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PROLOGUE
Armor
Five Months Ago . . .
“Man, if I get in trouble because of your ass, I might just beat the livin’ shit outta you. Your club doesn’t know a thing about this, but Inc does?” Hammer chastises me as he sits in the passenger seat of my truck.
The club doesn’t know about this because it isn’t their business. “This is personal, man. I told you that. The club doesn’t need to know about it because it’s my business.”
Hammer leans back in his seat and raises both of his brows as I drive. “The club knows about everyone’s business, brother. Doesn’t matter if it’s personal or not. You know as well as I do that when we’re in a club, they’re our family, and our families are notorious for not keeping their noses in their own shit. They’re too busy focusing on everyone else’s.” Hammer isn’t wrong, but I understand Zane runs things a bit differently up in Montana.
Hammer here isn’t part of the Satan’s Raiders MC. He’s part of the Reapers Rejects MC, but since the Reapers Rejects has Inc as their regent, we have Hammer as ours. The goal with regency is to offer a bit of security in our alliance, but it’s also collateral. If one person was to betray us from the Reapers Rejects, we’d have an instant hostage, plus Hammer’s family if it came to that. Now, I don’t think it ever would, considering my president’s sister is married to the president of the Reapers Rejects MC.
“We’re not like that. Everyone has secrets. I can guarantee it. We know about some but not about others. For example, it was a huge secret Inc had been with Zane and Octavia after they were married, and even though their secret saw the light of day, it was still a secret for a period of time. My point is, everyone has something they’re hiding. Every single one of us,” I tell Hammer, hoping he’ll see why I’m so particular about not telling the club. The truth is, Inc was one of the few people who knew about what I do on the side, and when Inc left Los Angeles, it left me doing this by myself. Now, I have a pretty good reputation with my contacts, but that doesn’t mean something might not go wrong. It’s always better to operate on the side of caution, which is why Inc pulled Hammer in on this. He didn’t want me to go out and continue to do this by myself. I was irritated at first because he didn’t even ask me about it, but Inc is a true friend. One who actually gives a damn about my well-being.
“Yep, and I’m here tellin’ you that one way or another, this little thing you got goin’ on is gonna see that light of day, just like everythin’ else. People can’t keep secrets for long, brother. It always comes out, and I hope for your sake Breaker doesn’t condemn you for it. You’re all in enough hot water right now as it is.” We’re only in hot water because there’s a fucking rat amongst our ranks or close to us. Once we find out who it is, our club won’t be so torn apart. But until then, I have to keep helping these kids. I can’t just let them get sold to people who want to turn them into sex slaves or traffic them to other countries. Most of the kids being sold aren’t even American ones. Fuck, these bastards have packages called ‘all you can eat’, which means you get one child from every country they’ve pulled from that week. It’s disgusting and downright immoral.
“When it does, I’ll deal with the consequences. Now, the bus is in downtown LA right now, yeah?”
Hammer nods beside me as he picks up his phone. “It should be here within the hour. We’ll get your deal solidified, and then we’ll get them on the bus.” I made a deal with Zane, with Inc’s help, to get these kids up to Billings. Montana is a decent place to begin with, but all I’ve ever wanted is to make sure these kids are going to a safe place. The Reapers Rejects have their own reputation when it comes to taking in people who need a safe place to rest their heads. They’re saints in my book, especially for helping me get these kids off the streets and out of devious people’s hands.
My deal with Zane is that I pay for the kids, get them sent up to Montana, and he makes sure they have a roof over their heads and anything they might need. Eventually, if it’s safe to reunite them with their parents or even next of kin, he will. In some cases, it isn’t safe for the children to go back to where they came from. In those cases, the Reapers Rejects work with some of their contacts, usually mafia affiliates who have politicians and government workers in their pockets, to get birth certificates for the children. This way, they’re always safe with the Reapers Rejects.
“Good. We need everything ready for them,” I comment.
This is Hammer’s first time assisting me with purchasing the children, and I’m certain he’s going to learn a lot more about what I do and why I do it when he sees these children.
“Yeah, everything’s good, man. Now, I gotta ask you somethin’.”
I glance over at Hammer for a split second before averting my gaze back to the road. “Shoot.”
“How is it you do this? I mean, you have to pay for them somehow. It’s not like these people let you walk away with these kids.”
He’s right. I don’t just walk away without giving them something. “I might not look like it, given the tattoos and the rugged look, but I’m a trust fund baby. I have millions and millions of dollars I’ll never use. Honestly, I think it’s all bullshit. My father made money from good ol’ American capitalism, as did his father and his father before him. This money I have is made from the sweat, blood, and tears of hardworking American people . . . and I want to do something good with it. So, I’ve made it my mission to bring down people who orchestrate things such as this. I’m slowly getting closer to developing a good relationship with the man I buy from, and after my orders increase over time, I’ll have a reputation. That’s what I want. I want a way to get closer to the top, closer to the head of this beast, so I can personally remove it from its body.”
“Shit, you’re a dark son of a bitch. Now I know why Inc was good friends with you.” I laugh at Hammer’s comment, and the GPS informs me my turn is coming up, so I pay attention to the map and follow the rest of the directions.
Otis is my contact, and we never meet in the same place. The first couple of times, we did, but after that, we didn’t. My guess is he was suspicious I might’ve been an undercover cop, so he was testing me.
I pull into the abandoned parking lot, and sure enough, I spot another car in the lot. The sun’s just set, and I flash my lights twice at the other car, which then flashes its lights at me in return. We both shut off our vehicles, and Hammer gets out of his side while I get out on mine. I walk toward the middle, and Otis looks at Hammer and then at me.
“Otis, it’s good to see you again. This is my business associate, Calvin. I hope you don’t mind I’ve brought him here. He’s looking to see if he can get in on this as a partner with me. It means my orders will be increasing, so I hope that won’t be a problem.”
Otis’ eyes nearly pop out of his head. “Problem? No, sir. No problem at all. What’re you looking for right now?”
“Depends on what you have in stock,” I comment and pull a cigarette out of my pocket. I wait for Otis to speak and light it, and just as I’m taking my first inhale, he finally speaks up.
“I got a little bit of everything. Chinese, Czech, Russian, what suits your fancy?”
I look at Hammer for a minute and then look back over to Otis. “Gimme ten Russians, ten Chinese, and five Czech.” From the way Otis’ expression is shifting, I can tell he likes what I’m saying.
“All right. When do you want to pick them up?”
“I have transportation here tonight, so tonight.”
“Certainly. I can do that. Can you give me two hours to get everything ready and verify the payment?”
“You won’t need time to verify the payment, Otis. Just tell me how much it is for all of them, and I’m hoping you’re gonna give me some sort of discount since I’m taking twenty-five mouths to feed off your hands.”
