Page 58 of Hounds Ascend
“Good job, prospect.”
Leo smiles and grabs Keith’s arm, hoisting him up to his feet. “I’m not your fucking prospect.” He shoves him forward and out the door.
Scott starts laughing. “How much time you think he’s got left?”
“I don’t know, but I feel like it just got a lot shorter.”
We’re still laughing about that as we walk outside. “I gotta get Clayton’s bike back. Hey, Shorty!” I call, making my way toward Leo’s truck.
“Yeah?”
“I need you to take Clayton’s bike back to the clubhouse.”
“Good, I didn’t wanna be cooped up in the truck with those two. If Leo doesn’t kill him before they get there, I’ll be surprised.”
“Heard that!” Leo yells from the driver’s side window. He continues to mumble something toward the back seat, nodoubt a string of curses directed at Keith.
“Want a ride? You’ll have to sit next to a fucking jackass, but hop on in, guys,” Leo says, sounding like an enthusiastic tour guide, ready to show us all of the wonders of a new town.
Scott and Shorty get into the back seat, Shorty sitting closest to Keith while I climb in the front. Leo drives us the short distance from the bar to the store we’d stowed our bikes away at. We exit the truck just as quickly as we’d entered. I give Leo the go-ahead to take off since we’ll likely catch him once we get on the road. I unlock the saddlebag and dig out my leather jacket since the temperature has continued to drop and the night air will be cold on the bike. Scott follows suit while Shorty stands there with his arms crossed.
“That’s not even funny. Ain’t no way in hell I’m going to fit in anything Clayton’s got. Dude’s twice my damn size!”
Scott laughs as he slips his arms inside his jacket. “Sorry ‘bout your luck.”
“I’ll make sure we give you a gold star at church,” I joke, latching my helmet before I slip my hands into my gloves.
“Screw you guys,” Shorty laughs through a sudden shiver. He’s straddling Clayton’s bike, ready and waiting on us.
I take off one of my gloves and tap Digger’s name on the call list.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” he asks, and I hear the chatter in the background fading.
“I need something from you. Our cleanup crew consisted of Old School and Snapper, and…well you see how well that’s going. I need you to grab the Saints that are there and take them with you to clean up the sites. I can have Snapper send you coordinates as men get back to the clubhouse and report to him.”
“Yeah, no problem Prez. I’m on it.”
“Oh, and Dig?”
“Yeah?”
“Leave Gater out of the loop on this one.”
“You got it.”
The call ends and I set it in the cell phone holder on my handlebar. I fire up first, the other two right behind me as I take off in the same direction as Leo. I pull the throttle back, taking off as fast as I can. Scott and Shorty are right there with me, trying to keep up. I slow down as we approach the only red light between the bar and the clubhouse. When it turns green, I’m on it again. Once I’ve gotten a small taste of the speed that always seems to level my head, I let off, slowing down as we enter a long curve.
It doesn’t take us long to get back to the clubhouse and from the looks of it, a lot of the guys are already back as well. I smile a proud smile, a proud accomplished smile. I park near the front entrance and walk in before the rest of the guys. I need to talk to Snapper first…alone.
Snapper is already in one of the rooms beneath the stairwell, likely beginning his methods of torture on his newest victim. I knock at the door and am met with a loud bang from something metal colliding with the wall near the door. “What?” he growls,unamused at the interruption.
“It’s me.” My declaration gets the door open for me and Snapper emerges.
“Look, you know I’m in the middle of something, right?” he asks, his eyes wild.
“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I talked to Gater earlier. Something is off with him, and I don’t like it. I need you to find out who’s been feeding him information. He knew about the house.”
Snapper’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t comment on it. “I’ll find out what this guy knows.” The sincerity in his voice assures me that he will do just that. I leave Snapper to what he does best and head back into the bar area that is filling up with Hounds, Saints, and Sinners who had successfully completed the tasks they were given, or more-so, taken the life they were assigned to take.
