Page 64 of Unveiled Wounds

“Next buyer comes in twenty minutes, so I figure we’d ride out a little ways and wait. Rid the world of some extra scum while we’re at it,” Sabre said as we headed for the truck.

I couldn’t put the baby on the back of my bike, and I wouldn’t let her ride in the truck without me, so I’d roped D into tradingplaces. He’d ride my bike back to Meredith’s, and I’d stay with the baby, making sure she was safe.

“Is the barn wired properly?” I asked, smirking, as we neared the other brothers.

“Motherfucker. It was only one time.” Pretty stamped his foot. When he’d been a teenager, he’d gone through a phase, trying to blow up anything in sight. One of the older brothers, who was gone now, had taken pity on him, teaching him pyrotechnics. He was probably lucky to still be alive, and Scrub was lucky he still had all of his fingers.

“Let’s go!” Sabre jumped in the back of the truck.

I didn’t have any baby supplies, and it made me antsy. It wasn’t like we could stop at a local grocery store with a truck full of illegal drugs and guns. I wrapped the belt buckle through the baby’s car seat, hooking it to the bench. It would have to do since we didn’t have the base, even though I hated it.

Our truck passed the next customer’s truck.

“Don’t make it obvious, but slow down,” I told C. The plan was to drop the brothers off at their bikes and hit the road, but they were early, and we’d get a front-row seat to our bonfire.

C came to a stop on the road far enough away the other customer wouldn’t see us. “Stay with the baby,” I told him. Running to the back of the box truck, I raised the roll-up door. After I quickly told the brothers what was going on, they shifted, letting everyone have a good spot for the show.

“My wiring is good, motherfucker.” Pretty pouted.

“We’ll see about that,” Cyph said, grabbing the detonator from his pocket. “You want to do the honors?”

Cyph reached out his hand, and Pretty hit the button, but nothing happened.

“My wiring is good,” he said.

We watched as the customer pulled up to the overhead door. They stepped out of the truck, walking up to the side door, but when they reached for the handle, the barn went up in flames.

“Told you my wiring was good.” Pretty snapped his fingers, and all we heard wasboom. The barn Diego Lopez was using as a warehouse was officially gone.

***

I waited next to Sabre on my bike as he checked in with the guard at the Knight’s gate. I needed to focus, but my mind was still with the baby. We’d driven the two hours from the barn, and when we were close to Meredith’s community, the brothers had regrouped in an empty parking lot to wait for us.

The memories had hit me as I entered Meredith’s condo. The nights when I had driven down to see her, only to turn around early in the morning. Weekend visits where we’d lay in bed getting our weekly fill of the other. This place had good memories, and while I wouldn’t let Meredith come back, I didn’t mind if we kept it. The fear of her running had subsided.

Setting the baby on the counter, I had made Cyph and Grease promise me they’d look after her. Sabre didn’t want Cyph anywhere near the Knights, and Grease had offered to stay with him as his riding buddy.

“The Knights scare me,” he had said, shaking in mock fear. No one had said a word, but we were all thinking the same thing. If we could have gotten out of this delivery, we would have.

“Don’t forget,” Sabre said, the sound ringing in my helmet, “this isn’t a social call. Don’t separate. Drink nothing, and for fuck’s sake, keep it in your pants.” The guard was opening the gates as Sabre was finishing his lecture.

We drove into the yard, taking the driveway that led around the back. I tried to place when the last time I had been here was.It had to have been at least ten years, and that was a sobering thought.

Nothing had changed. The drive still led to an open yard at the back of their clubhouse. They had shabby garages all over the place, but when the doors opened, I’d bet my life savings they were state-of-the-art. Sabre backed in first towards the edge of the lot, and each one of us followed his lead. We cut our engines and dismounted from our bikes, standing together while Sabre directed C to back the truck up to the nearest overhead door. The quicker we could unload, the quicker we could put all of this behind us.

“Fuck me silly. I didn’t think you could pull this off.” Krait was standing on the back patio, smoking a cigarette. The red glow from the tip lit up his face, highlighting the yellow retinas.

“I don’t think you can do a lot of things, and yet, you constantly surprise me,” Sabre retorted. Krait wasn’t his favorite person. The phrase triggered something in my mind. He’d said the same thing about Meredith. In all the times he’d spoken about her, he’d never sounded like this.

Krait laughed, calling into the clubhouse for a few brothers to come out and unload our truck.

None of us moved to unlatch the roll-up door.

“You know the rules of this game. Payment first,” Sabre spoke. There was a hint of boredom in his tone, but none of us released our vigilance.

“You don’t trust me?” Krait laughed from his spot on the patio. “I would never think of screwing the Iron Shield. However, I would steal one of your blondes. You can share.”

Sabre’s jaw ticked, but there was no point in starting a fight. Krait would never get close to the women, and if he did, we’d already be dead or wishing we were.

---