Locke (Aces MC Series Book 4) (17 page)

Saviour

"The wanderer returns." I strolled into the
clubhouse to be greeted by Onyx with his arms held wide.
I nodded my head in his direction and walked towards the bar, after everything
that had gone on with April I really didn't want to be here but that event had
spurred me on.
Onyx patted me on the back as he joined me, "Do you feel better for your
time away?"
I nodded as I accepted a drink from Wes and took a swig of my beer.
"Good because I don't want any more beef between you and Polar. We've
enough going on with rival clubs trying to muscle in on our shit, I don't need problems
within the club especially tonight as I've got a lot of money riding on this
fight. You got me?"
I nodded again trying to refrain from beating the shit out of him, he'd get it
but I owed it to April to get Polar first.
"Drink up, I want you outside in five." Onyx slapped me on the back
and grabbed his keys from the bar before making his way from the building.
I downed my beer and slammed the empty bottle on the bar, I wasn't in any mood
to be sociable. Before I removed my hand Wes grabbed it, "They buried her
yesterday." I yanked my hand from his and glared at him, I wasn't ready to
talk about April. I stomped through the bar heading for the door with thoughts
of her running through my head. She wouldn't want me acting like a twat, in
fact she'd pull me up on my shit which made me snigger. I turned back towards Wes,
"Where is she?" I asked.
Wes smiled, "The cemetery down the road but because of the circumstances they've
put her in with Yvonne."
"Polar's mum!"
"Yeah, ironic isn't it. He made a big song and dance about her being
buried in his family plot."
"So why didn't he take her as his fucking old lady in the first place if
he cared for her so much then none of this would have fucking happened." I
stomped from the bar needing to calm down before I faced Polar.    

I arrived outside as Onyx was giving a quick speech to the
rest of the group but I got the gist as I joined the guys and got into the van.
Polar glared at me but his vision was blocked when Onyx purposely stood in his
way.
"Okay, Slick will lead the way." Onyx said waiting for Polar to get
into the van before he moved.

An hour later we pulled up in front of what looked to be a
derelict building. If it wasn't for the noise of the revellers I wouldn't have
known that it was occupied.
Polar stretched as he got out of the front cab and strolled over to the other van
where some of the guys had congregated. He opened the back doors and the Pit Bull
barked excitedly when it saw its owner.
"Hello Bruce, you gonna win us some money tonight?"
The dog moved around agitated in its cage by the chants and cheers from the
group of the mention of money. The dog had a glint in its eye and a crazed look
similar to that of its owner, his fucking deranged owner. Polar placed a lead
on the dog and led it from the van, Bruce moved his head back and forth
aggressively like he knew what he was about to do.  
The guys followed Polar up the path towards the building, I could feel the low
buzz of excitement as we entered the main room and people turned to see the
star attraction.

"Come on boys hurry up and gather round." A large ginger
haired man in his early fifties shouted as he encouraged the group to gather
around the fighting pit. "Get your dogs cleaned and weighed quickly."
Polar and the man holding the other dog walked over to an area at the back of
the room and I watched as the dogs were cleaned with a milky liquid.

"Why are they being washed?" I asked Slick intrigued
as this was my first dog fight.
"Poison!" I must have looked at him confused, "They have to
clean the dogs in milk and alcohol. It's known that some owners have previously
rubbed substances into the fur of their dogs. When the other dog bites it, it
gets a mouth full of poison. Polar lost a dog a couple of years ago because of
it."
I let out a low whistle, "I bet that pissed him off."
"The owner's now dead." He said dryly. 
I didn't know if he was joking or serious but it showed just how much was at
stake in a fight such as this. The purse stood at £10,000 and I'd heard
whispers that Onyx had put £5,000 down on Bruce to win. That was high stakes on
something that was totally out of his control.
I witnessed a flurry of activity as various guys placed money on the dogs.
There were three fights on tonight but Bruce was up first. He was a mean
looking thing but his opponent wasn't much different in size, I suppose that's
why they'd been selected to fight each other, similar to that of boxing but
this fight was to the death.

The room was filling up, what originally started as an
excited buzz was now becoming mounting tension as the fight was about to begin.
Polar held Bruce his prized possession, he was one win away from becoming a
champion and then he could retire from the ring and be used for breeding. He
was fighting an equally sized Pit Bull called Rocky and was being held in the
opposite corner of the pit.
"What are the lines for on the ground?" I asked Slick.
He rolled his eyes and you could see that he was pissed with the questions I
was asking but I was new to all this, I didn't know what to expect.
"When they're released they need to cross the line themselves with no help
from their owners. If they don't and have to be coerced then they forfeit the
match."
I nodded my head and followed Slick as we pushed our way to the front to get a closer
look. I didn't want to be here to witness this shit, this really wasn't my
scene but it was my first night back after a week at home so I couldn't cry off
early.

"Okay gentleman, all bets have been placed so enjoy the
fight." The crowd grew quiet waiting for the referee to give the signal.
"Gentlemen are you ready?" He glanced at Polar then at the other man
across the pit who also nodded. "Okay then three, two, one!" He
shouted as the dogs were released.

They charged at each other like raging bulls to the roar of
the crowd. Bruce was crazed going straight for Rambo's neck, he clung on
tightly and scrambled so that he was on top of the other dog and tried to shake
Rambo around but he was too large.
I glanced around the room to see the enjoyment on the faces of the group as
these two dogs ripped the shit out of each other, I needed to get out of here
and get some fresh air I couldn't watch these two dogs kill each other. I
strolled across the room and made my way out of the building through a side
door. The old house used to be a mental hospital in the nineteenth century and
I was surprised that it hadn't been snapped up by property developers to
transform into apartments. I leant against the building and sparked up a fag, I
knew that the fight was still going on from the noise the crowd were making and
knew that I could enjoy at least five minutes of peace before I had to go back
in. I placed my hand on my knife attached to my belt, and knew that I needed to
use it soon but how was I going to be able to get Polar on his own and not
raise suspicion. He fucking hated me as much as I hated him so why would we ever
be alone? I took another drag of my fag and flicked the butt onto the ground as
something caught my eye further in the distance. I kept my head still but
looked from side to side observing at least twenty people slowly making their
way towards the building spread across the field and further in the distance
there were several vehicles making their way down the track with their lights
off. I needed to get out of here and fast, and knew what I needed to do.

I casually made my way into the building to not rouse suspicion
from the police that I'd seen them and weaved my way through the crowd towards
Polar.
I tapped him on the shoulder but he ignored me as he was in the zone watching
his dog get the better of the other. I tapped him again and he spun around, eyes
lit with fury, "What the fuck do you want?" he asked clearly annoyed
that I'd interrupted his viewing.
I leaned towards him making sure that I was close to his ear, "Police are
going to raid this place in the next five minutes." He leaned back looking
at me confused but I simply nodded.
Polar glanced at the dog and back at me and I could see the frustration on his
face. The dog had sustained some injuries during the fight and although it was
going to win it probably had another ten minutes or so left of the fight. If he
stopped it he would forfeit and lose the money so instead he would need to
leave his beloved dog behind.
"Polar you need to make a decision and quick, I'm going."
He nodded, "Yeah I'm coming, have you told Onyx?"
"Not yet, we'll do it on the way out." I jogged to the back of the
room and stood on a crate to see if I could see Onyx but the room was too busy.
I took my phone from my pocket, "What you doing?" Polar asked as I tapped
away speedily.
"Texting Onyx, hopefully he'll get this. Come on we need to make a
move." We entered a door at the rear of the room and jogged towards an
archway that led into the next room when we heard all hell break loose in the
room we'd just come from. The police had obviously just stormed the place and
would be now rounding everyone up.

"And where do you suggest we go now?" I asked
pointing to the floor of the next room. The roof tiles had been striped back at
some time leaving the building open to the elements over the years. Water had
seeped through resulting in the floor rotting away. What was still there looked
unstable and I wasn't risking my life trying to walk over the few wooden beams
that were left.
"What are you a pussy?" Polar flashed me a smile, "No don't
answer that coz I already know the answer." He sniggered to himself as he
pushed past me and shimmied across a small beam before jumping over a large
hole in the floor to land at the bottom of a set of concrete stairs. As he
landed debris from under his boot fell into the hole and I waited to see if I
could hear it land. It took a while but I calculated that it possibly went down
two levels.
"That's a long way down." I stated as I edged along the same beam
that Polar had just used.
"It's only a long way down if you fall," he turned and slowly made
his way up the narrow staircase.
I didn't let on but I was scared of heights and this was taking a lot out of me
to pluck up the courage to jump the vast hole. I stood still and composed
myself, taking in one last breath before I leapt over the gap.
I landed hard and quickly flung my hands out in front of me to stop the
momentum as dust blew up around me.
"Are you coming or what?" Polar shouted clearly agitated by how long
I was taking. "If you get lost it's not my problem, I'll just tell Onyx
that you were too slow."
I rolled my eyes he was such a prick, he didn't realise that he'd never see
Onyx again I just needed to work out how I was going to do it.

I followed him up the stairs to the next level which led to
an eerie corridor, visibility was poor because it was so dark and the only
light we had was from the moon.
"Come on this way." Polar stepped on various floorboards trying to
judge what was stable under his weight. I was quite happy letting him take the
lead as I'd then know where to stand to support my weight.

I could still hear shouting and barking in the distance but
we weren't in any threat of being caught by the police. They wouldn't come up here
as it was unsafe and they'd deem it a health and safety risk, and I thought so
to as I stepped hesitantly on the squeaky boards.

I heard the splitting of wood and turned towards the noise,
"Saviour!"
Adrenalin pumped quickly around my body as I rushed to Polar's aid, he'd
stepped on a rotten beam and had fallen through the floor. The lower part of
his body dangled in the air as he managed to hold his body weight to prevent
himself from falling further. At first my initial reaction was to save him but
as I evaluated the situation, this was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. I
casually sat beside him as he scrambled to get himself out of the hole frantically
scratching around in front of me to find something that he could hold on to and
pull him up. This could've been made easier but I'd positioned myself directly
in front of him so he couldn't get the leverage he needed to swing himself up
onto the platform.

"This is no time for games Saviour, help me up." I
could see the panic rise as Polar became uncertain of what his fate may hold.
"Well I could help you but then again I could sit back and watch you
die." I said coldly.
Polar looked at me confused. "Is this about April again? I explained it
was a mistake, I didn't mean to take it so far but I was angry." He looked
almost humble and for the first time in seven years I was able to see a brief
flash of goodness. Maybe April had seen this more than others and that's why
she'd fallen in love with him.
I let out a long sigh that I didn't even know I was holding and shook my head
at the situation, "You haven't got a fucking clue, have you?"
"Get me up Saviour and then we'll talk about it, I can't hold on for much
longer." Polar's arms were leaning on the floorboard supporting his weight
as his legs dangled beneath him, I quickly glanced behind Polar and saw that
the drop would take him straight down to the basement and most certainly hell.
"The thing is Polar, this is where it all ends. You aren't going home, I'm
not giving you the opportunity to hurt anyone ever again." I saw the panic
in his eyes at the realisation of what was about to happen.
"What you're not getting, is that you killed my entire family." I saw
his puzzled expression so I explained further, "What's the matter Polar
have you killed so many families that you can't remember?" He slipped a
little and quickly regained his composure by holding firmly to a splintered
piece of wood. "I was thirteen years old when I watched my family die in a
house fire that the Satan's started and for that I want revenge. I murdered
Priest and now I'll watch you come to the same end." I placed my hands on
his wrists and saw the look of a man that knew he was about to die.
"Saviour, this isn't you man. You're not a murderer you have a heart, you
won't be able to live with yourself if you do this." Polar tried to plead to
my better nature.
I sniggered, "I wasn't when I first joined the Satan's but I've learned
from the best." I pushed his arms so that he couldn't support his weight
any longer and watched as he fell to his death.
I sat contemplating what had just happened. Polar was right, I wasn't a
murderer but I needed to do this to seek revenge and retribution for my family
but did it make me feel any better?
I heard a noise further down the corridor in the direction we'd just came from
and sat still listening to try and work out who or what it was. I heard another
noise, a shuffle as if someone was hiding in the shadows. "Who's
there?" I shouted as my voice echoed down the corridor. I waited to see if
there was a response but no one answered. I broke out in hot sweats concerned
that I may have been seen and decided to get out of there quickly, I needed to
put some distance between myself and Polar and just prayed that no one had seen
the altercation.