Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rigs

Iwake up early, shower and grab some coffee before heading to my office to clean and rearrange the furniture to make two work areas. The large bulletin board on one wall would be our clue board. I line up several six-foot tables, empty two large filing cabinets and rearrange a couple of chairs.

Once the room looked as good as I could make it, I’m on the road in one of our club vans. Once I reach Mattie’s house, I’m lucky enough to find a parking space right in front of her door which should be handy if there’s as much to move as she says.

When I get out of the van and approach, I see a tangled mass hanging from her doorknob. As I get closer and realize what it is, my blood runs cold. I pull it off and turn it over in my hand. It’s a fabric doll that looks a lot like Mattie, like the ones that the cops use with abused kids, ‘point to where the bad man touched you’, that kind of shit. It’s got her light brown hair and is wearing a pants suit. Someone’s taken a red marker and put slash marks across the throat and used a purple marker to simulate bruises here and there. The doll has a big black eye on the right side of her face.

The more I look at the crude mess, the angrier I get. As well as the Mattie doll, there’s a few kid-sized dolls tied to it. It’s a pretty unpleasant sight and clearly designed to be a threat. The woman in position before her wound up dead in a dumpster, but Anita Adkins was working with the syndicate, and they had wanted to tie up loose ends. I’m guessing those bastards have gotten wind of Mattie and Cleo’s unofficial investigation.

I ring the doorbell and listen to the sound reverberate through her ground floor apartment. It takes her a minute, but when she opens the door and sees what I’ve got in my hand her face falls. “Not again. These syndicate members never give up.”

When she backs away from the door and waves me in, I follow her. Foregoing the pleasantries, I ask, “How long has this been going on, Mattie?”

She shrugs and traces one finger along the edge of the waist high console table in her foyer. “For a little while now. I don’t let it get to me. I’ve got a job to do, and I can’t let them scare me off.”

“Mattie, this is serious. You told anyone about this?” I ask gently.

“The police are already not doing anything except the bare minimum, you know what it’s like. I’m guessing someone on the payroll makes sure any investigation gets low priority. I don’t want to worry Cleo while she’s on leave, she’s got enough on her plate. And so does Siege, what with the new twins, the Hellfire Hounds MC still nipping at your heels and the syndicate are probably royally pissed off that you guys took out the regional leadership.”

I close my fist around the dolls. “Still, you should have said something. We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on.”

Glancing up at me through her thick lashes, she explains, “it doesn’t really matter whether they’re actively threatening me or not. I’m intelligent enough to know that as long as I’m looking for the kids they’ve taken, I’m a threat. I think this is more psychological warfare, and I refuse to let them terrorize me or scare me off.”

“That’s all well and good, but you know what the syndicate are like. Sure, they think they’re untouchable, but once their carefully crafted house of cards starts to fall, then they’re gonna look for payback. With David Henderson’s trial looming you could be in real danger.”

“The problem is I only have so much time and energy. I have to direct that where it’s needed the most—which is doing my job and finding those kids. Worrying about what the syndicate might do to me interferes with that.”

This beautiful woman was tearing my heart out. “I need to know how many times they have threatened you, directly or indirectly?”

She slides out a drawer under the table. It’s filled with crumpled notes, a gingerbread man with his head cut off, another messed up doll and some other bits and pieces I can’t make out.

“Seriously Mattie? This isn’t just a halfhearted attempt to scare you, this shit is real. You know you’re not safe living here all by yourself, right?”

She shrugs and refuses to meet my eyes. “Someone’s got to care about those kids. You know from Cleo how corrupt the whole organization is, if I give up like the others then they vanish into thin air. I know this is dangerous, but what can I do? I can’t stop. Please don’t ask me to.”

“I would never ask you to stop your work. I know how important it is to you, that’s part of the reason I wanted to help you with the search,” I pick up one of the letters and take a look, it’s an old school threat with bits cut out from a newspaper or printed off a website. There’s a photo of Mattie which I guess is from the Child Protective Services website, someone scribbled out her eyes and drew what look like stitches on her mouth. Clearly a warning for her to stay quiet.

I steady my voice, trying to rein in the frustration. “Mattie, now I know about this, I have to step in and help you stay safe. If your life is at risk, then forget all your good intentions—with you out of the way then they’ve won.”

“I don’t know what it is you think you can do to protect me. It’s not like you can sit with me twenty-four seven.”

“The hell I can’t. You’re the only things standing between those kids and a lifetime of hell. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you alive and get them home safely.” It was true, since leaving the military I’d been looking for a purpose in life, the club and my faith were all I had, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. Maybe protecting Mattie and helping her find those kids could help wash the darkness from my soul? Okay, it wasn’t entirely altruistic, as I just wanted to be close to her, but if I could do that and do good then surely that had to account for something?

“Those are brave words. What’s the plan?”

“The plan is I’m going to load up the van with all your boxes, and you’re going to go pack a suitcase. I want you to stay at the clubhouse until figure out who’s the last man standing in the syndicate is. Once we take him down, you can come home and get on with living your life.”

“Rigs. I can’t live at your clubhouse. I really appreciate the offer, but this could take weeks or even months.”

“Is it the clubhouse itself that bothers you? It’s not like a college frat house, if that’s what you’re worried about.” I laugh, to be honest sometimes it is, but mostly the horseplay happens downstairs. My club brothers who stay onsite are for the most part house-trained. I continue trying to convince her, “I know you’ve seen the downstairs bar, but the accommodation upstairs is good, we’ve got a couple of suites of self-contained apartments, as well as some basic rooms. I’ve been living there for years. I have a suite and you’re welcome to stay with me. I’ll sleep on the sofa, or if you want privacy, I can find some other place to bed down at the clubhouse.”

“I can’t throw you out of your own home. Trust me, the stupid shit they leave hanging on my door it’s not causing me to lose any sleep at night.”

“Yeah, but now I know about it, it’s definitely gonna cost me to lose sleep.” I look at her, but she’s still avoiding my eyes. Okay, time to play dirty. “If you want, I can call Cloe and let her know what’s going on? I’m sure she wouldn’t want you staying here all by yourself knowing you’re being targeted by the syndicate.”

She throws up her hands in exasperation. “Fine Rigs. You win. I’ll go live at the motorcycle club for God only knows how long so you don’t worry over me.”

I can tell she’s being sarcastic, but I don’t care. The only thing that matters to me is keeping her safe. Bringing her to the clubhouse beats me sleeping in the van outside her door for the next few months.

“Go pack up, girly. I’ll load the van, and we’ll be out of here within thirty minutes.”

She rolls her eyes and mutters something about me being a controlling bastard under her breath. Truth be told she’s all kinds of cute when she’s angry.

After she turns and walks away, I get busy moving her boxes. I stack them three deep and shove them in the back of the van, careful to lock the door between each trip. The street is clear, but with all those confidential files onboard I’m not taking any chances.

By the time I lock the van after the last load, Mattie’s standing in the living room with her hands on her hips, surrounded by five suitcases and a duffel bag. I remember Dutch saying how down to earth she was when he took her to that ball. She looked pretty high maintenance to me, looks like my empty closets were gonna take some pummeling to fit all her stuff in.

“We’re only going to the other side of town, not a round-the-world trip,” I joke. Though looking at the number of suitcases I was pretty damn impressed at her speed at getting ready.  “And how in the hell did you get it all packed so quickly?”

She just smirks at me. “If you want me to hang out at your place for a long time then I need all my gear.”

“Gear?”

“Yeah, clothing, women’s stuff, medication, my computer, and to be honest the duffel bag is all snacks.”

I have a hard time keeping the smile off my face, she’s a woman after my own heart. “Snacks huh? You know we have a fully equipped kitchen at the clubhouse, right?”

“No, I didn’t know that, and I had no intention of starving myself.”

“Well, that’s fine we’ll bring your snacks. If you need anything after you get there you let me, or the prospects know, and we’ll go get it for you.”

“Sounds like I’m going to be a prisoner?” Before I can answer, she stares at me sternly, “I’m a grown adult. You don’t tell me when I can come and go, I’m agreeing to come, because I admit, it was starting to get a bit scary. But I won’t answer to you, or anyone else. And just so you know, nothing or nobody is going to get in the way of me going to work every day. My work is my life, and I won’t let you interfere with that.”

“Calm down, Miss Mattie. I’m not trying to control you. I’m just trying to protect you. With David Henderson out of the way we’re getting close to dismantling the syndicate, but they’re gonna be upping their scare tactics. You can do whatever you normally do, but until the syndicate is destroyed, I want you to have one of us with you at all times. Do you realize how dangerous these people are? I know you were there when they tried to get at Cleo. But surely, she told you about Ivy and Joy?” I knew mentioning Tank and Dutch’s old ladies was a low blow, but if she didn’t know what happened to them—then she needed to. The syndicate were sick fuckers, and it was all well and good trying to be brave and standing up to them, but that didn’t help if you ended up chained in a room in one of their facilities.

She looks down at her feet and her shoulders slump. “Yeah, I know all that, and I understand. It’s just I’m used to being independent and not answering to anyone but myself.”

“And you’ll still have that. I know you’ll not be in your own home, but think of it as a fancy vacation. A few weeks at the Savage Legion Spa, you’ll come home a new woman.”

She laughs at that, and I’m pleased to see her smile. It must be awful having to pack up her life like this. But I can’t risk letting her stay here knowing that the syndicate have her in their sights. “That’s better. We can’t promise palm trees and white sandy beaches, but I hear rave reviews of the patio and grill out the back.”

“I’m sorry I reacted badly to your efforts to keep me safe. Just so you know I’m not normally this difficult to get along with.”

“That’s fine Miss Mattie. I know today was a huge curveball for both of us. We just need to continue cooperating and respecting each other and we’ll get through this.”

Before she can reply, I step forward and begin gathering up her suitcases. She grabs her purse and follows me out to the van, with her forearm crutches tucked under one arm. I notice she’s walking without them today. I was a bit curious as to what her disability is, but it’s none of my business.

I quickly load up the rest of her suitcases and grab the letters from the drawer under her hall table. After checking all the windows, I lock up and head back to the van. I can hear Mattie complaining bitterly to her friend about me leveraging her into staying at the clubhouse. I guess she decided to come clean to Cleo about the threats. I can tell by the look on her face that Cleo isn’t giving her the feedback she wants to hear, and if anything, she agrees with me that she’s far safer at the clubhouse. When I open the door and climb into the van, she cuts her call short and shoves her cell phone into her pocket.

“How is Miss Cleo today?”

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop. You know that, right?”

“Look, Mattie. I know you’re not happy with this situation. Truth be told neither am I. It bothers me when women associated with our club are in harm’s way. I know you’re upset and scared, please just trust me. I’ll make sure you get home as soon as possible.”

“I’m sorry I was rude to you just now, I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. It just seems like the stress in my life is constantly mounting and every time I feel like I have it under control something else comes along to throw me off balance.”

“You can’t face it all by yourself. There’s truth in the saying that there’s safety in numbers. That’s the kind of safety we’re extending to you today. There’s no shame in accepting it.”

“I just need a minute to get my thoughts in order and then when we get to the clubhouse, I’ll start working on organizing the case information. Having something to do always calms me down.”

“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Proverbs sixteen, twenty-seven.” I glance over at her, admiring her ability to roll with the punches. Suddenly, a smile lights up her face.

“I can’t believe you’re throwing Bible verses at me in my time of need.”

“Just felt it was fitting for the moment. Whether you believe in it or not, there’s often wise advice to be found in the good book.”

“I won’t argue that point. I do want to tell you something, Rigs. You’re a really nice man, thank you for helping me find those kids. I appreciate it more than you know.”

Her words warm up my heart. “I like you too, Mattie. And I have a lot of respect for you. I believe that you and Cleo are doing God’s work on earth by protecting those little ones.”