Situation Normal: Inked Brotherhood (Lima Six Motorcycle Club Book 2) (11 page)

“You make it sound like a cake walk. I’ll talk to you later,” Will said before he ended the call.

“May I borrow your car?” Leo asked.

“The Honda? Why?” Jamie asked as she put the phone down.

“Less noticeable. There are millions of those things around.”

“Sure. But I’m going. It’s my car… and if I can’t have you at home with me, I can at least be in the car with you.”

Since all he was going to do was watch, she shouldn’t be in any danger. “Okay. I would like that.”

“See… this is so much easier when you just agree with me,” she grinned.

***

“That’s them,” Leo said as the Suburban and the Chevrolet pickup passed.

“Where’s the other one?” Jamie asked. Three vehicles as passed them two hours before on the way to the intercept.

“Don’t know. And where is the vehicle the mule was in?” Leo started the car and flipped on the headlamps. They should be far enough ahead now for him to not attract attention.

He pulled out onto highway 170 and turned toward town, staying well back but keeping the pickup’s tail lights in view.

They followed the vehicles until they turned onto the road that led to Ron’s shop, but he proceeding straight past the turn. “Looks like they are returning the vehicles. But I don’t know where the other truck went.”

“Do you suppose that is the truck with the drugs?”

“Normally we just leave the drugs in the vehicle we caught them in. Why move them? But… where did it go, too?”

“Where did you normally hide the drugs before you burned them?”

“We used to keep them at the barn. There as a hidden room. Now Ron is keeping them at his place, in an old dozer in the back.”

“You want to check out the clubhouse… see if they are taking them there again?” she asked.

“I don’t know where they would hide them, but yeah, we probably should. But not tonight. If we get caught out there it will be hard to explain. I don’t want Ron getting any whiff of something being up.”

“I’ll call Will later. See what he knows.”

***

“How’d it go?” Jamie asked when Will called her later as she and Leo were preparing for bed.

“This is my first one, so I guess it went okay. We intercepted the drugs, let the guy driving go, then came home.”

“Where did the other truck and the mule vehicle go?”

“Beats me. I didn’t want to ask too many questions like that, you know? It all seemed very… friendly. We all had our guns out, but nobody seemed very concerned. It was almost like it was for show or something. What normally happens to the drugs?”

“They
used
to go to the clubhouse for disposal, and now to Ron’s until the clubhouse is back up and running. So I don’t know what is up.”

“Me either, man. But I tell you, something isn’t right about his. It was too easy.”

“Yeah… I got that feeling too when I went out the last time.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear of another one.”

“Okay… thanks Will. I owe you one.”

“All I want is to be there when you take them down if the club is going bad.”

“Count on it.”

Leo hung up Jamie’s phone before handing it to her. “You know what this probably means?” she asked.

“I know what it looks like… but why? After all we’ve been through.”

“I don’t know, babe. But you can’t deny the club looks dirty.”

“I know. This is fucked up.”

“I know.”

“What should I do?”

“Get some proof then go to the club. They will back you, I know they will. Throw the dirty members out, strip them of their colors, do whatever it is that you do when someone disgraces the club.”

“It will have to be iron clad.”

“You can do it. I know you can. If the club is going bad, you, Will, and whoever is left that knows right from wrong, are our only hope. Without Lima 6, Vallecito will go right back to what it was.”

As they settled into bed, Jamie could tell that Leo was lost in his own thoughts. His touch was soft and soothing as he caressed her and held her close, but he was a million miles away. She wanted him, she wanted to make love to him and pull him from the dark place he was entering, but he didn’t respond to her gentle advances.

He held her close, drawing on her strength as his mind whirled in a chaotic jumble of thoughts and emotions. He couldn’t let Lima 6 do this… they couldn’t become the very thing they had fought so hard against. She was too important to him to risk losing to the violence that always followed drugs. He pulled her in a just a bit tighter, promising himself he would protect her from harm… no matter the cost.

***

Friday, before the bar opened, Jamie and Leo rode to the clubhouse on the back of his hog. They are on a scouting mission. As they arrived they saw that Ron, Lucas and Gigolo were milling about.

“Leo, Jamie,” Ron said as they dismounted. “What brings you out here?”

“I wanted to see my competition,” Jamie said with grin. “After I advised you on the bar, I realized that might not have been the smartest thing I have ever done. Place looks nice. A lot bigger than your old clubhouse.”

“Yeah,” Ron said as he turned to look at the prefab metal building that was taking shape. “All the walls are up. Go on in and take a look around.”

“Thanks, Ron… I think I will.”

She wandered around the inside building. It was hard to know what each room was for, but she figured out where the bar was going from the plumbing. The clubhouse had eight bedrooms that shared four baths, a huge common room where the bar was located, and what must be the boardroom where club would conduct its business.

Finished looking at the clubhouse, she wandered out into the yard, looking for what they really came out for. She made as if she was just out on a stroll around the yard while Leo talked to the rest of the members, but she was actually looking for signs of a recent bonfire. Signs she couldn’t find. It appeared that at least some members of Lima 6 had crossed over.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Leo, Will… Ron just called for volunteers,” Lucas said as he tucked his phone away. Leo is sitting at the table with several members of Lima 6, though he longed to sit at the bar and flirt with Jamie. But he had to keep up the charade that he and Will were not getting along.

“I can do it. We’re not busy yet,” Will said. “Can you manage by yourself for a while?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Jamie replied.

“I’ll sit this one out…” Leo said with a pointed look at Will.

Lucas smiled. “Suit yourself. Let’s honk it brothers. This one is late. Ron said to meet him at Trail Four Road… we don’t have time to ride in the trucks.”

The moment Lima 6 was out of the room, Leo sprang to his feet. “Loan me the van?”

“Keys are in the desk. Why don’t you take your bike?”

“To conspicuous. Same for your truck.”

“Be careful.”

He leaned across the bar to give her a quick kiss. “Always.”

She watched Leo hurry down the short hall to her office, then reappear a moment later and exit through the back door. She pursed her lips a moment then turned her attention back to running the bar.

***

Less than an hour later, he was back. “Leo! What’s wrong?” she hissed as he entered through the back of the bar, his eyes wide and his face pale.

“We have to talk… now!” he whispered harshly as he pulled her from behind the bar.

“Bobi! Cover for me a minute!” she called as Leo hauled her away, dragging her into her office and quietly closed the door.

“Leo! You’re scaring me!”

“Will is in deep shit. I followed them to the intercept. I couldn’t see that well because they were pretty far away, but it looks like the DEA tried to bag them.”

Her eyes widened at the news and she began to shake. “Oh no…” she breathed.

“It’s worse. There was a firefight. I couldn’t tell who started it, but it looked like the DEA were killed. Worse still, it looked like it was Lima 6 that shot them. Or was a least involved in shooting them.”

“My god! Are you sure?”

“That the DEA agents were killed. Yes. That we shot them… not sure but it sure looked that way.”

“Will would never—”

“He may not have had a choice. It could have been killed or be killed. You need to find a reason to call him and get him back here,
pronto!
I have to talk to him.”

“I’ll… uh… I’ll tell him I’m sick or something.”

“Do it! Before he does something stupid.”

***

Twenty minutes later, Will arrived pale as a ghost. “Get in her office, now, and stay there,” Leo ordered as he came through the door.

“Leo… I need to talk to you man. On the—”

“Not here! Office!” he hissed, cutting him off.

Will did as he was told while Leo and Jamie tried to act normal. After ten more minutes, when no other club member arrived, Leo stood up and started for the office.

“Stay here,” he ordered Jamie as she began to follow. “You don’t want to hear this. It will make you an accessory after the fact.”

“Fuck that… he’s my brother,” she said as she stepped past him.

Leo gritted his teeth in frustration, but a scene now is not what they needed. “Bobi… cover for Jamie.”

As he entered the office he closed the door. “Tell me what happened out there.”

“You know?”

“I know enough. I need the details.”

“I don’t know what happened. The DEA was waiting on us I guess. The moment that we found the drugs they showed up. I thought we were fucked. I was putting my gun down when the cartel guy tried to open up on them.”

“Are you
sure
the cartel shot first?”

“Yeah. Well, no. He never got a shot off. But we did! We didn’t have to start shooting! The moment the shooting started, we were in a firefight.”

“You?” Jamie asked with a quiver in her voice.

“Yeah, some. Fuck… what am I going to do? I need to turn myself in. Maybe—”

“No. Don’t do that,” Leo said.

“Leo! I may have shot a federal agent!”

“Going to prison won’t help anything! I need you and Vallecito needs you more now than ever. The club is dirty. We have to have handle this within the club. If you go to the cops with this they will destroy the club. Then who will protect Vallecito? Who will protect Jamie?”

“What you going to do?”

“
We
are going to take the club back. We are going to find these bastards and make them pay. If you can just keep your shit together you are going to be tight with the club. Trusted. We can use that against them.”

“How?”

“Find out the dirty members are. I can’t believe the entire club is in on this. I need to know who I can trust. Just hold it together, Will.”

“Yeah,” he breathed as he stared at the floor.

“You can do this. You
have
to do this.”

“I will keep my ear to the ground when Lima 6 is in the bar. See if I can pick up anything. Leo’s right. We have to clean this mess up and still protect Vallecito.”

“Here’s how we’re going to play it. I’m going to call a board meeting. You came back and I could tell something was wrong. But you wouldn’t tell me shit. Okay? Simple. If Ron admits to what happened, I’m going to go off on him. You back him up, got it? You take all that rage you are feeling and you put it on me. Just do what comes natural. So will I. I want you
tight
with this… shadow group… got it?”

“Yeah. I got it.”

“Will… suck it up man. This is all riding on you.”

***

“Are you fucking stupid?” Leo roared as he leapt to his feet, breathing hard. Ron had admitted to the gun fight, but his story was completely different than Will’s, and what he saw with his own eyes.

“You need to calm the fuck down,” Ron said quietly as he looked around the bar. Customers were beginning to edge away from the brewing confrontation.

“Calm the fuck
down?
Do you know what you have done?” he raged. “How could you do this?”

“Hey! You weren’t there! You don’t know what went down, so shut the fuck up,” Will shouted.

“Yeah, if I had been maybe this shit wouldn’t have happened!” He wanted to kill Ron. He was leading the club to destruction and everything he cared about,
everyone
he cared about, was going to get hurt in the process.

“You got a problem with me, Leo?” Ron said coming to his feet.

“Whoa, brothers… this is not the time or the place,” Copper said getting between them.

“You need to back off, Leo,” Ron said, his voice low and dangerous.

“Or what? You going to try to fuck me like you are the club?”

“You want to go? You’ve been spoiling for this for a long time,” Ron said as he began removing his colors.

“Leo… no!” Jamie called, coming from behind the bar.

“Stay out of this! I’m going to enjoy watching this asshole get his ass kicked,” Will snarled.

“Out back,” Ron sneered.

“Leo!”

Will grabbed his sister and held her. “No,” he whispered in her ear. “You don’t want to watch this.”

“You have to do something.”

“I can’t.”

“He’ll kill him.”

“Who will? Ron? Not fucking likely.”

***

“Nobody interfere,” Ron snarled as they stepped behind
He’s Not Here.
“I’m going to show this Army pussy how Marines do it.”

“Whenever you think your dick is big enough,” Leo said rolling his shoulders and working his neck to get loose. He had wanted to do this for a long time.

Ron was a big man, heavily built, but going soft with age. He came at Leo with a roar. Leo fired a hard right into Ron’s face as he came in, pivoted and caught Ron with his left arm around his neck, holding his head to his side. He fired two, three then four hard shots into Ron’s face as he held him.

With a roar of pain and rage, Ron picked Leo up, but he wasn’t strong enough to hold him and dropped him with a stumble. Leo landed off balance and stumbled, going to his knees as he dragged Ron to the ground with him. With a hard shove with his legs, Ron drove Leo to his back on the ground.

Leo roared, veins standing out on his neck, as Ron grabbed his nuts in a vise like grip. He punched him once more in the face, but couldn’t get any power behind the punch, so he let him go and used both hands to tear Ron’s hand loose. The two men bounded to their feet, Ron spitting blood, his face covered in blood from his nose.

“So that’s how it’s going to be?” Leo snarled as he danced on his toes.

“I fight to win, Leo,” Ron panted.

“So do I.”

Leo waited for Ron to come at him again. His balls ached, but he was uninjured and able to move. Ron, on the other hand, was already losing vision out of his left eye.

With another roar, Ron charged in. Leo sidestepped and brought his foot around in a high arc, his riding boot connecting solidly with Ron’s face. Ron grunted with the impact, the force of Leo’s kick almost enough to stop his charge. He went to the ground in a heap and lay still. Leo bounced on his toes a couple of times, his hands up and at the ready, but it was clear Ron was out for the count. Settling to his feet, he lowered his hands then spit on Ron for good measure.

“Somebody take that sack of shit home.”

***

Less than five minutes after Ron challenged Leo, Jamie saw Leo step back into the bar. He looked completely untouched until she saw the blood on his boot. Obviously Ron had come up a bit short.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Ron?”

“Out cold when I left.”

“Jesus…”

“Go out there and help Ron,” Leo directed Will. “Bad mouth me up. If this doesn’t tip the scales so we know where everyone stands, I don’t know what will.”

Will picked up Ron’s colors. “You weren’t out there very long.”

“I wanted to kill him, but I didn’t. But I didn’t hold back either.”

Will frowned. “Were you holding back with me?”

Leo grinned. “Only a little. I didn’t want to mess up your pretty face for Ellen.” 

“You’re really okay?” Jamie asked as Will left with Ron’s colors.

“Yeah. Except for trying to make me a eunuch, he never laid a finger on me.”

“What?”

“Ron… he fights dirty. He grabbed me by the balls. That’s when I stopped playing around.”