Page 105 of Red's Peril: Part 1

“No one seems to be home,” Twister assures me. “There’s no car in the drive, and I’ve peered in the windows. If he’s in there, he’s hiding.”

“That’s not Don’s style,” Clare, overhearing, tells me.

I tend to agree but am not prepared to take risks. Leaving Clare in the car waiting, I beckon to my brothers. “Let’s go check it out.”

Twister and Cobra take the lead as we head to the house. Soon, I notice Twister was right. There’s an air of the place as if it’s been vacated, as if Skull moved out weeks before. The flowers in the front yard are dead from neglect and the windows look dusty. We walk to the front door. Using the keys Clare had given to me, I turn them in the lock, then Twister’s hand lands on my shoulder.

“I’ll go first, Prez.”

I shake my head, but allow it, knowing it’s his job to protect me, but am right at his back, weapon in my hand ready. “Wait out here.” I catch Cobra’s eye and he raises his chin to me. He’ll know what to do. If Skull is here, he’ll get Clare back to the compound.

Once the door’s ajar, Twister leans in and listens. It’s deathly quiet. Then he takes another step in, allowing me to come up beside him.

He’s got an odd look on his face as he leans into me. “Last time I was here, it was to kidnap Clare.”

I remember he’s been here before and that could prove helpful. “Skull said he cleared out his shit. Does it look different?”

Twister looks around, then grimaces. “Sure fuckin’ does. No TV, look.” He points in one direction. “There was a Lazyboy recliner there,” he indicates another, “that’s gone. Half the bookshelves are empty.”

Quickly, we search the rest of the house, then satisfied Skull had been truthful, I send Cobra back to get Clare.

When she enters, she makes her own inspection. “His PC is gone. His Xbox too, and his games.” She shakes her head as she catalogues what’s missing.

I jerk my head toward the stairs. When Clare enters the bedroom, she goes to the closet and opens it, pausing and straightening her back as though things are as she’d expected, but I don’t doubt it still hurts. “He’s taken all of his clothes.”

She sits on the bed, bowing her head. I leave her alone and descend the stairs to find Twister riffling through drawers.

“Find anything?”

I know he’ll be looking to see if there are any clues as to where Skull might have gone to, but he doesn’t find one. It was worth a look, but the result was what I’d expected. Skull’s a man used to covering his tracks.

When Clare finally comes down, I can tell she’s been crying. Seeing I’ve noticed, she explains, “I don’t miss Don. I miss what I thought I’d had with him.”

This suburban house has affected me. It’s a lifetime away from anything I’ve ever had, or like any place I thought I’d be. It’s so domesticated, with no room for me. It cements my thoughts that Clare and I weren’t destined to be together.

“You’ll be fine,” I tell her, sure that she will. She’s been used to living without Skull and has her own life to step back into.

She belongs here, unlike me.

“You moving back today?”

When she nods, I give Twister and Cobra instructions to get Clare and Delly’s shit moved from the compound.

Then I take her back, help her gather Delly’s things together. I have a final cuddle with that cute little kid, then I watch her drive out of my life.

I’d half expected to feel the same sense of loss as I did when I’d driven off leaving Cheryl in my rearview, but waving Clare and Delly off just left me with a feeling this is how things should be. She’s not another one who got away. It wasn’t meant to be. We’d parted as friends.

To my surprise, Pyro had agreed that Mel would like to speak to Clare, so after a few days, she returned to the compound. It was gut wrenchingly sad to see Mel again and being back in Vegas had brought back old memories. But she and Clare seemed to clear the air between them, settling on them having both been deceived by a mutual enemy.

I took the opportunity to advise Pyro that Skull had gone undercover again. If he can be found, it won’t be long before he pays the final retribution.

My life settles back into a routine and continues with nothing out of the ordinary for the next couple of years. While the Vegas chapter seems immune, other chapters suffer from the same affliction, collecting old ladies, and almost everyone seems to have hooked up in Tucson. There’s a standing joke as more and more kids are born there, that any woman visiting the Arizona chapter should avoid drinking the water.

In San Diego, Lost’s got himself hitched, and so has the eternal bachelor, Grumbler.

The most interesting thing that happens is when the truth comes out about Utah. And didn’t that knock us all for a loop? Instead of being the backward country folk we’d always taken them for, they ran their business based on top-notch information technology, and earned their money foiling kidnappings or rescuing kidnappees. And that, though bad enough, wasn’t the only thing that they’d deceived us about. Snatcher only acted the prez and was just the figurehead for our benefit. Behind him was an ex-spy who couldn’t fucking ride a bike as he’d lost both his legs.

I, myself, was initially inclined to shut down the chapter. But after sit-downs with my fellow prezes, and under the guidance of Drummer, we’d agreed to let them keep their charter.

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