Dingo
Knowing that Mei was safely hidden away at Grizzly’s house gave me the freedom to handle a few things. Namely, the social worker in charge of Mei’s case. I was saving the foster parents for Blades, unless we couldn’t get him out of prison. Then I’d handle those fuckers too. But first, I needed to have a conversation with Miss Demoira Humes. I double-checked the information Outlaw had given me before knocking on the door. The kids’ toys in the front yard didn’t bode well. I’d never been the kind of man to take a kids’ parent away from them, not knowingly at any rate. I didn’t doubt that some of the men I’d help bury had left behind women and kids. Then again, their families were probably better off without them. This time was different, though.
A woman who appeared to be in her forties answered the door, a flour-dusted apron tied around her neck and waist. She smiled before her gaze landed on my cut, then I watched as the blood drained from her face. Yeah, bitch. Time to pay the piper.
“You can either let me in, or I can come back at a more convenient time. Like, maybe when you’re sleeping?” I asked.
She stepped back and let me into the house. More signs of children were scattered around the living room, and I heard giggling from down the hallway. So there were kids in the house. Hers? Or was she fostering? Even more important, were they safe with a woman who sold out countless young girls?
“What do you want?” she asked, fisting her apron. “I’ve never done anything to your club.”
“Now that’s where you’re wrong.” I pulled out a photocopy of Mei’s original birth certificate and held it up for her to see. “Recognize this?”
She whimpered and her lower lip trembled. Good. Bitch needed to be scared right now. She pointed to it with a shaking hand. “Where did you get that? Judge Proctor got rid of it.”
“So, you have seen it before. We’ll get to the judge in a moment because that’s a story I need to hear. For right now, I want you to understand that there’s no escape from what you’ve done. The man listed on this birth certificate is none other than Robert Young, or as we call him, Blades.”
She slumped against the wall at her back. “I didn’t know he was part of your club. I didn’t… I…” She audibly swallowed. “The judge said the father wouldn’t be a problem.”
“And the mother? Did he say anything about Xi-wang Chen?” I asked. We still hadn’t determined what happened to her, and that bothered me a fucking lot. I wanted to tell Mei that her mother was fine, or at least give her some sort of closure. The more Outlaw discovered about this fucked-up mess, I knew it wasn’t likely that Xi-wang was still alive. “What did he do to her?”
“You have to understand. I was fresh out of school, and Meiling was one of my first cases. Judge Proctor was a powerful man. Still is. He made it clear that I’d pay the price if I didn’t follow along.”
“I need to know everything. Start at the beginning and work up to the point where Beau Stevens found her being whored out at the Ruby Slipper.” Her eyes went wide. “Yeah. I’m guessing Beau was one of yours too. He’s been far out of your reach for a while, though, hasn’t he?”
She tugged up the sleeve of her shirt and showed me some deep burn marks. The kind that looked like they came from a blowtorch, or something equally hot. “This is what happened when Beau ran off and I couldn’t find him.”
“And you didn’t call the police? Report the judge and anyone else involved? Why? Because you were in too deep by then?” I asked.
“The judge owns this town and everyone in it. Well, anyone on the legal side of things. The District Attorney is his golfing partner. The Chief of Police has dinner with him every Sunday night. There isn’t a single place I could have gone.” She sighed and motioned to the living room. “Have a seat. I’ll tell you what I know, but I need a promise from you.”
“Do you really think you’re in a position to make ultimatums?”
“I have some kids here who will need homes. Part of my silence was paid for by the right to keep them safe in my home. They’re different. I don’t like the word disabled or retarded, even though some would call them that, but my children are special. I needed to ensure they didn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
I hated it when the bad guys decided they had a heart. It fucked with my head. “Fine. I’ll make sure the kids are taken care of if the need should arise.”
“Meiling wasn’t the first, nor was she the last. I was paid to look the other way and make sure she ended up in a certain home. Same for Beau Stevens.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “I’ve been haunted every night of my life by what might be happening to those kids.”
I pulled out my phone and accessed the video Outlaw had sent me. I still couldn’t watch the damn thing, but I started it and made sure the bitch watched every second. She was sobbing by the time it ended, and I was back to wanting to murder every fucker who’d ever hurt my wife. Not that the need for bloodshed had ever truly died down.
“That’s just a small taste of what Mei suffered because of you and every other fucking asshole who put her with that family. I’m not here to ease your conscience, Miss Humes. I’m here to make you pay.” I hope she could tell I’d rather spit on her than show her any respect. I put my phone away. “It was your fucking job to protect her, protect Beau, and all the other kids you fucked over because you were scared. Be thankful I’m the one on your doorstep. If Blades were here, you’d be begging for your life, and he wouldn’t give a shit there were children nearby.”
“He’s in prison,” she whispered.
I just smiled because I knew it wouldn’t be long now before that wasn’t the case. Outlaw had assured me that several pieces were already falling into place. Either by tonight or tomorrow morning, Blades would be back home where he belonged. And this town, this fucked-up shithole, might very well burn to the Goddamn ground before he was done getting vengeance for his daughter, and I had a feeling for the woman he’d loved.
“Xi-wang. What happened to her?” I asked.
“I was told not to ask, and I didn’t. Not exactly.” She looked at me with haunted eyes. “She was young. Beautiful. And Chinese. It’s the non-white girls that are in the highest demand for the prostitution and pornography. He has a special clientele.”
“So she ended up having the same fate as her daughter?” I asked, needing her to be as clear as possible. If there was a chance Xi-wang was still alive, we would find her and bring her home.
“She was sold. To a brothel.”
I waited, knowing she would give me more, if she knew it. And something told me if she’d learned that much, she’d have kept going.
“She’s not the same Xi-wang Mr. Young knew, and she never will be.”
“But she’s alive.”
Humes -- because I refused to even think of her as Miss Humes - nodded. “If you can call it living. They stole her soul, wiped out every trace of who she once was, and now she’s just a shell. I’ve been to see her a few times. Not that I ever approached, but I observed from a distance.”
“She’s a bit old to be a whore, isn’t she?” I asked, not meaning in a cruel way, but I knew the younger they were the better in that type of work. If men wanted to fuck a forty- or fifty-year-old woman, they’d just stick with their wives. It was the thrill of being with someone younger that they couldn’t land on their own, without having to pay for the privilege. The younger the girls, the more they were willing to spend.
“She trains the new girls. She’s a den mother of sorts, I suppose. Can’t think of what else to call her. They used her up, but kept her for whatever reason. Usually, when the girls are done, they’re shipped off elsewhere or just tossed in a shallow grave.”
“And knowing this you could still be a part of all that nastiness? If Mei hadn’t come to us, that would have been her fate.”
“I felt like I didn’t have a choice,” she whispered. “What are you going to do now?”
“I want the names and locations of every kid you fucked over. If they aren’t alive anymore, you still give me what you have. Then you have twenty-four hours to make things right.”
“The kids…” She glanced toward the hall. “They can’t go into foster care. Not here.”
“I’ll make a call. Have them packed and ready. Someone will take them to a safe location and see that they’re placed with people who will give a shit about them. Raise them as their own, and keep the fucked-up people like you far away from them.”
“What happens if I come to your gates?” she asked. “After the kids are… gone.”
“If Blades is back, then I’d say I hope you have a high threshold for pain and can withstand days of torture. And if he’s not… I won’t be much kinder, Humes. I don’t give a fuck why you did what you did. The fact remains that Mei and countless others paid the price.”
She nodded and stood. “Then I guess I have some things to get in order. And for whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t worth shit, and she damn well knew it. If she showed at the gates, I had no doubt she’d receive the type of welcome she deserved. But if she were smart, she’d turn herself in to the police. Not that it would keep her out of our reach. I stepped out of her house and called Outlaw. I didn’t think Grizzly would take on any more kids, but that didn’t mean some of the other clubs wouldn’t be willing. I didn’t know how many were here, but it didn’t matter. We’d make sure they were safe one way or another.
After I ended my call, I got on my bike and drove to the end of the street. I could go back, check on Mei, and let someone else handle the rest. I could, but I wouldn’t. I also knew that I wasn’t getting my hands on Proctor without some help. I shot off a text to Steel, knowing he’d respond.
Meet me on Holly Grove Lane. Judge Proctor is neck deep in this shit.
It didn’t take long for an answer. I’m coming. So are the others.
I didn’t know which others were coming with him, and I didn’t care. As long as we got to Proctor, and managed to get him into our special room, that’s all that mattered. The how didn’t mean shit to me. I rode over to the affluent part of town and stopped at the end of the judge’s street. The homes were large and beautiful. It looked like the perfect place to raise a family. Little did they know that a monster was on their street. Their kids weren’t safe. None of them were. If a man could sell out children he was sworn to protect, what else would he be willing to do for the right amount of money?
I heard the pipes of my brothers’ bikes long before they arrived. Steel, Wolf, Demon, and Dragon looked every bit as pissed as I felt. I gave them a nod and we approached the judge’s home. I didn’t think for a moment we’d have the element of surprise. The moment I walked into Demoira Humes’ house, someone would have alerted the judge. It was clear she hadn’t liked her part in things, and a man like Judge Proctor would have kept eyes on her, made sure she toed the line.
We coasted into the long driveway and stopped near the front steps of the opulent mansion. It seemed kiddie porn and prostitution paid well. Not surprising considering how many fucked-up individuals there were in the world. Hell, even what they called horror movies these days raked in the cash, the more grisly the better. To me, a scary movie should be like the old eighties slasher flicks, or a good haunting. Not that hacking up people crap that seemed so popular now.
Although, I’d seen enough of them to have a few ideas for the dear judge.
He opened the door before we even made it up the steps. He sneered as his gaze swept over our cuts, but the fact he wore a suit probably worth a grand or more didn’t make him better than us. What he did behind his closed doors made him far worse than any man in our club. Even Blades was a fucking saint compared to this asshole.
“Time to pay up, Judge,” I said as I went toe to toe with him.
“You honestly think your pathetic little club can take me down? Do you know how many people I have in my pocket in this town?”
My phone chimed and I checked it, smiling when I saw Outlaw’s message. “Well, Your Honor, as of about thirty seconds ago, I’d say none.”
I turned my phone so he could see the screen.
Chief of Police, half the officers, the District Attorney, and anyone else aside from Mei’s foster family and the judge are done. The Feds were just leaked videos of every last one of them in compromising situations with minors.
“Sorry, Judge Proctor, but your days of running this place are over. And all those kids are going to have a chance at a decent life.”
“You think you know it all?” He laughed. “You know nothing!”
His words made me pause, and I had to wonder if he was bluffing, or if there was something more going on. Did this go even deeper than the judge and his friends? Did it expand beyond our town and county? He might think he wouldn’t talk, but he would. They always did. Anything to have the hope they’d escape the fate that awaited them.
“Take him,” I said. “We’ll make him talk at the compound.”
Steel and Demon grabbed him, hauling him away as he screamed like a little bitch. A few housewives peeked out their front windows, but they disappeared just as fast. One look at us and they decided maybe their neighbor wasn’t worth the trouble. If they knew what sort of man he was, they wouldn’t care what happened to him.
Wolf hung back. “So you’re married to Blades’ daughter.”
“Yep. It would seem that way.” I cracked my neck. “Badger’s with Adalia. Guess we’re keeping it all in the family, so to speak. But if I have any daughters, none of you fuckers get any ideas.”
Wolf burst out laughing and walked off. Yeah, the fucker might find it funny right now, but since we all seemed to fall for younger women, it was possible someone I considered a brother would end up with my kid. Wasn’t too sure how I felt about that, but Blades and Grizzly seemed okay with it. Sort of. Might be one of those “keep your enemies close” situations. They knew exactly where to find us if we fucked up.
I got on my bike and hauled ass back to the compound. I had every intention of pulling whatever I could from the judge before ending his life. It just didn’t occur to me that someone else would step in. Should have known when we put out the call for help that a bunch of nosy fuckers would show up.
I eyed Havoc. “Where’s my sister?”
The Sergeant-at-Arms for the Devil’s Boneyard just smiled, which made my stomach drop. He brought her here? My psycho fucking sister? Shit. If she’d met Mei already, I hoped she decided to play nice. My sweet wife still had a ways to go before she was even half the spitfire Jordan was. My gaze strayed from Havoc to the others. He’d brought Magnus and Phantom with him. And the Dixie Reapers had sent Wraith, Tempest, and Grimm.
“Is this a fucking party or something?” I asked. “Anyone else coming to join us? You act like we’re taking down the entire damn state.”
“Maybe you are,” said a voice behind me. I turned and groaned.
“Kraken. And who came with you?” I asked.
“Ratchet and Stone.”
I hoped Havoc and Jordan didn’t plan on staying at my place. Shit. Had they brought my niece with them? No fucking way I could deal with that hellion right now. I loved Lanie, but that kid was something else.
“Relax,” said Havoc. “We were originally coming to meet your wife and see if you needed anything, but now we’re here for another reason.”
What the hell other reason could there be? My sister stepped out of the clubhouse and ran for me, throwing herself into my arms. It would serve her right if I dropped her on her ass.
“Hey, Jordan. This is an unexpected surprise.”
She hugged me tighter. “Where are the kids?”
What… Oh. “You want to adopt one of the kids the social worker had?”
“Well, one of those or one from the home your wife lived at. We aren’t picky,” said Jordan.
“Any of them would be lucky to have you as their mom, Sis. I’m sure the kids will be rounded up and brought here soon. For now, why don’t I introduce you to Mei?” I asked.
“She already met her,” Havoc said. “Your wife looked a little overwhelmed, so she went home, and I made Jordan leave her in peace.”
“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have someone to gut.” I tried to step around them, but Havoc placed a hand in the middle of my chest.
“Not to tell you what to do on your own turf, but you’re not going down there.”
“Why the fuck not?” I asked.
“Because Blades is home.” Grizzly stepped out of the shadows. “He needs this one, Dingo. She’s his little girl. I need you to step back. Take care of Mei, help with the kids, whatever. But you leave Blades to handle the cleanup.”
I stared at him, then the clubhouse. I didn’t like it, but he had a point. If Blades was home, then he had a right to take care of his daughter in whatever way he saw fit. I gave a nod and got on my bike, going straight home. If that’s where Mei was, then that’s where I wanted to be.