Among the Chaos: Book 2 of the Soldiers of Chaos MC Series (18 page)

“Righto kid but they see you it’s gonna fuck with what I’m tryin’ to achieve here,” he warned her.

“And what exactly is that old man?”

“You’ll see for yourself soon enough kid,” he replied cryptically.

Nikki snuck out of the shop and into the dark streets. She ducked from building to building hiding in the deepest shadows she could find while always keeping the house in view. She made it into the yard next door and slowly worked her way down the fence line towards the back of the yard. The properties around here were all in terrible condition and about half way down the fence she found what she was looking for.

As she peered through the hole in the fence she watched Black enter the house leaving one of his goons outside with the two patrolling men. They were moving in a pattern circling the house one at a time while the other one waited at the rear door. Black’s goon took the place of the man at the rear door sending him around to the front. She waited for the next man to circle then slid through the darkness and into the overgrown bushes next to the building.

She pressed herself against the wall of the house and inched her way over to the nearest open window.

“Are you sure this location is secure?” Black’s words drifted quietly out through the open window.

“We cleared this place out a while ago and with the threat of death and the lure of cheap junk even the addicts are steering clear,” came the reply.

“We’
ll get a man across the street anyway.”

“Will you be handling this Sir?”

“No.  Malakai will handle the deal,” Black’s name drop had alarm bells ringing in Nikki’s ears.

Malakai was
high level Niner. If he was handling stuff for Black this meant the gang had to be well and truly entrenched in this Bridges bullshit.

“I don’t trust these guys. Anyone willing to cross their own club is more than capable of double crossing their enemy,” Black’s words reached her ears and bounced around inside her brain.

Anyone willing to cross their own club?
Who the hell was he talking about? Nikki thought Reaper had gotten rid of the Crow’s traitors. Unless there were others or even worse unless they were Soldiers? Nikki’s blood roared in her ears as her mind raced through the possibilities. Et tu Brute. Jesus Christ. This is what they were doing here? Waiting to execute the traitor among them? She glanced in the direction of the old bike shop roof.  Bloody Reaper, he could’ve told her.

“They prove to me that they are on our side by killing one of their own then maybe I’ll trust them,” Black’s statement sent chills down Nikki’s spine.

She wished she knew who they were talking about. She’d hunt the bastard down now and end this before it had even begun.

“
Tomorrow night we will have our answer and then we’ll see if we can’t squash these cockroaches.”

Cockroaches?
Reflexively Nikki’s hand went to the gun at the small of her back. She’d show that bastard how extermination was done.

A sound to her left drew her attention away from the conversation. Black’s loose man was rounding the corner of the house his eyes on the garden bed. She cursed silently and searched frantically with her eyes for an escape path. Nikki spotted an opening into the crawl space under the old house. She’d just have put her belly to the dirt and go under or risk being caught. Nikki did a quick dive and slid into the black pit under the house.

In the cramped dark musty space she could hear muffled voices above her and the crunch of nearby footsteps. The footsteps came to a stop right near her cubby hole. The distinctive sound of a zipper coming down followed by the trickle of liquid had her sliding back further. Her noise wrinkled up as the smell permeated her cocoon of darkness. The guy seriously needed to drink more water.

As she lay in the darkness she contemplated what to do with this information. Sure as shit no one knew about this except her, Reaper and King. While that might keep the traitor from knowing they were on his tail it also meant more lies and under the table crap. This was some serious stuff and something that at the very least the club’s VP should know about. Surely they couldn’t think Tex was the traitor or Trace for that matter. She couldn’t understand why they hadn’t been included in this.

The voices began to die off and footsteps moved over Nikki’s head. Black’s goon swore and quickly zipped up running back to his post no doubt. She slowly crawled forward on her belly through the dirt staying as far away from that acrid wet patch as she could. She heard car doors opening and shutting, the sound of an engine coming to life then Black’s BMW rolled past the house and out onto the street.

Nikki quickly slid from her hiding space and with a quick glance around made a run for the gap in the fence. As she made her way through the neighbouring yard the sound of a vehicle coming down the road caught her attention. She peered out from the deeply shadowed corner of the building to see a familiar vehicle driving past. The van? Nikki quickly ducked back into the darkness. Shit. The boys had been following Black. She prayed to god they hadn’t seen her as she waited for them to disappear.



“Did you see that?” Tex glanced back at the building they’d just passed.

“See what?” Trace asked him glancing in the mirrors.

“I swear I just saw someone hiding at the corner of that building. A woman maybe,” Tex continued to search the darkness behind them but saw no further movement.

“Probably some junkie.
You know what this place is like.”

Trace was probably right but something about that shadowy figure stuck in his mind.
Then again maybe it was his own paranoia catching up with him.

They’d been following Black for a few days now and Tex was surprised at just how easy it was. Either the guy was so arrogant he just didn’t believe anyone would have the balls to follow him or he was letting them follow him. The second idea had Tex on edge waiting for an ambush somewhere. Probably the worst part about this whole thing though was working with Winter. The man was dedicated to Nikki and he had to give him credit for that but the fact that Nikki had nearly chosen the guy over them still hurt and angered Tex. He couldn’t help but turn everything with the guy into some sort of pissing contest. He knew he was doing it but he did it all the same. Nikki was his and he was gonna make sure the guy got that point every time he interacted with the man.

“What did Winter say about that house?” Trace asked.

“It’s not on Black’s regular visit list and they’ve got no information on that address in particular. He had heard a
rumour about someone moving in to the area and clearing out all the junkies but nothing concrete on who it was or why. His first thought was that Bull was finally getting his shit together and cleaning the joint up but obviously not. He’s gonna get eyes on the joint anyway,” He explained.

The place wasn’t their priority. Their priority was finding a way to use Black to get to Bridges. So far they hadn’t managed to ascertain any contact between the two. Hell even Winter couldn’t get a phone tap and getting into the guy’s house was near on impossible. He had a gatehouse manned twenty four hours a day. The walls were littered with security cameras and then there was his staff both domestic and security. The man’s house was Fort Knox. The only time he was remotely vunerable was when he was being driven around or at the girlfriend’s apartment.

That was a prospect Tex was beginning to entertain. The girlfriend might be the only opportunity available to them to extort information out of Black. Tex didn’t like the idea of involving anyone innocent in this mess but time was running short. They had another shipment coming in two days and Tex had a bad feeling in the depth of his guts. That last minute detour had taken them right past Black and he couldn’t believe that had been coincidence. While Jay and Brodie’s bravery may have earned them a patch that was not a situation he wanted to repeat.

They followed Black’s car all the way to the harbor. The place operated twenty four hours a day so at least their work van wouldn’t look out of place amongst the traffic.  They headed towards the west dock. The BMW pulled up in front of a large sign for a construction site. CMB Constructions, another one of Black’s projects no doubt. Tex wondered what horrors were hiding in this one. The gate slowly opened and Black’s car rolled in to the site. One look at the man on the gate and his gun told Tex this wasn’t regular security. Trace immediately turned off the road parking in a small laneway between the two buildings next door.

“What do you
wanna do?” Trace asked him.

“Let’s go check it out Brother,”
Tex answered as he slid from the vehicle.

He jogged quietly to the back end of the building and peered around the corner. In the middle of the site he could see a large building taking form. Concrete pillars held up three concrete floors. Scaffolding went up to each level. A huge crane towered over the site and pieces of machinery were dotted around the space. A tall fence surrounded the construction site, or at least the parts of it that were sitting on land.

“Fee
l like going for a swim Brother?” he asked gesturing toward where the fence ended and the water began.

Even in the dark he could tell Trace was less than pleased about the idea.
He gave Trace a quick grin before taking off low across the wharf towards the fence. He slid along it towards the water as Trace followed him.

As he reached his target he realized they might not need to get in the water after all. They should be able to swing around the end of the fence and reach the dock behind it. Provided there was nothing and no one on the other side to stop them. He could see some machinery lined up against the other side of the fence and figured it might provide them some cover. He gestured to Trace that he was going to take a look.

He leaned out over the water a little while Trace grabbed the back of his belt to steady him. Tex craned his neck around the fence. A few portable light towers cast an intermittent orange glow around the site. Tex glimpsed Black’s car through the gaps in the machinery. From what he could see there were a few armed men dotted here and there through the site.

Leaning back to his side of the dock he whispered to Trace, “The machinery just there should give us enough cover to duck around the fence. There are at least six armed guys on the other side plus Black’s men.
Won’t know if that’s it till we get over there.”

Trace nodded in acknowledgement, “let’s do this shit.”

Tex
swung around the fence first and went straight for the cover off a loader with Trace hot on his heels. Tex peeked through the spaces in the machinery. From here he could get a better look at the scene before them. Black’s car was parked close to the building his goons were standing around the vehicle. Tex assumed the man himself was still inside it. The six armed men he’d counted appeared to be it. Still they needed information not a confrontation so they’d have to be careful.

The gate opened again and another black BMW entered the site. Bloody suits. All the money in the world and they still chose the same shit.

“We need to get closer than this,” Trace whispered to him, “if we track round to the left there seems to be more cover that way. We should be able to get in close enough to hear what’s going on if we can get into the building.”

Tex looked at the path between them and the building.

“
Right let’s go for it,” he agreed.

Tex
took off crouching low. He weaved his way between covers, piles of debris, pallets of construction materials, bins, site boxes and machinery.

By the time they made it to the edge of the building Black was out of his car and the other car had come to a stop. He and Trace crept forward using the dark shadows of the building and its pillars for cover. The door of the other vehicle opened and a man dressed in a black suit got out of the car his back to them.

“Good evening Sir,” Black greeted the other man in a formal voice.

Could this be Bridges? Tex wished he could get a better look at the guy.

“Mister Black,” the other man greeted Black as he approached him.

Something about the way the guy moved sparked a sense of déjà vu in Tex’s mind. His movements were sure, his footfalls strong but light. He moved like an operator.

“Have the links with Washington been sorted?”

Black hesitated before answering, “We found nothing Sir, although when we entered the property the safe had been opened.”

Tex thought back to the night they’d gone to Lenny’s place. They hadn’t gone inside that night because of another man dressed in black. Suddenly Tex began to assess Black’s companion with new eyes. He certainly had the right height and build. He didn’t flinch at the information Black had just imparted. Who the hell was this dude?