Bash, Volume III Read online

  However, knowing she’d already killed someone… it totally changed the circumstances and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Her acceptance no longer sanctioned the kill, because if she was a monster, too, then she couldn’t bestow non-monster status on me by easily accepting my actions.

  When I’d about driven myself crazy with that line of thought, I went over the things we needed to be sure were handled — melting the gun down, making sure her brass ended up in someone’s reloading supplies, finding out what happened to the original shirt and probably burning it, as well.

  The police would know who the driver was, from the traffic cams. If the driver happened to own the house they took her to, then they’d only have one missing person, for now. If not, they’d know the identities of two of the men, and would know they were both in the wind.

  Then again, it’s possible they were using a stolen van and the driver was wearing a disguise. He’d know the police would trace her path and find them, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to lead LEO straight to them.

  If events had happened as Angelica reported them, it was plausible the men would lay low for a while, because once she knew whose house she was in, she’d know for a fact the Disciples took her.

  Brain said the forecast was for major storms in two days. If the police stayed away from the warehouse that long, hopefully it would help wash away any evidence the Disciples may have missed. Like Angelica, I wasn’t happy about them being the ones responsible for taking care of the bodies and the actual crime scene. The fact one of their men had finished two of them off, though, made me feel a little better.

  Chapter Four

  Angelica

  I slept thirteen hours, and Bash wasn’t in bed with me when I awakened. A look in the mirror verified I’d need Dozer to hit me again. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but the bruises had faded more overnight than they should’ve, and if Graham or another officer stopped by to see me it would raise suspicion.

  I must have slept like the dead, because one of my spare Sigs was on Bash’s dresser, and a bag with jeans, shirts, panties, bras, and my hairbrush and makeup was on the floor. I hoped Bash had packed my underwear, and not my dad. However, Dad had known where the spare Sigs were, and not Bash, so… I shook my head and read the note, in Bash’s handwriting, not my dad’s:

  You’ll find five pounds of pulled pork, along with a tub of barbecue sauce, some buns, baked beans, and slaw in the large kitchen fridge in two bags with your name on them.

  I was starving, and I got dressed, brushed my teeth, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and went to the kitchen. I texted Bash while I waited for the microwave to warm my plate.

  I’m up. Thanks for the food. Love you.

  My phone rang a few minutes later, and he asked, “How do you feel?”

  “I’m fine. Need to find Dozer for a repeat, though.”

  He was quiet a second before saying, “Yeah, I figured. I’ll text him and tell him to stop by. I should be back in about an hour. Oh, and your dad drove your bike over this morning, and brought your helmet and boots.”

  “Do you know where he is?”

  “He was there when I left. I doubt he’s gone far. Might be at the bike shop.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Knowing him, he’s probably changing the oil in my car and bike, checking my brakes, that kind of thing.”

  Bash laughed. “Just be glad you have a dad who cares enough to make sure your equipment is safe, Princess. I’ll see you in an hour or so.”

  Bash’s parents had loved him, given him a good childhood, but then had pushed him out of their little sect without a second thought when he’d brought too much attention to them.

  When I’d asked him if he thought his parents were wrong about the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it coming during their lifetime, he’d said he thought there was a damned good chance it could happen. I’d had to agree it would be super easy for someone to take down our electrical infrastructure, and from there our modern civilization would collapse.

  However, when I’d asked why he wasn’t still preparing for it, he’d said the RTMC would just take whatever they needed to survive. “My family will be fine, because they’ve stocked guns and bullets, as well as food and toilet paper, but there are a whole lot of people who’ve only stocked food and toilet paper. It’ll be a piece of cake to take it from them. When society breaks down we go back to survival of the fittest, and the RTMC will be fine.”

  I called my dad and discovered he was, indeed, across the street changing the oil in my bike. He said he was just about finished, and would see me in the next ten or fifteen minutes.

  Dozer stepped in the door first, his face a mess, and I swallowed my food and said, “I’m so sorry Dozer! He wasn’t supposed to hit you!”

  He grinned and shrugged. “I knew he would, Tink. It’s okay.”

  “You know you’re going to have to hit me again, right?”

  He nodded, and I said, “I’m going to tell Bash if he fights you over it again, I’m sleeping downstairs in the officer quarters with my dad. There are plenty of beds down there, and I want to spend more time with him, anyway.”

  “Don’t get too upset with him,” my dad said as he walked in from outside. “His wolf is having a hard time with all of it, and having to see you with your face beat up, and knowing one of his brothers did it — doesn’t matter the man understands it was a favor, the wolf is being asked to accept way too much. We didn’t know where you were for a while last night, Angel. We didn’t know if you were dead or alive, hurt or okay. Give him some slack.” He sat down beside me. “I had to see it to believe it, but Bash loves you, Angel.”

  “This mean you approve?”

  “I’m well on my way.”

  I looked at Dozer. “I’m about through eating. Where do you want to do this?”

  He looked at my dad, then to me. “Workout room, on the mats.”

  My dad stood and looked at Dozer a few seconds before finally saying, “Won’t hold it against you. She’s my baby girl, but I know you’re helpin’.”

  I followed Dozer down, took my shirt off to show my sports bra, just in case there was blood, and stood, waiting for him to hit me.

  The first strike made me take a few steps back, and I shook my head and took a few deep breaths before stepping back to him, ready to take the next. He hit me four times in all, and while it wasn’t as bad as it’d been the first time, it was still a bitch.

  I needed to scuff my hands again, so I used his already beaten face as a punching bag a few seconds, and then shook my hands to try to make them stop hurting.

  I heard my dad in the hall, and wondered how long he’d been there. My guess was he’d given us enough time so he didn’t have to see me being hit, but his wolf had needed him to come check on me, to make sure I was okay.

  I sat on the bench near the free weights and asked, “Can one of ya’ll give me a status update, or should I run Brain down?”

  “Brain isn’t in yet. Not sure who’s manning the control room,” said Dozer.

  I looked at my dad as he stepped into the room and told me, “Club business, Angel. Let us handle it.”

  I shook my head. “I’m an adult, and I’m right in the middle of this, Daddy. I need to know what’s going on or I risk sayin’ the wrong thing to the cops. Think about it, you’ll see I’m right.”

  He shook his head and sat on another bench. “I melted your gun down this morning. Bash wanted the metal, so we refined it enough no one can say with any certainty it was once a Sig. We wiped the brass casings down, just to make sure there were no fingerprints, and put them in with Duke’s reloading equipment, mixed them in with his other couple-thousand empty brass casings.”

  “Thanks.”

  He shrugged. “Torched your shirt down to less than a spoonful of ashes. Not telling you what we did with them, suffice it to say no one’ll ever find ‘em.”

  “No bodies have been found?”

  “Not that I’m aware of. Brain’s gonna stop and tal
k to Drake today. We aren’t going to tell him the real story, just your fabricated one, and ask him to let us know if any of the Disciples who nabbed you show up.”

  Dozer made a polite exit, and my dad walked me to the officer’s quarters I’d stayed in before I’d started sleeping in Bash’s room. He closed the door and asked, “Why’d you kill them, Angel?”

  I explained my logic and he shook his head. “You weren’t wrong. I’d have made a helluva statement if you hadn’t taken them out. Might still do something, especially since we know Dash gave the okay, but since Marlin is attempting a truce up here, I’m holding back until I see how the wind blows.”

  I told him about my deal with Marlin, to let him kill Dash.

  “That wasn’t your call to make, Angel.”

  “And yet, I made it. Marlin rescued me, Daddy. As long as Dash dies, I don’t care how it happens.”

  I let him pull me into a hug, and leaned into him as he said, “Hate you had to kill them, but I’m proud of you for taking care of it — showing you aren’t to be messed with, and proving you’re every bit my daughter.” He pulled back and looked at me a second. “Any nightmares last night?”

  I shook my head. “I think I was too exhausted, to be honest. Bash was worried, and then just came out and asked how old I was for my first kill. I don’t know how he figured it out, but I told him the story. He’s the only person I’ve ever told, besides you and Mom.”

  “Glad he knows, Angel. He’ll be able to help you deal with it, but you know you if you need me, I can be here in under two hours, right?”

  “I don’t even want to know how fast you made it here last night. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

  “You and me both, but I’m relieved you’re okay and weren’t hurt. We owe Marlin. Don’t like owing a Disciple, but I’ll honor it.”

  Chapter Five

  Bash

  When Angelica and her dad came back into the main clubhouse area, Dawg, Gonzo, and I had just about all of the ingredients mixed together. I’d bought a huge ice cream maker, and was going to make her some grape nuts ice cream.

  She looked over our now-empty ingredient containers, took in the ice cream maker, and looked at the box of Grape Nuts cereal a few seconds before squealing like a little girl and throwing her arms around my neck.

  She’d killed five men in cold blood yesterday, and today she was squealing over homemade ice cream. God, I loved this woman.

  She wrapped her legs around my waist and hugged me, and then slid to the floor as she asked, “How long until it’s ready?”

  I looked to Bud, my senses on alert. He’d just seen a moment between two people who are obviously intimate with each other, and one of those people was his baby girl — his Angel. He was either going to punch me, or threaten me with my life if I hurt her, and I was expecting the first.

  He surprised me, though, by tilting his head and saying, “Keep making her happy, Bash. That’s all I ask.” He’d figured the ice cream thing out, too, because he added, “She insisted I eat ice cream with her, made me get the grape nuts stuff when I visited her. I was braced for hideous but it’s actually pretty good.”

  I looked at Angelica, touched the outer edge of the mark left by Dozer’s fist.

  “Don’t you dare hit him again,” she said, and I had no doubt she was about to back her words up with a threat. She didn’t disappoint, and I held her gaze as she told me, “If you do, I’ll sleep in the downstairs officers’ quarters until I can go back to my apartment. It’ll give me more time to hang out with my dad. Might even see if he wants to take off on a camping trip for the weekend, just the two of us. Been a while since I camped with my dad.”

  “Don’t play me against your daddy, Princess. You want to spend time with him, I hope I’ll be invited, but I’ll respect any time you need with him alone.”

  She looked at me a few seconds and I could see the wheels turning. “Not playing you against my dad. I’d be threatening to sleep downstairs whether he was here or not. The point is, Dozer did me a favor and it isn’t fair for you to hit him for it. He seemed okay with it, and my dad seems to think I should stay out of it, but this affects me, too, and you can’t just do whatever the hell you want, Bash. If we’re in this together, we’re in it together. If you’re going to make decisions without checking in with me, I’d just as soon do it alone, where I have a say.”

  I really wished we weren’t doing this in front of her dad, but a few things had been niggling at me and it was time to bring them up.

  “And if we’re going to be a thing, these secrets can’t keep popping up. Brain, and then the story you told me last night? These two things change so much, Angelica. You may have a point about us working together as a unit, instead of separately, but I can’t do that until I’m assured there are no more big secrets… and we still have to work out the other secrets, as well.”

  Thankfully, Brain came in the front door and gave us a distraction.

  Angelica stepped away from me as she asked him, “Any news?” and the combination of hope and fear on her face made me realize how vulnerable she felt. She could go to jail for a long time for murder, if the truth came out. She had to stay on guard for the police, FBI, and possibly the media. She had to keep her story straight, had to look the part of the recently kidnapped, and she was here because we weren’t sure we could keep her safe at her apartment. And, a crooked DA and a number of cops on his side would bury her under the jail, if they could figure out how.

  Brain must have seen it, too, because he walked to her and pulled her into his arms. He looked to a camera and said, “Button three,” and a few seconds later I heard the buzz under the music that would make sure a listening device couldn’t hear us.

  “Nothing significant,” he told Angelica. “Police are staking out the house, apparently waiting to send the crime scene techs in until they can arrest the homeowner when he returns. I don’t know how long they’ll sit and watch before deciding he isn’t coming home and they may as well process the scene. Marlin assures me the bodies will never be found, and the pavement has been given an enzyme treatment to make sure the blood proteins are destroyed, bleached, rinsed with hydrogen peroxide, washed to get rid of evidence of cleaners, and then dirtied back up so it looks the same as the surrounding pavement. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to get rid of evidence of murder, and they seem to know what they’re doing. It was all handled before surveillance was on them hot and heavy, and they plan to stay away from that particular warehouse until things die down. He didn’t say so, but I got the idea there’s a good bit of illegal goods stored inside.”

  “You talked to Drake?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Had already asked him to keep me apprised of the investigation into Pickering, and stopped by this morning to request he let us know when the men who nabbed her are found.” He glanced at Bud, then back to me. “We’re getting our usual discount, but it’s still gonna rack up.”

  “I’ll put ten grand towards expenses,” Bud said, his voice gruff. “Drake can give us intelligence we won’t likely get any other way.”

  I let them talk while I finished the last of the ice cream instructions and started the machine.

  Chapter Six

  Angelica

  I sat beside my dad and leaned against him as Bash worked with the ice cream maker, and Brain and my dad discussed strategy. I put my two cents worth in every once in a while, but they were the ones with experience so I let them lead.

  I’d started to offer money towards the “keep Angelica alive and out of jail” fund, but then had remembered I’d been targeted because of my relationship to the MC, so the MC should be the ones keeping me safe.

  Everyone went to alert when a voice came over the speakers saying, “LEO in the parking lot.”

  “Record outside and in,” Brain said as he walked to the door. “I’ll walk out and see what’s up. Put audio and video on the screen in here, so everyone knows what’s happening outside.”

&nbs
p; The music and buzzing shut off as we watched an unmarked car pull into a parking place, and I wondered how the control room person had known it was law enforcement. They’d been right, though, because I watched as Agent Graham and another man stepped out of the car and stood at the back of it, waiting for Brain to approach them.

  We heard Brain say, “Detective Johnson, Agent Graham. Protocol is to go to the restaurant or bike shop unless you have a warrant, can I see it, please?”

  Agent Graham said, “Detective Johnson told me of your protocol, but since we’re here for a friendly visit, checking on Angelica and helping to make sure her kidnappers see justice, I thought we’d just come here first since I figure she’s here and not across the street.”

  “She’s pretty banged up, hurtin’ worse today than yesterday. She’s tired, but relaxing and spending time with her dad. Do you really need to talk to her?”

  “She’s the only one who can ID the men who abducted her,” Detective Johnson said, his voice monotone.

  Brain looked at them a second and motioned them to follow him. “You’re being given a one-time permission to enter the front room of our clubhouse. This permission does not allow you to snoop, nor to go past the front room.”

  Bash had walked around the front room when Brain went out, probably making sure there was nothing incriminating lying about. There were rules about keeping the main areas ready for LEO at any time, but it still didn’t hurt to double-check. My dad had his arm around my shoulders, and he pulled me a little closer.

  “Remember your coaching from Brain. Let us talk if you aren’t sure what to say.”

  I nodded, and my eyes went from the television screen to the door as the feed cut off, and a few seconds later the heavy door opened.