Soldiers of Chaos- Chaos Abounds: Book 1 in the Soldiers of Chaos series (5 page)

Nikki woke to the sound of more voices in her room. "She was supposed to be meeting this guy at some warehouse in the old packing district to look at a bike. She rang Trace when he didn't show and then all we could hear down the phone were sounds of a scuffle so we road straight there and found her on the ground like that." Tex was talking to someone. "In other words you're not gonna tell me shit." Silence. "She could've fucking died Tex. You should've let me take her away when I had the fucking chance because clearly you two can't keep her safe."  Tex's voice was low and full of menace when he answered "That was her choice." "That's bullshit, you begged her to stay. The two of you play her heart like it's a fucking game and she loves you both more than her own life and that's why she's here now. Now give me something." "I've already told you all there is to tell Alex." Alex? She thought she recognized that voice. What was he doing here? "The club is going to get you all killed." Nikki opened her eyes then. "Probably" her voice came out croaky "but then we all gotta die of something." Three sets of eyes were on her "Hey Alex." She looked him over. He was in suit pants and a business shirt no jacket, his badge hanging on his belt, his gun in a shoulder holster. He'd made detective awhile back and it looked good on him. "Hey Nikki. It's been awhile. How you feeling?" His voice was soft and full of genuine concern. She scoffed "Like I was shot and stabbed." "About that?" he raised his eyebrows at her. She closed her eyes. Yeah about that. Images flashed through her mind and her stomach twisted. "Don't remember much. Was supposed to look at a bike. Guy didn't show so I called Trace. Don't know what happened after that." She opened her eyes again to look at him. Alex was pissed off "You gonna feed me that shit too Nikki." She sighed. She was fucking tired and hurt all over "It's what happened." He continued to glare at her.

"So you don't know anything about your mother's house being burnt to the ground." What? Nikki looked up at him in surprise. The fucking thing had been standing when she left. "What do you mean it burnt to the ground?" The question hissed out between clenched teeth. Alex's face changed from accusatory to apologetic in a flash. "Shit you really didn't know. I'm sorry Nikki I just figured this was all connected." They burnt her mother’s house down? They fucking burnt the house down. Did they burn her and her killers with it? Did they even cut her free before they burnt her to ashes? Alex looked down at his fidgeting fingers as the uncomfortable silence began to stifle the room. Nikki threw a quick glare at Tex and Trace. Tex was shaking his head at her. And that meant? "Sheila?" She asked. Luckily it was Alex who answered "She wasn't in there. We didn't find any remains. Any idea where she might have gone?" She wasn't in there? What had they done with her body? What had they done with the bodies of those assholes who killed her? They better not have put those bastards in the ground with Sheila. Her anger started peaking "I don't know where the fuck she is. She's probably off sucking some cock somewhere. She could've burnt the fucking thing down herself for all I know. Stupid bitch probably thought it'd get her some money somehow. Who the fuck knows?!" Alex stared at her. Tex and Trace stared at her. She felt like a fucking zoo exhibit and she was about to lose it. "Will you all stop fucking looking at me like that!" The boys eyes quickly shifted away from her but Alex just kept his gaze firmly locked on Nikki. The sadness in his eyes finally registered and it knocked her anger down a peg or two.

"What do you want from me Alex?" He moved to her side sitting in the chair next to her bed "The truth Nikki so I can keep you safe. Tell me who did this." His eyes pleaded with her for the chance to do something. A long time go he'd had that chance. He and Nikki had been together years ago, a cop and a criminal's daughter. He'd been offered a transfer out of the city and he'd begged her to go with him, she nearly had. Tex had come to her drunk one night and begged her not to leave them. Then they'd slept together and when she woke the next morning she knew two things; one, she'd never leave him and Trace, and two, she'd never love anyone the way she loved the pair of them. She'd ended it with Alex and gone back to the pattern she'd been in before they were together. "I've told you all I can tell you. There's nothing you can do anyway." There wasn't, they were dead. "There's a lot I can do Nikki. What happens if they come back to finish what they started? What then?" She looked him in the eye giving him a pointed look "They won't be coming back Alex." He paused and looked at her then flicked his eyes to Trace and Tex as if to ask her if they were the reason her attackers wouldn't be coming back. She shook her head at him again "I can take care of myself." It was a simple statement but it carried enough weight that he seemed to know what she meant. His eyes grew dark with sadness then he stood and walked away from her. He paused at the door "If you ever need anything you know where to find me yeah?" She nodded her ascension "Yeah I know, I've always known" she'd just never had reason to find him and probably never would. Both Trace and Tex winced at her comment and yeah she knew that hurt him but the further he was from this shit the better for all of them. She watched the door close firmly behind him.

Both Trace and Tex came to her bedside then. “Sorry baby girl better it was him than someone else.” She agreed with Trace on that one. Before either one of them got another word out Nikki spoke “One of you better explain what the fuck is going on and now.” Tex’s eyes bugged out “You can’t remember anything?” She was seriously going to throw something at him “Oh I remember everything and if my memory serves me correctly my mother’s house was still fucking standing the last time I saw it.” Tex bristled at her reply. Yeah she was being a bitch, she knew that but who wouldn’t be a bitch after finding your mother mutilated to death, being cut up, shot and killing two men. “We had to wipe the trail clean Nikki. You know as well as I do how this shit works. It had to be done.” He was right. They couldn’t let the cops get involved in the mess it would’ve raised too many questions and left the club with the PD breathing down their neck. So not good for business. “And the b”. Tex cut her off probably in case Alex was still hanging around “Went to Ash.” God they burnt her along with those fucking bastards. That dark feeling began to build way down deep in her guts. Control yourself Nikki. “All of them?” “No just two of them. The other one went to the farm with the family.” Her head flew up and she locked eyes with Tex. He buried her in the family cemetery at the farm? She couldn’t imagine the shit he’d cop of Reaper found out. “I never put them together at any point.” Tex. Sometimes the guy could do the right thing in a big way and surprise you. Although having known him for so long and so intimately Nikki should’ve known he would’ve thought about what Nikki would want done. “Thank you” She wanted to cry that they were so good to her. She wanted to scream that life was so bad to all of them.

“Now that that’s out of the way how you feeling Ace?” After that awkward exchange? Only a little better and far worse all at the same time. “Like morphine and I are gonna be best friends for a long time.” He laughed at her. Burning in the back of her brain was that name. Bridges. She’d told Trace about it how long ago now. She’d lost track of time drifting in and out of a morphine induced haze. “You find out anything?” Tex hesitated “Not a lot and certainly nothing all that helpful.” He was planning on holding out on her. Fuck that. “Don’t bullshit me Walker. I can read you like a fucking book and I don’t care how insignificant that info is you will tell me what you know about this shit or I will find out my own way.” He scrubbed his hand through his hair and hung his head low. Trace sat in silence on the other side of her. “It was club shit. Retaliation for a situation Reaper cleaned up. He and King kept it quiet but obviously not quiet enough.” The creepy guy had mentioned her father. So if this was club shit then someone had to have talked and surely not one of the brothers “Who knew about it besides us?” Tex lifted his head and looked her in the eye. “We didn’t even know about it, just King and Reaper and the Crows. We think the leak came from their side.” If Tex and Trace didn’t know about it then it was either one of two things not a big enough deal to go to the table or so big they hid it from the table. Given the current situation she’d say it was the second. “They try to hide it?” Tex blew out a breath “I don’t know Ace, they say it wasn’t a big deal, an easy done but something’s not right about it. I just don’t know what.” She nodded “And the name I got?” “That is something we should talk about later.” That sounded ominous.

12 weeks later.

Nikki
sat in the office of the Chaos workshop her shoulder aching from overuse. They were getting behind in jobs with her being off because of her shoulder. She was sick of the guys telling her to take it easy and so to prove the point that she was healing fine she'd worked on the bikes till late pushing herself too far and now her body was paying for it. She was tired too. Constant dreams of what happened in her mother’s house plagued her sleep. The only way to get away from them was to drink herself into a stupor and pass out. Even after she'd showered and changed she still felt the ache and the fatigue. Not that she minded too much the ache in her shoulder kept her from thinking about that night and the unbearable fight between the ugly dark inside her and the overwhelming self-loathing that hit her when she was alone. She'd tried to shake that shit loose getting back into things but the boys were holding her off. She hadn’t worked any of the normal jobs she did apart from the workshop that is. No helping with protection for the girls the club ran, no gun deals, no shipments, and very little contact with anything but the legit business the club had. She wanted to be out there doing shit. The pain helped, it balanced her insides somehow feeding both things. She needed the pain, she needed the hurt, she needed..... She felt a stinging sensation in her palms and looked down. Her fingernails had broken through her own skin drawing blood. Fuck, she needed to keep her hands busy. She grabbed her shit and locked up heading across the darkened courtyard and parking area that lead to the clubhouse. She knew if she didn't move fast Tex or Trace would be on her in no time. They hadn't let her out their sight for three months unless she was in her room, in the clubhouse, in the workshop or office. Even then it was only because she couldn't leave any of those places without someone noticing. It was like they knew she had that ticking time bomb inside her and at least if they were with her she either wouldn't explode or she'd explode somewhere they could do something about it. She didn't want either of those things to happen.

There’d been very little development on the Bridges front. Even thinking the name made her insides fire up. The boys had fed her what little info they knew. Bridges was some faceless suit criminal, think mob, although not actually the Mob. He operated his crime ring through establishments in the cities gambling and night club district. No one knew what the guy looked like, he was a ghost, running his empire through more suit criminals. She’d hinted at King and then she’d asked outright only for him to put her in her place. She’d pushed the boys and she knew they were trying to do what they could without stepping on toes but there was nothing but dead ends.  She’d even thought about asking Alex but that would’ve been awkward as hell given their last conversation. Nikki was beginning to think she may have to go vigilante on this one. She needed some fucking alone time. She slipped her jacket on and threw her leg over her bike. Fuck she loved it. The boys had brought it for her a week ago. In an effort to bring her right and cheer her up they'd bought her the sexiest bike she'd ever seen, a 2013 Harley Davidson Softail Slim in black denim. She'd fallen in love with it the minute she saw it and when she'd straddled that bad boy nothing had ever felt better, well, maybe there were a few things. She didn't have time to get all hot and bothered over the power between her legs right now, she needed out and quick. She pulled up her face scarf and chucked her helmet on. Taking control of the weight of the bike Nikki flicked up the stand and checked around to see if anyone was watching. Coast was clear. She started the bike up and just as she was pulling out Tex and Trace exited the clubhouse. Out of the corner of her eye she saw them make a move towards their own bikes but she was roaring out of the compound and down the street before they would've even got their shit together. She needed to quiet the thoughts in her head and dull the ache in her chest if only for a little while. She didn’t know where the fuck she was going, all she knew was it had to be somewhere with plenty of alcohol and no fucking brothers. There was only one place she could guarantee that was gonna happen.

She blasted across the border of the Chaos territory and continued through the Crow’s part of the city and out the other side. She knew it was dangerous being out this far from where the brothers could keep her safe but she'd never been shy of confrontation and that wasn’t any different now. The main party district of the city rose up in the distance. It was not MC territory. Criminals in suits ran this section of town but that didn't worry her, the only thing that spelled her affiliation was the jacket she wore as she rode and she had no intention of wearing that into any of the bars or clubs round here. She pulled into the parking lot of the Mint. She'd been there before a heap of times with a couple of girls from school she'd stayed friends with. It was the only place she really knew and she hated going into anywhere blind. She parked her bike and stared up at the multi-storey complex. The lower floors held gambling rooms, bars, shops, restaurants and a nightclub, the upper floors a hotel. She climbed off her bike and tucked her jacket, helmet and face scarf into the saddlebags. Nikki crossed the car park heading straight for the main entrance the spiked heels of her boots clicking on the asphalt as she moved. Her pocket vibrated for the umpteenth time but she ignored it knowing it would be the boys and they'd only put a stop to her plans if she answered them. She entered the large open lobby of the complex and headed to the left away from the hotel entry towards the main gambling floor.