Bash, Volume III (4 page)

Angelica

I slept thirteen hours, and Bash wasn’t in bed with me when I awakened. A look in the mirror verified I’d need Dozer to hit me again. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but the bruises had faded more overnight than they should’ve, and if Graham or another officer stopped by to see me it would raise suspicion.

I must have slept like the dead, because one of my spare Sigs was on Bash’s dresser, and a bag with jeans, shirts, panties, bras, and my hairbrush and makeup was on the floor. I hoped Bash had packed my underwear, and not my dad. However, Dad had known where the spare Sigs were, and not Bash, so… I shook my head and read the note, in Bash’s handwriting, not my dad’s:

You’ll find five pounds of pulled pork, along with a tub of barbecue sauce, some buns, baked beans, and slaw in the large kitchen fridge in two bags with your name on them.

I was starving, and I got dressed, brushed my teeth, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and went to the kitchen. I texted Bash while I waited for the microwave to warm my plate.

I’m up. Thanks for the food. Love you.

My phone rang a few minutes later, and he asked, “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine. Need to find Dozer for a repeat, though.”

He was quiet a second before saying, “Yeah, I figured. I’ll text him and tell him to stop by. I should be back in about an hour. Oh, and your dad drove your bike over this morning, and brought your helmet and boots.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“He was there when I left. I doubt he’s gone far. Might be at the bike shop.”

I rolled my eyes. “Knowing him, he’s probably changing the oil in my car and bike, checking my brakes, that kind of thing.”

Bash laughed. “Just be glad you have a dad who cares enough to make sure your equipment is safe, Princess. I’ll see you in an hour or so.”

Bash’s parents had loved him, given him a good childhood, but then had pushed him out of their little sect without a second thought when he’d brought too much attention to them.

When I’d asked him if he thought his parents were wrong about the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it coming during their lifetime, he’d said he thought there was a damned good chance it could happen. I’d had to agree it would be super easy for someone to take down our electrical infrastructure, and from there our modern civilization would collapse.

However, when I’d asked why he wasn’t still preparing for it, he’d said the RTMC would just take whatever they needed to survive. “My family will be fine, because they’ve stocked guns and bullets, as well as food and toilet paper, but there are a whole lot of people who’ve only stocked food and toilet paper. It’ll be a piece of cake to take it from them. When society breaks down we go back to survival of the fittest, and the RTMC will be
fine
.”

I called my dad and discovered he was, indeed, across the street changing the oil in my bike. He said he was just about finished, and would see me in the next ten or fifteen minutes.

Dozer stepped in the door first, his face a mess, and I swallowed my food and said, “I’m so sorry Dozer! He wasn’t supposed to hit you!”

He grinned and shrugged. “I knew he would, Tink. It’s okay.”

“You know you’re going to have to hit me again, right?”

He nodded, and I said, “I’m going to tell Bash if he fights you over it again, I’m sleeping downstairs in the officer quarters with my dad. There are plenty of beds down there, and I want to spend more time with him, anyway.”

“Don’t get too upset with him,” my dad said as he walked in from outside. “His wolf is having a hard time with all of it, and having to see you with your face beat up, and knowing one of his brothers did it — doesn’t matter the
man
understands it was a favor, the wolf is being asked to accept way too much. We didn’t know where you were for a while last night, Angel. We didn’t know if you were dead or alive, hurt or okay. Give him some slack.” He sat down beside me. “I had to see it to believe it, but Bash loves you, Angel.”

“This mean you approve?”

“I’m well on my way.”

I looked at Dozer. “I’m about through eating. Where do you want to do this?”

He looked at my dad, then to me. “Workout room, on the mats.”

My dad stood and looked at Dozer a few seconds before finally saying, “Won’t hold it against you. She’s my baby girl, but I know you’re helpin’.”

I followed Dozer down, took my shirt off to show my sports bra, just in case there was blood, and stood, waiting for him to hit me.

The first strike made me take a few steps back, and I shook my head and took a few deep breaths before stepping back to him, ready to take the next. He hit me four times in all, and while it wasn’t as bad as it’d been the first time, it was still a bitch.

I needed to scuff my hands again, so I used his already beaten face as a punching bag a few seconds, and then shook my hands to try to make them stop hurting.

I heard my dad in the hall, and wondered how long he’d been there. My guess was he’d given us enough time so he didn’t have to see me being hit, but his wolf had needed him to come check on me, to make sure I was okay.

I sat on the bench near the free weights and asked, “Can one of ya’ll give me a status update, or should I run Brain down?”

“Brain isn’t in yet. Not sure who’s manning the control room,” said Dozer.

I looked at my dad as he stepped into the room and told me, “Club business, Angel. Let us handle it.”

I shook my head. “I’m an adult, and I’m right in the middle of this, Daddy. I need to know what’s going on or I risk sayin’ the wrong thing to the cops. Think about it, you’ll see I’m right.”

He shook his head and sat on another bench. “I melted your gun down this morning. Bash wanted the metal, so we refined it enough no one can say with any certainty it was once a Sig. We wiped the brass casings down, just to make sure there were no fingerprints, and put them in with Duke’s reloading equipment, mixed them in with his other couple-thousand empty brass casings.”

“Thanks.”

He shrugged. “Torched your shirt down to less than a spoonful of ashes. Not telling you what we did with them, suffice it to say no one’ll ever find ‘em.”

“No bodies have been found?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Brain’s gonna stop and talk to Drake today. We aren’t going to tell him the real story, just your fabricated one, and ask him to let us know if any of the Disciples who nabbed you show up.”

Dozer made a polite exit, and my dad walked me to the officer’s quarters I’d stayed in before I’d started sleeping in Bash’s room. He closed the door and asked, “Why’d you kill them, Angel?”

I explained my logic and he shook his head. “You weren’t wrong. I’d have made a helluva statement if you hadn’t taken them out. Might still do something, especially since we know Dash gave the okay, but since Marlin is attempting a truce up here, I’m holding back until I see how the wind blows.”

I told him about my deal with Marlin, to let him kill Dash.

“That wasn’t your call to make, Angel.”

“And yet, I made it. Marlin rescued me, Daddy. As long as Dash dies, I don’t care how it happens.”

I let him pull me into a hug, and leaned into him as he said, “Hate you had to kill them, but I’m proud of you for taking care of it — showing you aren’t to be messed with, and proving you’re every bit my daughter.” He pulled back and looked at me a second. “Any nightmares last night?”

I shook my head. “I think I was too exhausted, to be honest. Bash was worried, and then just came out and asked how old I was for my first kill. I don’t know how he figured it out, but I told him the story. He’s the only person I’ve ever told, besides you and Mom.”

“Glad he knows, Angel. He’ll be able to help you deal with it, but you know you if you need me, I can be here in under two hours, right?”

“I don’t even want to know how fast you made it here last night. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“You and me both, but I’m relieved you’re okay and weren’t hurt. We owe Marlin. Don’t like owing a Disciple, but I’ll honor it.”

Bash

When Angelica and her dad came back into the main clubhouse area, Dawg, Gonzo, and I had just about all of the ingredients mixed together. I’d bought a huge ice cream maker, and was going to make her some grape nuts ice cream.

She looked over our now-empty ingredient containers, took in the ice cream maker, and looked at the box of Grape Nuts cereal a few seconds before squealing like a little girl and throwing her arms around my neck.

She’d killed five men in cold blood yesterday, and today she was squealing over homemade ice cream. God, I loved this woman.

She wrapped her legs around my waist and hugged me, and then slid to the floor as she asked, “How long until it’s ready?”

I looked to Bud, my senses on alert. He’d just seen a moment between two people who are obviously intimate with each other, and one of those people was his baby girl — his Angel. He was either going to punch me, or threaten me with my life if I hurt her, and I was expecting the first.

He surprised me, though, by tilting his head and saying, “Keep making her happy, Bash. That’s all I ask.” He’d figured the ice cream thing out, too, because he added, “She insisted I eat ice cream with her, made me get the grape nuts stuff when I visited her. I was braced for hideous but it’s actually pretty good.”

I looked at Angelica, touched the outer edge of the mark left by Dozer’s fist.

“Don’t you dare hit him again,” she said, and I had no doubt she was about to back her words up with a threat. She didn’t disappoint, and I held her gaze as she told me, “If you do, I’ll sleep in the downstairs officers’ quarters until I can go back to my apartment. It’ll give me more time to hang out with my dad. Might even see if he wants to take off on a camping trip for the weekend, just the two of us. Been a while since I camped with my dad.”

“Don’t play me against your daddy, Princess. You want to spend time with him, I hope I’ll be invited, but I’ll respect any time you need with him alone.”

She looked at me a few seconds and I could see the wheels turning. “Not playing you against my dad. I’d be threatening to sleep downstairs whether he was here or not. The point is, Dozer did me a favor and it isn’t fair for you to hit him for it. He seemed okay with it, and my dad seems to think I should stay out of it, but this affects me, too, and you can’t just do whatever the hell you want, Bash. If we’re in this together, we’re in it
together
. If you’re going to make decisions without checking in with me, I’d just as soon do it alone, where I have a say.”

I
really
wished we weren’t doing this in front of her dad, but a few things had been niggling at me and it was time to bring them up.

“And if we’re going to be a
thing
, these secrets can’t keep popping up. Brain, and then the story you told me last night? These two things change so much, Angelica. You may have a point about us working together as a unit, instead of separately, but I can’t do that until I’m assured there are no more big secrets…
and
we still have to work out the other secrets, as well.”

Thankfully, Brain came in the front door and gave us a distraction.

Angelica stepped away from me as she asked him, “Any news?” and the combination of hope and fear on her face made me realize how vulnerable she felt. She could go to jail for a long time for murder, if the truth came out. She had to stay on guard for the police, FBI, and possibly the media. She had to keep her story straight, had to look the part of the recently kidnapped, and she was here because we weren’t sure we could keep her safe at her apartment. And, a crooked DA and a number of cops on his side would bury her under the jail, if they could figure out how.

Brain must have seen it, too, because he walked to her and pulled her into his arms. He looked to a camera and said, “Button three,” and a few seconds later I heard the buzz under the music that would make sure a listening device couldn’t hear us.

“Nothing significant,” he told Angelica. “Police are staking out the house, apparently waiting to send the crime scene techs in until they can arrest the homeowner when he returns. I don’t know how long they’ll sit and watch before deciding he isn’t coming home and they may as well process the scene. Marlin assures me the bodies will never be found, and the pavement has been given an enzyme treatment to make sure the blood proteins are destroyed, bleached, rinsed with hydrogen peroxide, washed to get rid of evidence of cleaners, and then dirtied back up so it looks the same as the surrounding pavement. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to get rid of evidence of murder, and they seem to know what they’re doing. It was all handled before surveillance was on them hot and heavy, and they plan to stay away from that particular warehouse until things die down. He didn’t say so, but I got the idea there’s a good bit of illegal goods stored inside.”

“You talked to Drake?” I asked.

He nodded. “Had already asked him to keep me apprised of the investigation into Pickering, and stopped by this morning to request he let us know when the men who nabbed her are found.” He glanced at Bud, then back to me. “We’re getting our usual discount, but it’s still gonna rack up.”

“I’ll put ten grand towards expenses,” Bud said, his voice gruff. “Drake can give us intelligence we won’t likely get any other way.”

I let them talk while I finished the last of the ice cream instructions and started the machine.

Angelica

I sat beside my dad and leaned against him as Bash worked with the ice cream maker, and Brain and my dad discussed strategy. I put my two cents worth in every once in a while, but they were the ones with experience so I let them lead.

I’d started to offer money towards the “keep Angelica alive and out of jail” fund, but then had remembered I’d been targeted because of my relationship to the MC, so the MC
should
be the ones keeping me safe.

Everyone went to alert when a voice came over the speakers saying, “LEO in the parking lot.”

“Record outside and in,” Brain said as he walked to the door. “I’ll walk out and see what’s up. Put audio and video on the screen in here, so everyone knows what’s happening outside.”

The music and buzzing shut off as we watched an unmarked car pull into a parking place, and I wondered how the control room person had known it was law enforcement. They’d been right, though, because I watched as Agent Graham and another man stepped out of the car and stood at the back of it, waiting for Brain to approach them.

We heard Brain say, “Detective Johnson, Agent Graham. Protocol is to go to the restaurant or bike shop unless you have a warrant, can I see it, please?”

Agent Graham said, “Detective Johnson told me of your protocol, but since we’re here for a friendly visit, checking on Angelica and helping to make sure her kidnappers see justice, I thought we’d just come here first since I figure she’s here and not across the street.”

“She’s pretty banged up, hurtin’ worse today than yesterday. She’s tired, but relaxing and spending time with her dad. Do you really need to talk to her?”

“She’s the only one who can ID the men who abducted her,” Detective Johnson said, his voice monotone.

Brain looked at them a second and motioned them to follow him. “You’re being given a one-time permission to enter the front room of our clubhouse. This permission does not allow you to snoop, nor to go past the front room.”

Bash had walked around the front room when Brain went out, probably making sure there was nothing incriminating lying about. There were rules about keeping the main areas ready for LEO at any time, but it still didn’t hurt to double-check. My dad had his arm around my shoulders, and he pulled me a little closer.

“Remember your coaching from Brain. Let us talk if you aren’t sure what to say.”

I nodded, and my eyes went from the television screen to the door as the feed cut off, and a few seconds later the heavy door opened.

“Detective Johnson, I don’t believe you’ve met Angelica, or her dad, Bud,” said Brain as they walked towards us.

My dad nodded his head, and Detective Johnson did the same back. Dad looked to Agent Graham and said, “Thanks for getting to my daughter and taking care of her yesterday. She understandably doesn’t trust the city or county cops at the moment.”

“The MC has respect for Detective Johnson,” Brain told my dad. “He’s straight up, and doesn’t think twice about arresting us when he has a case, but he’s also proven to be our friend a few times when a dirty cop tried to do us wrong.”

“So what brings you by today, gentlemen?” my dad asked them.

I rolled my eyes and sat up. “I know we can’t offer you a beer, but we have Coke, Sprite, and pink lemonade.

Graham looked at the floor by the bar, taking in the noisy ice cream maker. “Looks like you’re about to have ice cream.”

“Yeah, and it’s
mine
,” I said with a smile. “Not offering to share my ice cream with you.”

Bash chuckled and went to the fridge. “Detective Johnson will take a cold bottled water. What do you want, Agent Graham?”

“A water would be nice for me, too. Thanks.”

I noted Detective Johnson studying my face, and I told them, “I don’t intend to be seen without make-up after today, so get a good look while you can.”

“Mind if I get a few more pictures?” Graham asked.

I shook my head. “I let you get all the pictures of my face and arms you wanted yesterday. That’s all you’ll need for court, should we make it there, and if you keep making me feel self-conscious about it, I’ll go put makeup on now, before we get started on our conversation.”

“Tell me what you can about the five men who took you,” said Detective Johnson.

“They were all black. One was lighter skinned and I suppose could’ve been Latino but is likely biracial. I can’t tell you anything about the driver other than his skin tone because I only saw a small bit of his arm. One of the four in the back with me seemed a larger build than the others, but the rest were wiry, thin. They all wore jeans, t-shirts, and masks.”

“You were on the floor of the van, right? Did you notice their shoes?”

Brain had told me to be honest about anything that happened in the van, with the exception of the conversation and masks. I realized I
had
noticed their shoes, and I said, “Yeah, I did. One of them wore royal blue shoes with grey laces. Another wore blue Nikes with a grey swoosh. Two wore white shoes — one was a white high-top with a lot of royal blue on it. There was a star, I think. Both pair of white shoes were so
white
, I remember wondering how anyone kept their shoes that clean.”

Detective Johnson asked me if I knew which pair of shoes had come at me, at the end, and I shook my head. “Sorry, no.”

“Can you walk me through it, again? How you got out of the rope, what you heard them saying?”

I shook my head. “I’ll answer any new questions, but I’m not up to answering the same questions again. Agent Graham has the entire session on video, I don’t need to give you permission to watch it, but I’m doing so anyway.”

Johnson looked at Bash. “Mind telling us where you were last night?”

“I was across the street, at the bar. A bunch of us had planned to watch the game. When all hell broke loose, we stayed put and strategized. We had no clue where to start looking for her, so there was nowhere to go.”

“I’ve already put together a USB drive with the video of them from last night, showing them in the restaurant area with last night’s game in the background,” Brain told him. “The rest of us were over here, watching the game and then strategizing, so we don’t have an electronic alibi. You’re more than welcome to track our activities on the traffic cams, though. We know you put them up on our street specifically so you can keep tabs on who comes and goes.”

Paco had driven them all out of here in the panel van, and then they’d been brought back two-by-two, hidden in the back seat floorboard of various cars and SUV’s. If LEO tried to say they’d left in the van, they’d have to explain how they got back, because the van was at Paco’s girlfriend’s house today, so he could help her move.

“Why do you need to know where they were?” I asked, incredulous. “They didn’t kidnap me! Bash and my dad were terrified, and the rest of the MC was either worried for me, or there for Bash.”

Johnson looked at Brain. “Where were you?”

“Doing what I do best, in the control room. I’ll note you kept all discussion off the police radio. I was listening at the time Angelica thinks she called the police for help, and no one was sent to a McDonald’s on Rossville Boulevard to talk to a woman who claimed to have been kidnapped.”

Johnson smiled. “Standard procedure when dealing with anything involving the MC. We don’t know how, but we know you can listen in on our private frequencies as well as the public ones, so we dispatch by cellphone when possible.”

“Haven’t checked, since I haven’t done it,” Brain said as he sat and leaned back, his long legs stretched out in front of him, a beer in his hand, “but I’m guessing someone’s written a law making it illegal to hack encrypted police frequencies.”

“Here’s the deal,” I told Graham, meeting his gaze as I sat forward and away from my dad. “If you need to ask me questions to help you find the assholes who got me, you have my undivided attention. But, if you’re here to hassle the MC, I’m going to ask you to leave.”

They tried to get me to give details about my kidnapper’s voices, but I couldn’t give them anything that stood out.

“Do you have any of them, yet?” I asked. “Has anyone come back to the house? I’m assuming you have a warrant to check the cellphone records of the homeowner, at least, right?”

“His cellphone was home all night. He must’ve taken a burner with him.”

“Can’t you look through the phone company data to find five phones travelling together, and who were at this house together at some point? Maybe track the other four back to their houses so you can find them?” Brain asked them.

“We’re working on it,” Graham told him with a smile. “Too bad you insist on working for the bad guys. Don’t know what your family did to turn you to the dark side, but it’s a shame.”

My dad stood and walked to the door. “And with that, gentlemen, you’ve worn out your welcome.” He opened it, clearly intending for them to leave, and Agent Graham looked at me in question.

“Yeah, bringing up Brain’s family like that was a low blow. I told you to stick to questions designed to help you find the bad guys, and not to hassle the MC. Brain’s my friend, he’s damned good with data and electronics, and he was offering free advice. Good advice, not smart-assed advice. Your response was uncalled for.”

Detective Johnson offered his hand to Brain as he said, “Some of us know your hands are cleaner than your dad and brother’s hands. I’ll explain it to Agent Graham while he drives me back to my car.”

Brain shook his hand without responding verbally. When the door had closed behind them and they were getting into their car, my dad looked at Brain and asked, “Tell me about Johnson?”

“Like I said before, he’s a good cop. Won’t hesitate to arrest us when he has evidence, but defends us when he doesn’t think we’re in the wrong.”

“He arrested me on an assault charge last year,” Bash said as he walked towards the ice cream maker. “Was polite, civil. Put the bracelets on me, read me my rights, and then talked to me about the ballgame from the night before on the ride to the station. He handed me off to a specific person for the booking, as if he wanted to make sure I was with someone he trusted, then put me in a room for my interrogation, and was an ass in there, but not as much as he could’ve been. I was out on bail the next day, and the charges fell apart within a week or two. He came to one of our parties right about that time and he was perfectly nice to me.”

“You’d trust him with Angelica? If she needs to ask for someone in the CPD, he’d be a good one for her to ask for?”

“Absolutely,” answered Brain. “He’d be the first to arrest her if he found out she’d done wrong, but otherwise, he’ll even stand up to his superiors if he feels an injustice is being done.”

Brain walked towards the control room hallway. “I trust Johnson but I’m still learning Graham. Hold up a minute while I sweep.”

Brain walked the room with his gadget, paying special attention to the places the officers had been, and didn’t find anything.

Bash had to fuck with the ice cream machine a bit, but fifteen minutes later, he handed me a bowl of ice cream and a spoon, and I moaned as I took a bite. “Fuck, Bash. You nailed it! This is perfect! If my dad weren’t here, I might tell you all the ways I intend to thank you.” I grinned at Dad. “Then again, you were never shy about talking sex stuff to Mom in front of me, but… yeah. No. Still not going to.”

Dad laughed, and I gave him a bite of my ice cream.

“You’re right, he did nail it… but I don’t want to hear about him nailing my daughter, please. So far, I’ve managed to keep my fists off his face, let’s not push it.”

Bash got his own bowl and took a bite, and grinned. “Yeah, okay, it’s good. Couldn’t imagine it would be, but...” He took another bite and smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile back. Damn, I’d truly fallen in love with this man.

My dad’s words came back to me, though. Everyone, including my father, seemed to be conscious of Bash’s temper. Daddy didn’t back down, but wasn’t quite as aggressive with him as he was most of the rest of the club. I looked at Bash and considered him and Dozer. Bash is Sergeant at Arms, which is a step above Enforcer. Did that mean Bash could win against Dozer in a fight? Dozer was close to double Bash’s size, and yet… “Have you ever fought Dozer, Bash? Not just a few punches, but actually fought him?”

Bash shook his head. “I fought Tiny at an organized fight. Dozer and I’ve sparred, but never fought.”

“He kicked Tiny’s ass,” said Brain. “Was back before we were making a lot of money, and Bash never told us now much he won. Tiny bought Sheila some new clothes and shoes, though, so it must’ve been a good payday for both of them.”

“We negotiated for the winner to get five grand, the loser got two. Ringgold fights usually pay in the hundreds, but we agreed to fight three weeks in advance, and they promoted the hell out of us.”

“You still fight down there?” I asked.

He gave me a short nod, and I said, “You aren’t the only one with secrets, Bash.”

I spooned myself another bowl of ice cream, and we all ate in silence.