Starting Over (12 page)

He might be breathing, but he was as good as dead. War stepped back and reached

into one of the buckets of icy water to rinse the gore from his blade, wiped it on his pant

leg and re-sheathed it. Then he picked up the bucket and slowly poured the water over

the open space now visible for all to see.

Race glared at War, the fucker had taken his idea and improved on it with the T cut,

but stil . Fuck. How was he supposed to…
Fuck it
. He was the prez, he could do what

he damned well felt like doing. He took his own blade and approached Prowler. “You

hear what happens when you plan a coup like you did? We live by honor, loyalty, trust,

our code, fuck with one, you fucked with all of us. You knew the consequences, and

you lost.” He stabbed the tip of his blade in each of Prowler’s eyes, and slit his throat as

he hung screaming.

The last two men to die were luckier than the rest. Stabs to the heart, and one to

the carotid artery were the worst of their wounds, but the men that did the deed hadn’t

balked or tried to get out of the task before them. They knew it was a test, and they

knew that their days were numbered if they hadn’t stepped up. Personal feelings aside,

this was business and they treated it as such.

Race and the three Presidents went back to the clubhouse to warm up and make

appearances in case they had been missed.

Bam had left the warehouse and enlisted Pete and Flats to help with the bikes.

They removed all personal affects and the vin plates from the nicest three scoots, and

Glimmer’s bagger, before they replaced them with similar, but definitely inferior bikes,

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

and loaded the steel on a flatbed with ten gallons of gasoline and kerosene. The tragic

accident would be a devastating loss to the Breed when they were found at the bottom

of the drop off. It could take weeks to determine identities and causes of death. In the

inclement weather, rescue efforts would be hindered, but they had to hurry if they

wanted to make it appear to be a legitimate accident.

Four men stood catching their breaths as they looked down the snow covered iced

drop off. They were waiting for Bam to jerk on the rope for them to haul his big ass

back up the steep incline. He was arranging the bodies in the right spots so they would

get maximum exposure to the fire already licking through Prowler’s Kerosene soaked

body and clothing. The full gas tanks with the open petcocks would catch soon too, so

he made sure to arrange the bodies over the bikes before soaking them with the

gasoline.

He shook his head and said a brief prayer before grabbing the plastic jugs in one

hand and tugging on the rope that would take him to the top. The fire was starting to

gain intensity, and he didn’t want to be holding flammable containers in his hand if a

spark should fly his way.

They had a hell of a time turning the truck and trailer around on the snow covered

icy road, but they had to leave because of the light from the fire blazing in the inky

darkness. If any citizens were around and about tonight, the light would be seen and

reported, and they wanted to be gone way before anyone showed up to investigate.

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

It was a good thing that Mondays were slow and that they didn’t normal y open the

bar until four in the afternoon. River was dragging ass and Maisey wasn’t her usual

cheerful self either. The drive to the bar was treacherous, and unless the snow stopped

soon, they might be forced to stay in the back room for the night because by nine that

night, Mother Nature had dropped another six inches of snow and the bar was empty of

patrons.

River made the decision to close the place. “We’ve been dead all night, and the few

drinks that people bought won’t pay the electric bil for the day. Let’s close up shop and

try to make it home so we will have some extra time to pack and be gone by first light if

we want to be.”

Maisey looked around the empty room, “I’m going to miss it here. It’s the first place

that I’ve been in that I felt like a normal woman, you know? After al the years with

Wolfman, and then he started giving me to his brothers and friends, I felt like garbage.

Like it wouldn’t matter if I died, because I was already dead. A few of the brothers were

nice to me, but they felt sorry for me and I knew it.”

She looked at River and shrugged. “Did I tell you there was a young girl that Sea

brought into the club last Christmas? She was only fifteen years old, and they…” She

couldn’t go on talking about what had been done to the girl. “I saw them, and I

remembered how I felt when it first happened to me. I tried to get her to leave, but she

was scared. I found her in the shower with her wrists slit and that was the day I decided

to start killing them, the men. I got all of them but Zero, and he died with Wolfman, so

my ghosts are in harmony about what I’ve done.”

She stood and lifted the chair to place on the tabletop. “I never actually considered

that I would get away with it, I thought that one of them would wake up and kill me when

they realized what I was doing. It wouldn’t have mattered at the time. Now I have a

future and I’m not sure what to do with it. Crazy, right?”

River knew the feeling, she hadn’t actual y believed she would succeed in gaining

revenge for the deaths of her family members either. She had prepared for the real

possibility she would be killed when they realized she was the one causing the club so

many problems. The two of them had more in common than helping each other rid the

earth of the vermin that caused so much misery. They’d been ready to die to do it.

As Maisey said, “I have a future, and no idea what to do with it.” The words played

on her mind as they began shutting the place down, and locking the doors. River pulled

the folded envelope from her pocket just before they left through the backdoor, and set

it on the cash register. It was her resignation and an apology all in one. She hadn’t

elaborated on her reason for leaving, only that,
It is time for me to go home
. She

thanked them, and wished them every success in selling the property.

River was thankful for the four wheel drive in her old truck. She found that as long

as she took it no faster than ten miles an hour, the roads could be negotiated since her

truck was higher off the ground than a car would be.

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

By the time they got to the rented trailer, her hands were shaking from gripping the

steering wheel. She had to tell Maisey that, “Unless the plows come through and the

weather clears up, we might be here for another day or two.”

Maisey grinned at her, and handed her a cup of herbal tea that she’d just brewed.

“Not a big deal, two years ago we got an ice storm fol owed by a snowstorm, fol owed

by another ice storm, all in the space of two weeks. No one went anywhere. Trust me,

you get a few dozen bikers snowed inside, and they get crazier than normal. As long as

we have heat and electric, we’l be fine.”

Mambo met Race before noon the next morning. What he had to say wasn’t good

news for the club.

“I checked the place over thoroughly, if there’s a dead guy there, I have no idea

where he could be, I even checked the coolers under the counter.”

Race was pissed at himself for not making sure that Les had been telling the truth.

“Fuck, now we have a problem. They could have dropped the damn body anywhere.

Did we check the woods around the property?” He hated the idea of dealing with Pauly

and the two men left from Prowler’s group. He actually liked Pauly from previous

dealings with the man, it would be a shame to have to force the information from him.

He’d do it, but he wouldn’t like it.

Mambo looked like he had something more than a dead prez on his mind. “Okay,

let’s hear it, what’s got you all twitchy?”

War and Bam walked into the door and Mambo sighed. He walked over to the door

and locked it behind the two of them, and returned to where Race sat scowling. He took

the crushed envelope from his pocket and handed it to him and began pacing the room.

War and Bam watched the restless brother, then turned their attention to Race. His

scowl was worse than a few seconds ago.

“Oh fuckin’ hel no. Not just no, hell fuckin’ no. That little bitch thinks she’s running

off to who the fuck knows where when she’s got my goddamned guts in knots.” He

shook his head and tossed the note across the table toward War. “Our bird is flying the

coop, and if this note is right, she left already.”

He looked at Mambo, who was staring out of the window. “What’s got you in a

mood?” Mambo either wasn’t paying attention to his question, or he hadn’t heard him.

“Mambo, what’s got your nuts in a vise? I know what’s got me pissed, but if you tell me

that little bitch has you twisted up like she has me and War, I swear I’ll beat her ass until

she can’t twitch it at any one else.”

Mambo looked confused for a minute and shook his head. “You mean River? No

it’s not her, she’s too bitchy for me, you know that, or should.” He glanced at the other

men in the room and shrugged. “I think Maisey went with her. She’s nowhere at the

bar where she was using the backroom to bunk down. Her stuff’s gone. She wouldn’t

come back here unless she had nowhere else to go.” He stopped moving long enough

to look Race in the eye.

“I’ve been thinking about buying the Double D and maybe making Maisey my

woman. She’s gotten some confidence since the fire, and I was letting her get used to

being independent for a little while, before I planned to ask her to be with me. She

seemed to like me wel enough, but if she’s gone with River, I can’t blame her. I can’t

blame either one of them for leaving, River got to see Wolfman fall, and Maisey was set

free to live her life. Who am I to stop her from leaving.”

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Starting Over by Ryder Dane

War’s mind caught the reference to River and Wolfman. “Hang on a sec, what did

you mean about River? She wanted Wolf dead?” He snagged a chair and Mambo and

Bam followed his lead and sat down with Race, who was looking lost and confused at

the conversation. He nodded at Mambo and said, “Spil , al of it. We can figure this out,

and decide what to do to get them back.”

Mambo was looking at Bam, and shook his head. “Not until I know what he’s doing

here.” He pointed his finger at Bam and asked him, “What’s your reason for being

here? One day you show up and say you’re from Timbuck-fuckin’-to, and suddenly

you’re the Sergeant-At-Arms. Wolfy and the boys are toast, but you kept a low profile

for a couple of years now. My question stands. Who the fuck are you, and what are

you doing with us?”

Bam reached for his wallet while War watched his hand pull the chain from the top

of his pocket, pulling the wallet out and into his grasp. He opened the thick leather and

took his driver’s license from the plastic cover to toss across the table to Race.

“My name is Justin Warren, I did come from the January group, and fuck you too.

The club is getting too many alpha bastards, and I figured if I was going to have to fight

every damned night, I might as wel fight with people that deserved a good asswhippin’.

Wolfy and his bastard boys came through a couple of years back. I was away, fuckin’ a

whore two states over at the time. When they left, my sister was left beaten, and in a

fuckin’ wheelchair. She was also pregnant and had two STDs to go with it. The baby

was stillborn, and my sister got a hold of a bottle of painkillers. Three days after I laid

her in the ground I headed out.” I’ve been trying to find a way to isolate Wolf and his

pack. Every fuckin’ time I’d get a few of them together something happened, someone

showed up.” He tossed his hands up and they dropped into his lap. “It was like those

motherfuckers had a damned angel watching over them.

“I was close enough, I could have pulled those fuckers out of the line of the

explosion, but I watched them burn and laughed as those fucks melted. I laughed in

Wolf’s face while he laid there stil smoking. He saw me and I told him why I hated him,

and the bastard had no idea who I was talking about.” He looked directly at Mambo.

“How can a man not know when he rapes a young girl and him and his friends beat on

her until her back was broken, and walk away, forgetting her face? He was a fuckin’

rabid animal, a goddamned cancer. And I wish it had been me to kil him.”

Mambo looked to Race, and got the nod. He looked at War, and after a few

seconds, War nodded his head too.

“A couple of years ago, we had a brother they cal ed Tuck. He was good with

numbers, and I think he did the books for the club before he got dead. He was a big ol’

boy, damn near as tall as War. Tuck was a good guy, kept a low profile, but you could

count on him, you know what I mean?” He looked at Race and shook his head. “One

day Tuck saw Wolf doing something that would get him kil ed if it got out. The kid didn’t