Page 56 of Devil's Due

I get on my bike, start the engine, and once away from the hard-to-navigate road, enjoy the ride and the fresh air rushing past, realising I’ve missed having it available. Last time I hadn’t ridden for a few days was when I’d been holed up in the hospital, that time I nearly died.

I’m fully recovered now, though it took some time to get back to full fitness. The memory, however, lingers.

I’m no stranger to bullets flying, and half expect one day one will take me out. Living this life, no one would think it extraordinary. What I hadn’t realised was that it would be something invisible to the naked eye that could take me down. I could neither evade nor fight it. Having done the impossible and unexpected and come around, it’s left me with various considerations. One, how fragile life is, another how I should relish every moment now given to me, but there’s a part of me which wonders, why? Why was I saved? Why was I brought back? Was there a purpose or reason, or was it just how my cards fell?

Not wanting to waste any precious minute was part of the reason I got involved with Sally so fast. My mortality had been brought home to me, and I live every day thinking I’m on borrowed time.

The memory of how close I’d come to leaving this life makes me appreciate today’s ride even more. I notice the little things, like how it gets noticeably warmer as I descend in altitude. By the time I reach the city I’m wiping sweat from my brow. The sweater I’m wearing over my t-shirt too heavy now. First thing I do when I reach the compound is tear it off.

“Beef!” Pyro calls out, also just pulling in on his bike. “How are the mountains?”

“All good,” I reply. I wait for him to draw closer. “Getting to feel like home already.”

“It strange living with a blind bitch?”

Strange? Nah. “Half the time you wouldn’t know there was anything different about her,” I tell him, seriously. “I don’t want to kill her yet if that’s what you’re asking.”

Dutifully, he laughs. “Oh, by the way, been checking in with the vet. Max is progressing nicely, as he put it.”

I thank him, then, following his lead, I grab a beer from Beaver who’s bartending, then walk into church. As I take out my phone to drop it into the basket, I notice I’ve made it just in time.

Pyro and I are the last in. Planting my ass on the spare seat at the bottom of the table, it hits me this is my first time in the Colorado church. Things have happened so fast in the week that I’ve been here. I wait to see how different or similar it is to the ones we hold in Tucson.

“Ok, settle down.” Demon’s mild knocking of the gavel on the table has the desired effect. “Some of you,” he looks pointedly at Thunder and Mace, “already know why I’ve interrupted your Saturday. The rest of you need to be brought up to speed.”

I sit up straighter.What’s coming for us now?I get a twitchy feeling in my gut, especially when the prez’s eyes land on me.

“You got any more information out of the woman?”

I respond to his direct question, “Nah, sorry Prez. I’ve tried pushing her, but she’s staying dumb.”

“There’s a good reason for that.” Demon pinches the bridge of his nose, then shakes his head. “Had a visit yesterday. The local prez of the Wretched Soulz. Filled me in on a few details.”

My eyes sharpen. What the fuck has Stevie got to do with the dominant MC whose area covers a large part of the states and beyond? Any MC setting up in the dominant’s territory does so only with its blessing. Satan’s Devils coexist by permission, and for the most part, have a friendly arrangement with them.

Having let the importance of his visitor sink in, Demon resumes, “You’ve all heard of the Warped Jokers?”

“Club out of LA, aren’t they?” Cad asks. “Into some bad shit from what I’ve heard.”

Most, including myself, nod. Unlike the Satan’s Devils who’ve got a rep we don’t nowadays deserve, the Warped Jokers live up to every citizen’s nefarious expectations of what an MC gets up to. Drugs, guns, extortion. If it can be named they’re probably up to their necks in it. We might not approve, but we turn a blind eye. Live and let live—our motto as far as clubs like that are concerned. As we don’t have an LA chapter, we don’t often cross paths with the Warped Jokers.

“Feds have busted them. Half of them are in prison awaiting trial, the rest out on bail.”

That’s news I haven’t heard. I sit up straighter, the dots joining fast in my head.

“It’s a RICO indictment.”

Christ!That will take out the whole club if proven. Every fucking member will go down and for a very long time.RICO.The word no MC wants to hear. It’s the way feds take down organised crime. Doesn’t matter if he never had his hand anywhere near a gun, if they think a killing or robbery was planned from the top, everyone in the club is guilty by association in the eyes of that law. Twenty-year sentences will be handed out, the club’s assets seized.

I’ve got a horrible feeling I’m right, enough signs are there. Hoping I’m going to be contradicted, I state, “Stevie’s a witness in the case.”

Demon nods. “The star witness.”

I don’t like this. Don’t like it at all. “Why come to you, Demon? Why tell you?” The bad feeling in my gut worsens.

“We knew there was a leak somewhere, and that someone knew where she was and had eyes on her. Beef, you were clocked when you rode her around town as we thought you might be.”

I swear my heart stops beating. “You confirmed where she is?”

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