Page 24 of The Devil's Pair

Vengeance is fucking mine.

“The Garden has fallen,” he said now. “It was overrun and taken.”

Crusher studied him for a minute, then said, “I know. It was all over the local news.”

“I know who did it,” Michael said. “And I’m here to ask you to help me end them once and for all… I’m collecting on what you promised me once.”

Those mint-green eyes flared with sudden heat. For a wild second, Michael wondered if it was anger – maybe Crusher had no desire to be reminded about a debt to an old buddy – but then he realized that it wasdelightlighting up those icy eyes. Crusher washappythat he was being asked to repay the favor.

“So who did it, Web?” Crusher said, and Michael didn’t even consider correcting him for using his old nickname. “Who ripped up your home?”

“The Road Devils MC,” Michael said, the bitterness making his voice sharp. “The Road Devils took the Garden.”

Crusher’s reaction was unlike anything that Michael could have possibly foreseen. He froze, he seemed to even stop breathing. For a few seconds, he was fully Hal, the kid that Michael had played football with, back when he’d been Darryl. Crusher was wrong-footed, surprised, shocked, andthatwas when Michael knew that he had absolutely made the right decision to come here. The Road Devils were a major problem for some reason, and the one thing that Crusherhatedwas an unresolved problem.

“How do you know it was them?” Crusher spoke quietly. “How do you knowfor sure?”

“Because I was sent by Gideon with dear-departed Right-Guardian Zachariah to watch them. They’d helped one of Gideon’s woman-servants escape, and Gideon tracked the vehicle to one of the MC businesses. I sat in their parking lot in Denver forweeks, I saw them come and go, I knew most of them by sight… and so when I saw the men who took the Garden, I knewexactlywho I was looking at. I don’t know their names, but I can describe them perfectly.”

“Go on.”

“There were two dark-haired men who were twins, and one red-headed giant with a beard, and a – well.” Michael paused, trying to think how to describe the last man. “A huge blond man who looked like some kind of – I don’t know – like a Nordic warrior, or something. He had the coldest blue eyes I’ve ever seen, even from fifty feet away.”

Crusher hissed, and a bit unnerved atthat, Michael hesitated. At a nod from Crusher, he continued:

“They – they showed up with a cop that Gideon was blackmailing, a bitch named Briley Cross. The group of them shot up the Garden, killed Gideon and a bunch of my fellow Guardians, and walked out with two of Gideon’s women-servants, Iris and Violet. They got in a van and took off.”

“So a bitch cop, two dark-haired twins, a red-bearded giant, and a Scandinavian warrior took the compound?”

“Yeah. I know it sounds like the start of a ‘they all walked into a bar’ joke, but it’s true.”

“Huh.” Crusher looked over at a huge man with an ugly snake tattoo coiling around his thick neck. “What do you think aboutthat, Viper?”

As if being named gave him permission to speak, the man said, “Sounds like he saw the Devils, for sure, Prez.”

“No kidding.” Crusher stared at Michael again, but this time he looked thoughtful. “So you saw Dux, Drake, Viking, and Ice shoot up your sacred Garden.”

“I – I guess so,” Michael said, thinking that ‘Ice’ was surely the one with the cold stare. “I mean – I’m assuming you know these boys?”

“Oh, hell, yeah. We goway backwith The Road Devils – or at least wediduntil the fucking President Wolf Connor pulled them out of the life. Took them straight.”

Thatwas when Michael understood why Crusher was such a bizarre combination of pissed off and thrilled:no wayhe’d have any use or respect for a bunch of pussies who’d walked away from the world that Crusher breathed, and killed for, and loved, and was ready to die for. It would be the ultimate insult to him for a bunch of former allies to turn their backs on him and his MC… he’d have been justlookingfor an opportunity to make them pay.

And here I’ve just walked into his house and given him the perfect excuse to let loose on them.

“Not that they’ve really been allthatstraight,” Crusher mused. “We can’t prove it, but we think that they recently offed a guy who did some back-handed legal work for us.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Crusher looked over at Viper, who was clearly surprised that his President was sharing club business with an outsider. “Lawyer named Brian Fielding. His ex took up with one of The Road Devils members, and soon after, Fielding disappeared. Just poof.”

“Holy shit,” Michael said. “Sounds like you’re right, and these boys are still balls-deep in the life.”

“Maybe.” Crusher stared at his Vice-President some more. “Call Dawson at The Blood Crew’s clubhouse, likerightnow. Ineed to do a Denver check-in before I figure out which way to jump.”

Thatwas a surprise for Viper, for a few reasons. First, Crusher and Dawson were allies of habit and necessity – both being MC Presidents gave them quite a bit of common ground, naturally. However, Dawson Kinney leaving The Road Devils and starting a splinter MC (all behind Wolf Connor’s back), made him a traitor and therefore, ultimately untrustworthy. Crusher and Wolf may have no love lost between them, but what Dawson did went so hard against the code, Crusher would never really treat Dawson like a legitimate Prez. Nor would he ever trust him.

Second – and in some ways, far more importantly – Dawson had swept up all of The Road Devils’ dirty contracts and deals with the now-not-so-dearly-departed Kirk Jensen… money that Crusher had wanted for hisownMC. And to be totally fair, Crusher and Kirk had been partners for longer than Dawson had evenbeenin The Road Devils, so if there was a successor, it was Crusher. Dawson sneaking in there and taking what Crusher had regarded ashiswas an absolute source of frustration and anger for Crusher. Worse, he was still having to work with Dawson, because so much of The Highway Hellions’ drugsstillcame through Denver, forcing Crusher into bed with Dawson.

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