Sons of Flame MC - Redemption (6 page)

He climbed onto the bike, and was adjusting his helmet straps when he saw a shadow fall at his feet. Heart sinking, Eli looked up.

Tex. Alone this time, but no less mean for it.

“Eli, old pal. Just finished your lunch, have you?”

“What’s it to you, Tex? What, you gonna beat up my granny because I had lunch without your permission?”

The gang leader stepped closer to Eli, a wicked snarl twisting his features.

“Don’t get smart with me, idiot. You think I’m fucking stupid? I saw you with that probation officer. Pretty lady, if you ask me. Too pretty for a down-and-outer like you.”

Tex paused to leer at Eli.

“Wouldn’t it be a shame if something were to happen to such a sweet, innocent lady like that, Eli? You wouldn’t want anything like that on your conscience, would you?”

Eli bristled at the threat.

“Don’t even waste your breath, Tex. I didn’t say anything to her, and I won’t.”

Eli turned the key in his bike and the engine roared to life. He shouted to be heard above the throaty rumble.

“Now, is there anything else you wanted to bother me with today, Tex? Or are we done here?”

Tex stepped even closer, his breath sour and hot in Eli’s face, enough to make him wince.

“Don’t forget, not for a moment, what I said to you, boy. I’ll be back to see you again, soon, so we can discuss what you can do for me. Keep your mouth shut, and we can make this easy.”

With that, Tex turned around and sloped away. Eli watched him for a moment, wishing he had the guts to tell the Sons of Flame leader where to stick it, but he didn’t see how he had a choice. First his grandmother, and now Tess, Tex knew how to maintain his control over Eli, and he wouldn’t relinquish that power for anything.

A knot of worry churning in his stomach, Eli drove back to the workshop. When he arrived he peeked into the office to find, unsurprisingly, Mike still snoozing peacefully. At least Tex and the Sons hadn’t been by here while he’d been gone.

He spent the rest of the afternoon working slowly on the single job they had in, but Eli’s mind was a million miles away from his work. Tess, his grandmother, Tex, they all swirled around in this thoughts as he struggled to think of a way he could extricate himself from the situation without anyone getting hurt. Try as he might, he just kept drawing a blank. Tex knew everything that happened in this town, and Eli knew his threats weren’t just idle talk. When Tex wanted something, he was willing to do almost anything to make it happen.

Mike had already gone home by the time Eli had finished up – the sun was setting, lighting up the sky in a beautiful soft orange glow. Eli drove home slowly, savoring the peace that riding gave him, the freedom – just him and the low rumble of the engine, the wind in his hair and the last of the day’s sun softly bathing his skin.

When he arrived home, his heart lurched in his chest. The screen door was thrown open and the front door behind it was slightly ajar. Eli’s blood was pumping through his veins as he rushed into the house.

“Grandma? Are you here? Is everything OK?”

He could hear the fear in his own voice, high and warbled.

No response, just the background babble of the TV. Panicking, Eli rushed into the den where Grace could always be found. There she was in her chair, leaning back with her eyes closed.

Eli approached her slowly, his mouth dry and his eyes wide. He knelt next to her and took her tiny frail hand into his. Still warm.

“Grandma?” he said softly.

Relief washed through him as her eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first. She smiled as she realized who it was.

“Eli? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Eli took a moment to compose himself, to let the last remnants of the fear and panic wash away. When he’d seen the door open, then found her lying there like that...

“Nothing Grandma,” he eventually said. “Just wanted to say hi.”

He stood and began straightening out the room. Magazines were strewn over the floor, along with a plate discarded after Grace had eaten her lunch, presumably.

She cackled good-naturedly as she watched him tidy up after her.

“Did you think I’d gone and died, here in my chair?”

“No, Grandma. Don’t talk like that. I just wanted to say hi, like I said.”

She laughed again.

“Don’t you worry, Eli. I’m not quite ready to pop off just yet. You’ll be cleaning up after me for a while to come, you can be sure of that.”

Eli leaned down to kiss her softly on the cheek.

“Good.”

He dumped the magazines on the table and quickly rinsed the plate before putting it away.

“I’m gonna take a shower, then I’ll make us something to eat.”

Just as he was about to enter the bathroom, he remembered the front door.

“Oh, and Grandma, you left the door open. Anyone could’ve come in here while I was gone.”

“Damn, it must have been that man who did that,” came her reply, and Eli’s blood ran cold. He rushed back into the den.

“What man, Grandma? Who was here?”

She looked up at him, confused by his concern.

“Shank he said his name was. He told me you were expecting him. Scruffy-looking man, if you ask me. Smelt bad too. He was friendly enough though, even if he did have a funny name and forgot to close the door on his way out.”

Eli felt light-headed and breathless. He sat next to his grandmother and tried not to let his concern show.

“What did he say to you?”

Grace frowned again.

“Just that you were working on a job for him, and that he didn’t want you to forget about it. Is his car over at Mike’s place?”

Eli was trembling with anger, but he did his best to force a placid look onto his face and calmness into his voice.

“Oh yeah, that’s it. I’m running a little late on fixing his truck. I guess he must’ve come by the workshop while I was out to lunch or something, and decided to look for me here.”

Grace seemed satisfied with his answer.

“Well, when you see him next, tell him not to leave doors open like that, will you Eli?”

“Sure thing Grandma.”

As Eli stood in the shower and washed away the sweat and grime of another hot desert day, he trembled with impotent anger. Who the
fuck
did Tex think he was, sending Shank over to threaten a harmless old lady? Thank God Grace hadn’t known what the real meaning of his visit was. She was alone for most of the day, and the last thing Eli wanted was for her to be living in fear. Thankfully she seemed oblivious.

Eli toweled himself dry, got dressed, and spent the rest of the evening with Grace. He cooked for the both of them, and then they watched TV together for the rest of the evening. Eli did his best to maintain a conversation with his grandmother, but his mind was elsewhere.

When he eventually went to bed, he couldn’t sleep. He ran every possible scenario through his mind, trying to find some way that he could deal with Tex and the Sons without breaking the law again and risking getting sent back to jail, but every line of thought was a dead end.

He was stuck, and he couldn’t think of a way out. Not without everyone he loved and cared about getting hurt, which was no way out at all.

*****

Tess

O
ver two weeks had passed since Tess had had lunch with Eli, and she still found herself thinking about him every day. Professionally, and personally. Meanwhile, her life continued in the pattern that she’d become accustomed to.

She worked long hours, filling out paperwork, meeting with parolees, performing workplace inspections, and the myriad other small tasks that came with the job. The hours were long, and it never seemed to get any easier.

Every time she thought that she finally had a grasp on everything, that she had finally got on top of it all, a new case would come in, or a complication; everything meant more paperwork, more stress, less time.

Most days she didn’t get home until it was dark, and she was so exhausted that she’d given up any pretense of having a normal social life; or, really, any social life at all. And as for dating? Well...the less said about that the better, as far as Tess was concerned. The closest thing she had to a romantic relationship was Eli Flint, an ex-con, one of her parolees, and the closest thing to a date had been when he’d taken her out to lunch probably just out of friendliness.

Tess had to laugh at the situation, or she’d probably end up crying.

Her weekends were spent catching up on all those little things that she didn’t have time for during the week, and every Monday morning it felt like she’d barely had a rest at all.

But Tess persevered. She knew she was strong enough and capable enough to handle anything that was thrown at her, and this job wasn’t going to be the thing that brought her down.

In moments of stress she’d find a quiet place, maybe the bathroom or an unused interview room, lean back, close her eyes, and imagine herself out in the desert. Nothing for as far as the eye could see. No insolent parolees, no cajoling boss, no computers, no paperwork. Just the wind, and the sun and the sand. In those moments she came to understand some of what kept Eli in Joshuaville, despite his past, the lack of opportunities and the crime. There was a sense of freedom and peace out there that you just couldn’t get in the big city, with its traffic, people, chaos and noise.

Tess would spend a few minutes daydreaming like this, and every time it would refresh her and recharge her batteries just enough to get her through the day.

Not that she needed to do that on this particular day, though. Today she’d get to go out there and see the desert for herself. Eli Flint was scheduled for a random workplace inspection – normally a boring job that Tess hated doing. This time though, she found herself looking forward to it, to the drive through the desert, to seeing Eli again.

She was even whistling as she made her way out to her car.

If she knew what was going to happen when she got there, though, she never would have left.

*****

Tess

T
ess walked into the workshop with a smile on her face. Despite knowing she should look and act more professionally, she was looking forward to seeing Eli again. The dim, cool space was as quiet as ever - a couple of old rust buckets that had definitely seen better days in various states of deconstruction, tools scattered around, a filthy workbench piled high with old parts and forgotten detritus.

The one thing missing, however, was what she had come to find. Eli Flint was nowhere to be found. Tess called his name as she stepped warily into the room, treading gingerly to avoid staining her clothing.

"Eli, are you here? It's Tess Bailey."

Silence. It didn't look like he was there. Tess frowned and checked her watch. It was before 11am so he shouldn't have gone to lunch yet, and the schedule he'd submitted as part of his parole conditions said that he should have been there at this time of day. While it wasn't a serious offence for him not to be, it didn't look good on his record for him to miss a workplace inspection.

After checking the entire workshop, and satisfied that Eli wasn't there, Tess stood and thought for a few moments. The front office had been dark and locked up when she'd walked past it on the way in, so he wouldn't be in there.

If she was going by the book, and if this was any of her other cases, Tess would have written the parolee up as a no-show, climbed back into her car, and driven away. For Eli, though, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and wait for a little while. It was a long drive back, and it would be a shame to have come all the way out there for nothing.

Tess paced around the silent workshop for a while, looking at the tools and rusted vehicles with not much interest. She'd never really had a knack for anything technical when it came to vehicles. Whenever she had a problem she just took it to a place like this and trusted whatever they said.

Having said that, she had a great deal of respect for the people who could fix a broken down car, or build something with their hands. It was also a little bit of a turn-on for her, in a weird kinda way. Give her a man who earned his living with his hands over an office worker any day. She'd dated a landscape gardener once, who would come home from work smelling of musky sweat and cut grass, and there was something so raw and manly about his scent that would always drive her wild.

Tess checked her watch again. She'd been waiting 15 minutes now, and she reluctantly decided that that was long enough. Eli wasn't going to show, and she was going to be forced to enter that into his record, which wouldn't look good upon his next review. She didn't want to, but he'd left her no choice. Perhaps he'd just had an emergency or an unexpected situation come up, or perhaps he wasn't the man that she'd thought, and hoped, he was.

Tess searched in her purse until she found her little notepad. She flicked to a blank page and scribbled a little note for Eli on it.

You were due for a surprise inspection today, but you weren't here. I waited longer than I should have, but I'm going to have to write it up.

Tess

She briefly debated adding 'sorry' to the end of the note, but decided against it. She was just doing her job, after all, and didn't think she needed to apologize for that. Looking around for a suitable place to leave the note, Tess decided on the little workbench holding Eli's tools, where he'd be sure to find it. She placed it there, looked around one last time, and strode toward the door, back out into the dazzling, scorching sun.

Except that she never made it out into the sun, because just as she reached the doorway a loud sound, or rather series of sounds, startled her and stopped her in her tracks. The source of the noise was four huge motorcycles, sputtering and roaring as they squealed into the parking lot in front of her. Tess held a hand over her eyes to shade them, peering out and trying to see who the new arrivals were.

They were dressed pretty uniformly, in denim and leather. Bikers. And then Tess saw the face of their leader, the one who rode in front, and her breath caught in her throat. She recognized him immediately, from Eli's case file.