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Wolf
The mood around the fire pit earlier hadn’t been good. Anger had been mixed in between the sadness as the club brothers celebrated the life of a fallen brother. No women had been allowed as they remembered their brother and said their goodbyes in private. No one from the clubhouse could see them as they were hidden by a dense wall of shrubs and trees. The fire pit was for brothers only. Always had been, always will be.
Bullet’s impassioned farewell had them all wiping wet eyes as he sang a song for his best friend. He was accompanied by Ratel and Buzz on guitars and Dollar, Terror and Crash playing traditional Zulu drums. He sang Impi, an iconic song by Johnny Clegg and Juluka. A few of them understood and spoke Zulu and for them it meant even more. Impi was a fitting song because when translated the word meant war, battle, combat, army or host. The music and their voices blended and thundered into the night sky as they sang and danced around the fire.
They celebrated and mourned their brother until the fire had burned down to red embers before returning to the clubhouse.
Everyone had long since gone to find their beds to sleep or whatever the hell else they wanted to do. The music and main lights had been turned off but Wolf still sat at the bar, sipping his drink and watching Chris clean up. His head would not shut down about the fucking keys. They had exhausted every avenue they could to find the place those keys unlocked and nothing. Absolutely nothing. The serial number on the tag was a dead end. The phone was a dead end. Every fucking thing they tried came to a dead end.
Tomorrow was their brother’s funeral and they still had no idea who he really was and therefore were unable to inform his family that he had died. The idea that Army would be buried with none of his blood, except the bitch, standing up for him worried him like a fucking sore tooth.
Wolf played with the keys, rolling them through his fingers over and over. He sat nursing a glass of whisky because he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Putting the keys down he picked up his glass, took a sip then set it down again, all the time staring at those fucking keys.
Suddenly a hand reached over the bar and picked them up. Wolf’s head jerked up but he relaxed when he saw it was Chris.
“These are his keys, aren’t they?”
Wolf raised an enquiring eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “I work this bar every night and I hear things, Wolf.”
“Yes, but it’s of no fucking use because we don’t know what the fuck it unlocks.” And it pissed him off that they had failed.
Chris hummed as she inspected the keys. “It looks similar to the keys and tag I have for my storage unit.”
Wolf snapped a hand out around her wrist which caused Chris to jerk in fright and the keys flew out of her hand.
“Wolf.” She whispered as she stared down at the floor. “The Harley disk, it broke and there’s something inside it.”
Wolf didn’t hesitate, jumping straight across the bar he came down in front of Chris and crouched down. He studied the keys where they had fallen on the rubber mat behind the bar then carefully picked them up. Holding the broken disc and keys in his hand he stood, carefully laid it on the bar and bent closer to take a good look. The disc had broken open and he could now see that it had been carefully cut and glued back together at some stage. Through the opening he could see something white tucked inside.
“Fuck.” He whispered as he gently cracked it open even further, fully revealing a tiny little square of paper. Very gently and carefully he extracted the little square and set it on the bar.
“I need tweezers to open this so there’s no damage.” He said softly to himself.
“I’ll get a pair.” Chris pushed past him and ran down the passage towards her room.
He had to call his Prez and Ice but it was late and they weren’t at the clubhouse, they were at home with their old ladies. But he had to call someone. Pulling his phone from his pocket he swiped it open and called Kid who he knew was in his room upstairs.
Kid answered after the phone had rung only about four times. “What’s wrong?” His voice didn’t sound like he had been asleep.
“Can you come down to the bar? I’ve found something.”
His SAA didn’t hesitate. “On my way.”
The next one he called was Ziggy. “Ja?” He didn’t sound like he’d been sleeping either.
“Brother, I’ve found something hidden in the disc on the key ring. Can you come to the bar and bring tweezers?”
There was a beat of silence. “I’ll be there now.”
Wolf moved back around the bar to where he had been sitting and stared at the little square of paper only looking up when Chris rushed back in and laid a small pair of tweezers down in front of him.
“I couldn’t find the bigger ones, they are hiding somewhere in my make-up bag. These are from my handbag.”
“Thanks, Chris.” She met Wolf’s eyes with a quick nod before looking down at the little square of paper.
“Do you think it will have information about his family?” She whispered.
“I fucking hope so.” Wolf growled as he too stared down at the little square on top of the bar.
Two sets of hurried footsteps sounded on the stairs and both of them looked up and towards the stairs. Kid and Ziggy came to the bar, both frowning heavily.
“What did you find, Wolf?” Kid asked after a quick glance at Chris.
Wolf tipped his head towards the little square on top of the bar and his brothers came closer. Kid behind the bar with Chris and Ziggy next to him in front of the bar.
“Fuck, I never thought to see if the disc had something hidden inside it.” Ziggy said softly as he withdrew a long handled pair of tweezers from the pocket of his kutte.
Picking the small pair of tweezers up he used them to hold the square while he carefully unfolded it with the larger pair.
“This is fucking amazing. He used rice paper because it’s thin as fuck so he could fold it small enough to fit inside this disk.” Ziggy murmured as he worked. His hands were steady as he unfolded the thin paper.
When he was done they had a piece of paper that was roughly the size of a pack of smokes. It was covered in minute writing that was impossible to read.
“I’m going to need to photograph this then enlarge it. Leave it right there. Nobody touch it while I’m gone. I need to get some shit from my office.” Ziggy mumbled as he rushed out.
Wolf looked up at Kid. “Do you think we should call Prez in?”
Kid shook his head. “Let him get some sleep, brother. We’ll call him in when we have more. He can’t do anything until Ziggy has done his thing anyway.”
Wolf nodded then looked at Chris. “This goes no further than the four of us, Chris, okay?” He said softly.
Chris nodded as she stood staring down at the paper and when she looked up there were tears in her eyes. “Won’t say a word, Wolf. I just hope and pray this gives you enough to find his family. He was a good guy and they need to know that and they need to be here tomorrow. For him but more for them so they can say goodbye.”
Wolf and Kid nodded in agreement.
Zig walked back in and carefully slid a piece of rigid plastic beneath the piece of paper then laid another piece on the top. He carefully pressed down and flattened the piece of paper between the two sheets of plastic.
“This is plastic used for lamination. The process uses heat to fuse the two pieces together and seal whatever you put between the sheets in an air tight and waterproof pocket. I’m not sure if the heat process will damage the paper or the writing so I’m just going to weigh it down and take photos as is.” Ziggy carefully picked the plastic up. “I need more light than we have in here. I’ll do this in my office.” He smiled at Chris. “Chris, sweetheart, thanks for your help, I’ll let you know what we find.” He said before he walked off with Kid following close behind.
She nodded but disappointment was in her eyes.
“Chris.” Wolf softly called to her. “You have my word. We’ll keep you in the loop, okay?”
She gave him a small smile and a nod then waved him away. Grabbing his drink he swallowed it down, relishing the burn as it slid down his throat, set the empty glass down, tapped the bar once and followed his brothers to Ziggy’s office.
He leant against the wall next to Kid, both of them watching Ziggy work. He had the note clamped between the sheets under a lamp and was taking photos with his phone. Turning it over he continued to take photos before loosening the clamps holding everything together, took the sheets and slid them into a big plastic zip lock bag. Setting it to the side he sat down, started typing on his phone set it down then turned his computers on.
While he waited he turned to them his voice soft and filled with heavy emotion.
“I fucking hope we get what we need from this to find his family. We should be able to read it when I’ve got it cleaned up and enlarged on the screen.”
The beep of his machines had him swinging his chair around and he started typing, his fingers flying over the keys. He worked on the photos for almost ten minutes before he nodded to himself.
The first photo appeared on the monitors. Wolf and Kid both straightened and moved to the desk for a closer look.
“Okay, let’s enlarge it and see if we are lucky enough to find the answers that we need.” Ziggy mumbled.
The photo of the little square of paper popped up on the main screen and Ziggy did his magic. He enlarged it enough that they could read the note without any problems.
Wolf wondered how the fuck Army had managed to do this shit. Then he no longer wondered about that shit as he started reading.
Brother, if you are reading this it means I’m no longer here, which fucking sucks. But life has a plan for all of us. I’ve escaped Ol’ Man Grim more than once in my life so I’m not surprised he’s come for me now. You are my best friend and my family and I have a confession to make my brother. I’ve kept secrets from you, but only to keep you out of the shit I’m involved in. I knew if I told you, you would have been right with me. I did another shitty thing, I deserted my blood family. Walked away and didn’t look back. I regret my decision but it made sense to me at the time. My family are outlaws. They aren’t clean but not as dirty as some. Fuck, let me get to the point of this note. I’ve been using an alias to keep my family’s shit from touching the Iron Dogz and to hide from them. My real name is Reid Jordan. My dad, Grave Jordan, is the VP of the mother chapter of the Shadow Wraiths MC in Savannah, Georgia. Contact them for me, Bullet. Tell them that I love them. Finally, the keys on the key ring open my storage unit. Unit 27b at Storage in Kosmos. What’s in there is for our Prez, you and my family in the States. Please see that they get what I’ve left for them. I love you my brother. See you in the next life. A
Wolf stepped back and looked at Kid. “This is what the boss was looking for. We need him here.”
Kid nodded as he slipped his phone out and dialled. They stood silent, waiting for Hawk to answer.
“Hawk, we’ve got something, can you come up to Ziggy’s office?” Kid listened then nodded. “Okay, see you now.”
“I wonder if those Devil’s Spawn patches that showed up for Petey’s funeral knew anything about Army.” Wolf wondered as he leant back against the wall again.
“I don’t think so.” Ziggy said as he started tapping on the keys and pulled up surveillance footage of the day of Petey’s funeral.
“See their patches? They’re from Portland, Oregon. Nowhere near Georgia. I’ll keep checking to see if they have any connection to the Shadow Wraiths.”
“I’d like to know why the fuck they’re here.” Wolf bent forward to have a good look at the faces of the four men.
“Don’t know, brother, and they haven’t gone home either, they’re still here.” Kid informed him quietly.
Wolf opened his mouth to reply but right at that moment Hawk with Ice and Beast close on his heels walked into the office.
“What have you found?” Hawk narrowed his eyes at the photos of the Devil’s Spawn patches on the monitor.
“That’s not what we wanted to show you, Prez.” Ziggy went back to the enlarged photo of the note and sat back. “Wolf and Chris found this hidden in the disc attached to the key ring.”
Wolf and Kid moved out of the way to make space for Hawk, Ice and Beast to move closer to the screen. The only sound in the room was the hum of the computers and the creaking of Ziggy’s chair as he rocked in it.
“Fuck.” Hawk whispered as he shoved his hands roughly through his hair that was hanging loose around his shoulders. He hadn’t even stopped to do his usual braid before coming into the clubhouse.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. Beast, you and Wolf take two prospects and check out the storage unit. If you have to pay off the fucking guards to get in do it.”
He turned back to Ziggy. “Get me everything you can on the Savannah chapter of the Shadow Wraiths MC and Grave Jordan. I need the name and contact details of their president and give me a fucking idea as to the time difference before I call them.” He sighed. “Not going to be a very pleasant fucking phone call as it is. I don’t know how Army’s family are going to react to the news of his death and the fact that we’re burying him today. There’s no way any of them will get here on time. Fucking. Hell.”
“I’m going to need help on this one, Prez. Can I pull Kobus in to help?” Ziggy asked quietly.
“Yes, wake his fucking ass up and get him in here. We need to move on this at the speed of fucking light. Get him on finding out who the fuck the bitch claiming to be his mother really is. We need that info asap.” He turned from Ziggy as he continued laying it out for all of them.
“It’s 3.00am now, we have five hours to get this done. We ride out at 9.00am to escort our brother from the funeral home back here. The procession from here to the church starts at 10.00am and Pastor Radebe said his sermon will start at 11.00 am and won’t be long winded. I’ll do my thing and if Bullet wants to say anything he can, then we escort our brother on his last ride. Afterwards we’ll all ride back here to celebrate our brother’s life.”
Ziggy held up a hand to get Hawk’s attention.
“What if we record everything that’s going to go down today for his family, boss? We can mount a couple of ‘go-pro’s’ on some bikes and helmets so they get the feel of riding with him. We set up one or two inside the church to record the proceedings. His final ride will be recorded as we ride to the cemetery. We set up cameras at the party and let his family and their club see how much Army meant to all of us. I can have it all edited together and sent to them later tonight. I don’t mind working on it instead of drinking and fucking some faceless bitch to try and forget.”
Ice was the one who answered instead of Hawk. “Can you get it set up in the time we have available plus get our Prez the information he needs, Ziggy? We need to call his people before we leave here at nine if we can.”
“I’ll get help if I can’t do it myself. We’ve got Mad Dog arriving soon and I can call Skelly in to give us a hand. Maybe Jagger can handle the ‘go pro’ stuff.”
“You do what you have to, Zig. I trust your judgement. I’ll be in my office, send me what you get on the Shadow Wraiths as soon as you’ve got anything. If you don’t get anything I’ll reach out to Doc and Dagger to see what they have but I’d rather not involve any more people than we have to in this.” Hawk tapped Ziggy on the shoulder then walked out with Ice and Kid following him out.
Looking over at Beast, who still hadn’t said one word, Wolf frowned when he saw the pissed off look on his face.
“What’s wrong, brother?”
“You fucking Chris?” He growled. “She’s not in a good place right now and shouldn’t be taken advantage of.”
Wolf found it fucking hard not to smash his fist into Beasts’ face. “What the fuck, Beast? What you take me for? I was having a fucking drink with her at the bar. Shooting the shit. But if I was fucking her, which I’m not, it won’t be any of your fucking business.”
Beast’s eyes narrowed. “She’s a good woman and doesn’t need any more bullshit.”
“Like the fucking ton of shit you unloaded on her you mean?” Wolf snarled at him.
Beast shot up and away from the wall but Ziggy was suddenly there between them. “Beast, back the fuck off, brother. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. There’s nothing going on between Wolf and Chris, they’re friends and that’s it. You are totally out of line. She’s no longer your responsibility you need to back the fuck off.”
“Had my dick in her, she’ll always be my fucking responsibility.” Beast growled.
“Hah, did you tell your old lady that? Not sure she’ll be on board with that load of bullshit.” Wolf couldn’t believe the absolute crap Beast was spouting.
“Fuck.” Beast whispered as he realised just what he had said. “That’s not the way I meant it. I just meant she’s not like the others, she’s a good woman.”
“I’m not fucking interested in listening to your fucking excuses.” Wolf had had enough of this bullshit. Grabbing the keys off Ziggy’s desk he pushed past Beast but stopped in the doorway as he was about to walk out and gave Beast the last words he would be speaking to the fucker for the rest of the day.
“I’ll get Spider to go with me and the prospects. I can’t fucking handle riding with you or looking at you right now.”
Wolf stormed out into the common room his phone already to his ear. He started talking as Spider grumbled sleepily.
“Need you to ride out with me. Got some intel on Army that we have to investigate right now.”
Spider didn’t hesitate. “Give me two minutes.”
Next he got the prospects, Will and Owen, up. He stood outside waiting for everyone and rolled his neck to loosen the tight as fuck muscles.
Today was going to be one hell of a long day without any sleep.
When the door slammed behind him he glanced over his shoulder. Fucking Beast. Why the fuck could he not back the fuck off?
“I’m sorry, brother. I’m an ass. We’ll have a talk later today.”
With that he whirled and went back inside, most probably to check on his old lady. Beast still found it difficult to leave her alone after the attack.
Jesus. He never wanted a fucking old lady. It seemed too much like fucking hard work.
He was happy with his life the way it was right now. He didn’t need some bitch to come along and fuck it up when he just got it exactly the way he wanted it.
All thoughts of old ladies and their shit flew out of his brain as Spider and the prospects rushed out the front door. Spider took one look at his face and frowned.
“What do we have?”
“Found his real name and that he has a storage unit at Storage in Kosmos. We’re going to check out what he’s got stashed in his unit.” Wolf gave him the main points because they didn’t have time to stand around and fucking chat.
Spider nodded as he got on his bike and pulled his helmet on. He has always been the easiest of the brothers to get along with. If something had to be done he did it, he only asked for a broad outline before doing the job. And right now he did exactly that.
Side by side Wolf and Spider rode out the gates with the prospects following and headed for the highway. It was going to be the quickest way to get to Kosmos. Fifteen minutes later they took the Samrand off ramp and slowed down as they approached the red robot. They were in a crime hotspot and all four of them were keeping their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Wolf and Spider slowed even more waiting for the robot to turn green. No way did they want to come to a complete stop at this time of the morning.
Ten minutes later they pulled up to the brightly lit closed and locked gates of the storage company. Cameras sat very prominently at the top of tall poles and Wolf pulled his helmet off to ensure that the guards didn’t hit the fucking panic button and have the security company and pigs come running out here with guns blazing.
He waved a hand at the two guards he could see in the guardhouse.
“Good morning, we urgently need to get into our storage unit. Can you please open the gates for us?”
“Which unit do you want to go to, Sir?” One of the guards asked as he slowly came out of the guardhouse and walked towards the gates.
“Unit 27b.”
The guard immediately stopped walking. “That one is not yours, Sir, it belongs to Boss Reid. Why isn’t he with you?”
Fuck.
Wolf shook his head as he got off his bike but left it running under the watchful eyes of the guard.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but Reid was killed in an accident. His funeral is tomorrow and we need to get some things from his unit for the funeral.”
His lie wasn’t that far from the truth at all.
“Hau (shock) he’s dead? I can’t believe it. He was here maybe two months ago.” The guard looked shocked at the news as he shook his head sadly. “The boss was a good man, a very good man.” He pointed at the storage units. “Boss Reid’s unit is on the other side of block b.”
He gestured to the man still in the guardhouse and the gate slowly slid open. Wolf got back on his bike, not bothering to pull on his helmet he slowly rode up to the scanner, scanned the tag and waited for the boom to lift to let them in. The guards watched as the four of them rode through then closed the gate behind them.
Wolf slowly rode towards block b and searched the numbers until he spotted 27 b. The four of them pulled up in front of the roller shutter door of a unit the size of a double garage. Shutting their bikes down they sat silently in front of the door for several seconds before Wolf kicked out the side stand and got off his bike. Leaving his helmet on the seat he withdrew the keys from the pocket of his kutte. There were three locks on the door, one in the middle of the door and two heavy padlocks on the bottom of the door, one on either side. He unlocked the central lock first then crouched down and slid one of the keys into the padlock, he sighed with relief when it sprung open and he withdrew the unlocked padlock and set down next to him. Throwing the keys to Spider he waited as he did the same to the padlock on his side of the door.
Stepping back Wolf looked at Spider who nodded. Bending down he grasped the handle at the bottom of the door and pulled. The door slid up easily and silently, revealing the contents of the unit in the reflected light of the bright security lights.
Wolf frowned in confusion as he looked into the unit then at Spider.
What the fucking fuck was this?
