Jaded: (Beautiful Biker MC Romance Series), page 47
Ella got her an interview at this senior’s home after I’d had a word with her earlier in the week asking if she knew if they were hiring. I knew she volunteered here regularly and that her own grandmother was a resident.
Ella’s grandmother Izzy rushed out behind my girl with three of her friends.
“They’ll hire you, Gia,” she informed. “I’ll make sure if it.”
“You’re so sweet!” Gigi put a palm against her chest and gave Ella’s grandmother a beautiful smile.
“Well, hello there, James Dean,” Izzy looked me over.
“Ms. Izzy,” I greeted.
“Hey boys,” she said to the prospects parked with me. “Ain’t cha all gonna give Gran Izzy a hug?” she asked.
I got off my bike and hugged her. She pinched my ass.
“Hey now,” I warned. “I’m taken.”
“I told her I’d get her the job if she let me have a little feel once in a while,” Izzy said with a grin.
My eyes bounced to my girl.
Gigi lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “It’s true. You don’t mind. Right, baby?”
“Objectified again,” I shook my head and got my face cheeks pinched by Ella’s grandmother who then moved on to hug Bick, calling him John Wayne, before she got to Nolan and told him he reminded her of a young Rock Hudson. Her friends moseyed over and then took turns hugging all of us and pinching our asses.
We were still riding in groups even though we now knew there was no chance the Freebooters were joining up with the enemy. And now we made sure we were on our bikes more than on four wheels to make a point. Be seen and heard. And with our patches proudly on our backs.
“They’ll hire you. Don’t you worry,” Izzy said again. “I’ll have a word. Make sure of it.”
“Thank you so much, ma’am. That’s so very sweet of you.”
She waved. “See you all later. Feel free to bring your entourage any time.”
I kissed her cheek and she smiled brightly, patting my face.
“Ready to roll, hostage?” I asked.
“Yup. Bye bye everyone.” Gigi waved at the ladies and carefully got onto the back of my bike.
I watched the two prospects eyeing her as she’d had to shimmy her skirt up to indecent levels to get on. I shot them a scowl.
Bick looked away. Nolan gave me a grin with a shrug.
We pulled out, planning to get back to the clubhouse where G would change and grab our overnight bag, switch vehicles to my truck and then we were heading to Bismarck for an overnight. It was Archer’s daughter’s birthday party tomorrow.
Unfortunately, since the club was also throwing a wedding reception party for Fork and Jojo at the same time, we’d miss that. We’d apologized to them that we couldn’t be there. I’d initially told G we should cancel with Arch, but G wouldn’t have it. She’d promised to be there for Tasha, the oldest of his kids and said she couldn’t let her down. I knew this was about Tasha, not about avoiding a club party.
G told me the newlyweds would mind far less when the party had just been thrown together for them versus the little girl who was already being let down by her mother who had grounded her for something stupid and said she couldn’t have a party for her twelfth birthday. My girl told me it was something her own mother would’ve done to her.
Arch stepped in and was organizing it at his house, threatening to take his ex to court if she tried to put the kibosh on it since it wasn’t technically Arch’s weekend with the girls.
To surprise my girl, I’d booked us a night in the best hotel in Bismarck for afterwards.
***
When we pulled into the parking lot Sunday afternoon, my plans to do nothing for the rest of the day after a shitload of driving this weekend were squashed.
Deacon jogged our way to tell me I was needed. So, I kissed my girl and told her I’d be back later.
The sliding door of one of the courier vans slid open and Deacon and me climbed in.
“What’s up, boys?” I asked, sitting back against the wall. It was packed in here. Deke and Brady were up front, Brady in the driver’s seat, and back here sitting on the floor were me, Deacon, Ride, Spence, Fork, Nico, Justice, and Bront. A tight fit.
“Hey Jesse!” Bront greeted with a big smile.
“Hey,” I returned.
“How’s things?” Bront asked, still sporting the oddly large smile.
“What’s up?” I asked.
He laughed. “Not much.”
“Only gone a day, brother,” I returned. “Why are you so fuckin’ chipper?”
He laughed and shrugged.
“Bront got himself some last night,” Justice put in. “Saw the little lady that works with Jenna and Pippa with the rainbow hair slip outta his room this morning.”
Bront grinned bigger.
“Aw, Teddy!” Rider ruffled his hair. “All grown up.”
“The dino lose his v-card?” Spencer asked.
“Lost that a long time ago,” Bront advised.
“Bronto’s not the only one that got lucky last night. So did he,” Justice shared, jerking his thumb at Nico. “Finally conned Coco onto his cock.”
“Yo,” Nico warned, leaning forward. “Keep her name outta yer mouth unless you’re sayin’ somethin’ with respect.”
“That’s a good woman,” I stated.
Nico turned his angry eyes to me. “Don’t you fuckin’ start.” He thought there was a punchline coming.
“No. Serious. She’s a good woman,” I told him.
He lost the attitude and jerked his chin up at me.
“Eventful night last night,” I observed. “And beyond the fuckers in that pickup truck shootin’ out the keg, obviously.”
Fork growled.
I gave him a look of understanding.
I’d heard the party had to be moved inside when a pickup truck sped down the road and shots were fired during the festivities. Festivities that involved out-of-town family including Jojo’s grandparents and Fork’s disabled uncle.
“Enough of the hen party, for fuck’s sake. Can we get our heads in the game here?” Deke reprimanded. “Need to bring Jess up to speed.”
Deke waited a beat and then continued. “Got a tip, know where their temporary clubhouse is,” Deke cleared his throat. “Fork’s contact told him a rough idea of where it was, and we got confirmation from my nephew Brice who heard from a paramedic buddy – Alec got taken in by ambulance to the hospital. Won’t be long now. Goin’ into palliative care. He’ll be gone soon.”
“Not soon enough,” Fork supplied.
“Good. What’s the plan?” I asked.
Fork spoke up. “There’s a dilapidated barn there where she thinks they’re cookin’ meth and storing a large cache of weapons. Could be that those are weapons that haven’t been paid for and that the people that took Gordino don’t want them to have. We tip ‘em off to that location, it could clear us of any markers owing. Gonna plant a couple outdoor cams,” Fork said. “Plus…” Fork looked to Rider who took over.
“We’re also gonna plant a little something with a remote and the ability to make a big ole boom.” Rider grinned. “You n’ me doin’ that. Also gonna suss out that lair under the barn and see what’s there. Plant some audio bugs. We’re A-Team. I bury the device; you hold the phone and cover me.”
“Roger that,” I answered. “When’s the boom happenin’?”
Deke replied. “To be confirmed. That’s probably for later, if need be.”
“Got it,” I said. “No visual bugs in the lair?”
“No,” Rider replied. “That’d make the cartel twitchy. Make ‘em think we wanna hold something over their heads.”
“Ah,” I replied.
Deacon spoke next. “Fork, Spence, and me are Team B and have the trail cams to go in at some loosely planned spots from looking over the property lines and Google maps as well as from the rough layout Justice gave us. He’s been there before. We’ll creep alongside the river that butts the property. Justice and Bray are gonna steal Sarge’s car if it’s there. Team C with Brady on the phone. All set, Jus?”
Justice raised his finger holding a keyring.
“Scooped this spare a while back,” he said to me.
“Nice,” I replied. “Why steal the car?”
I didn’t like that I had missed the strategy conversation but Deke clearly had faith in my abilities so I had no doubt this quick catchup would be enough.
Deke spoke up again. “Diversion while you and Ride recon that barn. The shit they pulled at my daughter and son-in-law’s wedding reception? They need to know there’s consequences. That we know where they are. Also that we’re not pussies sittin’ back and hopin’ they just go away. They fuck us, we fuck back hard. If this ignites the next phase of the war, so be it. We’re closin’ in and they’re gonna know they’ve got us breathin’ down their necks. I want this shit to get done. Anyway, once the ruckus starts, watch for anyone in that barn to hopefully clear out, then you’ve got a minute or two to check it out and dump the audio bugs. If you run into any people in that barn, don’t hesitate; end ‘em. Some bad drugs recently caused a teenaged girl to OD at a party in Aberdeen. She’s in a coma and might not wake up. I have no doubt the drugs came from that lab so do not hesitate to end anyone in there.”
“Roger that,” I said.
“We’ll meet you at the rendezvous point one mile directly west.” Deke flashed me his phone, open on maps to show me the intersection. “Now…” he continued, “to reiterate for everyone and put Jess in the know, Brontosaurus’ll have an open line with Jesse on team A, Nico with who on Team B?”
“Me,” Spence piped up.
Deke continued, “Brady on the line with me. Me, Brontosaurus, and Nico stay by the van all on the phones together, so every team has access to everyone. Where we’re parking should be a decent vantage point in case anyone needs cover. Brontosaurus stays back after we leave to cover A-Team and heads to rendezvous with you two. We’ll have scopes on our weapons. Cell power check time. Anyone below thirty per cent? Everyone on vibrate only?”
The only ones not good were Fork with only twenty-eight per cent left on his phone, me with fifteen on mine. Deacon pulled a power pack from a backpack and handed it to me. “What cord?”
“USB-C.”
He passed a cord. I plugged it in and stuffed it all into the kangaroo pocket of the long-sleeved t-shirt hoodie I had on.
“Fork?” Deacon held out another power pack.
“No pockets big enough for the phone and a power pack. I’ll go unplugged. Phone should last no prob.”
“Not a fan,” Deke muttered.
“I’ll stay close,” Deacon stated, stuffing the power pack into his backpack.
Deke grunted, displeased, but said nothing further about it. He looked at me. “Questions?”
“Nope.”
“Anyone else?” he checked.
Nobody said a thing.
“Right-o. Go-time, boys.”
***
The van crawled up a dirt road to a copse of trees where it got tucked away nicely. Another gym bag was unzipped by Rider, this one full of weapons. We all got armed and then we moved out.
It was a good spot with plenty of cover and clear view of the house, barn, and two smaller outbuildings. The place had a mile-long driveway and was smack in the middle of a big field. Corn grew on one side, wheat on the other and plants were high so there was plenty of room for us to move closer undetected.
Fork, Spence, and Deacon went left. Me and Rider went deeper into the woods.
After Ride and me found our way to the back of the old half-falling down barn, we could see a couple men mulling around on the front porch. If they were on watch, they were doing a shit job of it.
Now was definitely a good time to do this. They were probably all distracted what with their dying leader being taken away in an ambulance.
Four motorcycles and three cars were parked behind the house near where we needed to go. One of those might be the car Justice aimed to take, I didn’t know the make and model of what he was looking for, but none of them looked special.
Ride pulled an extendable shovel from his backpack while I kept watch, phone and gun in my hands. He carefully dug against the side of the building and planted the device before loosely filling the hole in.
A few minutes later, I got a text from Bront saying B-Team was back.
Then there was another text saying C-Team was going with Plan B.
“What’s plan B for C-Team?” I asked Ride.
“They can’t find the car, they create a diversion to flush out whoever’s here.”
“What kind of diversion?”
Ride didn’t need to answer that because my answer was an explosion with smoke billowing out of the trees on the opposite side of the property where a bunkie was now on fire.
“Fire over there! All hands on deck!” was shouted.
Three men ran out of the barn.
“Fuck sakes!” I heard a gravelly voice say from nearby where Ride and me were hunkered behind a bank of scrap metal.
Someone else hollered, “Who is it? Shoot ‘em!”
“You stay here and keep watch in case…” Someone clipped.
Ride and me exchanged looks. Shit. Looked like we’d have to shoot somebody.
Not ten seconds later, the other fucker followed anyway. Hopefully he’d been the only one left inside.
With the three men headed toward the fire and a quick count of around a dozen men in total, Ride and me waited twenty seconds before he gave me a look and slipped in through several broken barn boards.
There were shouts and guys running with buckets, someone pulling a hose in that direction. He ran out of length, so they were poorly organizing a chain of men passing buckets as the blaze quickly grew.
A minute later, just as shots were fired from down where the fire was, I heard the familiar deer call noise, knowing Ride was waving me in.
***
We had confirmation of the drug lab down there as well as a fuck-ton of weapons, some stacks of cash, and drugs. A lot of drugs. Ride planted the bugs, and I took pictures with his phone while keeping my gun drawn, ready in case one of them wised up and realized the diversion.
But they probably weren’t that smart.
“We should take the drugs. Get rid of ‘em,” I said.
“No. They might not realize we were here unless we take shit. Then they might not come back.”
“See your point,” I said, eyeing the drugs with disgust.
“Don’t like leaving that garbage either, Jess,” Ride told me. “Luckily the cops are spreadin’ far and wide the warning there’s fentanyl-laced rave drugs and other bad drugs floating around.”
We got out while the gaggle of fuckheads still worked on putting out that fire, then went back the way we’d come in until Bront joined us. The three of us legged it the mile to the van at the rendezvous point.
The van door slid open.
“In. Hurry!” Nico urged.
We dove in and we were pulling out before the door was all the way shut.
“Missions accomplished?” Deke checked. Everyone else was in the van.
“Yep. What’s with the panic?” Ride asked. “Something go wrong?”
“They saw me,” Fork said. He was covered in mud.
“Dude, you reek,” Bront muttered.
Fork rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Bear trap right beside a creek. It snapped, only caught the leg of my jeans.” He gestured to the torn fabric. “Fell in and pretty sure it was Kylo up there that saw me. Fired shots at me so had to book it.”
“A-Team is a checkmark. B-Team a checkmark, though Fork was seen. C-Team was a bust with Plan A, but Plan B let A-Team do their thing,” Deke stated. “All in all, a success.”
“Woulda liked that cherry mustang,” Justice muttered. “Sarge loves that car. Woulda been a bonus to get that.”
“This’ll flush ‘em out for sure. They saw Fork, so know we set that fire. What’ve you got on the lab and weapons?” Deke asked.
Ride passed his phone over to his father. “Check out the pictures. This’ll soon be over, boys.”
“Not soon enough,” Fork muttered.
***
We had a quick catch-up church. Everyone was caught up besides Blow, who wasn’t answering his phone. Pudge and Nolan were in the bar watching some of the girls.
It was clear Deke was pissed off about Blow too, muttering he hadn’t heard from him since the night before when he left the reception.
“He all right?” Bront asked.
“Not the first time he’s pulled a disappearing act when shit’s going down,” Spence muttered.
Deke shot Spence a look that meant shut the fuck up.
“Just sayin’ what most of us are thinking,” Spence lifted his hands defensively. “Deacon’s been doing the work of secretary and treasurer, and VP as long as we’ve been here, Dad, and everyone knows it. It’s just that Blow gets to wear the patch.”
“Not the time,” Deke said through tight teeth. “Save it for after this shit is done.”
Church got cut short because Deke got a text from Pudge who was dealing with some drama in the bar with some sweet butts arguing with the girls. This got me tweaked but I was assured it had nothing to do with my girl.
I climbed the stairs behind Fork, who muttered he was heading for the showers. I went to my room. It was unlocked, but Gigi wasn’t there. I figured she left it unlocked because I’d handed her my keys when we got here since I had to leave right away, and our bags had still been in my truck.
I spotted her purple box and our bags on the end of the bed. The tape on the Kailey boxes was loose, though it hadn’t been until today, so she’d finally taken the time to look through them.
I went looking for her. Didn’t find her. I called into the womens’ bathroom upstairs. Nobody answered and I couldn’t hear showers running. I went downstairs and a customer coming out of the bathroom told me it was empty after I asked. I double-checked anyway. No Gigi there either.
My blood ran cold. What the fuck?
I dialed her number for the third time, and it again went right to voicemail.
