MC: Brighton (22 page)

Me: “Clear, VP.” I follow Danny, flying in between cars to the highway. When we hit the on-ramp I hear Rich and Jessie behind us. Geek clears our way, telling us the feeds are clear for the night.

At Security we go right to HS Surveillance. VP and Pres are waiting with Tiny and Bob. Geek is at my station and Taylor is at Sticks’. “Hacked the fuckin’ taggin’,” VP says.

I sit by Geek. “Need help?”

He looks at me, surprised I’m there. “Yeah. Brantley and Bull are uninstalling the tagging. They’ll reinstall from the master. I need to find out what else the fuckin’ pussy hit. He’s been everywhere.” He’s pissed.

“Before you jump on there, we need you to take your shot with him. We got a line of Brothers waiting,” Pres says.

I stand. “Tell them to go home,” I say over my shoulder.

Danny and Jessie follow me to holding. As we get closer the shots from the firing range get louder. Turning, I see Sticks standing at the bars. He’s scared shit. He ought to be. “Digs, you got to get me out of here. You got Penny back safe. I’ll leave and you’ll never hear from me again. I swear to God, Digs,” he whines.

“You tell VP everything you touched?” He shakes his head no.

“I was waiting for you. I know he’d kill me if I told him. I’ll only tell you.” He looks like he believes I’ll just let him go.

I look at Jessie. “You tell Jessie everything you touched. How every fuckin’ Outlaw knows my face and how you kept in contact with them on HS circuits. You tell him everything. I’ll be back in one hour and I guarantee you’ll be taken out of here. You skip anything and I’ll fuckin’ kill you myself. They’ve got everything from your house for me and Geek to look through. You miss one fuckin’ thing I’ll give you to VP, then I’ll kill you.” He turns white and I’m worried he’ll pass out before he talks. Jessie leans against the wall and waits. I turn around and go to the range.

Danny’s on my side. “Why’d you leave Jessie?”

“I want to kill him. If I listened I would have before I knew everything he’s done. We need everything. He isn’t the greatest hacker, but he’s decent. Sloppy doesn’t always show and we run huge programs. It could take months to try and follow his footprints. With me on HS and not the keyboard it will take longer. Geek is just one guy.”

He looks at me and I see he’s got something else to say. “You’ve been friends for years.”

I shake my head. “No, he followed me. I taught him, we had code to talk about at work but nothing outside of it. He whines too much for me. Only ever wanted to play video games. No riding, no skiing, nothing but games.”

“Shit, that’s not life,” he says, then starts shooting.

I cover my ears and shoot. When I’m empty I reload and shoot some more. I’m thinking about Penny holding me in a death grip. The shooting behind me while she was against my back. She would have been hit first. Me shooting while going seventy-five to get her clear of crazy ass Outlaws. Him throwing me out there changed her life. She just got shot of one threat, now she has another. Stupid bastard has no clue what he’s done. After an hour I stop. My arms are shaking, but I told him an hour and I got some time in shooting with both hands. Danny pulls the targets. They’re shredded. We probably should have changed them out.

As we’re cleaning our spares, I ask Danny what happened to Geek for showing the dancing video. He laughs. “He had him taped to the steering wheel in his truck. We couldn’t find them at first, then he started the truck and we caught the lights. Pres had to stand in front of it so he wouldn’t drop the cinderblock on the gas pedal. I don’t think he would have got past the fence, though. The cinderblock isn’t heavy enough to give the speed he would have needed to get through it.”

I look at him. “He was sending him over the fuckin cliff?”

He rolls his eye. “Just said he wouldn’t have made it through the fence.” Holy fuck, they’re fuckin’ nuts.

I go back to holding, shaking my head. Jessie gives me a nod. I throw him chin and look at Sticks. “You gave them my location while Penny was on the bike.”

“They weren’t looking to hurt you. They want you for IT,” he whines out and it grates on my nerves.

“They had you. What did they need me for?”

“You got the satellite codes and you can get them into the MC programs. Geek is VP’s, they weren’t going to fuck with him. You are the best shot at what they want.”

He’s pleading, but I’m not looking to help him out. “You gave names, dates, and locations for your contacts?” He nods. I pull my gun and shoot him. “Now you can leave.”

“Remind me never to piss you off,” Jessie says.

Danny laughs. “Should have shot him in the foot, hurts like a bastard.”

Jessie laughs. I follow them up to HS Surveillance. The center board has the holding cell up. I sit by Geek. “You got it all?”

“Fuckin’ whiney bastard tried to get into everything. I put the list on your desktop. We can get through this tonight.” His hands never leave the keyboard.

“Let me call Penny.” I step out to call her. She’s staying until I pick her up. Thank fuck something is going right.

Before I get to the console, Pres calls me over. “He put a target on your back for life, Digs. With that is Penny. She’s your weak link.”

“Yeah, I got that, Pres.”

He nods. “I need you on the compound so we can keep her covered. We’ll get her on the rotation for good.” Fuck!

“We just put the addition on the house, Pres.” Shit, this fuckin’ sucks.

He puts his hands up. “Danny can move it,” he says all happy. I didn’t even want to be in the fuckin’ backyard, now I’m on the compound.

“When the hell do you propose I do that? You know what’s coming up. I’m HS for at least another fuckin’ month!” Danny says, pissed.

Pres looks at him. “They can stay in one of the empty houses until you have the time.”

I’m looking back and forth like I’m watching a tennis match. VP throws in, “He’s right. Need ‘em covered if you ever want time off. Digs’ll work, but he’s not you yet.”

What? I’ll be on Ops without him? This is all too fuckin’ much right now. “Tell me where the fuck I’m sleeping when I’m done. I need to help Geek,” I tell them and walk the fuck away. Crazy bastards are reeling me into their crazy.

They laugh, but I put my buds in and hit play. The keyboard under my hands relaxes me and I get lost in code. Fuckin’ Brothers.

I get the last shirt off the iron and do a little happy dance. This one is the newest design and my personal favorite. Every shirt has a picture and saying on the left front pocket, the logo on the right sleeve and at the back under the neck seam where the tag would be.

Tess helped me with the logo for the theme. For men it’s tire tracks of the letters M and C with a motorcycle driving away at the bottom of the C. The women’s has the same with little hearts following the motorcycle. The sleeve has the MC’s wings with Sharing Our Strong in the middle. Every shirt gets the logos and everyone loves them, even the men.

I have twenty different designs to choose from for both men and women, and ten choices for boys and girls. Coming up with sixty different pictures and sayings was hard, but luckily Tess got the Little Brothers and Sisters to help. I made some for the toddlers and babies, but I don’t sell them on the Internet. They were made just for the MC families and they kind of went crazy buying them. It’s good because all but the cost of the shirt goes to the Women’s Center, but I was exhausted trying to keep up with the orders. Digs came in and we ran the irons for four hours straight. He got me caught up and called some of the Little Sisters and Prospects to help get a stock pile going. He’s very good at being there when I need him and I love having a partner for everything.

With this shirt I have fifty for stock and one for me. It really isn’t much of a picture. I used the wings and Sharing Our Strong in the middle on the pocket, but I loved it as soon as I saw it on the first shirt. The O in ‘our’ is a heart. I put it up on the website and went home. The next day I had over a hundred orders for it. Wendy worked on just this shirt for two days and today I filled the new orders and have fifty to spare.

I’m smiling as I walk to the front to lock up for the day but stop short when I see Digs at the counter. I didn’t even hear him come in. He’s looking at his screen when he talks. “Ready to go home?”

I smile and walk toward him. “I didn’t know you were here. Have you been waiting long?”

He looks at me. “I’ve been here since just after lunch. I took care of your customers and got a bunch of shit done for the CK.”

Oh dear. “I didn’t hear the bell go off.” I look at the door. Why didn’t the bell sound in the back?

He gets up and goes to the door, opening it three times. No bell. He looks around at the wood and calls Danny, telling him wires were cut. Jiminy! When he calls Security he talks to little Ben, then takes his laptop to the small table in the corner. “It’s going to be a while. I’ll take you home when Jessie shows.” I nod and sit at the counter, taking the money out of the drawer for the deposit, then check the orders for tomorrow.

I have everything ready to go when a teenager comes in. He looks around and sees Digs at the table, then he looks at me and I see he’s nervous. “Can I help you?” I ask him.

He pulls a gun out of his pocket and points it at me. “Empty your drawer.”

I laugh, then stop and look at him. He’s just a boy. Digs is behind him so fast. “You realize this is at T-shirt shop, we don’t make much money from here. With everything on the Internet all money goes directly to the bank.

He looks more nervous than when he came in. “I just need enough for some food.”

I nod at him. “Well, put your gun away before someone shoots you and I’ll give you money and get you some food. I even have a grinder in the back you can have now while you tell me why you’re so hungry.” I look up at Digs. “Can you get the sandwich?”

He’s smiling but nods. “Soon as young gun here gives me the gun, I will.” The boy jumps at the sound of Digs’ voice and drops the gun. Digs puts his foot on it and pulls his gun. “Mine is bigger anyway.”

I laugh. “Will you stop playing around? He’s hungry.”

“Get the sandwich, babe, while I talk to your friend. What’s your name?” he asks the boy as Jessie and Darren come in.

“I’m just hungry. I don’t even know if the gun works. I wasn’t going to hurt her.” I hear before I make it to the back. I bring a water out with me and see the boy sitting at the table, talking to Darren and Jessie. I put the grinder down with the water, wishing I had some chips for him. It’s just half a sandwich. I ate the other half for lunch.

I stand at the counter with Digs, trying not to watch the three talking when a black van pulls up and a very colorful man opens the side door, bringing a caddy of tools right into the shop. Digs doesn’t move, so I don’t either. “That door,” he tells the tattooed guy. The guy turns and looks at the wood like Digs did, then puts his tools down, looking for something in the caddy.

I watch as he types something on his phone. Digs pulls his phone and reads it, then types. The man puts his phone away and starts doing something to the wires. Digs pulls me over and sits me on the counter. “You finished the orders for tomorrow?”

“Yep and I made fifty for stock,” I tell him proudly.

He kisses my lips. “Good. Racks has the Prospect coming in all next week to help build your stock. He starts tomorrow and will work until Friday.”

“Jiminy! That will help. I have an order for screened shirts I need to get started on.”

He’s shaking his head no. “Wendy will get them done. She’s on break and can work full-time starting next week. She’ll come in Monday when you’re closed and work the full week nine to five.” Holy Moses! I need to order more shirts.

“What will I do if everyone is working?”

He smiles. “Come with me to New Hampshire for three days. Then get everything perfect in the house. Danny says everything will be hooked up and ready to move in by the time we get back.” I’m so happy I squeal and hug him. He just laughs.

“Good news?” Jessie says from behind me.

“Oh yes, the best! I get three days of vacation!” I tell him, looking back. They’re all smiling, even the hungry boy. “I never did get your name,” I say to him.

He looks embarrassed. “Ike. I’m sorry for the gun.”

“Thank you. I’m just glad you got something to eat.” The guys all look away. I think they’re laughing. I don’t care. “If you’re hungry come see me and I’ll get you a grinder from Evelyn. She makes the best around. You’ll have to work for it, though.” He smiles and looks so young. Jiminy, I wonder how old he is.

“We have someone that will help him out with that. He’s on his way,” Darren says and signs.

I sign, hoping the boy doesn’t understand. ‘That’s good, thank you. He looks so young.’

He signs back, ‘Fifteen, mother died three months ago. Father kicked him out because he can’t get along with father’s girlfriend.’ Oh dear, that nurses. When I sign it he laughs. ‘We’ll make sure he’s taken care of.’ They are such good boys. They always have been, but it’s times like these when I notice they’re turning into good men. They never talk about what they do, they just do it.

Ricky comes in smiling. He’s another good boy turning into a good man. They all do a shake thing with their hands and he looks at the boy. “So, you’re my dinner date?” The boy doesn’t say anything. “Don’t be shy now. We’ve got a dinner meeting at the Diner. What’s your name, kid?”

“Ike,” the boy says.

“Ike, I’m Ricky. You’ll be my shadow until we get you squared.” I love Ricky.

The tattooed man looks over. “I’ll take him from you. He needs to get back to school and clean up after himself, but I got empty rooms.”

Everyone turns. “What happened to Nick?” Jessie asks.

The man smiles, making him look sweet. He’s not so scary. “Setting up at Northeastern. Full scholarship. Pres helped him get in,” he says, looking proud of his son.

“Good for him. You did good by him, Murphy. He came a long way from a stray. We’ve been working so much I didn’t even know he was gone. We should have kept up better,” Jessie says.

Murphy smiles again. “The Little Brothers had his back. They did good by him.” He goes back to work.

Ricky looks back at Ike. “Since our last stray is off to college, Murphy’s got a room. You got one year in Little Brothers, meetings on Thursdays. You don’t show, we’ll come looking for you. They’ll have your back in school and Murphy will have it after. Yeah?”

Ike looks at Murphy. “Yeah. Thanks.” He looks so scared saying it and I have to hold my laugh in.

Ricky smiles and throws him chin. “Murphy, I’ll bring him home after the meeting. You got a ride for him to get to school?”

He doesn’t look back from whatever he’s doing at the door. “Nick left his old bike. It’ll do.”

“You need to be at Security Saturday at ten for riding lessons so you can get yourself around the yard. Murphy isn’t a taxi service. He works long hours and has his own shit to do and at fifteen Little Brothers never ride bitch,” Jessie tells him.

Ike’s whole face lights up, showing how young he is again. “Okay.”

“Let’s go, I’ve got shit to do before the meeting,” Ricky says, turning around, walking to the door.

Ike looks at all of us. “I’m sorry about the gun. Thanks for not calling the cops.”

We all nod like we practiced it. He runs out the door, then steps back in. “Thanks for helping me, Murphy.” Murphy grunts and Ike smiles, then runs to catch up to Ricky.

I laugh as soon as he’s out the door. “You guys are awesome! That’s all.” They laugh at me.