chapter Ten
Adrenaline coursed through Tyler as he took the Kentucky roads he loved at much higher speeds than was legal. This was it, why he loved to ride his bike. The feeling of the wind against his face, the sound of it rushing by his ears and running through his hair. The freedom of no one telling him where to go or what to do. Listening to common sense, he slowed down to take the turn that would lead him to Denise’s neighborhood. The club had just successfully let the Vojnik steal their drug shipment. It had gone off without a hitch. It was time to let Meredith know what had taken place.
As he approached her duplex, he became breathless. The woman really was beautiful, but she was everything he’d always said he never wanted. Pulling into her driveway, he shut off his bike and swaggered up to the front door. Her car was in the drive, so he knew she was home. Before he could knock, she threw the door open.
“What the f*ck is the matter with you?” she hissed, grabbing his cut and hauling him inside.
“Hey.” he yelled sharply. “You don’t touch that.”
Quickly she dropped her hands. “Sorry, but again what the f*ck is the matter with you? How dare you park in my driveway and walk up like you own the damn place?”
Irritated, he scowled. “Look Princess, I came by to let you know that we did a job on the Vojnik tonight. Since you’re the one who squealed on them like a damn pig, I figured I’d warn you. What you do with that warning is up to you, but I thought you should know.”
She opened her mouth to speak and then shut it abruptly. Had he actually just done something nice for her?
“Are you expecting a thank you or something?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest.
“You know what? Forget it. I have a feeling they leaked that information to you to see if you’d tell us, and guess what….you did. When they realize that, you’re gonna be in a lot more trouble than you know what do with. Take the information and do with it what you will, but don’t come crying to me when this all backfires.”
He turned and walked out without another word. For the first time since she’d started these investigations, she felt uneasy. Was that really what the Vojnik had planned? Had she really just put herself in a hole she’d never be able to dig herself out of?
“Motherf*cker.” Liam muttered as he spotted the blue lights behind him.
Wanting to do anything to avoid jail time at this point, he politely pulled over and dug his license and registration out of his saddlebags. As the sheriff came around the side of the bike, he spotted the face in his side view mirror and grinned. This was an old friend, but he could just as easily be an enemy.
“Rooster, how ya doin’?” he asked, grinning up at the redheaded sheriff’s deputy.
“Not too bad,” he answered. It didn’t escape Liam’s notice that he casually rested his hand on the butt of his gun.
“By the way you’re standin’ I’ll take it this ain’t a social call.”
“You would be correct in that assumption and don’t be callin’ me Rooster. You of all people know my name is Officer Hancock. We had some reports of loud motorcycles and shots fired out near the old Garvin Lane Bridge. You know anything about that?”
“Can’t say that I do. Can you place me or my boys there?”
Officer Hancock smirked. “C’mon Walker, we’re old friends.”
“That’s right Rooster, we are. We ran these roads when we were teenagers, but we’re not on the same side now are we?”
“Your choice. You could have come my way, and we both know it, “Rooster accused, looking down at his one-time friend.
“Are you stoppin’ me for somethin’, or are you just gettin’ your rocks off by harrassin’ me?”
Handing the license and registration back to Liam, Rooster put his sunglasses on and looked down at him again. “Don’t let me find out this was your bunch. You know it won’t take much for you to go back to jail.”
“Officer Hancock, is that a threat?”
“Nope, William Walker Jr., that’s a promise. Friendship doesn’t go above the law.”
“Neither does common courtesy. You remember that, and we’ll be good.”
He sped off, throwing gravel at the cop car still parked behind him, daring Hancock to flip the lights on and pull him over again. Instead, he sounded the siren once in warning and headed in the opposite direction.
Pulling up to the clubhouse, Liam was surprised to see a couple of the other brothers already there. They had just pulled the Vojnik job and had separated to get the hell out of dodge. The run-in with Rooster must have taken longer than he thought. Parking his bike, he got off and walked in. A large group sat around the laptop computer that Travis Steele had set on one of the tables. They were watching the GPS trackers from the drug shipment.
“What’s this?” he asked, having a seat as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the indoors.
Steele grinned as he looked at his VP. “This is technology at its finest. We’re getting a motherf*cking roadmap to where the Vojnik clubhouse is now located. Hopefully, this is where they keep their technology too. What my geeky little fingers would do if I could get my hands on some of the stuff they’re bringing in from Europe.”
“Looks like they’re takin’ it to Barren County. Wonder why they’re taking it so far up the parkway?” one of the men asked.
“Probably because they don’t want to keep it around us. Let’s face it, none of us would have thought Barren County when we started this. They’ve been smart.”
Liam watched as the tracking device did its thing. He was familiar with that area, and he was pretty sure they were going to an old warehouse that used to be an automotive plant before the downturn in the economy. Heaven Hill had done some protection in that area for a local loan shark, and if memory served him correctly, it was a large facility.
“We need to get on the Property Assessor’s site and see who that property lists too,” Liam said, taking down the approximate location of the dot on the map.
“Do you think they’d be stupid enough to list it to themselves?” Steele asked.
“I don’t know, but we want to make sure if we blow it to hell we’re not destroying a profitable piece of property for a friend. What if they’re renting it? If the city owns it, we’d be in some deep shit too.”
Steele nodded and pulled up the Property Assessor’s website for the adjacent county. It only took a few moments to find it was listed to an LLC.
“Is it a front you think?” Steele asked, rubbing his chin.
“Not sure. I think we need to do a little more research on it. Maybe get one of the women to go visit the courthouse and see what we can find out. We need to be smart about this. Tyler had a feelin’ last night. We need to be talkin’ to the old man about it too. Shouldn’t he be here soon?”
The group began to look uncomfortable. “Where is he?”
Nobody said anything, nobody met his eyes and one brother even started whistling. “Where is he?”
“I think he went to see your mom,” someone mumbled.
That was all it took to put him in a murderous mood. In a matter of moments he was out the door and on his bike.
“Did you have to tell him?” Steele asked, his blue eyes glaring at the brother who had opened his mouth.
“He asked, I answered.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“How are you getting along?” Roni asked.
She and Denise sat inside the screened-in porch, enjoying the beauty of the afternoon. The kids were upstairs doing homework and playing on the laptops that had been mysteriously provided for them. Denise wasn’t sure if it had been Roni or Liam, but she was grateful.
“Not too bad, I’m just not sure what my place is here, ya know? I feel like I’m invading his territory, but he keeps telling me to treat this house like home.”
“Trust me, if he didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here. He must see something in you and your kids.”
Denise shrugged. “I dunno, we haven’t really talked that much. He hasn’t really been around.”
“Yeah, word has it there was a job today. Of course I don’t know any details, but last I heard everyone was safe.”
A feeling of dread settled over her. “Do people sometimes not come back safe?
“Honestly? Depends on what they’re doing. This life isn’t for everyone. There have been casualties and even fatalities of our wars. It’s just a fact of this life.”
That was what scared Denise. What if her kids were caught in the crossfire?
“I don’t mean to scare you, don’t get me wrong. Ninety percent of the time things are fine, but there are turf wars and pissed off clubs. There can be dangerous times.”
As she opened her mouth to respond, she heard Liam’s motorcycle coming up the drive. “Guess he’s back.”
Roni listened intently. “He’s pissed though.”
A look of disbelief crossed her face. “How can you tell that by the roar of his bike?”
“Lots of practice. You’ll be able to do it sooner or later.”
He came barreling through the front door and stomped all the way through the house and out onto the porch where they sat.
“What crawled up your ass?” Roni questioned her brother. “We were having a nice, quiet time.” It amazed Denise that anyone spoke to him in that way.
“Dad’s gone to see Lauren.”
Just like that, the mood shifted for Roni too.
“Who’s Lauren?” Denise questioned softly.
Liam glared at her before turning around and stomping out again.
“Forgive him, he doesn’t deal well when she’s mentioned. Lauren’s our mother. She abandoned us. For some reason, our father still loves her. Give Liam some time, he’ll come around. He’s just gotta get over it. C’mon girl. Talk me out of this bad mood.”
Smiling, Denise started rambling, enjoying her afternoon acting like any other woman in the world. She did, however, put the little tidbit of information about Liam’s background in the back of her mind. When the time was right, she would ask her questions and hopefully get her answers.