Page 114 of Irons

Paula looked at me. “Of course, he’s the VP, and of course my husband is the President. They’re founding members, just as Tony was when he was alive. Of course he was VP under Charlie at the time.” She lifted her hand and between her fingers she held up a thumb drive. “Everything you need is right here in this thumb drive.”

“You’re willing to sell out your own husband for what I know about Bobby?” Travis asked.

“I’m not selling him out. He is aware I am here with the thumb drive he gave me, along with Clint, he knows you were coming here when you called him before you left his house.”

“What kind of leverage against a bunch of bike riding cops could you possibly be giving me? Let me guess, they stole pot from an evidence locker?” Travis sarcastically chuckled.

“The information in this thumb drive contains sixteen cold cases that will never be solved in the eyes of the law. That doesn’t mean they’ve not been solved in someone’s eyes. Let me ask you this, Travis. How do you think two young bachelor’s afforded brand new homes, nice trucks, and expensive motorcycles on a cops salary? Wrenly, you always wore the latest trendy styles as a teenager. Clint could afford to keep up with your after school activities, and all those tournaments out of town were very expensive.”

“That explains a lot.” Travis whispered to himself.

My heart was sinking by the minute.

“Why would any of them just hand over some sort of evidence that would incriminate them in some kind of illegal activities?”

Paula took a look around the room again. “A lot happened in this building. It started out as just a small MC that consisted of a few guys that were willing to bend the law in their favor. They were young, and quite often stumbled upon some situations that gave them suspicions of corruption. They began investigating and gathered evidence that could be used in their favors. When there’s corruption it’s not always possible to have certain people prosecuted, so instead they took the law into their own hands.”

“So, they blackmailed politicians.” Travis guessed.

“Not always politicians, but yes, there were several individuals that were happy to pay for their silence.” She answered.

“So, Clint and Tony were dirty cops?” Travis asked and my heart sped up.

She shrugged. “You can call it that, but you could look at the big picture. They didn’t let the corruption go. They always collected from the cases, but also made some demands. They knew these people wouldn’t be prosecuted, but they also knew these people didn’t want their secrets exposed. They shook things up so to speak. They demanded hush money and for most to leave town and threatened to expose them if they were ever suspected of doing these things again. Then there were other cases, ones that harmed innocent people. They didn’t blackmail those people. No, those people disappeared, and that’s what’s in this thumb drive.” She handed it to Travis, and he took it. “Then Bobby disappeared. Tony and Clint began privately investigating it on their own. They hit road block after road block and never solved it, but it fueled them. They began searching out pedophile’s. Some they had enough evidence to have them prosecuted, others deserved worse than the justice our current laws would hand down.”

“You need to stop right there!” Travis’s voice bellowed through the vacant building. “Do not incriminate Clint any further. I do not want him involved with any of this bullshit.” He was pacing and I was standing against a wall in shock over what I was being told about my dad.

Paula looked at me. “He found the dealer that gave your mom the drugs that killed her.”

Those words hit me so hard I almost couldn’t stand. Travis didn’t waste a second getting to me to hold me up. “Shut up!” He barked at his mom.

“Your mother told him about the man she caught touching you in Montana. He’s gone too, your father killed him as well. He had done it to several other children.”

The room was spinning as Travis held on to me and yelled at his mother to stop talking but she wouldn’t stop.

“It’s true.” I heard my father’s voice and looked up to see him. He had his hand in his pockets and behind him was Charlie.

“What the fuck, Clint?” Travis had me pulled into him, wrapped up in his arms as my head rested against his chest.

“No, Travis, I believe that’s what I should be asking you after what I learned earlier today.” Dad’s lips formed a straight line, obviously he was furious. “What kind of life have you involved my daughter in?”

“Obviously one that’s safer than the one she lived with you!” Travis snapped at him.

“She has always been safe, until she ran off to the fucking desert!” Dad threw it right back.

“You’re both living the same life so cut it out!” Paula glared at my father.

“I wake up this morning thinking it’s been a great visit, then I get a call from Paula that sounded pretty damn urgent. What I’ve learned today…” My dad shook his head in disappointment. “Foreign contracts? Special ops? Jesus Travis, I thought domestic cases inside the law was bad enough. Domestic violence, missing people, just domestic shit, but covert operations for the military? What the hell, Travis? You allowed her to join that shit?”

“Allowed?” Travis asked. “I don’t allow her to do anything. She’s a grown woman that made a hell of a soldier and is capable of making her own decisions.”

“Stop!” Paula stomped her foot. “We are here to show them that we are trustworthy. Scolding him for what he has built is ridiculous. We are vigilantes, he is not. He has the backing of the government and law enforcement, but we do not. We may have common goals, but we have no room to judge him or his company, more like the other way around.”

“Let me guess.” Travis spoke up. “Mom finds the cases through her non-profit and hands them to the two of you.”

“No, actually that is not the case. My non-profit has nothing to do with investigations, it’s merely to lend support to the families of missing children and the search teams we can help finance and hopefully put into place for them. Actual not for profit search teams that work by horseback, on foot, and use K-9’s. It is legitimate and completely separate from this MC.” Paula was getting upset so Charlie put his arm around her. “I handle the books for the MC, that’s it. Robert and I had no idea what this MC was about, and he never knew about us. It’s my marriage to Charlie that involved me. This MC doesn’t investigate kidnappings. It serves justice for victims the legal systems failed. It keeps small towns and children safe. Bobby is the only missing child they are searching for, andhis disappearance is what drove Tony, Charlie, and Clint to transform the MC into what it is today. They no longer make the money they once did, not like when Tony was alive. It is sustained by its own members and the backing of good people who want to make life safer for women and children.”

“During our search for Bobby we realized just how many pedophiles are an active threat to innocent people. We are showing our cards to not just finally give your mother the answers she needs but to become allies of Creed’s Lake.” Charlie said. “We have grown since Tony’s death. We have charters in the Midwest that could be of use to your company and your company could also benefit us.”

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