Chapter 27

Static

”How long do you think it”s going to take for Fremont to retaliate?” Smokehouse asked the group. He looked stressed. Not that I could blame him. Dani was due to give birth within the next week and we were deep in this shit with Fremont. We all wished we could have given it time before we made our move, but Fremont was just going to get more dangerous as time went on.

Priest tipped his head forward with a heavy sigh.

”Bro,” Toxic said, giving Smoke a disgusted look.

”What?” Smoke asked, looking around.

Lockout”s phone cut through the tension and now everyone was glaring at Smokehouse.

”What?” he asked again. ”That wasn”t my fault!”

Lockout shook his head and answered. ”Yeah.” He listened, his expression growing darker as the seconds passed. ”We”ll be right there.” He disconnected the call and told Smoke, ”You got your wish. We need to get over to the apartments.”

”Shit,” Riptide snapped. ”Tell me that fucker isn”t going after women and children.”

Lock looked over at Cypher. ”Can you assign some of your guys to watch the clubhouse while we”re gone?”

”Absolutely. Scythe, Pyre, Demo. Stay here. No one in or out without Lock”s approval.”

Scythe nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. He was the quietest in the group, but I knew for a fact that he was one of the most dangerous. No one was getting through with these guys here. Our families were in good hands. Now we needed to make sure the other families were okay. Mel and Bear were over at the apartment complex today, but that was just a precaution. No one really thought Fremont would be so low as to go after the women and kids living there.

”Good job,” I muttered to Smoke as I walked past, heading toward my motorcycle.

”That wasn”t my fault!” he insisted as everyone followed suit and got on their bikes.

”Smoke, man, you got to learn when to shut up,” Hellfire said as he climbed onto his bike.

”What the hell was I supposed to say?” he retorted. ”I was just wondering. Jesus.”

He was drowned out by the roar of engines as we waited for Lockout and Cypher to lead the way out of the parking lot. Priest and Cynic were right behind them, and the rest of us filed out behind them. It wasn”t a long drive over to the apartments, but my head was throbbing with a tension headache by the time we got there. I was just so damn pissed that this asshole was too much of a coward to take us on directly.

It took Torres a week to get his warrant and arrest Trask. We were sure Fremont had a lot to do with that. He was holding up the process as much as possible. Probably only so he could get his money out of there, but it could also be to protect Trask. He didn”t want to lose valuable relationships with the scumbags who did business with him.

Trask had now been in a jail cell for forty-eight hours and this was the first time Fremont had poked his fucking head out of his hole.

All the women and children were outside as we pulled in. Mel and Bear were there with them, standing between the women and a group of men. We made our way over to where Fremont and his men were standing.

”Boys,” Fremont said with a smile. ”Just coming to check up on our little neighborhood. We”ve heard it”s gotten a bit rough around here.”

”This is private property,” Riptide told him.

”Private property or not, when a wellness check is called these officers need to check it out.” Fremont gave us a nasty smile.

One of the officers in uniform stepped forward. ”We”ve had some complaints,” the man said, looking down at a notebook.

”From who?” Lock asked, his voice low and dangerous.

”We”re not at liberty to say,” the officer replied. ”But I can tell you that CPS is likely to get involved-”

”Considering we have a friend who works for CPS,” I said, cutting him off, ”I highly doubt that.”

He glared at me. ”You calling me a liar?”

”Yeah. That”s what I”m doing.” I pulled my credentials out of my pocket and showed him. ”If you”re going to be opening an investigation into any of the women here, or the owners of this building, I”m going to need recordings of the complaints that came in. And I”m going to need a copy of the police reports that are necessitating the need to bring CPS here.”

”Who the hell are you?” he muttered, looking at my creds.

”I”m the lawyer representing everyone here.”

The man”s eyes flashed up to mine and I saw the defeat there. He turned to Fremont, shook his head, and finally backed off. ”If we get called out here again, we”re not going to just let you off with a warning.”

”Sure, Officer,” I said with a smile that was more bared teeth than anything.

Him and one other officer got into a nearby squad car and took off. That left Fremont, and seven men, none of whom were in uniforms. They were very clearly cops, and they were just as clearly not on duty. This visit today wasn”t sanctioned. I would never receive those call logs, because they didn”t exist. Fremont was only doing this to get at us. Even he would need more time to manufacture fake charges, though.

”Unless you plan to release those items to me,” I told Fremont, ”I suggest you leave this property.”

”In a minute,” he said. ”I have a few other questions.” He looked over at Lock and Idaho. ”An officer has gone missing.”

”An officer?” Lock asked, raising a brow. ”What does that have to do with us?”

”You knew him.” Fremont looked over at Idaho. ”He was with the group of men you assaulted-”

”Oh,” Idaho said, nodding. ”You mean the group of guys that were trying to kidnap a foreign dignitary right off the street? Those guys?” Idaho cocked his head, staring down Fremont. ”Have you checked to see if any other foreign dignitaries are in town? Maybe it”s a hobby of his.”

Fremont”s eye twitched at that. ”The police are launching a full investigation.”

”Good,” Lock told him. ”Has nothing to do with us.”

”Since you had run-ins with him, I would expect to be contacted and interviewed. Something tells me you”re going to have a hard time proving you”re not a part of Officer Hughes”s disappearance.”

”Something tells me,” I butted in, ”that Internal Affairs is going to figure out that Officer Hughes was involved in a lot of things unsanctioned by his police chief.”

Idaho”s private investigator had originally done a search on the men who had attacked Eva, and later I did the same. Hughes had been using a different name while undercover with this group. What he was doing with them we didn”t know, but when a second search was done with his real name, which we got off his body before it was dumped, it gave us a wealth of knowledge. Rip had continued that search and now we had a huge file folder, full of all the shady shit Hughes had been a part of during his time with the police force.

I didn”t doubt that the cops were looking into his disappearance, but we suspected that unless he could tie it directly to us—which he couldn”t at this point—Fremont would clean up that mess for us. He couldn”t afford to have Hughes”s activities brought to light. It would expose him and all the men working with him. That was the biggest fuck you about this whole thing. We didn”t know who we could trust.

The only law enforcement we knew that wasn”t on Fremont”s payroll for sure was Torres, because he”d already proved himself by arresting Trask. And we could trust Tommy, Seek”s Sheriff friend.

Fremont shot me a feral smile. He wasn”t completely sane. I could see it in his eyes. And honestly I wasn”t sure whether that was new, or if I was just seeing it now that all his plans were unraveling. The man was a master manipulator and usually hid his emotions well, but he was beginning to unwind. I didn”t know what was going to happen by the time we got to the end of this.

”Internal Affairs has nothing to do with a missing persons case,” Fremont snapped.

”Not yet they don”t,” I replied. ”But they will.” It was a promise. If he tried to point any of the blame in our direction we”d get IA involved so fast their heads would spin.

Fremont lifted his lip in disgust as he looked me up and down. ”What side are you on?”

”Not yours,” I told him, ”that”s for fucking sure. And you”re not on the right side of the law either, so it”s not like you have the moral high ground here, John.”

He snapped his fingers and his guys spun around as one unit. They climbed into their SUVs. Fremont looked over his shoulder at us. ”This is just the beginning.”

”It”s the ending,” Lock told him. ”You”re just too far behind to know it yet.”

We watched as they sped off down the road. Silence settled over the area as we absorbed all the bullshit Fremont was spewing.

”Hell, Smoke, Ricochet, can you help Mel and Bear get everyone back inside?” Lock asked.

The men nodded and went over to where the women and children were standing. I could hear them speaking with the women, telling them they had nothing to worry about, that we were going to take care of them. As one group, they all began to head inside the building.

The sun was just beginning to set, and I was glad that Fremont had made this move in the daylight. We didn”t need him creeping around out here at night. Not when the women and children were so vulnerable.

”Two men aren”t going to be enough to guard this place,” Priest said as soon as the women were out of ear shot.

”Not nearly enough,” Hush agreed. ”It”ll be dangerous for our guys and for them.” He jerked his head toward the apartments.

Lock scrubbed a hand through his hair. ”I know.”

”We need all hands on deck, though,” Idaho pointed out.

”I could keep my men here,” Cypher offered.

”Yeah, but then the clubhouse will be vulnerable,” I replied. ”I guess we gave Fremont too much credit thinking he wouldn”t go after innocent women and children.”

”Which means we need to call every single family member in the area,” Lock added, ”and give them a head”s up that they need to watch themselves.”

”In the meantime,” Butcher said, ”what do we do about this place?”

”I have a guy,” Cynic offered.

Toxic looked over at his cousin in shock and confusion. ”What do you mean, you have a guy?”

”A friend,” Cynic replied with a shrug. ”I bet he”d be willing to help us.”

”Since when do you know someone I don”t know?” Toxic asked. ”Since when do you have friends?”

Cynic rolled his eyes. ”I have friends, too, Toxic.”

”Bullshit.”

”Toxic,” Lock barked. ”Jesus.”

”Fine,” Toxic muttered. ”Who”s your guy?”

”He”s a friend,” Cynic repeated, ignoring his cousin”s taunting. ”He”s in a motorcycle club over in Phoenix. Saint”s Outlaws MC?” Cynic looked around. ”Heard of ”em?”

Lock and Cypher both shook their heads.

”Ah well, Kilo”s a good guy. Kinda the same set up as we all have. Former military, mostly vigilante group. I bet they”d be willing to help. Kilo and I helped each other out on my last deployment.”

”What do you think?” Lock asked Cypher.

Cypher shrugged. ”Their president could tell us to fucking pound sand. He may not want to get dragged into this kind of war. Not for men he doesn”t know.”

”Ruck”s cool,” Cynic piped up. ”I bet he wouldn”t hesitate to help us out. Since we”re all brothers after all.”

Even though the majority of us were retired, or otherwise employed in the case of the Berserkers, we all belonged to one large brotherhood—the military.

”Doesn”t hurt to ask,” Lock said with a sigh.

”Want me to call?” Cynic asked, looking between the men.

Lock and Cypher shared a look, then nodded together.

Cynic pulled his cell out of his pocket and hit a number. He put the phone on speaker and we all waited as it rang.

”Hey, yo, Cynic!” a man said as he answered. ”Haven”t heard from you in a minute, Brother. How you doing?”

Cynic chuckled. ”I”m good, Kilo. You?”

”Shit. You know how it is. Living the dream.”

Cynic grinned. ”Yeah, I know all about that. Listen, I”m down here in Tucson-”

”No way. We need to get together, Brother.”

”That”s actually why I”m calling. My club is down here helping some friends. They”re having a bit of trouble with a corrupt district attorney.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few breaths. ”Tell me more, Man.”

Lock nodded and Cynic gave him a quick rundown. ”Now we”ve got this prick threatening women and children associated with the club and not enough men to watch over them. My prez and theirs were hoping maybe we could get a little back up?”

”How about this? Ruck and I will come over and meet with you guys.”

”You sure he”d be alright with that?”

There was a snort on the other end of the line. ”You know Ruck. All I have to do is tell him some fuck face is threatening women and kids and he”s there.”

Cynic let out a relieved breath. ”Thanks, Kilo. Seriously, we”d appreciate that. All this shit is popping off now. How long before you think you could make it over?”

”Tomorrow work for you?”

”It does,” Lockout answered. ”I”m the president of The Vikings, Tucson Chapter. I”m damn appreciative that your club is even willing to hear us out.”

”Nice to meet you, Prez,” Kilo said. ”We”re all one big family, even if our clubs don”t know each other yet. Something tells me that”s going to change in a hurry. We”ll ride down tomorrow, be there around eleven.”

”See you then,” Cynic said. ”I”ll have a cold one waiting.” He cut the connection and shot his cousin a shit-eating grin. ”Told you I had friends.”

”Luckily for us they aren”t imaginary,” Toxic muttered.

”Priest, can you get us a rotation of men over here? No less than three at a time until we get this all figured out?” Lock requested.

”Yeah, I”m on it, Lock.”

”That means we”re going to have to sit on our fucking hands for a few more days,” Lock told us. ”We”re going to be spread too thin to go after the next place that Fremont”s using. But I”m not fucking leaving any of our people vulnerable.”

”I can make the phone calls,” Rip offered. ”To the families. Just get me lists of whoever needs to be warned.”

”Thanks,” Lock told him.

”Everyone needs to keep their fucking head on a swivel. With Fremont joining this game, it”s going to get ugly before the end. I don”t want to lose anyone because they made a goddamn mistake. Got it?”

”Got it,” we echoed.

”I”ll take first watch,” Priest said.

”I”ll stay with you,” Idaho told him.

”Me too,” Butcher growled. ”I”m sort of hoping those assholes come back.”

I grinned over at Butcher. He was itching for a fight. Or more likely a mass casualty event. You could see it building each day. He was getting more and more tense. He was going to explode soon, and I almost felt fucking sorry for Fremont and his crew because they were going to be the target of his fury. In reality, we needed to end this before he got to that point. Half a police force and a DA getting killed wasn”t going to be as easy to walk away from as one dead cop.

It didn”t matter that I”d killed Hughes in self-defense, if it came to light, I was fucking finished. My career would be over. I”d be lucky if I still didn”t end up doing time. The fact that I was betting on Fremont cleaning up that particular mess didn”t sit well with me, but I didn”t have the ability to do it myself. I wasn”t above using Fremont”s desperation for my own ends.

Especially not when Hughes had been the one to throw the first fucking punch. Those other assholes with him had waited for his cue. He was directly responsible for his own damn demise. They”d assumed because I wore a suit, and that they outnumbered me five to one, they could easily kill me. I”d proved them wrong. But it was another nail in our coffin if this didn”t play out exactly the way we needed it to.