Gonzo (Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club Book 7) (18 page)

An hour later Brain’s voice came through my comms again. “They were Pit Bull’s cousins, trying to break in to get the funds to save his fingers. One of ’ems a Disciple. We roughed ‘em up pretty good and are working out a deal to hand them over to Marlin. We’re going on a mild alert. No less than three of us together at a time, and everyone has orders to either form groups elsewhere or get to the clubhouse within the hour. Horse is on his way into the store and he’s traveling alone. Nix is headed your way and I’d like the two of you to stay at the store until Ghost arrives with two prospects. You’ll return here with one of the prospects. I know you can take care of yourself, but you’re on foot and he’ll be in one of our vehicles.”

“Does the alert include family?”

“No requirements, but Duke put Paco and a prospect with Gen, and I’m bringing Harmony into the clubhouse. I doubt anyone’s aware of the twins, but you know they’re always welcome during the day, and Connie’s welcome during times of alert since she has mother status.”

“The twins don’t have my name yet, and I don’t think our enemies know about them.”

“Agreed, but it’s your choice.”

“Call the Drake control room and let them know we’re on a mild alert, please. Nix just arrived. What’s Horse’s ETA?”

“Soon. Let me know when he shows. I’m calling Drake now.”

Nix waited until I disconnected to ask, “How much do you know about Marlin?”

“He’s worked hard to keep the peace with us since the previous leader’s untimely demise. He’s done a few things to earn our trust, but we all know it’s possible he’s decided he wants some of our territory and is banking on our trust to keep all-out war at bay during the first few skirmishes. Brain’s our political strategist and he’s damned good at it, though, so we usually do what he suggests.”

“Word has it Brain abandoned ya’ll — went to Atlanta and Charlotte for a while.”

I shook my head. “Water under the bridge and it’s all good now. We voted him back in as VP because we trust him.”

Horse came roaring into the back lot on his bike. When he shut it down I engaged my mic to say, “Horse is here so I’m heading in with a prospect.”

“Good, make sure everyone’s inside before you go, and it wouldn’t hurt to make an extra loop around the block before you head in.”

H
armony was
in the front room of the clubhouse wrapped in a blanket on the sofa, with her laptop balanced on her legs. She gave me a warm smile and told me I was wanted downstairs, and for just a moment I saw the face she’d had before all of her plastic surgery.

I turned my burner phone into the control room, got mine back, and headed down. McGyver had taken over so I assumed Brain was downstairs.

I put my phone in the bin in the outer room, walked through the narrow opening, and then waited for Brain to engage the EMP before asking what was up.

“Need your tracking skills,” said Duke. “Marlin thinks he has a faction of the Disciples who don’t approve of his policy of keeping the peace with us. He’s cracking down hard on anyone who steps out of line, but he warned me he believes they have someone giving them information about some of our inner workings.”

“You think it’s Sullivan?” We’d scared the piss out of Sullivan and sent him on his way a while back. He’d made it as far as prospect before we realized he was the son of one of the men who’d raped a schoolteacher in Atlanta about a decade ago. He’d thought we were heroes because we beat the hell out of the rapists, but then he’d prospected in and decided we’re the bad guys, too. Not many people knew enough about us to give information that could hurt us, so my mind went straight to him.

“We can’t find him.”

“Okay, give me everything you have, and a computer behind a strong proxy so no one will know who’s looking and I’ll get started.” I was exhausted, but I came to them as an ex skip-tracer, and when they needed someone found they came to me.

“If you’re up for it, I’ve set up a computer in the control room. If not then grab some sleep and get started this afternoon. Either way, all the info you need is on a word doc you’ll see when you type in the password.”

“I’ll pull up his information and his background and then hit the hay, so my subconscious can be working on the problem while I sleep.”

“When you find him, don’t engage. Let us know what you’ve found out and we’ll send someone else in to take care of him.”

“I don’t mind.”

“We want to finesse this one.”

I laughed and stood to leave. I’m not known for finessing much of anything.

G
onzo

A
s twilight approached
I was wondering about Duke and Brain’s advice to wait until tomorrow night to
change
. The pull of the moon
hurt
, and my wolf was itching to come out.

I ignored it though as I sat outside a known Disciple member’s house and watched for activity. Two hours on the computer had given me Sullivan’s current girlfriend. She has two phones on her account, one of which is currently at her work address, and the other here. The fact her car was in the driveway didn’t bode well for Sullivan, but I wanted to confirm.

When dark finally hit, I moved in close enough to hear conversation inside the house, and heard Sullivan bitching about there not being any good food in the house.

I slapped a tracker under the fender of his girlfriend’s car on my way to the road, and hightailed it the mile or so to my truck.

I called Brain on the app, and when we finished with our business about Sullivan he asked, “How are you holding up?”

“Rough. You sure waiting until tomorrow night is best?”

“I am. We made alternate arrangements in case it hit you hard. Come to the control room to help me, and we’ll put someone else on your patrol.”

I wanted to argue with him, but knew I wasn’t at my best, and with everything in turmoil I’d just put whoever I was teamed with in danger if I couldn’t focus.

No one actually believes we’re werewolves, but our enemies have certainly noticed we’re scarce on the three nights around a full moon. If they ever attack us, it’s likely to happen one of those three nights. It’s one of the reasons the national RTMC organization finally managed enough votes to change the charter so we can invite other species in.

Watching video monitors all night is boring when nothing happens, but thankfully nothing happened.

Duke called a meeting at ten the next morning. I went to bed at five and woke up ten minutes before the meeting and went downstairs. Emergency meetings aren’t mandatory, but something important is always voted on when we have them, so we all try to make it. If you aren’t there you don’t get to bitch about the vote.

Brain showed my pictures of the house and gave my documentation of how I found Sullivan. He verified the three Disciples seen coming and going since I found Sullivan, and suggested we give it another twenty-four hours to see if anyone else showed up, and then we take out Sullivan and everyone he’d been talking to.

“That’s four people,” said Paco.

“Who’s watching Gen?” I asked Duke. He usually puts Paco on her.

“She’s upstairs. Her first appointment is at one today and arrangements have been made.” He looked at Paco. “Yes, four people. Sullivan was warned we’d make him disappear if he talked, and we don’t know what the other three might know about us.”

“Also, if Marlin’s telling the truth then these are the ones leading the charge to take over the Disciples. We take them out and Marlin stays leader,” said Bash.

“Do you believe Marlin?” asked Horse.

“Until we have reason to believe otherwise, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt while we prepare in case he’s lying,” Brain answered.

“First vote,” Duke said, “is whether we take out no one, only Sullivan, or all four.”

The vote to take out all four wasn’t even close.

“Next question, and I’m not putting this to a vote yet, it’s open for discussion right now — do we want to vote on how, or will you trust Brain and I to work it out and make it happen.”

“This needs to be low-key,” said Bash. “Making the house explode with everyone in it would work if we could make it look like a gas leak, otherwise it needs to be done so we don’t have homicide detectives finding excuses to get warrants to look through our homes and the clubhouse.”

“Bash is correct, and I have a feeling this will get complicated,” I said. “I’m good with Brain and Duke figuring it out and making it happen. If they need our help they know they have it.”

Everyone who spoke up agreed, Duke put it to a vote, everyone was fine with them working it out, the meeting adjourned, and I ate two bags of potato chips and a huge tub of dip. Sam’s assistant had emailed me the time for our Saturday morning lab appointment, and I texted Connie to let her know. I waited ten minutes, and when there was no response I texted her back to let her know I was going to bed and wouldn’t be available until around six in the afternoon.

I felt like shit. Every joint in my body hurt, every muscle, every organ, and my head felt as if it were about to split open. The wolf needs protein, but sometimes eating junk food helps when I don’t feel as if I’m in control. It didn’t this time, but at least I enjoyed the chips.

W
e usually ride
our bikes to the woods, but with the turmoil around us, Duke felt it best we didn’t advertise a third of us were leaving. We all piled into the back of a delivery van with a cooler full of beer, and drank and talked about nothing in particular on the drive.

Brain and Duke wanted to wait with me while the others
changed
so they could talk me through my
change
, but I insisted I’d rather do it alone.

I walked a half mile into the woods, smelled and listened to be sure I was alone, and caught Brain’s scent.

“I know you’re there.”

“I was going to give you the illusion of privacy.”

“Didn’t work.”

“We can’t all be Ghost.” He stepped out from behind a tree. “You’ll be vulnerable for a long time. Let me watch over you and make sure another predator doesn’t happen along and see you as an easy meal.”

We’d both undressed back at the van, so I only had to go to all fours and try to let the wolf out.

I could feel him, and I knew he wanted out, but it wasn’t working. However, once I started trying the soul-shattering pain hit, and I knew it wouldn’t go away until the process finished.

When I finally managed to get it started, my spine
changed
first — one vertebra at a time, and it must’ve taken two minutes before the entire spine was a wolf’s backbone while the rest of my body was human. I screamed as my hips began shifting, and desperately wished I could just pass out during the process as I realized my bones were shifting but not my soft tissues. Tendons ripped, muscles tore, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do to speed it up or stop the pain.

As my shoulders shifted and I felt the
change
making its way through every bone in my arms, wrists, and hands as the tendons and muscles ripped, Brain said, “When your skull shifts you’ll have brain damage until the soft tissues catch up. You’ll still feel every bit of it, but you won’t be in your right mind. If you’re going to reach out to Randall for help, you should do it soon — you’re barely a quarter of the way through your
change
.”

“How… reach out?” I managed to grit out between spasms.

“Just think of him, think of his energy, feel for it and ask for help. Just make sure you’re beyond respectful when you ask.”

I did as Brain said and I heard him talking to someone, or perhaps a group of people, as if he were on a stage. Somehow, he talked to me in my mind while he talked to them aloud, and I heard him telling me, “I have you,” as a warm, comforting energy enveloped me.

The process still happened as it’d started, but he made it happen within a few minutes instead of the hour or more Brain said it would’ve taken without Randall’s intervention. My fur was the last to form, and when I was finally all wolf, I sent a thank-you towards him. He sent another warm burst of energy my way before he shut me out so I could no longer hear what he was saying to the Pack before they
changed
and ran.

When the wolf was finally whole and walking, Brain quickly
changed
and we ran off together. I’m not sure how far we ran before we found the others, but they’d waited before taking down a deer, and I have to admit her warm meat was sweeter than any I could remember eating.

G
onzo

C
onnie called
me the next evening to let me know she’d meet me at the lab at ten Saturday morning with the twins’ bags packed, and I could take them with me after the appointment.

“Do you have a hot date Saturday night?”

“I have a date. I don’t know if it’ll be hot or not.”

I had to fight my wolf to tell her, “Good luck. I hope it works out, and if it doesn’t I hope you at least have fun.”

I’d been disconnected from my wolf too much to realize how much he wants her. Now that our connection was back to normal I understood we were going to have to find a compromise because I was slapped in the face with the realization he was going to do his best to push me toward her as I tried to pull back.

I talked to each twin for about fifteen minutes, and then she got back on the phone to verify they’d see me at ten Saturday morning. I reminded her we’d been invited to Duke and Gen’s house Sunday evening, and she said it was on her calendar.

T
he lab visit
was without incident. They looked over our paperwork and scanned everything in, took pictures of the kids and me, and then took us back and swabbed our mouths.

I took the kids for ice cream when we finished, and answered all of their questions. Connie had told them we needed to do this so I could be their official daddy, so we had a talk about how their mommy didn’t list me as their father when they were born, so now I had to prove I was their daddy to the government.

We spent a good part of the day at the Tennessee Aquarium, and I watched everyone around us with an eagle eye. I was in jeans and a light grey shirt, with nothing to hint I was part of the MC, but with my tattoo, beard, and hair I’m aware I stand out easily to our enemies. We were supposed to be staying in groups of no less than three, but I’d told Duke my plans and he’d recommended I drive around until I was sure I wasn’t being followed before I went to the lab, but felt I’d be okay from that point as long as I stayed in the tourist areas.

The MC’s little circle was well protected at the entry choke point, so I felt we’d be safe at my house tonight. Besides, nothing had happened for days, so I didn’t anticipate more trouble and I wasn’t sure why Duke still had us at a medium alert.

We were in the saltwater building of the Aquarium and the kids were wondering why the stingrays and sharks wouldn’t come anywhere near their hands when my cellphone buzzed to let me know I had a text through our secured app.

H
igh Alert
. Everyone to the compound. Respond with ETA.

T
he kids
still had the butterflies and the huge tank with the big sharks you can walk through to go, so I texted Duke through the app to see what was going on.

L
ast vote was followed
through two hours ago and someone just shot into the bike shop. We’re all okay, and the customers there at the time are fine.

F
uck
. Shit. Fuck-damn-shit.

I
’ll get
them through the rest of the Aquarium as fast as I can. When you order food, can you make sure you get plenty of ice cream?

A
lready done
. Make it fast and let me know when you’re inbound.

I
knew
there’d be plenty of pizza and barbecue, but sometimes they get ice cream as a treat and sometimes the women do cakes or pastries or something.

“Guys, my friend Brain just told me they’re having another party at my clubhouse. Let’s move on to the butterflies and then head downstairs. We can come back and spend more time here next time, but parties at my clubhouse are always more fun than this. Plus, they’ll have pizza and ice cream.”

“Yeah, I’m getting hungry, but I want to see the penguins!”

They spent two minutes with the butterflies, five minutes with the penguins, and ten minutes on the biggest tank downstairs. We breezed through the gift shop and I held their hands as we walked through the parking lot. I was a dad out for the day with his kids and nothing more.

I’d left my car at the bike shop during the week so Bash could install Window Armor on the back windows. It wasn’t completely bulletproof, but it’d protect against handguns from a distance. I got the Kevlar blankets out of my trunk and tucked them in around the kids’ torsos before I buckled their car seats, and then brought the bottom of the fabric up and over their legs. Between the wrap around car seats, the Kevlar, and the armor on the windows — they should be safe.

“I don’t like this blanket thing,” Chloe complained. I’d left their arms out and she tugged at it through the harness.

“I’m going to turn the air conditioner way, way up, and it’ll keep you from freezing.”

“Why are you going to make it cold in here?” asked Declan.

“So it won’t be warm. Why do you think the stingrays and sharks acted afraid of you?”

Thankfully, this got us onto another conversation and they forgot the blankets. I tucked my weapon under my right leg when I got into the car, and made sure my extra magazines were close at hand in the console.

My options were to take them to a hotel and sign in under my alias, or to take them to the clubhouse. Once we got to the compound we’d be safe, but I’d have to be on my toes every second in a hotel unless we stayed in the room the whole time, and that wasn’t an option with two four year olds.

I texted Brain through the app to let him know we were leaving the Aquarium and the route I intended to take. If I went the long way around and came in from the other direction I was least likely to get stopped at a red light.

My phone rang a minute later and it was Brain. “The route looks clear but I’ll keep an eye on it as you drive. Put me on speaker through your vehicle and leave the line open so I can warn you if you need to abort.”

I did so and told him, “Cool. The twins are discussing why the stingrays and sharks were afraid of them.”

“Do they have a winning hypothesis yet?”

“What’s a hypoth… hypoth… what’s one of those?” asked Declan.

“It’s when you think you know why something works the way it does. If you can prove the hypothesis, it becomes a theory,” Brain told them over the speaker.

We spent the next couple of minutes helping them learn to say hypothesis, and when I was a mile and a half away Brain said, “Slow it down so you don’t have to stop at the next red light.”

I dropped my speed and kept a sharp eye out, and when he told me I could speed up, I did — and I kept it up as I made every light and swung into our compound without incident.

We pulled into the garage and Angelica was waiting to help me get them out of their seats and walk them in. We went to my room first to drop off their things, and Chloe asked, “Where will Declan and I sleep?”

“You’ll both sleep with me. My bed’s plenty big for three people.” And I knew this for a fact because I’d had three people in it more times than I could count.

Fuck
, I’d need to change the sheets before they got in it.

The clubhouse was packed full of people and I maneuvered the twins to the little kids’ playroom. Two-way glass lets us watch them, but they can’t see into the clubhouse when the door’s closed. I wasn’t about to take them in and just leave them, as most of the parents did, so I made plates for all of us and we ate at a little table. When we finished I sat on the floor near some of the toys and played with them, and I smiled as some of the other little ones joined us. Most had been at the picnic and they were happy to see each other again. Angelica sat with us and played as well, and I understood why when Bash came to get me fifteen minutes later.

“Kids, I have to go help with the party but Angelica’s going to stay in here with you, and if you need me she knows how to get me, okay?”

They were so busy playing with the other kids and Angelica, they gave me quick hugs and went right back to playing.

I followed Bash downstairs, went through the process of making sure no electronics went into church, and finally took my seat. When Brain gave the all-clear Duke told us, “We nabbed Sullivan early yesterday and put a Disciples gang tat on him, then went in on the other three last night and made it look like they all shot each other. We put Sullivan in and shot him with one of their guns as well, made sure all of their fingerprints were as they should be on the appropriate guns, and left. They weren’t discovered until this afternoon, and whoever found them called the cops. As of now the cops are assuming it’s an internal gang dispute, but apparently someone in the Disciples has other ideas. Marlin claims to not be involved, but he’s honest about the fact he isn’t sure exactly who he can trust right now. He once gave Pit Bull his complete trust, so I think he’s doubting himself.”

“We haven’t told Marlin we’re responsible, and he hasn’t mentioned the fact Sullivan had a new gang tat,” Brain told the room. “If Marlin thinks someone else feels they have the clout to let people in, he’s going to go on the warpath to find out who it is.”

“Do we know who shot into the bike shop?” Bash asked.

Brain left the room and brought a large laptop in to show us the images he had. We saw the back and side of a car with a barrel hanging out the back passenger window, and then we saw the rear of the car at an intersection, then a close up of the license plate.

“It doesn’t belong to anyone in the gang and I have a feeling it’ll be reported stolen soon. The family that owns this car isn’t likely to be involved, though we can’t rule out a girlfriend, of course. Here’s the best shot I could get of the driver’s face. I don’t have the person in the back seat in any image except the one with the gun, and then we only see part of his hand. He must’ve dropped down into the floorboard as they pulled away.”

Most of the Disciples are black, and all of their leaders are. The man driving the car looked to be in his mid-forties and appeared to be a basic everyday Caucasian civilian. His hair was greying and short, which could point to him being ex-military. Was it possible the shooting wasn’t related to our problems with the Disciples?

“I’m researching the car owner deeper to see if I can find a connection to us, and I’ll ask Gonzo to help with that when we break up here,” Brain told us. “If the car is reported stolen then we’ll obviously drop that line, but I’ve run several images of the driver through facial recognition and nothing popped, so the car’s owner is all we really have to go on.” He shook his head. “The driver knew to wear sunglasses, so we can’t assume he’s an unknown just because we didn’t get a match.”

“What Brain is saying,” Duke said, “is if they stole the car we’re at a dead end. If that’s the case, I’d like to hand over what we have to Aaron Drake and pay him to see what he can find.”

No one objected, and I asked, “Are we operating on the assumption the drive-by on the bike shop wasn’t related to the Disciples, or do we think they paid someone to do it?”

“We’re looking at all possibilities,” said Brain.

“Do we know why Sullivan went to the Disciples? Were they paying him for the info, or perhaps keeping him safe from someone?”

“Did you come up with anything when you were looking for him?”

“No, but I was just trying to figure out how to find him. I’ll look through it all again and see if anything pops.”

The meeting broke up and I watched the twins through the glass a few moments to assure myself they were okay. This was supposed to be my day with them but it couldn’t be helped.

With a sigh, I went to the control room and Brain handed me the USB with everything I’d found on Sullivan. He keeps them in a safe that’ll fry them if someone unauthorized tries to enter.

Nothing popped up, and on a hunch I looked up the names of all Julie’s rapists and then looked up their mug shots. Something had made Sullivan go to the Disciples, and I reckoned that once I figured out why he’d gone to them, the rest might make sense.

Bingo
. Once I compared mugshots to the image, I recognized him. The resolution had been so crappy on the one half-way-decent image, I hadn’t realized who he was.

“Brain. Found him.”

I left his image up on the right corner of the screen while I used another window to research his name.

“Three of them got out of prison five weeks ago,” I told him.

“Retaliation to us for putting them away,” said Brain, “and possibly what sent Sullivan to the Disciples for protection, if his dad found his mom and was taking her money and valuables again.”

Brain pulled his phone from his pocket and punched long enough I was sure he was using the app.

“Bud, Julie’s rapists are out. I know she has a new name and is living on your street now, I just wanted to give you a heads up.”

I could hear Bud through the speaker. “What the fuck? They’re supposed to be inside another ten years, and the victim’s supposed to be told before they’re released!”

“They’re apparently coming after us first, but you need to make sure Julie’s safe. I wouldn’t tell her they’re out just yet, not until we figure out what we’re doing on this end.” Right, because if we kill them then it’ll be hard to explain to Julie how we know they won’t come after her without admitting to murder. I didn’t think Julie would rat us out, but we don’t tell civilians that sort of thing.

“Ya’ll need help?”

“We’ll let you know if we do. Angelica’s in the clubhouse, we’ll keep her safe.”

“Make sure you do.”

We both heard the threat in Bud’s voice, and Brain rolled his eyes as he disconnected. “Bash has balls of steel to take on Bud’s daughter, but I’m glad it’s working out.”

Brain glanced at Viper sitting at the control desk and looked back to me. “Go back to the twins and play. I’m going to pull Duke and Bash in so we can figure out what happens next. You’re welcome to stay, but I know you don’t get much time with your kids.”

I was tempted to stay — the MC is my family, but my twins are also my family and Brain was right about my not getting much time with them.