At two o'clock, Jack used his new cellphone to call Natasha.
“I want you to know that I really love you,” he said.
“That's nice. I love you, too,” replied Natasha. “Good news about Danny.”
“Yes. Good news. I have to go, but⦔
“But what?”
“Just wanted you to know how much I really love you.”
“Jack? What is it? Something is going onâ¦. You're not doing anything that could put you ⦠away, are you?”
“Don't talk that way on the phone. I would die before I ever broke that promise.”
“Okay, sorry. I love you, too.”
Jack picked up the sports bag and crept to the rear of Damien's home. He scaled the stone wall surrounding the back of Damien's property and dropped down into the grounds.
A biker who had been monitoring security cameras inside the home ran into the backyard. Damien was speaking intensely to a group of over twenty men. Anger and talk of revenge was rampant. Silence descended when the biker told Damien that there was an intruder.
Jack strode toward the group. He saw two laser beams dancing over his heart and idly wondered how many more were on the back of his head. The group parted slightly as Damien walked up to him. The rest of the men exchanged glances. They sensed that Jack was an outsider and circled him like wolves around a farm dog.
“You got your fuckin' balls walkin' in here!” screamed Damien.
Jack looked at the group and said, “My name is Jack Taggart. I'm a cop. The cop who was responsible for killing five of your brothers yesterday.”
He took their moment of disbelief and shock to look Damien in the eye and say, “Out of respect for you, I brought you this.” He handed him the sports bag.
The wolves recovered from their shock and moved in for the kill. They stopped when Damien put up his hand before unzipping the sports bag and looking inside. Seconds later, he pulled out five sets of colours. The jackets belonging to T-Bone and Booger only had the bottom rocker. Wizard's colours were badly burned but were still recognizable.
“You pick today to commit suicide?” asked Damien.
Jack looked at the angry faces and said, “Wizard, Rolly, and Thumper tried to kill my family, my partner's family ⦠and then tried to kill my partner and me. Maybe the rules have changed, but I think â”
A biker grabbed Jack by the throat and said, “Guess I'll finish what Wiz started!”
“Let him finish!” Damien demanded.
Jack was released. He continued. “I think that T-Bone and Booger were following orders from Wizard. I also believe that Wizard was following orders from someone
outside
the club.” He saw several of the men look at Damien, who continued to stare at Jack.
“I believe that because I know Damien,” said Jack. “If he wanted us dead, we would be. He's proved that to me already, which is why I respect him enough to return the colours and take whatever you dish out. I know if Damien wants me killed, I will be. I don't want to try and lead a life and start a family, wondering every day if there's a bomb in my car. If you intend to kill me, then do it now.”
Everyone stood in silence, looking back and forth from Damien to Jack. Damien nodded his head, and one of the bikers providing security approached and used an electronic wand to search Jack.
“Clean, except for this,” said the biker, taking the cellphone out of Jack's pocket and handing it to Damien.
“Check the perimeter for a five-block radius and let me know,” said Damien, before dropping the cellphone in the pool. “Oops,” he said.
Minutes later, Jack was roughly brought into the house and hauled down into the basement, where he was placed on a stool beside a workbench. Five strikers stayed to ensure that he didn't move. Jack spotted the electric drill on the workbench and thought about Stallion.
What goes around, comes around.
He checked his watch. It was 2:30.
At 4:25, Damien came downstairs, along with two other bikers. He gave a nod of his head and the five guards backed away.
“So you did come alone,” commented Damien.
Jack nodded.
“Yesterday ⦠tell us how they died.”
Jack related what happened at the front of Sid's home and in the foyer.
“How did dat Wizard die?” asked one of the bikers with a thick French accent.
Jack looked him in the eye and said, “The official version is that he caught fire on his way back to torch me.”
The two bikers looked at Damien. He gestured with his head and the three of them walked away a short distance to talk privately. Moments later, they returned.
“What about Thumper?” asked Damien.
“My girlfriend slashed his throat with a scalpel.”
“No shit?” said Damien, sounding surprised.
Jack said, “Yes, she's quite a woman.” For a second, he almost forgot where he was as he thought about Natasha.
“If Booger had given himself up, would you have let him live?” asked Frenchie.
“I knew he was a striker who probably didn't know the rules, but at the same time I didn't know if my fiancée and the girl had been hurt. Either way, he messed with them. If given the opportunity, I would have finished him off.”
The two bikers glared at him, then looked at Damien, who said, “Yeah, that's pretty well how Sid Bishop told it.”
The comment was not lost on Jack.
He knows where Bishop is!
Damien looked down at Jack and said, “Okay, sit here. It's not us three who decide if you live. We're all taking a vote on it. Get you a beer while you're waiting?”
“No, thanks.”
As they were leaving, Frenchie asked Damien, “You offer dat pig a beer?”
“This is strictly business. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be hospitable.”
Jack remained on the stool as the strikers moved back into position.
It was three hours later when Damien returned, this time by himself. “Leave us!” he barked. The five strikers promptly went upstairs.
“Looks like it's your lucky day,” said Damien. “You're going to live.”
“It took long enough to decide.”
Damien shrugged his shoulders and said, “We had an election to do as well. What saved you was that Wizard took orders from someone outside the club.”
“I thought returning the colours was a nice touch.”
“That showed class, but it will only be T-Bone and Booger's colours that will be kept and held in respect.”
“Are you still national president?”
Damien smiled and said, “Yeah, I got it. I think you turned the tide on that one. They figure that if you acted that way out of respect for me, then maybe I was doing a good job.”
“Sounds like you owe me one.”
“I don't owe you fuck all! I reiterated what you said, that Wizard and Rolly took their orders from someone outside the club. Thumper was a weasel. It gave everyone something to think about. If anything, my two cents' worth may have saved your life.”
“How close a vote was it? On letting me live?”
“It was unanimous. Everybody out there is clear on the rules. Wizard, Rolly, Thumper ⦠they broke the rules.”
“That's good they respect the rules. Too bad Sid Bishop doesn't.”
“The trouble with guys like him is they've never been educated on the street. They don't know how to survive.”
“So where is he?”
“Fuck, you think I'm going to tell you? Give your head a shake!”
“You were the boss when all this took place, and you are still the boss. That makes you accountable. He messed with the people I love. You can't ride the fence on this.”
“You don't fucking tell me what I can do or what I can't!”
“Then as far as I'm concerned, if you don't tell me, you are breaking the rules, and I'll hold you responsible.”
Damien stabbed his finger into Jack's chest and roared, “You have the gall to threaten me? Right here in my own house?”
Strikers immediately appeared on the stairs and Damien yelled, “I didn't call you guys! Fuck off!”
Jack waited until they were alone and said, “I'm not threatening you. Just reminding you about the rules.”
Damien studied Jack closely, then shook his head and said, “Our rules say that we never help the police. You arrest him and I'd lose respect. Think you know what that means. Unlike you, I don't believe in putting myself or my family in jeopardy.”
“My family is top priority to me, too.”
“Then get your priorities straight! Walking in here this afternoon ⦠you let your emotions rule you instead of your brain. Leave now and count yourself very lucky!”
“I want to know where Sid Bishop is!”
“You don't listen, do you? I will never help the police!”
“Who said anything about helping the police? I'm talking about me.”
Damien looked exasperated. “You are the police.”
“Do you remember the night you met me in that construction site, when you said that you and I were in different clubs, but in some ways we were very much alike?”
“I remember.”
“I was wrong to think we weren't. You've opened my eyes. Neither of us would be alive if we went by the rules that govern the rest of society.”
“What are you getting at?”
“It makes me sick, but I'm admitting that you probably know me better than anyone else. You know I don't plan on arresting him!”
Damien looked at Jack for a moment, then said, “Still no reason to help you.”
“I'm in a good position to return you a favour someday.”
Damien paused, then said, “So you'll be Sid's replacement?”
“Not exactly. Call it rules of honour and respect. If we play by our rules, both you and I, and our families, should be around for a long time. It's wise to invest in the future.”
Damien stared at Jack long and hard, then said, “You would owe me. Owe me big!”
“
Buenas noches!
” said Natasha, unconsciously feeling her wedding ring as she walked out on the balcony. The Mexican sun was touching the top of the Pacific Ocean, and the afternoon breeze was starting its daily venture from the water to the mountains behind them.
Jack was peering through binoculars but put them down before kissing Natasha warmly on her neck. “Thought you were going to take a shower,” he murmured, before kissing her again.
“Came out to see if you would be kind enough to soap my back.”
Jack chuckled, then said, “With pure, unadulterated pleasure.”
Natasha gestured to the binoculars and said, “When you said you were bringing the binos to look for whales, I had no idea that you would abandon me to do it. You need to get your priorities straight!”
“Priorities? Who ⦠where did you get that from?”
“What do you mean?”
Jack paused, then said, “Nothing, just sounded like something someone else said to me.”
“A woman?”
Jack chuckled. “No. Definitely not. After being your love slave all week, I needed a few moments to regain my strength.”
Natasha smiled and said, “You are so bad.” She looked down the mountain toward the ocean. Below the mountain in front of her were several homes with swimming pools. The homes were built in traditional Spanish style, with red tile roofs and surrounded by white plaster walls that cut through groves of palm trees. Beyond that, she could see the brilliant white crests of the ocean waves breaking out from the deep blue waters.
“It is so beautiful,” she said. She waved to a Mexican family who were heading down to the ocean with small circular fishing nets to throw in the waves. They waved back.
Jack had said that the area was virtually untouched by tourists. He was right. The local populace had not become contaminated by outside influences. Everyone was friendly, but at the same time, privacy was respected. She could not have wished for a better place for the first week of their honeymoon.
Tomorrow they were to continue the second leg of their honeymoon to a more popular and festive resort in Costa Rica. She wished their honeymoon could go on forever.
“I'm glad we came here first,” said Natasha, wrapping her arms around Jack. “It's so quiet and peaceful. Have you enjoyed it? Do you feel relaxed yet?” she asked, looking deep into his eyes.
“What makes you think I haven't been relaxed? Being with you makes me the happiest guy in the world!”
“You've seemed a little distant all week. Like something is bothering you.”
Jack pulled her close and said, “Someone once told me I let my emotions rule me instead of my brain. Maybe he was right. All week my emotions have been telling me that I could face anything this world could throw at me â as long as we're together. I don't think emotions are such a bad thing.”
“Good. I feel the same way.” She kissed Jack warmly on the lips, then giggled and said, “Okay, love slave, your work is not done! Get back inside!”
The morning sun had barely started to lighten the eastern edge of the mountains when Jack quietly slipped out of the villa and made his way down the mountain. At 6:05 he waited outside the rear wall surrounding one of the homes. He stood behind some trees and listened intently, waiting for a sound from within. His concentration precluded him from noticing the light reflect off a pair of binoculars focusing in on him.
People are creatures of habit. Sid Bishop was no different. At six-thirty Jack heard the splash as Sid jumped in his pool to start his morning laps.
He crept over the wall and crouched behind some bird of paradise bushes that obscured the area near the shallow end of the pool. He watched as Sid swam toward him before stepping out to the edge of the pool.
Sid came to an abrupt stop, standing with his head and shoulders out of the water. He wiped his eyes with his fingers and said, “Who are⦔ He didn't finish the sentence when he recognized Jack glaring down at him.