Soldiers of Chaos- Chaos Abounds: Book 1 in the Soldiers of Chaos series (22 page)

"Bull. How we gonna play this?" "You wanna announce your presence or you wanna hide in plain sight?" Bull waited for Tex's response. "We wanna hide in plain sight man." Bull nodded and one of the guys handed him a couple of cuts. "Then you gotta wear Crows colours." Nikki stiffened slightly. That was a big ask. Wearing another clubs colours was sacrilege. She opened her mouth to protest but Tex quieted her with a raised hand "Fine." Bull handed them over then turned to Nikki looking her up and down "Kerry's gonna show you where shit is. You're working the bar you gotta look the part." She removed her hoodie. Her singlet showed enough cleavage, she took the side of it and knotted it to show her off her stomach. Her black jeans were tight and low riding, not perfect but they'd do. The sneakers on the other hand were not a good look. She looked at Kerry or more specifically the sky high strappy black heels on her feet. "What size shoe are you?" "Eight." Perfect. "I'll be needing to borrow those." Kerry quickly slid them off as she toed out of her sneakers. She slid her feet into the heels whose strappy material came to her ankle. She looked down at herself not too bad. "Better?" She asked raising an eyebrow at Bull. He smiled a rather lopsided grin that told her it was much better than his gaze caught on her shoulder and he frowned. Her scar. It was partly his fault so let him see it and feel bad. Then she noticed Tex and Trace glaring at her as well. What the fuck? She glanced at her shoulder. Shit. Cole's bite mark. The bruise was showing either side of the shoulder strap of her singlet. She'd need to cover that shit up. She turned away from them quickly. "Right show me round the bar and if you got any foundation get it for me now" she whispered the last part as they moved behind the bar.

After Kerry showed her the ropes and gave her some coverage for the mark on her shoulder she disappeared. The tension in the room was heavy and the way all the brothers kept glancing at her she was sure a lot of it was emanating from her. She poured three shots of vodka and downed them all as they watched. "You boys want anything while I’m playing the part." Bull nodded "Round of beers sweetheart." She fetched the beers out of the fridge. She popped the tops and carried six of them over handing them out. Trace tugged at her belt loop "You good?"  She nodded at him and returned to the bar. Twenty minutes later the door opened and Rez walked in three men in suits following him. Nikki kept her head down towards the surface of the bar stealing glances at them from under lashes. Two of the guys looked like average thugs, well dressed average thugs but thugs none the less. The guy in the middle however was not a thug. He was tall and thin and didn’t posture up to the table like a rooster with its chest puffed out like the other two. His walk was smooth his face schooled to show no emotion at all. He turned his head toward her his eyes flicking in her direction momentarily. Recognition passed through her, those eyes, she'd seen them before. Creepy guy. The ugly dark inside her raged. She dropped her eyes to the bar busying herself with wiping over the surface. How was that even fucking possible? He was dead well and truly. She needed to get control of herself before she screwed this shit up. She moved silently around the bar making herself visible but invisible like a good little girl. Tall thin guy introduced himself not bothering with the names of the two beside him. Jason Black. His voice sent a cold shiver down her spine. He sounded like Creepy guy too. Bull gestured for him to take a seat at the end of the table. "Drink?" Bull's question drifted toward her. "Bourbon on the rocks." Bull clicked his fingers at her gesturing to their beers "Fresh ones."  She already had the glass out ice in it. She grabbed the most expensive bourbon they had and poured three fingers over the ice. Then set it and six beers on a tray bringing them to the table with the skill of a veteran waitress, tray on one hand.

She stood next to Creepy guys look alike and placed his drink down followed by the rest. As she leant across the table to grab the empties she felt his eyes crawl up her body. She wanted to vomit or stab him in the eye or both. She stood placed the empties on the tray but before she picked them up his hand touched the scar at her collar bone. She froze and the boys stiffened. "That’s a rather nasty cut you've got there sweetheart. You treat all your women like that?" he kept his eyes on her but directed his question at Bull. "Not us." The guy ran his finger over it again "Hhhhmmm." Her grip tightened on the last beer bottle. He had ten seconds before she was breaking that bottle and glassing the bastard right in his face. Then he turned his attention back to the table. Nikki loosened her grip on the bottle and retreated to the far end of the bar with the tray. She slid round the corner just out of sight and leant back on the wall drawing in long breaths. "I see some new faces at the table and some old ones are missing" Black's tone sounded disinterested but she knew better. She decided staying hidden was the best course of action listening to that voice was bad enough without seeing his eyes. "Sometimes a brother's gotta clean house." "Speaking of cleaning house you didn’t happen to find something that didn’t belong to you during your little clean out?" the guy's voice was cold. "No nothing" Bull's answer was short his tone sharp. "Right." This conversation was telling her nothing.  Her eyes flicked to the back door. She needed to do some real recon let the boys take care of that shit. She pulled on her hoodie and swapped out the heels for her sneakers. Nikki opened the back door only enough to let herself slip through then closed it quietly behind her.

She slid along the wall in the darkness till she reached the corner of the building. She peered around it into the muted light of the front parking area. She could see the prospects standing on the porch at either end of the row of bikes. A single car sat in the car park. A black BMW 759Li. Expensive. Fucking suits. She scanned the car park and the area beyond it. It was dark with nothing but the glow from the front veranda of the pub to light the way. Nothing stood out. No signs of backup hanging around. Just as she was about to make a move something caught her eye, a movement by the dumpsters. She watched closely from her vantage point hidden in the dark. Yep there it was again someone peering round the corner of the bin. She looked back at the prospects. No sign they'd seen it and probably wouldn't from where they were. She slid across to the column nearest to her positioning herself in its shadow. The person moved again crouching low and slipping across to the next bin. Male, she'd guess from the silhouette. They were taller than she was and lean, dressed all in black. She watched him put his finger to his ear. Fucking cops. Shit. What the fuck was she gonna do here. She only had a knife in her pocket, no gun, no phone and no fucking way was she gonna alert the prospects and have them shoot the shit outta the place and have half the cops in town roll up on them. The figure crept to the end of the bin closest to her and popped their head out in the faint light. Alex. Fuck. This was not gonna be good for anyone. She had to get his attention. She picked up a piece of loose bitumen at her feet and threw it at him. It hit him right on the cheek his head whipped round toward her but she was already leaning in to the light so he could identify her. She quickly slipped back into the shadow as she watched him curse silently. She took a quick glance at the prospects then made a dash to the bin.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He hissed at her. "Could ask you the same question?" She waited in the dark next to him. "My fucking job that's what I'm doing. Now what the hell are you doing at a Crows Bridges party?" She was doing her job too "Recon." He shook his head at her "You gonna give me trouble." "Not if you tell me exactly what it is you're doing." Alex sighed and held his hand out something in his palm "Tracking device." She wished she had access to that sorta shit. "For who?" "Bridges guys." This could definitely work in her favour "I want that info." "No Nikki it's too fucking dangerous." Too fucking dangerous! What did all these blokes think she was some fucking amateur? "Looks like you'll have to find another time and place then." She stood up but before she could make a move he grabbed her dragging her back down to a crouch beside him. "Why do you want it?" Telling him would put him in an awkward position. "I tell you, you'd have to forget we ever spoke and your career would be compromised. You don't want that do you Alex?" A resigned sigh followed her question "Fine I'll share but only if you do the same." She nodded her head "Agreed. Now give me a sec I'll make this easier for you." She ducked back through the darkness to the corner of the building then stepped out into the light of the porch "How you boys doin' out here?" At the sound of her voice the guy closest to her reached for his gun. "Whoa. Down boy" she pushed back her hood. "Bull just sent me outside to see if you boys needed anything" she unzipped her hoodie giving them her best smile. She walked past the first guy and leaned back against the wall half way between them. "We don't need anything" the second guy glared at her.  A hard ass. Both sets of eyes were on her and she caught a glimpse of movement as Alex reached the car. "You sure about that? Don't need a drink, something to eat, anything?" Alex flitted away from the car back to the dumpster. The first guy opened his mouth to say something but hard ass cut him off "Nothing." She pushed off from the wall "Fair enough." She strolled back around the corner and through the door but not before she heard hard ass tell the other prospect "Do you know who that is man? That's Nikki Jones aka Ace, Reaper Jones's daughter. You do not want to mess with that woman, ever. Fucking idiot."

She closed the door quietly behind her. "Last chance Bull" Black's voice sent her skin crawling. She quickly removed her hoodie and moved back into the far corner of the bar. Black was standing facing off with Bull next to the table.  Bull snorted "Not gonna happen. You can tell Bridges to go fuck himself seeing as how the coward can't show his face." Nikki took a few steps closer. If this was gonna get ugly she wanted in. "Let's go" Black addressed his men then turned towards the door. As he turned his eyes fell on Nikki again "Nice shoes sweetheart." She looked down at her feet. Fuck. She'd forgotten about her sneakers. She tried to keep a nonchalant look on her face and shrugged at the guy "Feet were hurting." A sly smile slid across his face and her gut twisted. He couldn't leave fast enough. Rez saw them out and as the door closed behind them she picked up the bottle of vodka and took several large swigs. "You look like you seen a ghost Ace?" She turned to Bull and hissed at him through gritted teeth "I just did." "That guy got a brother or something?" Tex's voice was tight as he asked the question. "Yeah, really off balance dude. Weird eyes." Nikki gulped down several more mouthfuls of vodka before she could face them. She looked up at both Trace and Tex. Their eyes showed their concern but they didn't approach her. Which was good she didn't want to appear weak in front of the Crows, she had a hard enough time getting them to take her seriously without taking any back steps. "Yeah the guy has a serious relationship with his knife. Likes to carve up his victims. Sick shit." Nikki glared at him. She couldn't help it. That ignorant fuck was he even listening to what he was saying. Understanding dawned on Bull's face "Shit. That scar. King didn't tell me exactly how it happened. If I'd known I never would've put you in the same room as Black." Nikki raised her hand stopping him in his tracks. "You forget yourself Bull. I am not some weak little bitch you need to protect. Now you wanna make that shit right tell me what you know about Jason Black and Bridges."

Bull didn't know half as much as she'd hoped and as they left Barney's she was a bit disappointed. Jason was high level one step down from the man himself. This was a good thing. She had a name, a face and hopefully with Alex's info a location. Black's father had worked for Bridges and he'd been the man under him. Jason had taken over from him when his father died. Jason's brother had been in trouble when he was younger, rape and murder. Bridges had funded the kids defence and destroyed the case through paying off cops to tamper with evidence and so Black had owed him. He handled all the big stuff reported directly to Bridges. He took care of enforcement by using his brother's particular talents. Even though he was technically Bridges right hand man rumour was they hardly ever met, strictly phone contact only. That was a problem. How the hell was she gonna find him if the guy only ever called him. She didn't have access to the kind of technology Alex did and she'd have a bloody hard time convincing him to use police resources for her own personal vendetta. It wasn't her only problem though. Bull also said since his brother fell off the face of the earth he's been tearing the town apart looking for him without success. Now Bull knew why. He'd been outwardly surprised and more than a bit impressed with her actions but Nikki couldn't have cared less. Also she suspected Jason Black knew his brothers handiwork when he saw it. He'd paid far more attention to her than he should've and this sent his curiosity the Crows way. That had to be why he asked if they'd come across anything that didn't belong to them during their clean up. Tonight hadn't really worked in anyone's favour. On top of this she had the shit with Lenny keeping her on fucking lockdown. She needed to find that guy and end that shit sooner rather than later. All this ran through her head as she rode behind the boys in the early morning light blindly following them back to the compound.

Fatigue began to work its way through her body and she held her eyes on Tex's back as they rode. The roar of a v8 engine brought her out of her trance. She turned her head to see an old Camaro roaring up behind her. She peered at the driver. Lenny? She twisted the throttle and palmed the Glock Tex had tucked into her waistband before they left. Tex took one look over his shoulder signalled Trace ahead of her and dropped back. She let go of the gun as he slid in behind her giving her an eyes front signal. Trace roared in front of her and sped up. She turned back around and twisted the throttle harder to keep up with Trace. She could hear the pop, pop, pop of Tex's gun as they barrelled through the winding streets. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the driver point a gun out the window. She reacted quickly moving out of line with the boys she hit the brakes letting Tex and the car whip passed her. She pulled in behind the Camaro and opened up the throttle again. Pulling the gun from her waistband she fired at the car’s rear wheels taking out both. The car swerved wildly the driver trying to hang on to it. Trace dropped back next to her pulled his own gun and they both fired into the car taking out the back window. Then the windscreen went and the car took a sharp left. Nikki gripped the handle bars with both hands braked and turned nearly sliding the bike to its side as she careened around the corner. Soon as she straightened up she hit the throttle and aimed her pistol, she was gonna take this guy the fuck out. As she pulled the trigger the guy flicked his car right. The car wobbled out of control and bounced off a traffic light then careened down the side walk. The boys pulled alongside her again and the sound of sirens reached her ears. Fuck. She glanced to her left and Tex slid a finger across his throat telling her it was time to cut and run. She locked her eyes back on the car, she was so fucking close. Tex rode into her line of vision and shook his head. Adrenalin pumping and anger peaking she wasn’t ready to call it off. The sirens were louder now maybe a block away coming from the right. Fuuuuuucccckkk!!! She banked left into a nearby alleyway with the boys in tow. They flew home through the back streets Nikki's head and heart pounding with fury the whole way.