Chance Encounter (God's Reapers MC Book 1) (5 page)

CHAPTER NINE

The trailer was not clean, and for once Olivia didn’t blame Lance for wanting to wait in the car. The trailer must have been at least thirty years old. The walls were painted a faded mustard yellow, and the carpet was a threadbare pea green. The walls were covered in wood paneling that held a thick residue from years of cigarette smoke, and there was another chemical smell to the air that spoke of even more illicit substances. But Olivia refused to be swayed; she knew that it was important for police officers to spend time with the people who lived in the neighborhood. She needed the people who lived here to trust her; it was the first step in making the neighborhood a safer place.

And then there was David. Something about him was so oddly familiar, but Olivia couldn't place him. It was like seeing someone from high school or a co-worker from a job you had ten years ago. Only Olivia hadn’t gone to school in Marina’s Crest; she had never held a job other than cop here either. But still, she knew she had seen this man before—those strong arms, that mop of blond hair on his head, the way he cocked his head when he was thinking about something. Olivia was sure that if she had met this man before, that she would have remembered him, but instead he was just a niggling bother in the back of her mind that she was trying to ignore.

He poured her a glass of lemonade, using a clean, red Solo cup fresh out of the packaging—something Olivia was grateful for. She took a long sip of the drink and stared at the man across from her.

“Thanks for the drink, David,” she said. “Are you a friend of Ms. Sweetie?”

“Oh yeah, me and Hill go way back. Actually, at the moment she’s dating my boss, so it’s a good idea for me to watch out for her.” His voice was deeper than she expected, and he had a slight southern accent when he spoke.

“Where do you work?” Olivia asked, taking another sip from her drink.

“Well, that’s a tough question, officer,” David said, leaning back against the table. He looked out of place in the trailer; he looked like a model doing a high concept shoot for Vogue. His handsomeness was distracting. “You ever heard of God’s Reapers?” David asked.

Calmly, Olivia put down her drink—better to have both of her hands free. “I have,” she answered, staring straight into David’s eyes. “They are a criminal organization, and one that I hope you don’t have any ties to.”

“One man’s criminal organization is another man’s job, officer, and good jobs are hard to come by in Marina’s Crest. I know that you're a police officer and I’m a biker, but that doesn’t mean that you and I can’t be friends. Or at least, we don’t need to be antagonists.”

“Yes, we do. If your club is participating in illegal activities, then we are enemies.”

“You know that old saying…there’s two things you don’t want to see made, laws and sausages? It tells the truth. All these laws, it’s just one politician after another stepping down from their helicopters to tell poor folks what to do. Hell, half the laws in this county are vanity projects designed to make the people in charge look good.”

“Really? So murder, that’s totally ok. It’s just some politician trying push his own life-is-great agenda?” Olivia asked.

“No one’s talking about murder, and no one’s getting murdered. But we in the club provide a service, and the law wants to stop us from providing this service, but we have many clients who really want what we have. We live in a democracy; the people are supposed to make the laws; and the laws should function as a service to the people. But what happens when a law is passed that the majority of the people disagree with? What’s right and wrong then?” David asked, looking up at Olivia.

“The law is the law. If people break a law they don’t like, they go to jail.” Olivia was surprised at how calm she was. This man was in a biker gang and was trying to claim that was somehow a good thing. “What service do you provide David? Drugs? Prostitution?”

“Both things that are legal all over the world and in parts of this very country.”

“But not this part. Let’s get one thing straight, David. I don’t care if you and your gang think you’re providing a service, because you are not. You’re a criminal organization engaged in criminal activities. You will be brought to justice, and you will have to answer for your crimes. Unless of course, you’re looking to get out. I know some detectives who could help you make a nice life for yourself if you tell them what you know. You don’t have to go to jail for these people,” Olivia said.

David smiled at that, a sad knowing smile towards the floor. A smile that broke Olivia’s heart a little bit. She wondered who this man was that his life had turned into this, defending a gang of drug dealing bikers. Had he ever wanted more out of life? Had he ever dreamed of being something else? Or had he been corrupted from a young age, taught that this was the only way?

“Officer, I am one of “those people”; I’m a member through and through, for life. You think an empty offer is going to make me betray my brothers. Ride or die, those are the only options. I’m not looking for a rescue; I’m offering one.” In that one second, his voice had changed. It had gone from a quiet country boy to something darker. In front of her eyes he had grown more dangerous. He stood up straight, his head almost touching the low roof of the trailer. Olivia was surprised at his height; she was so tall that it was a strange sensation to be towered over.

She looked up into David’s blue eyes. They were intelligent and intense, and he took a step closer to her so they were only a foot apart. He smelled like the desert with the slightest hint of gasoline. His eyes were crystal blue and his clean-shaven face was only inches from hers. Olivia refused to back down; she stood her ground and felt her skin tingle as he got closer. They were facing each other, close enough to kiss, or kill.

“You seem like a good cop,” he said, quietly. They were so close, the smallest movement on either side and they would be touching, skin on skin. What would his skin feel like against hers, his rough and dry hands running up and down her body, his lips on hers? “I don’t want anything to happen to you, but if you make trouble for the Reaper’s, something will. We’ll do our best to stay out of your way, and we’re just asking you to do the same. That’s not too much to ask, is it? We would be very thankful, and we could be very generous.” His voice had fallen to a whisper, and his eyes weren’t looking at hers, but instead seemed to be focused on her lips. They were so close, and his words spoken so softly, that it took Olivia what felt like full minute to understand what he had actually said.

She didn’t move at first. She understood what she had been saying, but standing next to him felt so intoxicating that she didn’t want it to end quite yet. He was offering her a bribe… “generosity”…she wondered what he meant by that, how much he could give her. She wished she were wearing a wire, then maybe she would have enough evidence to bring David in and convince him to join her side. She gave his blue eyes one last look and then stepped back.

“I am a good cop,” Olivia said, putting her sunglasses back on and walking towards the door, “and that means I won’t take bribes, and I won’t look the other way. You’ve got time, David. Time to make some better decisions and get out of God’s Reapers. If you stay with them, you will end up in prison for a very long time. I’ll be here when you change your mind.” Olivia walked back out into the baking sun that now hung high above her.  God’s Reapers were up to something, and it had to be something big if they were trying to bribe the cops about it.

CHAPTER TEN

It hadn’t gone well with Olivia Waters. Not well at all. She had rejected the offer before David could even give it to her. Not only had she rejected his offer, but also she had pledged war against God’s Reapers. She had promised that she was going to be a good cop and do her job well. So all David could do was act like a criminal and do his job well. This was what he was thinking when he was called up to talk to Rick. David was grateful he didn’t have to sit down with Mike. Rick might be the second-in-command, but he and David were friends. They drank together and worked together; they had known each other for going on ten years.

“David,” Rick said with a nod as David entered Rick’s office and slumped down on a couch. Office wasn’t quite the right word; it was one of the rooms in the gang’s clubhouse. There was a desk, a computer, a chair, an old couch, and not much else. God’s Reapers didn’t do a lot of paperwork. Anything in writing could be used as evidence against them, so it was all done by promises, and if someone tried to renege on their promise, well, they didn’t need any paperwork to sort the issue out. They just used their fists and whatever else was handy.

“How did things go with Waters?” Rick asked. “I have a feeling, based on how you're sitting, that it did not go well.”

“I just need more time, Rick. She’s fresh out the academy and still has all of her principles. I can convince her; it just might take a little time. But I have a plan to keep her out of our hair in the meantime. When we have trucks coming through, I’ll make sure she’s somewhere else.”

“That’s not what you were asked to do, David,” Rick said, a frown appearing on his face. “We want the cops looking the other way all the time, not just whenever we have shipments come through.”

“I know, I know. I’m working on it. Look, a dead cop is more dangerous than a living one; it will just give the locals an excuse to bring the hammer down on us.”

“Unless we have a patsy, someone to frame for it?” Rick said.

“Let’s consider that a last resort. You asked me to take care of it, and I’m doing that. It’s not as fast as we wanted, but we have no choice other than to play the cards we’ve been dealt. You put me in charge of the cops, now let me do that.”

“She’s pretty, isn’t she?” Rick asked quietly. David felt his blood rise; he swallowed heavily and brought his eyes up to look at Rick. What did he mean by that, why would that matter?

“Pretty’s got nothing to do with it,” David said. His voice remained even, but underneath the surface, his emotions were roiling up into a storm—and he wasn’t sure what had started it. “There’s lots of pretty girls out there; she’s no great distraction.”
Don’t look at her
, David thought.
Don’t notice her, stay away from her, leave her be.
He wanted to shout these words into Rick’s face. But he was no fool, and his face remained expressionless.

“I trust you, David,” Rick said. “Mike trusts you. The club trusts you. But we need to know that when push comes to shove, you’ll do what’s required of you.”

“I won’t fail you,” David said. “I promise you that.” With a nod, he was released from the room. David felt a little unsteady on his feet as he walked out towards the garage. Once he opened the door, the sound of country music and his brothers laughing and a wrench hitting the floor steadied him. He needed to believe what he said: Olivia Waters was a pretty face, but that’s all she was. He owed everything to this club; he couldn’t throw all that away for some girl. But killing her was wrong. He knew that. And now he needed to keep that from happening.

As David walked down the steps towards the floor of the garage, a text came in. It was a coded message from some of his boys out on Snow Lane. They were in trouble. Olivia Waters would have to wait.

David mounted his bike and felt it rev to life beneath him. He didn’t hesitate and sped towards the lane, hoping to get in there in time. Snow Lane was an ironically named side street in the northern end of town. It was quiet and blocked off by mostly empty warehouses, so it was the frequent location for many of God’ Reapers transactions. David quieted his bike as he went down the street, eventually finding his men in a parking lot, blood and grease staining the concrete around them. Joey and Tommy were two junior members of the gang. They hadn’t won full privileges yet; they were still making their way up the ladder.

“What happened?” David asked, as he dismounted from his bike.

“We were supposed to sell to this guy, Paul, but he beat Joey to shit and made off with our stash!” Tommy said. Joey was sitting with his back against a wall. There were still smears on his face from where they had tried to wipe away the blood. From the look of it, his nose was broken and there was a large, purple bruise forming under his left eye.

“He had never been a problem before. He always paid on time. I don’t know what happened. He just bugged out,” Joey said.

“Nothing too serious,” David said, kneeling down to check on Joey’s injuries. “But I’m sure it hurts like hell. We’ll take you home, get you cleaned off, and get you something to take the edge off.” David paused and stood, looking at the empty expanse all around them. “Desperate men do desperate things. We know where he hangs out, who he knows?”

“Yeah man. I’ve hung with him before. But what if he runs?” Joey asked.

“He won’t get far, don’t worry.” But they did have some reason to worry as the sounds of sirens came blaring down Snow Lane. “Shit,” David said, standing and facing the road.

“Yo man, we didn’t call the cops,” Tommy said.

“Somebody nearby must have heard the fight and called the cops.” David’s mind began to race. Was it Olivia? Maybe if it was he could give her something to do. She could track down Paul for them. It would keep her busy and out of his hair. “You were randomly beat up in this alley. It was some guy you’ve seen around, but don’t know. Give them Paul’s description, but nothing else. You don’t know why he did it. You don’t know anything. If you don’t know what to say, just say I don’t know.”

It didn’t surprise him to see Olivia behind the wheel of the car as it came speeding down Snow Lane. Of course it would be she who answered this call. A fight in an alley in the middle of nowhere, no one else would have bothered. The car stopped, and Olivia cut the siren but left the lights going. She took a few steps out of the car before stopping and surveying David for a minute before turning to look at Tommy and the busted-up Joey.

“Do you need a doctor?” she asked, kneeling down in front of Joey and taking her sunglasses off.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Joey mumbled. “No health insurance anyway. I’ll be fine, just need some ice.”

“What happened here?” Olivia asked.

“Well, we were just cutting through the alley, going to the store to get some soda. And this guy comes out of nowhere and starts yelling at us about how we’re being rude and disrespectful to him. But we weren’t, officer. We swear it. Then, he went nuts, and he threw me against the wall and then just started hitting Joey. I was screaming for him to stop, and I was trying to pry him off. Finally, he had enough, and he took off that way,” Tommy said, pointing north.

Good job, Tommy
, David thought, as he watched Olivia’s eyes travel from David’s bike to David and then to the two boys. They weren’t wearing anything that would call them out as God’s Reapers, but he hadn’t told them to lie if asked.

“And why are you here?” Olivia asked, standing up and turning to face David.

“They called me. I’m a friend of theirs,” David answered evenly.

“They called you before they called police?” Olivia asked, only no one seemed to know whom she was asking. “That seems suspicious to me,” Olivia said, turning to face Tommy and Joey who cowered a little under her gaze. “There have been a lot of reports of drug activity on this street, a lot. So why don’t you two tell me what you were really doing down here?”