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It took a hefty tug for me to slide the heavy material on its track. After I had opened it all the way, I took a step back. I had seen a whole lot of violence and crazy, but nothing even came close to this. It was a full minute before my brain could make sense of what my eyes were seeing.
“Are you serious, man?” I looked at Kai like I had seen him for the first time. “I mean dark is dark, I get it. But this is possibly the most bizarre shit I have ever seen in my life.”
“Crazy huh?” Kai looked around the room like a proud pappa. “Derringer set this up himself. Big shoes to fill and I don’t always have the stomach for it that my grandad did, but some information takes longer to extract than others. If you’re gonna be here for a while the amenities help. But I get the contrast, man. Sometimes, I wonder what it says about me that it don’t bother me as much as it should.”
The contrast came between a living room type set up… complete with a well-worn Cordova leather couch, fifty-two-inch flat screen, Keurig coffee maker, brand new microwave, apartment-sized fridge, and a full set of weights.
Juxtaposed with…a veritable torture chamber.
Principe Sievas was hanging from what looked like a meat hook in the middle of the portion of the room that was filled with all kinds of things that made even my skin crawl. I think that was him anyway, but honestly it was hard to tell what the thing was hanging in the middle of the room.
I volleyed awhat the fucklook between Jet and Kai. Jet shrugged and Kai grinned. Then Kai made a low bow like an evil Houdini announcing his next trick. “May I present for your viewing pleasure…the one the only Principe Sievas!” Then Kai did a high kick that landed a blow and got Sievas spinning like a top.
There wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t covered in purple bruising, the features on his face were indistinguishable. If possible, he looked worse than in the pictures Jet had shown me except now I noticed that he seemed to be hooked up to a whole bunch of shit…wires were coming out of everywhere.
“He looks dead.”
In answer, Kai lifted his chin to a piece of machinery. It had an IV and a digital display monitoring what I assumed to be vital signs. I turned to Jet and raised an eyebrow.
“Told ya we would keep the motherfucker alive for you.”
We all looked over as another machine began to beep. Kai moved the dial to the right and Sievas’s body started to jerk around like a broken marionette.
“Fucker’s heart keeps giving out, next time I’m afraid I won’t be able to bring him back.” Kai cupped his hand over the end of his smoke and lit it. Then he inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as if relaxing after having a very long workday.
“Step into my office, boys.” Kai lifted his chin to the corner of the room, and we followed him to a table where a collection of razor-edged knives were laid out on a black velvet cloth. Next to it sat a small tin cup filled with a bloody soup of what looked like…teeth?
“Impressive.” I looked over the shiny, sharply honed knives with interest.
“Beautiful, ain’t they?” Kai picked up a particularly wicked-looking knife. “This was my grandad’s favorite. It’s a Jagdkommando Integral Tri-Dagger Fixed Blade—the most lethal blade on the market. Be my guest, but probably, in this case, it’d be overkill…”
I looked the wicked steel razors over carefully, inspecting each blade one by one. I had imagined this moment a million times in my mind. I waited for the thrill of the kill to find me. But Kai had done his job too well and finishing off the slab of man meat that hung stabbed, skinned, bloodied, and broken just a few feet from me was just too easy and I felt cheated. I pulled the nine-millimeter from the waistband of my pants and put a bullet in the fucker’s throat, then I walked away.
That night I partied hard with the Saints. It was a good time and I felt free for the first time since Rudy died. I thought about calling Liddy, but I didn’t. I didn’t because I’m a man and as a man, I was real good at compartmentalizing. The thing between me and Liddy belonged in another world, she belonged to a part of me that was not a part ofthis. And I know that she wanted to keep it that way. I didn’t like that too much, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work that way for long. But, thinking about Principe Sievas and that bizarre shit with Kai I was okay with keeping Liddy as insulated as possible. In the meantime, I had shit I needed to do.
Turns out that the whole Sievas thing was primed to set up a domino effect that would send ripples through the outlaw nation. There were things to put into motion, and my presence at the table was required. I knew I was going to have to let Liddy know that I wasn’t going to be back as soon as I had hoped to be. It wasn’t a conversation that I was looking forward to, and I was going to put it off as long as I could.
I had been waiting around the Saints clubhouse for a couple of days, and I was getting restless. It’s a feeling I knew pretty well and had experienced before when the club was about to handle heavy business. It was like being at the bottom of a roller coaster ride when you first start it’s a real slow climb. Nerve wracking slow. With every click, click, click of that car climbing those rails you know that you are getting closer to the action. Then that long pause at the very top where you enjoy the sights of the carnival below before the shit hits the fan. Then you go careening down into a shit-storm of whirls and death-defying curves and the best thing you can do is just hold on and enjoy the thrill of the ride. I wasn’t even at the click, click, click part—I was still stuck at the bottom of the first hill. So when Jet invited me over to Raine and Diego Montesalto’s place for a family cookout. I jumped at the chance.
The house was built high up on a hill, and the views were amazing. But the company was even more amazing. Claire (Raine’s sister) and Reno were there with their son, P.J. McCabe (the former head of the Saints), and his wife Juliet (who had once been married to a serial killer). Then there were the hosts, Diego and Raine (Jet’s in-laws), and their brood. They had a tribe of six girls who all had families of their own. It was like being caught in a tornado… kids everywhere, food everywhere, dogs everywhere. And there were goddamn activities. Ladder ball, horseshoes, and cornhole were out on the lawn. They set up teams for a couple of badly played touch football games where everyone cheated, everyone complained, and no one followed the rules of the game. It was a hilarious shit-show that ended up with no score and teams all shouting at each other and claiming victory at the end.
But Badminton? That they took seriously.
Go figure some shit out.
I grabbed a beer and headed out to the back deck for a smoke and five minutes of peace and quiet.
“We’re a lot.” Someone was suddenly standing next to me.
“That’s one way to put it.” I blurted out without thinking. When I turned to find that the woman was none other than the late great Prosper Worthington’s daughter and reigning matriarch of the HSMC, I almost shit myself. “No offense meant.”
Raine laughed lightly and when she did the laugh lines around her eyes deepened and her extraordinary blue eyes sparkled. She was an incredibly beautiful woman, and time had not diminished that. I didn’t know too much about her, but I knew enough to be slightly in awe.
“None taken.” She shook her head and when she did the little beaded earrings she wore danced against her neck. “You mind if I have one of those? Journey’s married to a doctor, and she likes to lecture me on healthy habits. I was never a big smoker but once in a while I like to have a cigarette. Now, I think I sneak a nicotine fix in here and there just to spite her.”
Raine closed her eyes and inhaled deep then exhaled with a smile on her face. “Ah, like a visit from an old friend. Now tell me about yourself, Kid. I know you’re Deke’s son. I’ve met him a few times. He’s a nice guy and Reno speaks highly of him. But I don’t know too much about you. Do you have a family?”
“Nope. Well, I have my dad. And I have a woman. Or at least I think I do.” I surprised myself by adding in that last part. I had never talked about my relationship with Liddy with anyone except maybe Deke. Those conversations had been pretty short and to the point with him basically telling me what an ass I was being.
