Jake ‘Fish’ Lenard and the General, Rick Tang, made it to the compound in the early hours of the morning. Both men had been exhausted and slept at the Ops Warriors clubhouse. Early the next morning, Fish was woken by yelling from somewhere in the clubhouse, and he groaned and stood up. Shit, he was only forty-nine, but right now, he felt like he was a hundred, everything hurt. Monk, one of his investigators and Harmony’s godfather, was going to be here in a few days. He had been the one who helped them dig out the information they needed.
Their ride had been fast and hard, both men trying to make it back to the Ops compound to tell them the intel they discovered about Shady’s mother. The woman was a complete cunt, and Fish was more than ready to bring that bitch down. Monk had stayed behind to see if they could get more information. They had been able to find her location, but couldn’t get to her, or they would have killed the bitch. Of course, she had connections that helped protect her in the US.
Since getting out of the military a million years ago, Fish had used his GI Bill and gone back to college; he had a child to think about, Harmony. Her mother had decided right after she was born she wasn’t mother material. Which left a young Fish to take care of a baby. If the Ops hadn't helped him, it would have been so much worse, he thought. Their support got him through. He thanked God every day for giving him the Ops Warriors when he got out of the service. Creed’s father, Limbo, had invited him to Nevada to check out their club, and Fish had never looked back.
Raising Harmony had been the only thing that was important to him. He’d promised himself that no matter what his daughter would never feel abandoned by her mother, even if she technically was. But he didn’t want that for her, and the men of Ops helped him do that. Their women stepped up and helped him with all those little girly things Fish had no idea how to do. But still, Harmony grew up to be a badass tomboy anyway. He had known she had a crush on Creed and Fork, but when the men claimed her, he was leery. No one was good enough for her, no one. But as time wore on, both men proved they were committed to his little girl, and damned if that hadn’t made him feel better. Now, she was pregnant, and there was no fucking way he was going to miss out on being a grandfather, none.
Fish moved to the bathroom in his room and turned on the water; he needed to get outside and figure out what the ruckus was all about. Fish applied and got his license to practice law in Cali, his job here was to keep these guys out of jail, which at times would prove difficult.
The General and he had become good friends while on the road, doing the surveillance. Both men were protecting their kids and damned if they were going to let some woman do a damned thing to Shady, he and the General considered all the Lady Riders as their kids.
He looked in the mirror, his black hair peppered with gray, his gray eyes still sharp, and damned if the last few months hadn’t gotten him back into shape. Working as the DA in their town, Fish was used to sitting most of the day. He rode of course, but his stomach had gotten a little pouch according to his daughter. Since hearing her say that, Fish decided it was time to get back into shape, hell, he wasn’t totally over the hill, but he was acting like it. Since then he had lost the pouch, and he was back to his tall, muscular build. Harmony laughed and said he didn’t look like a dad anymore; he was a hottie. Fish didn’t know about that, but he felt better.
During their time together, the General and Fish had both talked about how they felt like maybe they were just too old to be doing this shit, but honestly, Fish knew he had a lot of miles left in him. He pulled out his jeans and Harley shirt, put them on, then pulled on his boots and walked out of his room.
“You are going to need to make the call, brother,” Fish heard Creed say. “All I know is, that if that bitch thinks she is going to get away with this, she is so fucking wrong.”
“I still don’t get how the fuck she could have found out about Dani,” Jack-Jack yelled, and Fish stepped into the doorway. The whole club was there, including the Lady Riders who looked like they could spit nails.
“Daddy!” Harmony called and moved quickly to him. He looked down at her belly, and he grinned.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Fish said gruffly, and then he saw the rest of the women had followed. Fish hugged them one by one until he got to Shady who was holding back like always. “Get your ass over here, girl!” he said, and she shook her head and grinned.
“You know I missed you,” Shady whispered, and Fish hugged her close. Shay needed a father more than any other girl in the club, and Fish had taken the role over without flinching. He pulled back and looked at her belly; it was bigger than Harmony’s and Freedom’s. He raised an eyebrow.
“Those assholes treating my girl right? Looks like you’re gonna gimme a grandbaby before Harmony or Free,” Fish said, and Shay grinned and kissed his cheek.
“They are doing okay, but you know men.”
Fish frowned and then looked up and saw Cajun and Slider frowning. He pointed at them and snapped, “We need to talk.”
Cajun pointed at Slider and said, “His fault.”
Shady rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Fish, my men are dipshits on a good day. Also, I would love to sit down with you and catch up, but we are kinda in the middle of something.”
Fish nodded and looked at Creed then said, “I heard the ruckus, what is going on? Who are we talking about? The General and I know about the woman who was dumped.”
Creed sighed and ran a hand across the back of his neck, and then he said, “It was Dani.”
Fish nodded and said, “Who is that?”
Fork said slowly, “Dani was an operator for our team when we were in the military. No one could have known she was connected to us unless they had somehow broken into military top secret files. Angela Reyes was sending us a message that she can get to anyone we care about.”
“How close were you to Dani?” Fish asked, wondering what was going on. He saw Jack-Jack and Slick shift. “What?”
Slick grimaced. “There was a time that Jack-Jack and I wanted to claim her. She wanted to remain in the military, make a career out of it, and so we let her go.”
Fish nodded and said, “Ahhh.”
“Regardless, we are going to need to find her sister,” Creed said, and Fork nodded.
“Yeah, that is not going to be pretty, if I remember correctly she was a bit of a ball buster.”
Creed sighed. “She was protective of Dani; never met her, only heard stories.”
Jack-Jack coughed. “We met her and trust me, ball buster is being nice. But she cared about her sister.”
“I will call her,” Slick said and pulled out his phone. Everyone was silent as they watched him push in numbers.
“Oh, he still has her digits…” Boo whispered, and the women all nodded.
“I think there is more to the story there…” Freedom said and then Rain leaned around.
“You know, I remember when they got back, Jack-Jack and Slick were both broken up about a woman, took them forever to even approach another one.”
Fish rolled his eyes, God, he missed this gossiping bullshit the women did. He used to laugh and tease them about how in the hell they learned some of the shit they did know. They were good at spying, and Fish knew that. Since she was young, Harmony always listened in when she wasn’t supposed to.
“Dammit, Gypsy, I am trying to tell you something,” Slick yelled, and they all stopped and stared.
Fish waited with the rest of them as Slick talked quietly into the phone, and when he finally hung up, Jack-Jack moved closer, and Slick whispered something. Jack-Jack barked in surprise, “What the fuck are they doing here?”
Slick looked around the room, and then he said, “Boony?”
Boony nodded and said, “Yep, whatcha need, my man.”
“Did you send someone to help the Furies?” Slick asked, and Boony grinned and nodded.
“Hell yeah I did, I sent Shadow. Shit, he smokes more pot than I do, but he is hell on wheels with a computer.”
Slick looked up at the ceiling. “Do you know who the fuck he is associated with?”
Boony frowned and said, “No club if that’s what you are asking.”
Slick shook his head before he said, “Seriously? Did you not do a check on him?”
Boony shrugged, and he said, “Hey, I abided by the code of a hacker. I made sure there was no heat that would come down on the Furies. Shadow is solid, has a fucking higher clearance than everyone in this room.”
“Really?” Slick asked. “Really? ‘Cause he has that clearance because of who he worked with dammit.”
Boony frowned. “Who is that?”
Slick sighed and looked at Creed and Fork. “He is the mascot of the Satan’s Sisters.”
Shady laughed loudly, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Who are the Satan’s Sisters? And why the hell would anyone call themselves that?” Harmony snapped and put her hands on her hips. “I mean, we called ourselves the Lady Riders, that is like classy, and not psychotic at all.”
Creed ran a hand down his face and looked at his woman. “Harm, come on.”
“What? I’m just saying; they were somehow involved in helping the Furies, why the hell would you trust them, that name alone is a reason to decline their help. What do they do? Cut the heads off live chickens as a sacrifice. I, for one, am not going to deal with this crazy shit,” Harmony yelled, and she grabbed her stomach. “Damn, I need nachos.”
“Dani is the sister of a Satan’s Sisters,” Slick announced, and Harmony froze from reaching for her purse.
“What?” Harmony whispered and then looked at her men who shifted uncomfortably. “Did you know this?”
Fork nodded slowly and said, “Dani was our operative.”
“With connections to a psycho bitch club? Do we not have enough fucking crazy going on right now? Hell, we have Angela who wants to kidnap Jas and kill Shady, we have Rebel who is lovely but her family is on their way here right now, and they call themselves the Blood Eagles. Do you know what that is? I do, I looked it up on the net, it was used only two times in history, at the time of the Vikings. They cut down between your ribs until they can grab your lungs, they pull them through and flop them on the person's back and wait while they die. Seriously, this is not a normal name; we are the Ops Warriors and the Lady Riders, there is no raping and pillaging associated with our name, there is no Satan and shit. Come on, what the fuck people, we seriously need to have a discussion about what is allowable and what is not. Dad? Can you take me to the 7-11 to get nachos, please? I really need them right now,” Harmony said and glared at her two men. Fish just smiled and shook his head, yeah, he didn’t need to be involved in this.
“Hey,” Shady said, grabbing her purse and slinging it over her shoulder. “I am coming as well. Let the men figure this out, they got themselves into this mess.”
Creed growled and said, “Woman, do not—”
Shady turned quickly, and all the Lady Riders sucked in a breath and reached out to make sure they steadied her. “Excuse me?”
Creed glared at her and said, “Shay, listen, Dani…”
Shady shook her head. “I know she meant something to you; I am not arguing that. But Harmony is right, we have a lot of shit going down right now, and I don’t think we can take on more.”
“Even if your mother is the one responsible?” Slick fired back, and Shady jerked like she had been struck.
“And there it is,” Shady said softly and turned to look at Fish. “Please take me with you?”
Fish nodded slowly; they needed to diffuse the situation. There was no way this was healthy, the stress in the club was palatable. “Come on, honey,” he whispered, and she held her head up and moved. The rest of the Lady Riders followed them as Creed swore and yelled for them to stop. Fuck, this was not going to end well for him, Fish thought. He turned and looked and saw all the Lady Riders with their fingers in the air, flipping their men off. Shiiiitttt, he thought and looked at Creed who gave him a head nod, well it was something.