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Winona was wrapped in Boone’s arms as she sat on his lap, when her phone pinged with an incoming message. She almost didn’t bother looking at it because she was just too tired. Everyone was just finishing eating the ten pizza’s Gunner had ordered.
She dug her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the message.
Winona: You think you are so smart, don’t you, cookie maker? You got the VP in your bed, the brothers literally eating out of your hand and Gunner wrapped around your pinky finger. Well, you are not smarter than me. I will pay you back for all that you have done. I also have plans for your spoiled bitch of a sister. Your time is running out... wait for me. I’m closer than you think.
Her eyes widened, as she felt sick and began to tremble.
Boone sat up and looked down. He read the words on her phone and swore viciously.
Just then, Gunner’s phone pinged with a message. He peered down at it and growled. Then he looked over at Boone noting the look on his VP’s face.
Boone looked up at Gunner. “Dana got one too?”
Gunner nodded.
Boone tightened his arms around his woman and just held her as he passed her phone to her dad.
Gunner read the words of the message and nearly broke the phone he was so pissed. Gunner looked over at Winona and shook his head. “Baby girl, I know you don’t want this but you have to come back to the compound with us. In fact, we all need to get back there right away. You aren’t safe here tonight and I will not allow you to put your life on the line because of that bratty sister of yours. There’s safety in numbers and we have to protect you.” He got up to move away from the group to make a call.
Winona just wrapped her arms around Boone a little tighter. At least while being held by him, she felt safe.
Boone tipped her face up to his. He could read the fear there but he could also read the trust she had in him and Gunner. “I love you, I hope you know that,” he whispered
“I love you too,” she whispered back. “This has to do with Blacky doesn’t it?”
“I think we’ve only just started to understand and begin to dismantle Blacky’s empire,” was all he could say.
Winona planted her face in Boone’s chest. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled his scent and it calmed the fear inside her. She really didn’t want to go back but she knew she had to for her own safety. She couldn’t be selfish and make Gunner worry about her unnecessarily. Or divide the men he counted on for the safety of everyone.
She already felt guilty enough taking Boone away from the club. She took another deep breath and made up her mind. She would go back. She would just have to overlook Dana. She raised her head to Boone and whispered, “I guess we have to go back, huh?”
“I’m sorry baby, but it would be for the best.” Boone nodded.
“Ok, I’ll go, I won’t say anything to her, but I won’t take her shit either.”
“I’ll be there with you and she’d better not dare pull any shit with you,” he told her.
Winona snorted. “Don’t bet a dime on that, cause you’ll lose. I can’t promise I won’t punch her, but I’ll do my best to walk away rather than start anything.”
Gunner was still over in the corner talking on the phone. He forwarded the message from Winona’s phone to his then sent it to Rigger. He came back to where his daughter and the men were. “We need to go back to the compound and lock it down. We may have another traitor in our ranks and we need to find him.” He looked over at DeeDee. “This bastard is only beginning his game. He wants to destroy me for some reason and he thinks by threatening my girls that he can hurt me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes after you as well.”
DeeDee looked back at him and she paled a bit.
“Well, we aren’t going to let him get close to you or yours, boss.” Gypsy growled.
The other men there nodded in agreement.
“We might have more than one though boss,” Tramper told him. “Remember Blacky claimed he had four of his own men? Arizona was the only one we’ve found so far.”
Gunner scowled and ran his fingers through his hair. “We have to get back and find out who they are and neutralize them. I just found Winona and DeeDee and I’m not going to lose either of them. I don’t want to lose Dana either.” He moved away and sent a text message to Jett. The other man needed to know what Dana was going through. Then it would be up to him what he did. He again came back to look around at everyone. “Let’s go back to the compound and find the other three traitors. This club needs some damn peace.”
An hour and a half later, they arrived back at the compound. In the meantime, Gunner and a few of the men set up cameras wired for sound with alarms on the bakery to make sure it was safe. Someone had already burned down her bakery in Moss Bluff, he didn’t want them to do the same thing here.
The sound of the bikes arriving had Dana leaving the table in the main room and opening the door. She stood there with her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Winona and DeeDee as they got off the back of the bikes. When Gunner got closer she said, “I wasn’t sure you got my message.”
“Of course, I got your message girl. You sent it to me, didn’t you?” Gunner growled.
“There was a time when you would have come home right away, not linger for an hour before coming back to check on me,” she reminded him.
“Yeah well, things have changed. I had stuff to do before I came. I had to get your sister some security at her bakery.” Gunner glared at her.
Dana gave a harrumph but didn’t answer him. Instead, she turned her head and glared at Winona. “Rigger and Annie have been busy here too.” She now turned to DeeDee and said in a sly tone, “Why didn’t you ever tell us Blacky had a brother?”
DeeDee looked shocked and frowned. “Because he doesn’t have a brother anymore, he died way back when.”
Gunner nodded. “Caden was killed because Blacky interfered with this club, causing his own brother’s death... and I was voted in as President and since then this club has been legit.”
Dana sneered not looking at her father, just at DeeDee. “Not according to what Annie found. He does have a brother named Caden and a half brother named Tanner.”
”Tanner Hall?” DeeDee shook her head. “He’s not Blacky’s brother, never was, nor ever will be. Oh, he wanted to be but he’s not. His mother listed Blacky’s dad on his birth certificate and lied about it for most of his life but when it came down to it, DNA proved he wasn’t Tanner’s father. Blacky’s dad did have an affair. He strayed like an alley cat and Tanner’s mom was one of those women but the baby she had wasn’t his. Blacky’s dad threw her, Tanner, and the real father out of the town we were living in.” DeeDee looked up at Gunner. “Tanner didn’t take it well at all. He punched the Blacky’s dad right in the mouth before he left, then vowed he’d get his revenge on the old man.”
“And just why should we believe anything you say?” Dana asked snarkily.
“Little girl...” Gunner growled low. “Don’t start shit you can’t back up. DeeDee explained this and I believe her.”
“But dad,” Dana whined.
Gunner held up his hand stopping Dana from saying another word. Then he took DeeDee’s hand and walked into the clubhouse.
His movement caused Dana to step back, forcing her away from the door.
The rest of the group followed in behind them and each of them glared at Dana.
Gunner walked over to the table where Annie, Harry and Rigger were working on their computers.
DeeDee went with him, as he wouldn’t let go of her hand.
Annie looked up and apologized to DeeDee, “I’m sorry Dana jumped to conclusions as she has been listening to what all we have been finding. We did find a DNA blood test between Tanner Hall and Blacky’s dad, Terrance Wilder. You are right, they are not related.”
DeeDee shrugged. “That doesn’t mean Tanner ever accepted it, even with the proof he had in his hands. He grew up in Blacky’s shadow, so all his life and with his mother’s lies about who his father was it only fed his hatred of the power Blacky held.”
“Do you know what he looks like?” Annie asked. “Cuz that would really help identify him.”
DeeDee shook her head. “I haven’t seen Tanner in like twenty five plus years. I’m sure he’s grown into a man, whereas the last time I saw him, he was a boy of fourteen.” She thought for a moment then looking up at Gunner she said, “There was one thing that I do remember about him though, Tanner was always getting into trouble as a kid and one time he lost part of his little finger on his right hand. So that might help to identify him?”
Gunner snapped his head up at that little bit of information. He slowly turned his head to look at his VP. Boone nodded and together they said, “Scorpion.”
Annie nodded. “He was here earlier but left in a hurry. It was while Skipper was talking to Dana. Shortly after that, she got a text message that shook her up badly.”
“He’s been here for two years.” Gunner looked pissed. “That bastard has been living here for two fucking years! Watching and waiting for just the right time to pounce.”
“Makes a person wonder if Blacky knew one of his recruits was his hated imposter brother?” Boone put the question out there.
Gypsy stepped up. “Yeah, he knew exactly who Scorpion was. You don’t forget someone who grew up hating you like that very easily. Those two hated each other but Blacky has been making sure not to spend much time here over the last couple of years.”
“He might not have but he always knew exactly what we were doing all that time didn’t he?” Tramper suggested. “He planted his spies here watching and waiting.”
”Well, that’s all fine and good,” Dana interrupted. “But what are you going to do about this creep that sent the text messages dad? Skipper was talking to me earlier and he wasn’t very nice to me. Then Scorpion got up and walked out. It was after that when everything went to hell for me.”
Annie then quickly spoke up, “He did just get up and walk out. We all heard him leave. I was reading through those files you gave me Gunner, and I found out my dad had ties to Blacky’s empire. I also found that Scorpion was another of his lackeys. I knew about Scorpion when I came into the room and I was a bit nervous when I saw him in here. He must have noticed and suspected his secret was out.”
Just then, one of the brothers came into the clubhouse. He had something in his hand and when he came over to Gunner, he tossed it on the table. It was a cut. “I found this in the bushes just beyond the gate.”
Gunner lifted the leather vest with their logo on it. His eyes grew hard when he read the name stitched in the leather. It was Scorpion’s cut. He crushed the leather with his fisted hands. “Well, he is the second traitor. That leaves us two more to dig out.” He looked around at his men. “Shoot that bastard on sight if you see him or if he comes back here. He gets no mercy.”
Gypsy snorted. “Don’t worry about that, boss. He won’t get any. I despise fucking traitors.”
Dana sat down at a table frustrated that no one was paying her any attention since miss goody two shoes interrupted her.
Annie looked first to Harry then to Gunner. Clearing her throat, she said, “That’s not all we found.”
Gunner glanced over at her. “Don’t fucking tell me there’s more?”
“It might not mean anything but we did find a pattern in your business searches.”
Boone frowned. “What kind of pattern and what searches?”
“I didn’t really see it at first. Someone used your net while doing the searches. And he was good, very good. Then, while I was showing Rigger and Harry these searches, we all were taking another look. Someone here was looking for a certain group of people. These people are very bad. Whoever this person is, he’s waging a war on the cartel while being a member of the Savaged Souls. I searched the records and he’s managed to find and kill a number of cartel players.”
“What the fuck?” Gunner swore. “Are you sure about your information?”
Annie nodded. “Together, we’ve found seven deaths so far and he has a list of fourteen men. But we also found out that he didn’t start looking for these guys until about a year ago.”
“Anything else?” Gunner snarled while looking fit to be tied.
“Yes, something was left at each murder scene,” Rigger answered this. “A card, like a business card but not quite, it is red with black printed words, ‘For my father, Blood for blood.’ Then there’s always a number on the card. And Boss, the last murder wasn’t that far away from here.”
“How did these men die?” DeeDee asked, as she looked ashen.
“You may not want to know, it’s pretty gruesome,” Harry told her.
DeeDee had a sudden memory shooting through her mind as it came back in living color and she gasped as her knees weakened, and she started to fall.
Winona grabbed her before she could collapse.
Gunner rushed toward her to catch her up into his arms. He carried her over to a chair and sat down with her.
She clung to him and wouldn’t let go. For a few minutes, all she could do was shake. Finally, she regained control and looked up into Gunner’s eyes. “They were tied between two trees. One wrist to each tree, then his belly was cut from hip to hip. His guts were spilled on the ground in front of him. Then there’s another cut, it’s an x on his chest all the way to his bones. His ribs were crushed and his heart ripped from his chest. Then his throat was cut and his tongue cut from his mouth.”
Dana seemed to gag as she looked away from DeeDee.
Annie gasped and raised her hand to her mouth. “Oh, my God. How did you know about that? It is information, only found in sealed police reports.”
“I saw it once as a kid.” DeeDee trembled as she replied and tried to hold her shaking hands together. “My dad belonged to an MC when I was growing up. They were called Antichrist Disciples. They were truly the worst of the worst. Blacky’s dad was president and my dad was VP. They’d barely escaped a raid from the FBI, so they figured they had a traitor in their club. They’d blamed an innocent man for it. When the time came and they found the real traitor, the club knew he was an innocent man. They’d already caught the real traitor but Blacky’s dad hated this other man and he just wanted him gone, so he went ahead with what he called MC justice. The man had a wife and two young sons. They’d tied them up and made them watch what they did to their father. The Disciples at that time were in league with the cartel and they had men there to witness what happened. It could have been this fourteen?” She nodded at Annie. “The cartel knew this man was innocent and yet, they did nothing to stop Blacky’s dad.”
“What happened to the boys after that?” Boone asked.
“One of the boys got himself killed that day. He was ten years old. Once they were done torturing and killing the man, they untied the wife and sons. One of the boys took his pocket knife out. Then rushed at Blacky’s dad and cut him. Blacky’s dad laughed and then slit his throat in front of his brother, mother and everyone else standing there. The other boy was grabbed by his mother and she held him back. That night, she and her youngest son escaped the compound and we never saw them again.” Tears tracked DeeDee’s cheeks as she hung her head. “My dad and uncle were sadistic, vicious, cruel men.”
“What was the boy’s name?” Tramper asked.
“Ricky Mann,” she whispered.
Gunner looked over at Boone and the rest of his men. “Well fuck, that’s Endo! He’s been using our business as a way to hunt down the cartel men who didn’t stop his father’s death.”
DeeDee nodded. “I think he finally killed my uncle and my father as well. They were killed the same way, ten years after Ricky’s dad and brother died. He completely destroyed the Disciple’s MC. He killed them all then burned the club to ashes.”
“Endo hasn’t been around for weeks now,” Gypsy told them.
Gunner looked down at DeeDee. “Maybe that’s why Blacky never made his last name known for all these years. He knew about this revenge killer.”
She shrugged. “Could very well be. Blacky, who’s real name is Jackson Kyle Wilder by the way, they both tried to be as bad as they thought uncle Terry was. Only I think they went too far when they began kidnapping women for the sex trade.”
“Amen to that.” Gunner growled as he looked around at the brothers. “We need to keep watch. I want men on the roof. Everyone takes a walkie. And I want every entrance to the club manned with a guard.”