Locke (Aces MC Series Book 4) (6 page)

"Where's Priest?"
I turned to see Polar stalk towards me, "I left him getting sucked off in
the car park by some bird, and I wasn't waiting for him."
Polar nodded and grabbed April's arm roughly, pulling her from the stool to
march her towards the back room.

"Wanna talk about what's really gone on?" Wes
asked. "You're not usually much of a drinker." I liked Wes, he was a
good kid and had become a hang around helping us out behind the bar when things
were busy.
I knocked back the second drink, "What are you my mother?" I asked
sarcastically as I slid the empty glass back in his direction. "I've just
had some bad news," I stood from my stool.
"Is it your aunt?" he asked sincerely.
When I joined the club, I let them believe that I was abandoned as a baby and
raised by foster careers, that way if anything did go wrong they wouldn't be
looking for family members to hurt. I'd made up a story about one of my foster
careers that I'd kept in touch with over the years but that she was now in a
nursing home with dementia. This gave me an excuse from time to time so that I
could go back home to Essex without too many questions being asked.

"Yeah, she's in a bad way. I may need to go and see her
for a couple of days."
"Go and see who?" Onyx joined us at the bar and Wes gave him a drink
without being asked.
"My aunt has had another wobble, I may need to go and see her."
Onyx knocked back his drink, "Like I said before Saviour, I totally
understand. If you need to take off for a couple of days then do it but keep me
posted."
I patted him on the back, "thank you." I smiled before I turned and
walked from the clubhouse. The way I was feeling at the moment I couldn't be
around him through fear of beating the shit out of him with my bear hands but
then where would that get me, it would still leave Polar. His slick backed hair
and stench from the cigars he smoked chocked me, and his close proximity and
kind words of reassurance about family made my stomach twist and only fuelled
the hatred inside.

I left the clubhouse and rode home, thinking that a break
would do me good so that I could get my thoughts together and plan my next move
but before I decided what to do I needed to sleep on it as things always looked
clearer in the morning.

I was woken early the next morning as my phone rang. I
reached over to the coffee table and fumbled around to get hold of my mobile,
knocking my lamp over in the process. "Shit!"
I sat up and looked at the screen, why was Onyx calling at 6.00am?
"Onyx, it's a little early man." I stated rubbing the sleet from my
eyes.
"Clubhouse now!"
I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the screen, he'd obviously
hung up and I knew then that they'd found Priest, that could be the only reason
for such an early phone call.
I swung my legs from the bed and sat on the edge as I contemplated my next
move. If they were suspicious that I had something to do with it then I needed
to be tooled up, if I was going down then I was going down fighting and I would
hopefully be able to take a few along with me.

I entered the clubhouse and was instantly taken aback when I
saw the girl from last night at the pub bound and gagged kneeling in the middle
of the clubhouse. Beth's tear stained face caught my attention as she looked at
me with pleading eyes.

"What's up?" I asked looking at the group that had
congregated around her.
Polar turned towards me, "Is this the slut that was with Priest last
night?"
I now knew where this was going and that they were looking for a scapegoat.
"I can't be sure, if it is she was looking much hotter than that last
night." I glanced over at her as if she were a mere object that had been
placed on the floor.
Hustler threw me her phone, I caught it and glanced around the group still
faking confusion. Hustler nodded at the phone and I began to scroll through her
photos although I knew full well that this was the girl from last night. I'd
spent the best part of three hours trying to get rid of her.
As I continued to flick through the photos on her phone I came across one of
Beth and Priest taken last night and knew that they were already aware that it
was Beth but this was probably another test to see if I would confirm.
"Yeah that's her." I threw the phone back to Hustler before turning
my attention to Onyx. "What's going on man? Surely you haven't brought her
here for giving him a good time last night." I sniggered looking around
the room but didn't get a reaction. "So where's Priest? Is he in the
sharing mood?" I asked gyrating my hips.
"Someone robbed him and stabbed him up." Hustler stated through
gritted teeth.
"Is he alright?" I could've won an Oscar for my performance.
"He's fucking dead!" Polar screamed as he surged forward and kicked
Beth in the chest. She whimpered as she fell hitting the ground hard. "I
couldn't get hold of him all night and it's not like him to ignore my calls
even if he's getting pussy, so I went looking for him and found him in the
field by the pub this morning."
"What? You're not thinking that she did it are you?" I asked trying
to take the heat off Beth. I didn't owe her shit but I didn't want an innocent
involved.
"That's exactly what I'm thinking." Onyx roared as he grabbed Beth
roughly by her arm.
Beth glanced at me with pleading eyes but there was nothing I could do, her fate
had already been sealed. Beth wriggled around trying to get free although she
was bound and gagged, she looked like a rag doll being tossed around in Onyx's
grip as he dragged her through the bar and towards the back room closely
followed by Polar and Hustler.

"Polar, please have mercy on her, you can stop this
before it goes too far." He stopped in his tracks, April's face lit up
hoping that her words had registered with him. Polar turned on his heels and
made his way across the bar towards her with an unreadable expression.
"Let me talk to her, one woman to another. I'm sure she'll tell me what
exactly happened."
Polar stood tall and ran his fingers across April's cheek assessing her before
he swung his arm back and slapped her across the face.
April fell to the floor and I did everything within my power not to run to her
aid.
Polar pointed at her, "Don't you ever fucking tell me what to do again you
cunt." He spat before he turned and stomped in the direction of Beth's
screams.

Once Polar had disappeared from sight, I jogged over to her
side but April swatted me away, "Don't Saviour, just don't." April's
hand went to her cheek and she moved her jaw slowly making sure everything was
still intact. Pushing up from the floor, April stood and made her way over to
the bar and sat on the stool.
Wes passed her the first aid kit and she tended to her face by
putting a cool pack on it to sooth the area where she'd been struck.

A piercing scream came from the back room and I noticed
April physically shudder, "This is fucking bullshit and you lot know
it."
"Come on April, what do you expect us to do?" Wes asked
with a confused expression.
She placed the ice pack on the bar and sparked up a fag, "Maybe a change
of leadership is needed." April stood and patted me on the back before she
sauntered from the clubhouse.
I shook my head, the girl had balls I'd give her that. I glanced around at the
small group that had congregated around the bar to see that they were staring
at me.
"What?" I asked confused as to why they were looking at
me.
Wes smiled, "Maybe she's right."

Saviour

Three years earlier

"Are you ready?" Polar glanced around the rear of
the vehicle from the front seat making sure that everyone was prepared. We had all
been given specific roles for this operation but I wasn't happy with the plan.
Although I was now in the inner circle of the group and privy to the day to day
dealings of the club this robbery had 'Police come and catch me' written all
over it. The bloke who owned the gaff wouldn't just allow us to rock up and
take what we wanted. He must have better security than they thought and if he
didn't he was a mug.
I purposely made sure that I wasn't carrying this evening, if it did go tits up
which I'm sure it would, at least I wouldn't be charged for possession as well
as robbery. I would be looking at a minimum fifteen year stretch if we got
caught and that was only if no serious injury was caused to anyone.
I had an uneasy feeling about this and wanted to cry off but they needed to use
my locksmith skills so they could get into the premises and then open the safe.
I'd initially trained as a locksmith for the greater good but being involved in
the MC over the years my skills had become notorious and I'd freelanced for
associates and even rival gangs which was very lucrative.

A combination of head nodding and thumbs up came from the
group huddled in the back on the van as we in turn covered our faces over with
the balaclavas. Poet slid the side door open and we filed out one by one making
our way down the bridle path on the other side of the perimeter fence of the
building merchants. We jogged to an area in the fence that had already been cut
open and huddled around waiting for the go ahead.
We'd been made aware of several surveillance cameras situated around the yard
but no matter how hard we tried to avoid them we would still be caught by two
because of their positions, that's why it was crucial to wear our balaclavas to
not be identified.

"If any of you pussies want to pull out then do so
now," Hustler quickly glanced around the group and nodded his head seeming
satisfied with the lack of response. "We go on three," he held up his
fingers, one, two, three. We filed through the gap and kept low as we scurried
through the yard towards the main building where they held the money. Slick and
Poet were already at the front door when I arrived, I removed my rucksack from
my back and threw it to the ground. Opening the zip I quickly rummaged around
to locate my screw driver and the metal tools needed to break the lock.
"How long mate?" Hustler asked eagerly glancing around the yard.
"We'll be inside in thirty seconds, just get the fucking alarm code ready
to input." I placed the tool over the lock and pushed it back and forth
vigorously to break the lock and remove the cylinder, in quick secession I
removed the tool and used a screwdriver to push the other parts of the lock
through to the other side before using another specialist tool to turn the
lock. When complete I pulled down the handle with a satisfied grin and opened
the door as the guys followed me in leaving Poet to clean up my tools.
Hustler tapped away at the key pad offsetting the alarm, the code had been
given to us by a disgruntled employee that would receive a bonus if it ran
smoothly this evening.
Slick led the way through the building and into an office where the safe was
kept. "Do you know what safe it is?" I asked as this would determine
what tools I would use and how long it would take.
"A safe's a fucking safe!" Slick stated agitated as he opened the
cupboard door to reveal it.
In fact a safe wasn't just a safe but luckily I would just need a crow bar,
chisel and hammer for this one. Slick threw the second rucksack onto the floor,
I grabbed it and quickly removed the hammer and chisel and used the tools to
prise open part of the door. Using the crowbar I wedged it into the hole I'd
just created and used brute force to yank the crowbar back and forth to try and
rip it open. My job was made more difficult because of the restrictions in
space inside the cupboard but it was slowly coming open.

I heard footsteps behind me and glanced over my shoulder,
"How long before it's open?" Hustler asked as he threw an empty
holdall at my feet.
"I'm gonna need another minute." I stated turning around and
continuing with the task at hand.
"You've got thirty seconds."
I could hear the concern in his voice and rightly so, he'd already done a long
stint inside and I'm sure he was worried about being caught and being sent down
again.
I heard shouting in the distance and increased my tempo knowing that I didn't
have long.
"Shit!" Hustler moved towards the corridor and glanced in the
direction of the main entrance. "Hurry up man or I'm leaving you."
The door popped open and a sense of relief washed over my body as I dived onto
the floor to take the substantial amount of money from the safe and stuffed it
into the holdall. Hustler made his way around the furniture and crouched
besides me to help me contain the money. I saw a flicker of torch light
illuminating the corridor, encouraging us to quicken our pace and stuff the
last of the money into the bag before leaving through a side entrance that led
to another foyer in the building.

"Shit, which way out?"
"Down here." Hustler whispered as he rushed through the foyer and
down the corridor which lead to the rear of the building. The door was ajar
indicating that some of the other guys had probably used it to escape.
Hustler stuck his head out into the yard and looked around before beckoning me
over to follow him. We stuck to the shadows and jogged down the side of the
building making our way over to where the perimeter fence had been cut.
"Shit!" I dropped the bag on the floor and some of the contents fell
out, Hustler came back to help me scoop it up but I shooed him away. "Go
on, if you get caught you'll get longer because of your previous."
I could see that he was in two minds of what to do because of his hesitation
before he stuck a thumb up and jogged towards the fence.

I turned my attention back to the money lying on the ground
when a series of bangs alerted me to the window. One of the guys was still
inside but I couldn't see who because of the balaclava he was wearing.
He pointed to the door further along the building, I squatted and rummaged
around inside the rucksack for something that I could use. Poet had taken my
tools for that type of door earlier which left me with the screwdriver, chisel
and crow bar. I wedged the crowbar into the gap at the side of the door and
forcefully yanked it back and forth to give it some momentum.
I heard a noise behind me and turned to see one of the guys, "I couldn't
leave you." Hustler stated and I felt a rush at his loyalty towards me.
This is why it had taken me so long to achieve my ultimate goal because despite
my hatred towards Onyx and Polar, I'd actually made some close bonds with some
of the other guys.
"Here, let me have a go." I stood aside take the crowbar. He was
double my size and was able to prize the door open with relative ease.
"Cheer guys," an appreciative Polar said stepping out into the yard.
I let out a sigh, if I'd had known it was him I may have just left him to be
caught by security.

The three of us made our way towards the opening in the
fence to the sound of sirens in the distance. It wasn't over yet but I sighed
with relief at the thought of us getting out of the building in one piece at
least.
Stepping into the alley we saw a set of brake lights further in the distance
and bolted in that direction.

"What took you so long?" Sketch asked as he pulled
away down the country road in the opposite direction to the sirens.
"Fucking smart arse!" I stated to the roar of laughter from the guys
in the back of the van, feeling the camaraderie between the group. I caught
myself smiling at the situation but knew that I needed to get a grip. For all
its faults I still enjoyed spending time with some of the guys and would miss
them when I was gone but even some good things needed to come to an end and my
time at the club would hopefully soon be over.