Outlaw: Screaming Eagles MC (9 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Falcon and Grace dressed quietly. The texts and calls from Falcon’s boss were a bitter end to a sweet evening. Falcon wished he had never even bothered to look at his phone. He could still be curled up with Grace in bed. He could be running his hand up and down her thigh, feeling the warmth of her body, and listening to the sound of her even breaths as she slept beside him. He could still remember the sounds that had come from her when they made love, her sighs and moans and cries of pleasure.

The thought of returning to the Screaming Eagles headquarters left a knot in Falcon’s stomach. It was the last place he wanted to be at that moment. Was he about to walk to his death. Should he run away instead? Should he just get on his bike and head south, just drive until he was too far away from the Screaming Eagle’s to find him? He could make it to the border by morning, breeze through Mexico and then settle down somewhere far south. Maybe Brazil or Argentina, somewhere far out of the Screaming Eagles’ reach and with no extradition treaties.

He would need to bring Sophie and Kelly with him for their own safety. It would be hard, but it was possible. He could go and grab them right now. He would rush into the apartment and tell them to pack a bag, they would need to travel light. He could cash out everything. They could live in the tropics in a little place down by the beach. He could raise Sophie down there and she would never need to know the former life her father led. It was a pleasant little fantasy in his head, Kelly, Sophie, and himself living it up south of the border. They could live beside the beach and learn Spanish and blend right in. They could start over with brand new lives; they could be anything they wanted.

But it was just a fantasy. He couldn’t ask Kelly to leave her entire life behind. She had a good job and lots of loving family members who would miss her and Sophie if they disappeared. Kelly liked her life and Falcon couldn’t be the one to tear it away from her. Plus, Sophie deserved a real life. If they ran now, they would spend the rest of their lives running. They could never be normal. They would have to spend their entire lives looking over their shoulders. No, there could be no running. Besides, Falcon didn’t want to give the Screaming Eagles the satisfaction of running him out of the country. He was done answering to them and bending to their will. No, he needed to keep going, he needed to find a way to end this.

Grace was dressing quietly, clipping her bra into place and slipping her shirt over her head. It was a travesty for her to put more clothes on. Falcon wanted her to be naked in bed with him, not fully dressed somewhere far away. She checked her phone and her gun before strapping both into place. There was something so sexy in that act. She wasn’t some weak little girl; she was a cop. She could ride with the best of them and take down men twice her size. She was amazing.

Falcon wondered if this would be the last time he would ever see Grace. He hoped not, but that was all he could do, hope. If the Screaming Eagles knew he was working for the cops, he was done for. All he could hope was that they left Sophie alone. Grace had promised to protect her and Falcon trusted Grace.

“So you’re sure you want to do this?” Grace asked him.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Text me the second you know what’s going on. If I don’t hear from you by midnight I’ll get Sophie and Kelly and then we’ll come and get you.”

They were both dressed and ready and Falcon took one more look around their cheap and crappy motel room. The blankets had been ripped off the bed and strewn around the room and chairs had been overturned. They had done quite a bit of damage in a small amount of time. Pity it had to be over so soon.

They rode back to Grace’s car together. The night’s air was cool around them and through the treetops Falcon could see a smattering of stars above him. He drove lazily down the streets, taking his time and using the back roads. This might be the last time he would see the outside world or ride a bike, and he wanted to appreciate it. Grace’s arms were wrapped around his chest as they sped around turns and up and down hills; the feeling of her pressed against his back and her hands holding onto him were anchoring Falcon to the world. She was a reminder that there were still good things out there and good people capable of doing great things.

He pulled up next to her SUV and Grace slowly got off the bike and handed the extra helmet to Falcon. She looked sad, like she was on the verge of tears. Her green eyes were shining and wet and she kept fussing with her long hair.

“Why are you going back?” she finally asked in a quiet whisper.

“Because I don’t think they know,” Falcon answered. “They might suspect, but they don’t know. The more I’m gone, the more suspicious it looks, but they can’t prove you and I are working together. If they could I would be dead already. They might be suspicious of me, but they also need me. They’ve lost a lot of men and a lot of merchandise. The boss wants to keep operations running as normal and he needs men on the ground to do it. So, as long as I don’t give myself away, I’m okay in there.”

“It’s just too dangerous,” she said with a shake of her head. “The Screaming Eagles are unpredictable; they might not wait to have proof. They might just want to make an example of you. I don’t like the idea of you going in there without any back up. I brought you into this, Falcon. I don’t want to stand by while you walk to the gallows. You could wear a wire. That way if things go south I can know about it in real time and come and get you.”

“If I go in wearing a wire and they search me, I’m done. But if I’m not wearing a wire and the boss decides to end me anyway, it’ll be proof he doesn’t care about us. He doesn’t care about the boots on the ground and maybe this will show the rest of the men that. Look, I’m not trying to be a martyr, but I’m not done yet. I want to get Ernie, I want to bust the big boss, and I can’t stop until I’ve done that.”

“Why, Falcon? Why is that so important to you?”

“Because I used to worship him. I used to think he was this brave and smart leader; I was ready to die rather than betray that man. But now I understand he’s no better than me. He’s not smarter than me and his life is not worth more than mine. Now that I know that, I need him to know that, and I need the rest of the Screaming Eagles to understand that, too. He uses people. He chews them up and spits them out and he gets richer and we end up in jail.”

She shook her head. “When I got you to turn I was just thinking you would be this tool I could use. I convinced myself I could control you. I thought you would want to do a couple jobs for me and then get out. But here you are, refusing to quit and getting ready to take down the entire gang. Sometimes I think it was fate that we met. If you forget about the part where I’m a cop and you’re a criminal, we fit together almost too well.”

“We are good together,” Falcon said. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. A single tear fell from her eye and Falcon gently wiped it away with his thumb. “You’re worrying about nothing,” he said. “They don’t know anything and I’ll be fine.”

“It’s just...If anything happened to you, I don’t know how I would live with myself. I brought you into this, I made you turn against your gang and now I feel like I’m throwing you into the lion pit. I wish I could go with you.”

“I have to do this alone. We need to stick with the plan. If you don't hear from me by midnight, you should assume the worst. Don’t bother with me, just make sure Sophie and Kelly are all right.”

“I promise,” Grace said, looking into Falcon’s eyes.

He nodded before he leaned forward and kissed her passionately. The night was dark, and other than the occasional cry of a bird it was silent. It felt like they were the only two people left on the planet. They kissed as if they might never see each other again, both eager for touch from the other and neither one wanted it to end.

Finally, Falcon pulled away and Grace gave him one last nod before she stepped into her SUV and drove away. He watched the red taillights recede into the distance, taking his heart with them. Falcon waited in the parking lot for a few moments, breathing in the salty air of the sea behind him and appreciating the stars above him. The knot in his stomach tightened. For better or worse it was time to return to the clubhouse. The waiting was the most painful part. He didn’t know what awaited him at the clubhouse, but he knew he couldn't run. He needed to find out what the boss wanted.

Chapter Eighteen

Falcon tore down the freeway. The road led away from the ocean and through the city towards the Screaming Eagles’ clubhouse. It was a Saturday night and the freeway was crowded with club kids and the rich and fabulous heading to their nighttime destination of choice. Every car he passed was filled with people wrapped up in their own worlds. None of them had any idea of the murder and chaos that rested just outside their city limits.

The people in these passing cars may have heard about the two successful busts against the Screaming Eagles, but it did not factor greatly into their lives. They may have caught a snippet on the news or seen a post online in passing, they may have noted it somewhere in the back of their minds, but then they promptly forgot it. They had no idea the huge power plays and well-planned machinations that occurred behind the scenes so they could enjoy the relative safety of a night out.

He had always wondered what life on the other side was like, what would it be like to have a normal nine-to-five job, to get up and put on a dress shirt and tie, to pack a lunch for work, to have health insurance. He never had any of those things ever in his life. His life had always been lived on the fringes and it always would be. But occasionally, at times like this, he couldn’t help but wonder what a normal life could be for him.

Falcon had everything on the line. His own life and the life of his daughter. If he messed up or if he was found out it would all be over. He had seen what the Screaming Eagles do to rats. He’d seen the damage first hand. The boss liked to make examples of people, to show what he was capable of. He was not a man of talk or empty bluster; he was a man of action who made good on his threats.

Even though he was nervous and his stomach was in one big knot, Falcon was still confident his boss hadn’t figured it out yet. He had a feeling that if Ernie knew, there would have been no text messages or phone calls. They would have found him and jumped him and drug him back to the clubhouse instead. He was being allowed to return on his own, that had to count for something.

He couldn’t let himself be nervous. He needed his hands to be steady and his voice to be strong. He had become adept at lying. For the longest time he believed the boss when he threatened that he could read men’s minds and knew when they were lying. He had never believed the mind reading part, but the part about knowing when someone was lying struck a chord in Falcon. He always believed the boss when he said liars had tells that gave them away. Maybe Falcon didn't have a tell, or maybe the boss had been bluffing the entire time. Either way, he had been lying to his boss for a week now and he still had no clue.

The realization gave him confidence. He had pulled it off this long, who’s to say he would ever get caught? He was good at this, better than his boss could have ever guessed. Hell, Falcon would have never thought he could get away with something like this, but here he was going from screwing a cop straight back to work, no breaks in between.

He pulled up to the Screaming Eagles’ clubhouse and parked his bike in a line with the rest. He looked around the parking lot half expecting someone to jump out of the woods and grab him. But the parking lot was empty and silent, only rows and rows of bikes gleaming in the moonlight. No one was waiting for him outside, that had to be a good sign. He didn’t want to look suspicious, so he didn't hesitate, hopping off his bike and swaggering to the front door.

How long could he keep this up, though? Eventually he would get caught in a lie. Eventually his luck would run out or fate would intervene and he would pass some random person on the road who would tell someone else and person by person it would get back to the club that Falcon had not been where he said he had been. So he needed to keep his lies simple and as close to the truth as possible.

He swung open the door to the clubhouse and was met with a half-f house. The normal assortment of groupies and old ladies were gathered in their corner, passing cigarettes to each other and using an old beer can as an ashtray. There were a couple of guys at the pool table and a few more sitting at the bar drinks in hand. It was quiet and subdued in the clubhouse. Men had been arrested, they had lost a lot of money, and no one was in the mood to party.

The boss's door was closed. Normally Big Chris was the gatekeeper to Ernie. He used to stand at the door and permit those the boss wanted to see through the door. But Big Chris was in jail now on some pretty hefty charges. Falcon wondered if the boss had set Big Chris and Billy up with a lawyer, or if they had been left to fend for themselves.

He hadn’t been jumped when he walked in the door and Falcon took that for a good sign. He walked past the groupies with a nod. In leaner times he might have gone over to see if there was anyone knew. But he had Grace now, and there was no groupie or old lady who could compete with her. He waved to the guys at the pool table and headed to the bar.

“Hey, Rick,” Falcon said, leaning against the chipped and stained bar. “Is the boss around? I got a call he wanted to see me.”

Rick gave Falcon a look over the tap as he poured an unasked for beer. Rick was an older man, one of the oldest in the club. He had lost a leg in an old battle against a rival gang and now he stayed at the clubhouse pouring drinks and offering advice. He had long, lanky grey hair and a nasty scar that stretched the length of his right cheek.  “He’s been behind that locked door all night,” Rick said sliding a beer to Falcon.

“Doing what?” Falcon asked picking up the cold beer and taking a grateful sip.

“Trying to get blood from a stone. He’s swearing up and down that business is going to keep going and keep making money like the raids didn’t even happen. But he lost a lot of men and a lot of merchandise in those raids. He’s trying to make the math work back there, but from the sounds I hear, it ain’t going to well.”

Falcon nodded and said, “Well, that’s why he’s the boss, right? It’s his job to figure out how to make this whole thing work.”

“Where you been, Falcon?” Rick asked after a moment of heavy silence. “Everyone was looking for you; they want whatever luck you’ve got that’s seen you escape two police raids.”

“Good thing I left, then,” Falcon said taking a heavy sip of his beer and trying to not read too much into Rick’s words. “I need all that luck; I don’t want to have to share it.”

“Fair enough,” Rick said with a nod of his head, “but that still don’t answer where you were today. There was a raid on the house, that’s an all hands on deck situation and you just disappeared. People were looking for you.”

Falcon leaned over the counter and spoke quietly as if telling a secret he didn’t want anyone else to hear. “I met this woman-”

“Ahhh, I see,” Rick said with a knowing nod.

“She wanted a ride on the bike and a ride of a different sort, if you get my meaning,” Falcon finished with a relaxed shrug.

“Who is she?” Rick asked.

“No one you know. Just another lonely housewife. I met her on the beach when I took Sophie the other day. She’s a good lay, though, I’ll give her that.” Falcon spun his lies carefully. He needed them to be as close to the truth as possible in case someone tried to call him out on it. He was reluctant to mention a woman; he didn’t want the members of the Screaming Eagles to know about Grace. But the problem was, Grace made Falcon happy, very happy and it was hard to pretend to be upset and angry at his gang’s losses when he was still so enraptured with Grace.

He wanted to be able to think about her without being worried about being caught off guard if someone interrupted his thoughts. It was good for the men to know that Falcon had a new woman. It would ease over any issues in his lies or any reactions he had that were out of the ordinary. Every man in the Screaming Eagles had lost his mind over a woman at least once before; now it was Falcon’s turn.

“Well, I’m glad someone’s having a good time. It’s been nothing but doom and gloom since the raids.”

“You’re not that worried?” Falcon asked.

“The cops raid, it’s what they do. But the Screaming Eagles will come through the other side, we always do,” Rick said with a shrug.

Not this time, Falcon thought as he drained his beer.

“Falcon!” A stern voice called over the clubhouse. It was Ernie, he was sticking his head out of his office and looked furious. “My office now!” He disappeared back into his office leaving the door open.

Falcon took a deep breath and gave Rick one last look before turning and walking to the boss’ office. He ordered himself to remain calm and to act normal. Think about Sophie, he reminded himself, do this for her, be good, for her.

He reached the open door that led to Ernie’s tiny office.

“Close the door behind you, Falcon,” Ernie said and, closing his eyes for a brief prayer, Falcon closed the door and was alone with his boss.