Player Chapter 17

What a fucking disaster of a night. I wanted nothing more than to go to bed with Saylor in my arms, but that wouldn't happen for a while. Likely not for at least twenty-four hours. If we got lucky, maybe less. I knew I still had to clear up the debacle of my response to her outfit and how I'd upset her. I'd make sure I did. Somewhere in the mix of guard duty, interrogations, and planning, I'd have to explain what Clover said to my club. I hoped they wouldn't be too angry at me for keeping it a secret.

I knew they might be upset, but I hadn't felt I could share, and it wasn't a reflection on them. It was all me. Nothing in our by-laws stated we had to share everything in our lives with others. As long as whatever you kept back didn't endanger the club, it was at your discretion whether to share. I'd remind them of that if anyone got too shitty about it.

I hated leaving her in the clubhouse with things unresolved between us, but she was safe, and that was what mattered at that moment. The club needed me to make sure the whole club was safe as well. We helped patrol outside until Terror and Jinx's crews showed up between one-thirty and two in the morning. When the first group rolled through the gate, although why bother when they could just ride through the hole in the wall, we took inventory.

Terror's club was first. No surprise, Terror was leading them. This was the mother chapter, as well as his father-in-law's home. Menace, Storm, Ghost, Devil Dog, Bandit, and Coyote were with him. They got off their bikes and were greeted. Of course, Terror immediately offered to have more men sent if we needed them. Bull told him to hold off. We quickly got caught up with them since it had been a while since most of us had seen them. When Jinx came riding up a half hour later, he got off his bike and shook his head at the hole.

"Goddamn, you sure know how to piss people off, don't you? Wow. That's a hole," he commented as everyone shook hands. Sarge, Mad Dog, Rage, King, and Animal were with him. Like Terror, Jinx offered more guys if needed.

"Wanna fill us in on who did this? All you said on the phone was you needed help protecting the club," Jinx said.

Most of our guys and a few of Terror's went back to patrolling and guarding. Bull, Terror, Jinx and his men, Tank, and I took the Marauders inside to get a drink and to sit down. Once they had something to wet their throats, Bull explained. I had to hand it to him. Bull knew how to be concise and hit the high notes. His years as a leader showed. I would've probably shared too many minor details that they didn't need to know at this moment. When he was done, Jinx shook his head as he stared at me.

"Player, damn, I gotta say this first. You are the last guy I thought would settle down. Your prowess with the women is well known. That said, congrats, man. So damn glad you found your old lady. Can't wait to meet her. You give us fuckers hope. We've been wondering if it's in the cards for any of us." He gestured to his men. None of them had an old lady, though most were vocal they were open to it. They all nodded in agreement.

"Believe me, I didn't think I would either, but Saylor knocked me for a loop."

"This bunny, Clover, I remember her. I never got the vibe she was nuts the few times I've been around her, but it goes to show you that you can never be sure. Glad this Bosch's attempt to get his hands on your woman failed. How soon do you think he'll make another attempt to acquire her?" Jinx asked.

"Soon, damn soon, which is why we need to question the two we have on ice and see if we can get anything else out of Clover. We have them out at the Cellar. They're waiting for us," Bull told him.

"Well, let me take a piss, then we can go have a chat with them. Tell me who you want where. I don't doubt your guys would all love to go, but that's not realistic. I'd like to be there, though," Jinx added.

It was soon decided that Terror, Bull, Jinx, Animal, Sarge, Menace, Payne, Tank, Demon, and I would go. There wasn't a need for more. To be truthful, for two men and a woman, the ten of us were too many, but we had representation from the three clubs among the top two officers, enforcers, and me because of Saylor. We let Jinx and a couple of others piss after razzing them about the need then we headed to the Cellar.

It was the old crematorium left over from the days when the main funeral home owners had the property. The beauty was that it sat far back on the compound, so unless you knew about it, it was out of sight and out of mind. More than a few bodies had been burned, and the ashes scattered to the four winds over the years since Bull had bought the property and moved the club here.

Pulling up outside, we all hurried inside. Since they were secured and others were needed to guard and patrol, Diego was the only one left with them. He'd been a prospect with us for just over a year. Walker and Gavin have been with us for over a year and a half. Usually, they'd have been voted on one way or the other by now, but we'd taken to extending prospecting periods. It was something Diablo brought up about a change he made a few years back in his Horsemen of Wrath chapter.

We hadn't run into many bad apples like he had, but he had a point about giving them longer to acclimate and prove themselves, so Bull was trying it with the latest three. Unless they majorly fucked up, I didn't see them having trouble getting the approving votes when the time came. Diego was working his ass off to prove he was nothing like the club he'd been with before. Considering we'd wiped them out, he had a lot to put us at ease about, but to date, he'd been doing it.

"They give you any trouble, Prospect?" Bull asked him.

He shook his head. "No, Pres, not any unless you count being loudmouths. I finally got tired of listening to their shit, so I stuffed rags in their mouths," he said casually.

"Good. We're gonna be here for a while. Go take a break, then talk to Bear to see where he has you on the rotations," Bull told him. Giving us all nods, Diego didn't waste time getting out the door.

Walking over to the cells we'd thrown them into, we saw the one guy who wasn't stabbed and Clover standing at the front of their cells. The one Saylor had stabbed was lying on the floor. He was moving and glaring at us, and there wasn't a pool of blood on the floor, so we knew he was alive. He just wanted to be difficult. Their hands were secured behind all of them, so they weren't able to remove the gags Diego had shoved into their mouths.

"Did you miss us?" Bull asked the three of them. The men glared harder. Clover was giving us beseeching looks as if she thought it would soften us toward her. Bull glanced over at me. "You have any preference for who we start with?"

"Actually, I do. I want to hear from the guys. Clover has spouted enough shit for a bit. Let's see if they say anything new. Does that work for you, Pres?"

"It works for me. You decide which one you want to talk to first." He waved toward the cell with the two men in it.

He handed over the keys that Diego had handed him before he left. Unlocking the door, I entered. I walked past the one standing there. Might as well work on the hurt one first. He may talk just due to pain, and if not, we'd get him out of the way, just in case he tried to die on us. I hauled his ass up off the floor. He gave a muffled groan. Saylor had stabbed him in the upper thigh. I shoved him out ahead of me. He staggered out the cell door. As I passed his buddy, he tried to trip me. I punched him in the face for his trouble.

Closing and locking the door, I led him to the center of the large embalming room. We still had the table and the equipment there. Some of the tools and equipment were good persuaders. Taking the knife out of my boot, I cut his hands free. He sighed in relief. It was short-lived.

I shoved him hard toward the table so he stumbled against it. Payne grabbed him and yanked him partially up on it. Demon grabbed his legs, and they had him secured in no time. We'd added to the table arm and leg restraints since dead people had no need for them. It wasn't as if they tried to get up. If they did, run like hell because they were fucking zombies. His eyes were huge as I leaned over him.

"You ready to talk? I hope so because if you're not, this is gonna get really fucking painful for you. I'm taking this gag out," I told him as I removed it. The others were gathered around us.

As soon as it was out, he tried to speak. His voice came out barely above a whisper. Ordinarily, I wouldn't give a prisoner a drink, but if we wanted him to talk, he'd have to have a little bit of spit in his mouth. I was turning to get something when a cup was thrust into my hand by Tank. It had just enough to wet the prisoner's mouth and throat, not to help quench his thirst. Perfect. I poured it into his greedy mouth. With him lying down, it spilled, and he choked, but he got enough. Giving the cup back, I got to work. I knew I wouldn't be the only one to work on them, but Bull was nice enough to let me go first since it was my old lady they were after.

"First, tell me your name."

He hesitated. Christ, if he was unwilling to tell me this, it didn't bode well for our expediency or him, not that I gave a shit about him.

"Listen, see those three." I pointed to Payne, Menace, and Sarge. "They're the enforcers for three clubs, and they all have military training. There's nothing you can do that they haven't thought of a way to get around. I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say you probably served, maybe even with Bosch. I know that fucker wasn't a D-boy or any other special forces. They were. They've forgotten more stuff about interrogation than most people ever knew. If you like, I can have a seat and let them commence," I took a step back.

He frantically shook his head. "No! No, please. I'm sorry. My name is Dwight Staples."

"Okay, Dwight. Do you mind telling me how you knew to use Clover to get you details on the compound and us?"

"I don't know. I wasn't one of the ones who contacted her. All I was told was we had a woman who would give us information on routines and the number of men, that sort of thing. We hoped for more, but she claimed not to know how many weapons you had and such. We knew Friday and Saturday nights were the best times to strike since most of you were at the clubhouse until late, and those who weren't would be in the houses. I was told which house to go into to grab the woman."

"How exactly do you know Bosch? Did you serve with him?"

"I didn't. A buddy of mine did. He asked if I wanted to make some easy cash. I said yes."

"Is that guy in the cell your buddy?" Demon asked.

Dwight hesitated, which told us what we wanted to know. Payne moved toward us. It was enough for him to see my brother, and he answered, "Yes, he's my buddy. A whole group of us were recruited. We were a mix of those who served with Bosch and those who knew someone who had."

"How many men total?" Sarge asked.

"I, um, I think maybe fifteen, I'm not sure."

Sarge sighed and marched closer. Dwight went pale and shook his head. "I'm not lying. I don't know. I wasn't in on the planning meetings. Some were to come with us, and others only met with Bosch. Those were the ones who'd worked with him before. Those of us who didn't know him personally were given our orders by whoever recruited us."

"That would be your buddy in there. He told you." I stated. Dwight nodded. "What's your friend's name?"

He tried to glance at his friend, but we were blocking his view. He gulped, but when Menace cracked his neck from side to side, he caved. "His name is Caleb Carmichael." As he said it, we heard muffled grunts coming from the cell and the thumping of maybe a foot against the bars of the cell.

"What did Caleb tell you about the reason for the mission?" Bull asked.

"We were to infiltrate a motorcycle club's property and retrieve a blind woman. We were told she had a dog with her, so we might have to shoot it. The woman who got the intel for us had identified which house to attack. Anyone there besides the woman we were to retrieve was to be killed."

"Were you told to kill the blind woman?" I asked.

"No, we were told specifically not to. Bosch has plans for her."

"What was the plan he had for her, and what were you supposed to do with her once you got her off our compound?" Payne asked.

"His plan for her, I have no clue. I wasn't told. As for what we were to do when we got her—" he cut off due to the harder kicking to the cell bars and Carmichael grunting and trying to scream around his gag.

"Ignore him. He's not the one you need to worry about. The more you tell us, the easier it'll be for you," Demon said.

"Listen, I'll tell you whatever I can. I just want to leave and forget I ever saw this place."

We all began to laugh. He gave us confused looks. Was he truly that dense, or was he just a really good actor? The persona he was displaying now was different from what he had acted like at the house.

"Dwight, there is no going home. You attacked our club. You tried to take my woman and almost killed my woman's dog. You grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her, then lied to me about letting her go when you got far enough away. Ignorance, if you're really ignorant, isn't an excuse. You should've picked better friends."

"I was just scared. I didn't know what else to do. I only wanted to get out of there," he protested quickly.

"I've got a suggestion if I may. Why don't you let Sarge and me take the other one outside and work on him? You and Menace can work on this one. It'll get us answers faster," Payne suggested.

As much as I would love to be in on both, I knew he was right, but it wasn't my call. It was up to Bull. I glanced over at him.

"Do it. We need to get a move on. Do whatever you must to get that one to talk. We'll do the same. As soon as you're done, we'll clean up and get our plans in motion. We don't have time to piss around. They could be planning another attack as we speak," Bull stated.

It didn't take long for them to have Carmichael outside, although he tried to fight them every step of the way as if he stood a chance against them. I heard Clover whimpering in her cell. Things were getting real for her, I had no doubt.

"You were about to tell us where you were to take her once you got her," Menace reminded him.

"I don't know. We were to grab her and get her to one of two waiting trucks. She was to ride with Carmichael or a couple of others. They were responsible for transporting her to Bosch. The rest of us were to keep anyone from following them and then disperse. We were told we'd receive more instructions once they were sure they were in the clear on where to meet. If they decided they didn't need us anymore, we'd get paid, and that was it."

"Are you that stupid? Does that sound right to you? What it sounds like to me is most of you were considered expendable. You got her for the select ones and then would be left to die. If by some miracle you survived, you'd be left out in the cold. No one would call you, and you sure as hell wouldn't be getting any money. They planned to disappear, and you wouldn't have heard from them again," Terror told him in disgust.

"That's not true! Caleb wouldn't do that to me. We've been friends for years," he protested hotly.

From there, it became a game of spinning him up enough to spill whatever information he had, which we were doing. At one point, he was asked what they were to do if they failed to acquire her. He said they were told it was an easy in-and-out job. No one anticipated failure. Christ, this guy had been in the military. You always planned for "what if." I hadn't served, but even I knew that. We did it every time we pulled a job helping someone.

As we questioned him, we could hear his friend outside screaming. None of us were worried that someone would overhear him and call the cops. We had so much property around us that belonged to the club, and the nearest neighbors were several miles away, especially on this part of the compound.

Menace and I, along with the others who stayed inside with us, didn't get to have much fun. Our guy truly didn't know anything of importance. There were some punches and fingers pressed into his wound, but he truly didn't know much of anything. The ones who went outside to watch Payne and Sarge work had a much better time of it. By the time we knew there was nothing left to get from Dwight, Menace slit his throat. He was left to drain out on the table. We'd burn their bodies once the others were done being questioned. The fire was already ready to go.

"That was fucking unsatisfactory. I hope when we go after Bosch and the men he still has with him, we get to have some fun," Jinx grumbled.

"I have a feeling we will. From the sound of things, I'd say Sarge and Payne have finished up. What do you want to do with her?" Tank asked. That's when I noticed there was no more screaming.

We turned to look over at Clover. She was curled up on the cell floor in the fetal position. I didn't have high hopes she knew anything. I walked over to her cell. After opening it, I went inside and crouched down next to her. The vacant look I got back was enough to tell me that she was mentally gone. There was no one home. I shook my head.

"She's toast. There's nothing in those eyes. I think we scared her too much. Truthfully, I think she was like this one. They told them just enough to get what they needed, and that was it. That way, they didn't expose themselves more than necessary," I told them. They nodded in agreement.

Menace came inside the cell with his knife. Drains were built into the floor all over the place. The cells were no exception. I shook my head. "Let me do it. It was her jealousy and insanity in thinking I would ever be with her that helped lead to this. Maybe if I'd never slept with the bitch, she wouldn't have helped them."

"If it weren't her, it would've been someone else, or they would have found another way. Don't take it on yourself. She's not the first crazy bunny, and she won't be the last, I'm afraid," Bull told me. I still shook my head. I took Menace's knife since it was already bloody and quickly did the deed. In her case, it was a knife thrust to the heart, and she was done.

Wanting to see what Payne and Sarge discovered, we left them there and went outside. We'd send the prospects to clean up. They had a number of bodies needing to be fed to the fire already. Others they'd dispose of elsewhere. We tried not to burn everyone.

We found Sarge and Payne standing over a bloody mess on the ground. He'd died hard. When they looked at us, we shook our heads to show we didn't get anything truly useful. They nodded and gave us a slight smile. Hopefully, they found something that might help us.

"Let's get our asses back to the clubhouse and rally a quorum for church. We can't pull everyone since we need them to guard, and prospects aren't enough, but we'll get enough. Once we solidify the plans, we'll run them by everyone and see if we have holes and shit to consider," Bull said.

"It's your ballgame, but I have a suggestion. You've all been up all night. At least some of ours haven't. I doubt Bosch will hit in broad daylight, which means we have time. From what you said, this Bosch isn't likely to bail on the idea of acquiring Saylor. He wants revenge. Can we let some of your guys get a few hours of sleep until more of our men get here? You'll need to have some energy to plan and carry out whatever we do," Jinx suggested.

My immediate response was to say fuck no, but I paused and thought before popping off. I knew he had a good point. It wasn't my decision, but if asked, I'd have to say yes. The old man in me wanted to get on my bike and kill the bastard and all his buddies right now, but that would get me and a bunch of us killed. We had to plan and be smart, as we always did.

Bull, Terror, and Jinx stepped to the side to confer. I didn't get upset. Three presidents would know what to do. Two of them had served, and Jinx was no slouch from past experience. He was the youngest of the presidents in his thirties, but he was savvy. Terror was in his forties, and Bull was in his fifties, although we didn't remind him of that often. Despite his gray hair, he looked and acted younger. They chatted for about five minutes, maybe less, before they broke it up and faced the rest of us.

"It's agreed. We'll send for more men, and when they get here, we'll take turns resting. Until then, we want the officers to rest. That includes you, Player. You'll be in on the planning from the get-go. Any objections?" Bull asked.

We all shook our heads. I sure didn't have any. I hoped to be included in all phases, but even as the club's secretary, there was no guarantee I would be. He then looked at the body on the ground.

"Put him around back with the others. I'll get the prospects out here to start working soon. Christ, I'd love to go a year without shit going sideways," Bull muttered.

"Hell, if that happens, we'll be bitching that it's too quiet. This is what keeps us on our toes," Terror told him.

Bull gave him the finger, causing us all to laugh. In no time, the body was placed with the ones in the back, and we got our asses to the clubhouse. I knew it would only take a couple of hours at the most to get more guys here, but I'd take it. And I'd do it with my woman in my arms. I needed to hold her.