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Gunner, Boone and Skull rushed inside and then looked around. The screams were coming from the room at the end of the hall.
It was Winona who had been screaming.
Gunner rushed down the hall with Boone not too far behind. They burst into Patriot’s Infirmary to find Patriot laid out on the floor and one of the brother’s hanging over the girl Becky. His hands were around her neck.
Boone pushed the brother away and when he turned to growl at Boone, they saw it was a prospect they called Arizona.
He glared at Boone but didn’t move against him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Boone growled at him.
Gunner had gone over to Winona and helped her sit up. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close to him. “What happened here baby girl?”
“He came in and sucker punched Patriot. Then he went over to Becky and told her he was here to make sure she couldn’t testify against his buddy, Blacky. When I started screaming, he told me to shut the fuck up, he’d get to me when he was done with her.”
Skull knelt down and was checking Patriot out, then he looked up at Gunner. “I think he’ll be okay when he wakes up. Looks like he took a hit to the back of his head.”
Winona looked up at her dad. “Arizona hit him with a small billy club but Patriot moved at the last second, so the hit was enough to put him down but not enough to hurt him too bad. I think?”
Boone stood over Arizona with his hands fisted. “So you’re working with Blacky huh?”
“Maybe, but I won’t be talking,” Arizona warned him.
“So be it, but then you’ll also share his fate, fucker,” Boone swore.
Arizona shook his head. “To drag me down for another man’s sin isn’t right and you fucking know it.”
“And what about your actions here today?” Gunner asked the prospect. “You were caught out man, how can you say we cannot prove it?”
Arizona smiled. “I came in here, found Patriot down and she was choking. I was trying to clear her throat. No one saw me do anything.”
“And if I choose to believe my daughter?” Gunner asked quietly.
“She may or may not be your kid, that hasn’t been established yet,” Arizona suggested. “You would take her word over that of one of your brothers? What kind of example would that set for your men?”
Boone glared at him. “What a piece of shit you are. Thinking you can pull this crap and lie about it. You didn’t even have any business being in here.”
Gunner agreed, “And what if I did have proof you were working for Blacky as his lackey? What then?”
“He would never admit that. He would never rat me out.”
Gunner smiled evilly. “Oh, but you’re wrong about that and you’re stupid as you just ratted yourself out, moron,” he paused and looked at Boone. “Don’t we have some kind of intelligence test for these damn prospects?”
Boone did not look amused but he shrugged. “This one has the smarts of a god dammed rock.”
Gunner looked back over at Arizona. “I hate to burst your idiot bubble, but he did admit it in his writings. He even named you as his lapdog.”
“I don’t believe that.” Arizona scowled. “I’m nobody’s lapdog.”
“He even told the cartel about you...what was it he wrote Boone?” Gunner pretended to ponder on it. “Oh, yeah!” He chuckled. “How he put you in charge of everything, in case he had to take off without warning.”
“I don’t believe you.” Arizona scoffed. “That would mark me as the go to man if he ever did leave and go underground.”
“Yes, I believe it would,” Boone agreed. “We have all his evidence anyway. We’ll be able to use his own words to convict him in a tribunal. His journals will drag your sorry ass with him as well.”
Arizona knew he was beat. Blacky had betrayed them both, but he had one final card to play and it would show the MC just how fair or unfair Gunner was as their President. “And what about Dana? She was in on this as well. She never stopped him or brought what he was doing to your attention.”
“Like you said on your own behalf, prove it.” Gunner glared at him. “I haven’t read anything in Blacky’s files and books that shows she was involved.”
“I saw her watching him. She was following him and seeing for herself what he was doing,” Arizona spit out the words.
“Maybe she was gathering evidence to bring to her father,” Winona suggested. “Prove that the man who was part of this MC was trying to bring it down.” She motioned toward Becky. “You came here to silence her because maybe she’s seen you hanging around Blacky. He held her for three months and you couldn’t be sure she hasn’t seen you around the warehouse can you?”
“What?” Skull asked. “Were you looking for the money he had? It’s gone man. We just gave every cent we found over to the cartel. Six bags plumb full of green we handed over to them with the stipulation that they don’t come back.”
Gunner smiled. “I also put a page from Blacky’s journal into one of those bags. The one I found listing you as his flunky. That way, I protected the club and ratted out a traitor at the same time.”
“They’ll kill me,” Arizona said, suddenly looking very afraid. “You just put a bright red target on my back!”
“Now, why would I do that?” Gunner asked. “If anyone did that, it would be you, working for Blacky and against your own club. I’ll bet, he never thought he’d get caught either huh? We gave them all the money we found but we held back the records Blacky kept. We told them that was our assurance so they wouldn’t come back to mess with us.” He nodded at him. “So you wanna tell us why they would come hunting for you?”
Arizona swallowed hard. “He had secret records. He had blackmail stuff not only on members of the cartel but other high profile people. They aren’t going to trust that he had that info on his person. In fact, I think he told them that if anything happened to him that information would come back to bite them all in the ass. If you gave them my name, they’ll come after me to get it to protect themselves. They won’t leave it to chance that you’ll keep your word and not start up where he left off.”
“Sucks to be you then, don’t it?” Skull shook his head. “It’s looking more and more like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either way, you lose dumbass.”
“Get this piece of shit out of here.” Gunner growled. “Give him the cell next to Blacky, they can go down together.”
Skull grabbed Arizona’s collar, pulling his arm up and dragged him out of the room.
As soon as they were gone, Patriot groaned from the floor. “Oh my god, what hit me?”
Boone reached down to help him to his feet. “That would be Arizona.”
Patriot stared at him with a frown. “Why the hell would a prospect hit me?”
Boone motioned toward Becky. “Because she’s still alive.”
“He had to stop her from letting us know he was working with Blacky,” Gunner explained.
Patriot moved toward the girl and carefully took stock of her injuries. “Are you okay?”
Becky nodded. “Winona started screaming and that brought help. I’m all right.” Shaking her head, she said, “I was so weak, I couldn’t move. I looked into his eyes and I just froze.”
“After all the trauma you’ve been through the last little while, you did just fine,” Boone assured her.
Becky looked over at him with tears in her eyes. “I just froze. I didn’t fight or anything. I gave up on myself and that was the one thing I swore I’d never do. I almost let him do something Blacky hadn’t been able to do the whole time he kept me for himself.”
“But he wasn’t able to,” Boone stated.
Patriot picked up her hand and patted it gently. “Sweet Girl, you’ve stayed so strong for so long, that maybe you were just tired. It wasn’t wrong. A person can only hang on for so long, but you didn’t give up.”
“When we came in, you were fighting back,” Gunner told her quietly.
“I think because I heard a voice in my head calling out to me. It was calling my name and I knew that person’s voice.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s real anymore or not real.” She looked over at Winona. “I’ve tried to be strong. I would be laying there at night sometimes when the pain was so bad, I couldn’t sleep, and I would hear her calling my name.”
“Any idea who this person is?” Boone asked.
Becky shook her head. “No clue. Blacky used to give me something every few days that would confuse me. I have no idea what it was, but I would get so dizzy and not remember stuff for days afterward. After a while, I learned that if I acted like I was still under the influence of whatever it was, he would leave me alone. It was then when my mind would clear enough to take note of what was going on around me.”
“And what did see?” Patriot asked.
Becky looked over at Gunner. “He was trafficking people. He also had drugs and guns coming and going by river boat. The shipments would come up the river and then a truck would pick them up and leave again. I heard him talking about that to someone else one day. He had rooms downstairs that were little more than cells where he kept the women and children. I woke up in one when I first got there but he took me upstairs about a week later.”
“What happened upstairs?” Boone asked.
Becky shuddered and closed her eyes. “Upstairs was where he took the time to break the women and children. Day and night, he would take his own sweet time to hurt us. He called it training but I called it torture. He had a revolving door, in and out. Most of his women and children were only there a few weeks. Then they were gone, he would start with new women and children.”
“If he had turnarounds of a few weeks, why were you there for three months?” Boone wondered out loud.
Winona answered this, “Because he couldn’t break her. He couldn’t break her because she was stronger than most are.” She and Becky shared a look. They both understood something these men never would. They both knew what happened and why.
“I don’t know what it was, maybe it really was the voice inside my head but that voice told me there was someone out there who loved me and needed me. So, I knew I had to hang on until she could find me. All I had to do was hang on until she could come for me.”
“And that’s what you did, wasn’t it?” Patriot stated.
Becky nodded. “I don’t know who this person really is or what she means to me but I know she’s out there looking for me. I’ve tried to remember my previous life but something won’t let me.”
“Hey...” Patriot smiled at her. “Don’t you worry about that yet. All you need to do right now, is heal and get stronger. The past and the future will take care of itself.”
“I hope it will.” Becky sighed. “I want my life back. The life I had before Blacky stole me away from it. That and I want to feel safe again. I want to stop looking over my shoulder in fear of what might or might not be behind me. The one thing that’s kept me going is the fact that someone has to be out there looking for me.”
“Would you like us to get the ball rolling for you?” Gunner offered.
Becky looked scared for a moment then asked, “How would you do that?”
“I can have my IT guy look around and find out if someone is missing a member of their family.”
“That really works?” She looked confused.
Gunner shrugged. “Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on who’s looking and where.”
Becky looked panicked for a moment then asked, “You won’t just let anyone take me away will you? There are so many freaks out there. I just don’t want to trade one bad guy for another.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t let you go until you’re comfortable with whoever comes for you,” Boone promised.
“Do you promise?” Becky whispered.
Winona spoke up for the MC, “Their word is their bond. Once they give it, they don’t take it back.” She had seen it every day since she got here.
Her words seemed to give the other woman some peace. “Ok...yes, please look.” Becky nodded.
“I think you two girls should get some rest,” Patriot suggested. “With all the excitement tonight, you need some and we need you both to get better.”
“Is she well enough to come with me tonight?” Boone asked as he looked over at Winona.
“As long as you remember that Blacky beat the everlovin’ hell out of her, she can.” Patriot stared back at him.
Gunner didn’t look happy about it but he accepted the fact Winona had final say over where she spent the night. Boone had claimed her and he knew the other man just wanted her with him.
“Please don’t leave?” Becky stared at Winona. “I don’t want to stay here alone.”
“I’ll be here all night,” Patriot assured her. “You won’t be alone.”
“We will also post someone we trust as a guard,” Boone added.
Becky stared at Patriot.
He nodded. “I promise you will be safe sweet girl.”
Boone walked over to where Winona was lying and gathered her up in his arms.
Gunner watched this with a frown on his face. But he let it happen. He watched as Boone carried his daughter off to his bedroom, then exhaled heavily.
“Prez, you know he’s gonna take care of her, don’t you?” Patriot asked.
“I know.” Gunner nodded. “I just found her, but it feels like I’m losing her already.”
Patriot chuckled. “She isn’t going far boss.”
“You know she thinks she’s going back to Louisiana at the end of her vacation don’t you?” Gunner asked.
Patriot chuckled. “Yeah, I just don’t see it happening now. Boone isn’t going anywhere. Nor will he let her go without him.”
“She can sell her shop and move everything over here.” Gunner shrugged his shoulders.
“It should be interesting to see who wins that argument.” Patriot smiled.
Gunner nodded then grew solemn. “I guess I have another matter to settle don’t I?”
“Dana?” Patriot asked quietly. “What are you going to do about her?”
“I don’t know,” Gunner admitted. “I have no idea. I don’t know if I can ever trust her again, and that is something I never thought I would say.”
“I know the men won’t trust her,” Patriot reminded him.
“I suppose I’d better go talk to her.” He exhaled heavily. “I’ll post the guard at the door.”
Patriot nodded, then watched him walk down the hall to Dana’s room.
Gunner lifted his fist and knocked on the door.
Hawk opened the door and looked at Gunner.
“Come in, Daddy.” Sitting on her bed she watched as Gunner walked in.
Gunner motioned for Hawk to give them some privacy and when he left the room, Gunner closed the door.
Dana found herself staring at the man she called her dad.
Gunner turned to her and asked one question, “How long have you known what Blacky was doing? Trafficking women, kids and the drug and gun shipments?” He glared at her then repeated, “How long?”
Dana looked at her father and shrugged. “I’ve been watching him but I had no clue what he was really doing. I may have suspected but I didn’t know for sure.” She paused. “I know you may or may not believe me and normally, I wouldn’t care but I do care now. You have to understand something here. For all my life, nearly twenty four years I’ve been club princess here.”
Gunner agreed. “You have been and would have continued to be. That was never the real issue Dana. I asked you... How. Long?”
Dana got up, walked over to her window, and looked outside. It was dark now and she couldn’t really see anything but her own reflection in the glass. “I felt it was. For the first time in my life, I felt threatened. My position, your love for me, they were what mattered to me the most. I felt I was being replaced by a better version. A version that looked just like me but she turned out to be a better person than I was. I felt like you and the brothers would throw me aside like a used ragdoll and put her in my place.”
Gunner shook his head. “You were so wrong about that sweetheart. We were just trying to get to know her. We weren’t comparing the two of you.”
Dana snorted. “You may not have been doing it but the brothers sure enough were. And they were finding me lacking, all the way around.”
“Did you ever ask yourself why they might have found you lacking?”
Dana nodded. “Because I was acting like a spoiled brat.” She dropped her shoulders. “I couldn’t help myself dad, I knew I was spinning out of control, but I couldn’t seem to stop.” Sighing, she closed her eyes. “I guess I had to hit the lowest point before I could even recognize what I was doing. Now for the first time, I know I’m in big trouble and you can’t save me. I’m not even sure you want to.”
Gunner sighed. “You might be right about that. But no matter what, you’re still my daughter, but Winona is my daughter as well. Did you know Blacky almost beat her to death earlier today? Do you even care? Cuz, you know, you never did ask. So far, our conversation has been all about you and your problems.” Shaking his head he asked, “How could I not see before now, just how shallow you were becoming?”
Dana leaned her forehead against the glass. Her hot tears dripped from her chin. The one man in her life she’d depended on was pulling away from her and she was lost. “What happens next?”
“There will be a tribunal and your fate will be voted on by the brothers. But you won’t be alone. Blacky and Arizona will also be on trial. Their fate is pretty much set, the only one who could maybe come out of this with any grace is you. I’m not saying they’ll forgive everything you did. I don’t see how that’s possible, but they will be the ones to judge you.”
Dana lowered her head and cried.
~*~
Gunner walked out of the room shaking his head. He didn’t even feel like comforting her. She put herself here, she was cruel to Winona and she put the club at risk on top of that. He nodded at the brother standing beside her door.
It was Gypsy and he wasn’t a happy camper about pulling guard duty tonight.
“I need you inside with her,” Gunner ordered. “I don’t want her to escape. See if she will give you the answer to how long she knew what Blacky was doing, she sidetracked answering me. She needs to be here to face the tribunal. For the first time in her life, she’s gonna stand and be judged for her actions.”
“And you’re going to let it happen?” Gypsy wanted to know.
Gunner stared at him straight in the eyes. “I have to let it happen don’t I? I wouldn’t be worthy of being a leader if I didn’t.”
“She’s your daughter.”
“So is Winona. I never knew about her before, no one but Blacky knew the truth. You can bet your ass if I had, she would have been here with us rather than living in another state.”
Gypsy nodded. “Has she told you anything about her past yet? Like where she grew up and who took care of her?”
Gunner snarled and he felt nothing but rage. “Blacky took my newborn baby girl and left her in the care of his drugged out sister and her man. She stayed with them for twelve years, then they abandoned her. They left a little girl all alone. They left my little girl all alone at the fucking age of twelve.” Gunner ran his hands over the back of his head. “Christ, she must have been so scared and so alone. She didn’t have anyone in her corner back then, no one she could count on anyway.”
“Sweet Jesus.” Gypsy gasped, as he looked troubled by such cruelty.
“She told me after they abandoned her that she found Mrs. George. For the first time she had someone to lean on, someone to take care of her like a mother should. Mrs. George taught her pretty much everything, reading, writing, how to cook and bake. She stayed with this woman until the old lady died. She was grown by then and started her own bakery.”
“Then she came here huh?” Gypsy stated.
Gunner nodded. “Then she came here. And it’s been one thing after another.”
“Well boss, she’s a survivor. She’s got true West blood in her veins, that’s for damn sure.” Gypsy shook his head. Then he turned and looked at Dana’s door. “Best get to it before she tries something stupid.”
“Go easy on her,” Gunner warned. “But not too easy. For once in her life, she’s going to stand in front of you all and be judged. She could have hurt every man here and for that, she has to pay the price.”
Gypsy nodded and went over to the door. He didn’t knock, he just opened it and walked in.
When the door closed and Gunner heard his daughter protest, he had to smile. He knew Gypsy wouldn’t hurt her but he also knew the man wouldn’t take any guff from her either.
He made his way down the hall to Rigger’s office. He knocked and opened the door. “Rigger, I got a job for you...”
He left the office an hour later and made his way to his own room. He was tired...tired of the whole mess he found himself in. He’d always led the men the right way. Got the club pulled up and out of drugs and the bad shit. Went as legal as a biker club could. It took a long time to build what they had. Then to think, Blacky was double dealing in the worst crimes. Human trafficking? It made Gunner feel sick to his stomach. Just look at that poor girl in the infirmary. Look at what he’d done to her. The man had no soul. It made Gunner question his judgement now. How could Blacky have had all that going on, and he never caught on?
The leader of the Savaged Souls let out a long, solemn sigh. His body was crying out for sleep and if he didn’t want to pass out, he knew he needed to rest. He flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes.