Have Gun, Will Travel (The Bare Bones MC Book 5) (9 page)

To be funny, Wolf whipped out his Costco card when he opened the door to Ford’s office. “Hey, boss! Ready to grab that five pound bag of sugar and that one pound canister of turmeric.”

Maddy turned to Wolf. “They have one pound of turmeric? That’s a good anti-inflammatory.”

Wolf raised his index finger. “I’m on it!”

Ford rose from behind his desk. He didn’t protest when Maddy and I drifted into the office. To be honest, we
did
think he was going to send Wolf to Costco in Prescott. The meeting seemed to be over. Sax was rising from his chair, and the club’s lawyer, Gudrun’s father Slushy McGill, was shuffling through some papers at the conference table.

Ford ignored Maddy, taking Wolf by the forearm. “Wolf Glaser. I know you’ve been a good man to have in an emergency. You were endlessly helpful to Roman when you pulled off that Bamboo Boy op recently. I know you’ve been kind of bored sitting around the parts shed, but as you know, that’s just your day job, your club job. I’ve got a new assignment for you. You dealt with Tony Tormenta when you worked with Roman.”

I shared glances with Sax. He appeared to not know what Ford was getting at, either.

Wolf said, “Not directly. Tormenta was in charge of the Bamboo Boys that we went after, but we never saw Tormenta himself. He was too busy making YouTube videos showing off his bling.”

“Then he shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Sax said, louder than was necessary.

Ford seemed to shoot Sax a dirty look. He continued addressing Wolf. “Look, Sax here is on a mission to find Tormenta. It’s not for the club, so it’s kind of undercover.”

“Ooo, undercover,” trilled Wolf. “My favorite kind of work. Will I have to be anonymous, like leave my cut behind?”

“That’s a good idea actually,” said Slushy, pointing his pen toward the ceiling. “Tormenta knows he has reason to fear retaliation from The Bare Bones after what happened to Cassie. You might want to leave the cuts and colors behind.”

Wolf sobered up. “Oh, this is about Cassie? I’m in.”

Ford said, “I want you to work with Sax here tracking the bastard down. I see nothing wrong with taking out that maniac. He’s operating beyond the parameters of any decent human conduct, just out there like a loose cannon, like a fucking Hitler going over the edge with ego.”

“I don’t need any assistant,” Sax growled. “I’m used to working alone.”

Ford frowned at him. “Yeah. But you haven’t worked on any club business in a decade. Things have changed. The personnel have changed. Wolf here is up to date on all that shit. He’s going to be invaluable to you, mark my fucking words, Sax.”

“It’s an honor,” said Wolf, shaking the reluctant boss’ hand. Sax looked as though he was being handed a turd, eyeing Wolf distastefully.

Slushy, meanwhile, clicked his pen and came around my side of the room. In a low, spy-like voice, he said to me, “I want you to know I’m a hundred percent behind what you women have done, getting up that bounty money. It’s a balls-to-the-wall thing for you to do, and I admire that gumption. I want you to know you can step back now and let the men do the heavy lifting. I don’t want you getting personally involved because the inherent danger with a job like this is very, very real. My stepson just embroiled my daughter in a deadly game with the Bamboo Boys, and she almost didn’t come out of it alive before marrying him and jetting off to Barbados.”

I wondered what Slushy was getting at. Then I remembered. “It must have felt sort of strange, your stepson marrying your daughter.”

This was obviously the subject he wanted to tackle. “Indeed it did! I was in shock for weeks and couldn’t accept it. I mean, I know there’s no blood relation involved here. All I did was marry Roman’s mother—and I’d marry her again in a heartbeat if she’d have me! But he’s been like a son to me, and Gudrun
has
been a daughter to me, and suddenly he’s giving her a
PROPERTY
patch…”

“It must be a strange feeling,” I allowed. “You just have to remember. There’s nothing wrong with their union in the eyes of the Lord.” I instantly regretted involving Jesus. It wasn’t three years ago. It was now. And I didn’t believe in the Lord anymore. The Lord had pretty much screwed me over with hypocrisy and conflicting standards.

That was one of the many reasons that I gravitated toward Sax. We were both bitter people of lost faith. I could tell he wanted to work alone—and Wolf Glaser could be fucking annoying, I’ll grant you that—but in the long run I was glad he had a partner. It just seemed much safer, and two minds were always better than one.

Slushy went on, “Well, I’m mostly over it now. Mostly. And I’m glad Sax is going to be spending more time around P and E with that rock shop he’s buying.”

“
What?
”

“Yeah, we just cut a deal, he signed the papers. Down on Bargain Boulevard, not far from The Joint System, the weed store. Guy had it for sale and it’s only a half hour commute from Sax’s house. Perfect. We can use a guy like him in our wheelhouse, not to mention another cover business. We’ve lost a couple of old timers in this mother chapter, lately, too. It’s great to see Sax back, working on club business. Never thought he was cut out to be a nomad. He’s too old for that bullshit, anyway. I know the feeling. I’m too old to be cooking the books for a cartel. I just want to hold an Oscar party at my house. Drink wine and talk about David Sedaris.”

I don’t know how much of this speech Sax had overheard. But he was obviously dying to get away from the gung-ho Wolf Glaser, who was already babbling away happily about going to the shooting range with Sax.

“We could even go to our own archery range. Slushy’s office is in the back, and Kneecap would let us shoot for free. You never know when a bow and arrow comes in handy. I once shot a rival Cutlass at four in the morning from a second story window down in Tucson. A gun, anyone would’ve heard ten miles away. But the arrow went right through his eyeball and stuck halfway in his skull. Soundlessly, just the whisper of the fletching, psssshew. Arrow shattered against the cement building behind the guy.”

Sax patted Wolf on the shoulder. “That’s great. Can we talk about it later? Beatrix, I’m glad you’re here…” In an effort to extricate himself from the enthusiastic Prospect, Sax took me by the forearm and steered me into the hallway. He stood me up against the wall while old-timers such as Faux Pas, special effect makeup man to the stars, and Russ Gollywow, backup singer in a Philly Soul band, sauntered on by. I tell you, being at The Citadel was like being backstage at a rock concert. These men were my rock stars, the iconoclasts, the outlaws of society. After losing my faith, this is where I felt most comfortable. I might not be much of a nihilist myself, but the rebels and revolutionaries of society were my cohorts.

“Listen, I’ve got to go downtown, check out this nail salon. I know, sounds ridiculous, but I’ve got a lead that it might be a cover for some of Tormenta’s smuggling ops, might lead me to where he is.”

“He’s not in Prescott?”

“I doubt he’d hide in plain sight like that. He’s got too many other hiding places, mountain hideaways, hideaways that are literally underground. Putting a tracker on his vehicle would be the best idea. But listen. Lytton just left here. He and June want to have us over to their house near Mormon Lake for dinner.”

Another couple in the lifestyle, and they wanted us—as a couple?—for dinner! This excited me beyond belief. “That sounds fantastic! I love those two. They might even be able to tell us about some munches we could attend.” Munches were lunch events at restaurants where people in the lifestyle mingled to meet others. I’d been to a few, but none since meeting Roscoe.

Sax brought up Roscoe now. “Will your Sir let you go, though?”

My heart fell, but quickly rose again. “He won’t get angry if he doesn’t know about it.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, I knew I was rebelling against my agreement with Roscoe.

It was obvious Sax could tell I was being naughty, too. One corner of his mouth lifted, making him look rugged. “Good. I’ll be back here in an hour or so. Shouldn’t take long to snoop around a salon full of women.”

I frowned. “Are you sure you don’t want me going to the salon? A big, manly brute like you, with or without your cut, is going to arouse suspicion among women who are already suspicious to begin with.”

Sax looked as though that hadn’t occurred to him, but he quickly wrote off the idea. “No. I’m not taking that risk, Beatrix, and don’t you even fucking think it. You should be in hiding, not getting into even more dangerous fixes. It’s just possible Tormenta knows about the bounty, especially with Santiago Slayer stumbling around after him, and knows which women are involved. He’s not a great lover of women, Bee. When you’re not with me, you should be with Maddy or June.”

“All right,” I said timidly. It did make me feel good to be protected like that. I’d never felt protected or safe before. I was attracted to bad boys all the way, and they weren’t famous for giving women a sense of safety.

Sax nodded briskly and turned to stalk out the door toward the parking lot. I enjoyed watching him exit, the globes of his ass nice and shapely beneath his jeans, his many keys dangling from a chain at his waist, the well-worn cut in the shape of his broad shoulders.

A strange, unknown feeling rose in my chest. I had to analyze it a few seconds before realizing
I respect Sax Saxonberg.
I had no respect for Roscoe. I
feared
Roscoe, so of course I obeyed him, but I didn’t respect him. I wondered if respect for a man could give you the urge to obey him. It was a completely new emotion for me.

The enthusiastic Wolf Glaser was instantly at my side. “He’s a man’s man.” I didn’t know what that meant, but of course Wolf went on. He thumped his chest with his fist. “He’s the sort of guy you’re proud to follow into battle. I’ve never met him until today, but the stories I’ve heard, hoo boy, it’s enough to make a choir boy weep—oh, sorry.”

“No sweat.”

“I mean, before he went nomad, the truces he arranged, the brotherhood he creates between The Bare Bones and other clubs. Clubs that have since become our enemies, like the Cutlasses, the Dotards. Can you believe we used to be brother clubs with those assholes? Back when Sax was Veep we’d do the Four Corners run together with those dumbshits.”

“Wolf.” Ford was standing next to us, putting some kind of handgun into the back of his jeans. “One more thing. I want you to get in touch with Tobiah Weingarten. You’re gonna need his technical savvy to run down Tormenta. He can put a tracker on any vehicle you can find, and he’s got some new drone spy planes that’re pretty cool.”

Wolf’s face turned to stone at the mention of the IT guy. Tobiah was the business manager for Lytton’s Leaves of Grass pot plantation up on Mormon Mountain. Although not a patched member, he’d been doing all kinds of high-tech spy stuff for the Bare Bones brothers. “Tobiah Weingarten?
That
bowl-headed nerd? I can’t work with that guy, Ford. That dorkwad had too many atomic swirlies or something and it’s gone to his brain.”

Ford didn’t seem in the mood to have his authority challenged. He sighed. “Why do you hate that guy so heavily, Wolf? You act like he stole your girlfriend from you or something.”

Wolf held his hand to his chest. “Girlfriend? What girlfriend? As you know, the club is my girlfriend, Ford.”

“Good.” Ford clapped Wolf on the shoulder. “Then you won’t mind working with him. Can you scoot up there now? He’s waiting for you.”

I chuckled as Ford split and Wolf grumbled to himself. I followed him to the stairs that led to the parking lot.

“God damned gaywad. I’d like to give him a few purple nurples and tittie twisters myself.”

I was amused. “Because of a girl?”

Wolf made an exaggerated face of disgust. “Girl? No, why does everyone keep saying a
girl
? I don’t have time for a
girl
.” Wolf held the door open for me. “Where the hell are you going? I thought we were supposed to protect you, for you to stay with Maddy at least.”

I shrugged as I jogged down the metal staircase. “Oh, nowhere. Time to get my nails done. Isn’t there a salon near the weed dispensary?”

“I guess so. You can ask August. He’s the ganjier at the pot store. Are you sure this is safe? Let me check with Sax. Wait, what’s his phone number?”

“See you soon!” I left Wolf standing in the dust without giving him Sax’s phone number. I didn’t want any Prospect getting in my way. I could be very headstrong. Sax might be able to tell me what to do, which is why I hadn’t told him my plans. But a damned Prospect? No way in hell.

I had a mission, just like the old days. It gave me a sense of purpose, a reason to live. A happiness I hadn’t felt in years.

SAX

S
ax made his best effort at the nail salon. But what could he really do? He couldn’t pass for a guy who looked like he wanted a pedicure, and he couldn’t just bust in the back office and look at their books.

But it
did
look like a sweatshop with probably a hundred health code violations. Some technicians weren’t wearing gloves as they worked on clients, Sax crunched toenails under his boots, and there were rings around the whirlpool footbaths. It was likely that Ford or Lytton had some health inspectors in their pockets who could do some digging. Almost all of the workers were Hispanic. Sax understood the cussing of the mannish woman who appeared to be in charge.