“You
got hold of a cell phone now?”
“Managed
to do a deal with one of the guys.”
“And
what’s that cost you, huh?”
“It
was worth it, OK? Makes this shit so much easier.”
“Any
news?”
“Nothing concrete yet. Still waiting on a date.
They’re just dragging their feet, that’s all. And it’s not like I can file a
complaint or anything. I gotta dance to their tune.”
I sit
down on the steps of the clubhouse and look out over the compound. It’s
unusually quiet, not many people about, but something’s going on over at Six tonight so that’s where most of the
guys’ll be, getting their rocks off drinking whiskey and watching naked girls
play with each other. Whether I join them when I’m done here, I don’t know. Not
sure if I’m in the mood right now.
“I’m gonna fix this, Dom.” I switch my cell to my
other ear and drop my gaze. “I promise.”
“Hey. What’ve you gotta
fix, Theo? This was my decision, it’s all on me…”
“It was my fault,
Dom. It was all my fault.” I take a long, deep breath and drop my head into my
hands because the guilt, that’s never gonna go away, it’s never gonna leave me.
That’s why I’ve got to do this; why I’ve got to help my brother. “Dom…”
“You don’t have to do
this, Theo. You know that, don’t you? You’re risking so fucking much…”
“What am I risking,
exactly? What do I have anymore? I
lost it all. I lost everything…”
“Leave it, kiddo. Don’t
go there, OK?”
I sigh quietly and rake
a hand back and forth through my hair. “We’re working on it. This end. Mack
he’s – he’s been good to me, he’s making sure this all runs as smoothly as it can.
And we’re working with another club for back-up, one the Soldiers have worked
with for a good few years now. The Black Dogs. You heard of them?”
“I know who they are.
Cole Rockwell still in charge of that chapter?”
“Yeah. He is.”
“You don’t sound like
you’ve warmed to the guy. But he has connections, Theo. Good ones. He’ll be
useful.”
“I just want you to
know we’re ready, Dom. We’re just waiting on you to let us know when it’s
happening.”
“Hey, I know you’re ready. I trust you, all
right? And I told you Mack would come through. He owes me, remember? I’m just
glad he’s turned out to be a man of his word. I was afraid now he’s gone got
himself married with kids he’d turn soft, tell me he ain’t doing that kinda
shit no more.”
“Just keep me updated, OK?
As soon as you hear anything, you call me.”
“You take care now,
Theo, y’hear me?”
I end the call and
throw back my head, looking up at the stars as they twinkle and flash like tiny
lights in the sky. Warning lights? Like I’d take any notice anyway. It’s way too
late for that.
I’m a good guy. Or at
least, I used to be. But now – now all I have to do is listen, and keep my head
down, just like Mack told me to do. I haven’t been here, in this Soldiers of
Darkness chapter, in any chapter for
all that long. And if I wasn’t desperate for the kind of help I need right now
I wouldn’t be here at all. But Mack Slayer, he’s giving me that help. He’s offered that help. One quick meeting in
a bar, a quiet chat, and all of a sudden things were happening. Because Dom’s
right, Mack owes him. He’d taken the fall for Mack Slayer a long time ago; did
time, for Mack Slayer. And Mack had told Dom that he’d repay him, one day. That
day’s here now. And he’s kept his word.
I’m a good guy. Really,
I am. And I don’t belong here, but I am
here; part of the Soldiers of Darkness, but I’m here for a reason. And I don’t
intend to stick around for too long, either. Once I’m done here I’ll be
leaving. I’ll have to. I’ll have no other choice but to get out of here. No
other choice…
Gabriel
“How old is she?” I ask, not shifting my gaze
from the young blonde haired woman sitting at the table in the room on the
other side of the two-way mirror.
“Thirty-two.”
“Looks younger.” I turn
my head slightly and glance over at the sallow-faced agent leaning back against
the wall, puffing away on an e-cigarette. “She’s lived within the biker
community all her life, huh?”
“Born and brought up.”
“You’d think she’d be a
lot smarter than this then, wouldn’t you?” I turn back to face the woman, whose
head’s now bowed, her long blonde hair obscuring her face as she
absent-mindedly scrapes her fingernails across the tabletop. “Getting caught
and all. You’d have thought she’d know how to avoid that happening.”
“She was set up.
Framed.”
“So you say,” I sigh,
dragging a hand through my hair. “Still did the crime, though. Didn’t she?”
“And we were all ready
to charge her pretty ass, until you turned up.”
“Yeah, well, that
pretty ass may still be facing a not-so-pretty prison sentence if she isn’t
suitable. But if she is…” I narrow my eyes as I watch the woman slowly raise
her head and look straight into the mirror, “then she’s coming to New Mexico,
with me.” She drops her gaze again and I turn around so my back’s to the
mirror. “I’ll go talk to her. Get this thing moving.”
My colleague just nods
and takes another draw on his electronic cigarette. “Knock yourself out.”
I’ve waited a long time
for a break like this. For someone, like this, to come along and give me that
chance I need to bring the Soldiers of Darkness down. To bring Cole Rockwell
and the Black Dogs down. I’ve been watching those two clubs, it’s been my job
for the past couple of years, to watch those clubs. And I know this front they
put up, this community presence they push forward, I know that’s bullshit. A
smokescreen. I know those clubs and the men who run them, they’re bad news,
they’re dangerous. Ever since the Soldiers of Darkness arrived in New Mexico I’ve
been assigned to keep a very close eye on them. Mack Slayer is the son of Sam
Wheeler, a dangerous criminal, a murderer who may have done his time but he’s
still considered a man we’re not comfortable having out there on the streets.
And Mack Slayer may be back as President of the Soldiers now, but it’s Sam
pulling the strings, working with Cole Rockwell to pull off something bigger
than just a weapons drop or a drugs haul. Something’s going on, and I need to
know what that is, exactly, because at the minute we have rumors and hearsay
and nothing concrete. But whatever it is, I need to prove it’s happening. I
need to know when it’s happening. And
as long as this woman listens to me.; as long as she’s willing to take a risk, this
might just be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for. I just need her on side
first. And I think that’s actually gonna be an easy call. Because, the thing
is, she really only has two choices here – take the deal I’m about to offer
her, or she’s going to jail. Set up or no set up, it’s her ass on the line
here.
I need her.
She needs me.
End of fucking story…
Skye
I look up as the door
opens and a tall, stony-faced man walks in, hands in his pockets, his stance
sending out a definite “I’m taking no
shit” message.
I keep my eyes on him
as he circles the table before he finally sits down opposite me, and I lean
forward, resting my chin in my hand as he sits back in his chair and looks at
me.
“You’re new,” I say,
eyeing him slightly warily. He isn’t bad looking, to be fair. Certainly better
looking than the string of detectives and FBI agents I’ve had visiting me over
the past few days. With his slightly square jaw line covered with a heavy dark
brown stubble, deep dark eyes and hair that’s just on the casual side of
perfect, he’s not half bad to look at. He’s still an FBI agent, though. And a
new one at that, one I haven’t seen around here before so he could be the
hottest guy on the planet right now and I still wouldn’t trust him. I’m
trusting no one right now.
“I’m Agent Franks.”
“Well, I’d like to say
it’s good to meet you, Agent Franks, but, I’d be spieling you shit if I said
that.”
He just looks at me,
his expression impassive. OK. This one’s a tougher act than most of the others
I’ve had contact with so far.
“When did you move over
here, Skye? To the US.?”
“You telling me you
don’t already know everything about me?”
Agent Franks laughs
quietly and briefly drops his gaze, drumming his fingertips on the tabletop.
“OK, Skye, listen to me.” He raises his head and locks eyes with mine. “Let’s
just cut the bullshit, OK? You’re in a lot of trouble, right?”
“I was set up.”
“And you know that
means shit. Because I don’t see anybody rushing to your defense, do you?”
I sit back in my chair,
but I keep my eyes on him, I’m not breaking that stare.
“And you don’t seem in
any kind of hurry to name any names. So, I’d say we’ve reached a bit of an
impasse, wouldn’t you?”
I narrow my eyes slightly,
but his expression remains stoic, he’s giving nothing away.
“You here for a reason?
‘Cause all I’ve had for days now is a string of suits like you, talking at me,
telling me what’s going to happen and yet, no one’s charged me with anything.
You here to do that? ‘Cause if you are, let’s just get this shit moving, OK?”
“I’m here to give you a
way out, Skye.”
I let the corner of my
mouth twist up into a smirk but still his expression doesn’t crack, not a
flicker. “A way out, huh?”
“You’re not a stupid
girl, sweetheart. You just got caught, but you can get yourself out of this
mess, if you want to.”
“Out how, exactly?”
“Immunity. You get your
freedom. No charges will be brought against you, you’ll be free. When you’ve
finished the job, that is.”
“Job?” I frown. But I’m
willing to listen to what he’s come here to offer.
“I need you to go
undercover for me. As an informant. I need you to find a way into the Soldiers
of Darkness, an MC with chapters all over the country, but the one I need you
to concentrate on is a fairly new one that was set up in New Mexico just a
couple of years ago.”
My frown deepens as I
continue to stare at this man opposite me. But I stay silent. I’m waiting for
him to finish first. I want to hear everything, first.
“We need to close that
chapter down, Skye. We need to bring down their President Mack Slayer, his
father Sam Wheeler, and a man called Cole Rockwell – president of a club the
Soldiers work closely with, the Black Dogs. You familiar with either of these
clubs?”
I shrug, keeping my
gaze steady. “I’ve heard their names mentioned.”
“And you, you were part
of an MC based in New Jersey, right? Before that your father was president of a
chapter of the same club back in England, before he came over here to run the
New Jersey branch.”
“Look, you already know
all this shit or you wouldn’t be here.”
This time Agent Franks’
allows himself a slight smile. “Those two clubs – the Soldiers of Darkness and
the Black Dogs – they’re planning something. And we need to find out what that
is, who’s involved, and when it’s happening. We get them on that, we get them
on a whole mess of other shit from racketeering to gun running, and that could
just be the tip of the iceberg. But we’ve got nothing concrete right now. Just
hearsay and rumors. And this is where you
come in.”
I remain silent. I’m
listening to him, I’m taking it all in, but I’m also weighing up what the
consequences could be. Because what he’s asking me to do here, this is dangerous
shit.
“We need someone to get
close enough to these people to find out exactly what they’re planning, Skye.
And we need that to happen pretty much right away because the rumors are that
whatever’s going down, it’s happening sooner rather than later. And right now
we are working blind.”
“You want me to wear a
wire?” An obvious question, and a rhetorical one, because I already know the answer.
Of course they want me to wear a wire. Anything I find out is worth jack shit
unless they have concrete proof.
“You won’t actually be
wearing a wire as such. These days the devices we use are so tiny they can be
hidden almost anywhere. You won’t even know it’s there.” I keep my eyes locked
on his. “There’s one club member in particular we’d like you to concentrate on,
Skye. A man called Theo Blane. He’s an ex-lawyer who joined the club just a few
months back…”
“A lawyer?” Is he
fucking kidding me here?
“Yeah. A lawyer. You
get many of those in your old club?”
I don’t answer that.
“Something doesn’t feel
right about his sudden appearance at the MC, and the fact Mack Slayer took him
in without making him go through any of the prospect process first, it’s not
sitting right with any of us. We’ve been looking into his background, and we’ve
found out he has an older brother in a state prison a few miles outside of
Albuquerque, doing time for the murder of a man who tried to rape Theo’s
girlfriend. None of it seems to add up, and we believe there’s some kind of
link between Dominic Blane and Theo’s sudden appearance at the Soldiers’
compound, we just don’t know what, exactly. So that’s where we need to focus
our attention. Because without proof of anything, we can’t do shit.”
“Why me?”
He arches an eyebrow. “Because
you are goddamn near perfect for what we need.”
“Well, that’s something
I’ve never been called before.”
“You grew up in this
culture, Skye. This world, you’re more than familiar with it. You know what to
do, how to fit in; you know how it works. And you being British, that’s a bonus.
Means you can home straight in on the relatively new Mrs. Slayer. Izzi being
British too, and from the same neck of the woods as you, you can use that to
gain some kind of foothold, some English solidarity. Make her your friend. That
in turn can get you closer to Mack… you need to get them to trust you, Skye. Do
you understand?”
“I haven’t agreed to
anything yet, Agent Franks. You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself.”
He leans forward and
steeples his fingers on the tabletop, his eyes boring deep into mine.
“I’m not sure you’ve
got much of a choice here, Skye. You either help us bring these people down, or
you go down. You getting that yet?”
I hold his gaze and
stop myself from swallowing hard, that could make me appear nervous, and I
don’t want this man to see any sign of weakness in me. “You know how dangerous
this is? For a woman to be a part of clubs like this… you’re asking me to do
something that could mean…”
“I know what it means,
Skye. But I think you can handle this. I think you can do this. Because, if you don’t think you can…?”
He’s right.
I’ve got no fucking
choice at all.
