Page 41 of Saint's Sinner

“Yeah, I know all about that alley,” Sinn grumbled.

“Heard that’s where you disappeared from,” Dalton said. “Seems way too convenient to me. You guys ever figure out if anyone tipped your people off that you’d be there?”

“No tip off, they just somehow managed to case the place for days without anyone noticing a big ass van with Texas license plates,” Sinn grumbled, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice.

Dalton tisked, while Saint muttered something under his breath that Sinn couldn’t fully make out.

“Care to speak up so these old ears can hear ya?” Dalton asked in a tone that left no room for argument.

“There might not have been a tip off, but the van didn’t go unnoticed,” Saint said. “Bruce and Lenny recognized it when we were down in Texas. Said they’d seen it in the parking lot a couple times but didn’t think anything of it. The guys that snatched him up took part in the raid. After I bloodied one of them up a bit, he admitted that they never expected to make it all the way to Texas with Sinn. Said they roared past someone with what they thought was a Joker emblem on his shoulder and swore up and down they made eye contact. Was shocked thatwas the first we were hearing about it. Near as we’ve been able to figure, it was Teddy they passed in the alley on his way to pick up the evening receipts. He was in the shop when Lenny went outside to tell Sinn he had the colors set up for the next phase of his tattoo and couldn’t find him. Teddy said absolutely nothing about seeing a van take off up the alley at what the guy driving it described as a high rate of speed considering Sinn was fighting them tooth and nail. They expected bikes in their rearview before they made it five miles.”

“Son of a bitch!” Sinn growled. “It’s no wonder Gramps was certain you wouldn’t bother coming after me.”

“Pretty much what he said when he learned what we were discussing.”

“According to Lenny, Teddy went on to his next pickup even after learning that you were missing,” Saint said. “Mark’s livid and keeping him at arm’s length until he decides what to do with him.”

“Let me get my hands on him and there won’t be anything more for Mark to worry about,” Sinn snarled.

“You’ll get your chance.”

“I’d better.”

“This is just a bit of unsolicited advice from an old man so do with it what you will,” Dalton said. “But you should make sure Doc is on hand for that. I’ve only met Teddy a handful of times, but he came across as soft to me. More like an ornament or a pet. Unlike your boy here. He’s a scrapper, with or without twenty-twenty vision on his side.”

“Yeah, I’m learning that about him,” Saint admitted.

“You’d do well not to forget it,” Dalton cautioned. “Something tells me he won’t be so forgiving if you keep smothering his sense of self. You might even loose him, which would be entirely on your head.”

“True that,” Sinn muttered.

“As his Dominant, your job is to figure out what he needs from you and see to it that he gets it,” Dalton said, his voice firm as he addressed Saint. “Yes, you are to protect him, but protect doesn’t mean stifle and it should never mean that you make him feel like less of a man. If he wants to do something, then you need to do everything in your power to figure out how to make that happen within the parameters of his capabilities. You don’t take over and you sure as hell don’t try and sit him on the sidelines while you do it for him. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Saint replied.

“Good, then lecture over. If I have to give another one it won’t be as nice,” Dalton declared. “You’ve got a good boy here. Smart, capable, and driven to create. I hope you’ll support the proposal that’s been made to put him and Creature in charge of the bike shop. Oh, and before you ask who made the proposal, it was me. After seeing those frames he helped unearth, I can’t think of anyone better.”

“Nor can I,” Saint admitted.

“You know,” Dalton went on while Sinn basked in the high praise from both men. “Old Gus Mathison was blind for most of his life. Couldn’t even make out the difference between light and shadows, but he built the sweetest machines I’ve ever had the privilege to ride. Taught me a good chunk of what I know about bike building too. Said there were times when he was glad not to see anything. That sight made it too easy to make judgements without discovering what lay beneath the surface. There’s been a time or two in my life when those words have come back to smack me upside the head just when I was about to say something stupid. And I’m grateful for them.”

“Even when my eyes still worked right, I learned to see with my hands,” Sinn admitted. “There’s a huge garage attached to the house I grew up in and I spent hours in there hovering over the shoulder of anyone who’d let me. I could build a machinefrom the frame up before I was legally old enough to ride one, not that it ever stopped me. Once my hands learned what to do they didn’t falter even when my eyesight faded. Mom thought it would make it easy for me to learn braille, but the callouses on my fingertips were too thick by then for me to catch on to it. Technology has made that a non-issue though. I get my phone or laptop to read the manuals to me, while I try and work out what’s wrong with the parts, though I’ve got to admit that this carburetor of Kong’s has stumped more than just me.”

“Well then, pass it on over here so I can take a look,” Dalton asked, holding out his hands for the pieces and humming when Sinn placed the first one in his palm.

That humming soon turned to laughter once Sinn had passed over the last of the parts.

“Let me guess, you’ve got it solved already?” Sinn asked.

“Can’t solve the unsolvable,” Dalton replied, passing one of the pieces back. “Feel that?”

“Yeah, it’s been bugging the hell out of me. What kind of gasket is it? I’ve never felt anything like it and Creature couldn’t figure out who the manufacturer was.”

“I’ll bet he was pissed. Prolly be more ticked off when he learns it’s cardboard and some kind of sealant. Feels like it was wrapped over the original metal and molded into place while it dried. Let me guess, you couldn’t get it to fit back together?”

“Not for lack of trying.”

“It’s an old school trick. Someone jerry rigged the hell out of more than just that gasket though,” Dalton said. “I can’t figure out what the hell this is melted to the inside of the cylinder.”

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