AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“As I was leaving, I looked back and she let in a member of Satan’s Animals. Big sonovabitch.”
His eyes wander away for a moment. “Probably Cody, their enforcer.”
“Whatever, doesn’t matter. Point is, she’s in bed with the enemy. She’s a goddamn spy, Wolf. Or was, anyway. Don’t worry, I didn’t divulge any MC secrets.” I go back to rubbing my face. “Just a bunch of my own.”
Wolf chews on the facts a minute while rubbing his gray beard. “You said you talked all night?”
“Yup.”
“But never once did she bring up the club?”
I eye him with suspicion. “No…”
“And you say it felt different than with other girls.”
“Yeah, but—”
“And the fella you saw enter her house, this guy was big?”
“Sure,” I say. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
Wolf suddenly looks serious. “This girl isn’t in bed with Satan’s Animals, Ajax. She’s in trouble with them.”
I shake my head. “I don’t follow you.”
“Didn’t I teach you to use your head? Not that we’d ever, but imagine if DRH sent a spy into SA territory. A pretty young thing to seduce one of their members. Who do you suppose we would appoint as her contact? Would it be Braddock, our enforcer?”
“No,” I reply, “we’d only use him if…” I lift my head as the realization sweeps over me, breaking through the cloud of my hangover. “If we wanted to scare her.”
Wolf nods. “She didn’t volunteer to become a spy, and after chatting with her myself, I’m inclined to believe your night together meant something to her, too.”
Rage mixes with the alcohol in my belly to make me queazy. As I stand, I feel it threatening to rise. “I’ve got to see her.”
“I know,” says Wolf, already halfway to my kitchen. He returns with my loaf of bread. He pulls out a couple slices from the bag and tosses them at me. “Put something solid in the tank first.”
“Smart thinking,” I say, stuffing my mouth. “Guess that’s why you’re the chaplain.”
“Here I thought it was just ‘cuz I’m gray.”
The bread calms my stomach, which allows me to focus, the first bit of concentration I’ve had since I crawled into my cave to lick my wounds. It closes in around Claire, forces out all the doubts and second guesses and old ways of thinking. I realize I need Claire in my life, she’s the missing piece of my future, the maturation from playboy to partner.
I pull up to her house and march up to the front door. Before I knock, it swings open and she stands before me, a look of distress on her face. “First off, I’m sorry,” I start. “I shouldn’t have gone radio silent on you.”
Her eyes nervously survey the block before she grabs my arm and pulls me inside. As soon as the door shuts behind her, she says, “You shouldn’t have come.”
Taken aback momentarily, I launch into my apology again. “Claire, I’m sorry for ghosting you. It’s because I misunderstood something that I saw when I left. I turned back at the corner and spied a member of Satan’s Animals coming in here.” She looks terrified. “Listen, I know they sent you to gather intel.” She glances nervously to her window. I wrap my hands around her shoulders. “But look, I also know they made you do it. That you have no loyalty for them. I also know,” I place one hand against her face, feel the soft skin of her cheek, “that what happened that night was real, despite the false pretense of our meeting.”
“Ajax…” she whispers, her voice tremulous.
“What is it?” I ask.
“This is a trap.” She blanches as she tells me.
“What do you mean?”
With more urgency, she explains, “They’ve been watching my house, waiting for you to show up. They didn’t trust me as a spy, so they figured they would use me as bait. They want revenge for some beating your president gave one of their guys, I don’t know the whole story, but—Ajax. They’re coming to kill you.”
Just then I notice silhouettes through the drapes, men stalking around the perimeter of the house. They’re surrounding it. I look back into Claire’s eyes, welling with fear. “We’re getting out of here,” I assure her. “Do you have a gun stashed anywhere?”
