might be worth something later.”
Billy’s expression darkened. “And Wallhalla?”
“That’s where Charlie came in.”
Chris looked at Reeze and immediately saw the man’s entire body go still.
“He didn’t give much of a shit about you lot to begin with, no more than any other club. But when she moved in next door to one of you, he started digging.”
“What did he want?”
“Everything. Who you were, what you did and what could be used.”
“For what?” Billy asked.
Chris carefully shrugged one shoulder. “Blackmail. Pressure. Insurance. Same shit as always.” He fell silent for a moment before looking at Reeze again.
“But I don’t think it was really about the club in the beginning.”
Reeze already knew what was coming. “It was about her.”
Chris nodded towards the door, towards the clubhouse outside and towards Charlie.
“Dennis could never accept that she left him. When he realised she had people around her who were actually willing to protect her, he started collecting information on you as well.”
Nobody said anything after that. Billy’s usual comments were gone and Rollo remained standing with his arms folded. Reeze simply looked at Chris, and it quickly became clear that was worse than if he had started shouting. Chris looked away. That was when he noticed the gun on the workbench.
It lay among tools, oily rags and a few spare parts, and clearly nobody had put it there specifically for him. Maybe that was what frightened him. Reeze started moving.
Chris shot to his feet so quickly that the chair scraped backwards and toppled over. “I told you.”
His voice came out thinner than he intended and he hated it, but Reeze kept moving. Rollo stepped away from the wall and calmly positioned himself between Reeze and the workbench. “And then?”
Reeze stopped, his jaw working as his gaze moved past Rollo towards the gun.
“You shoot him,” the president continued calmly, nodding towards Chris. “Fine. Then what?”
Reeze didn’t answer. “Dennis is still out there. Josh too. And everyone else involved.”