Page 64 of Havoc

We trudged down a small slope, stepping on twigs, tree roots, and pine needles. The entrance was slightly overgrown because we only came here occasionally and were used to accessing it from the top hatch.

Mace and I got busy cutting away the overgrowth with our hunting knives. From the look of this entrance, you’d think no one had been here for years, but I knew one of the brothers brought his old lady here a month or so ago. Slowly, a jagged opening in the rock face came into view. We slipped into the opening one by one. Then we were faced with concrete, steel, and another locked metal door. Behind the door, I grasped for the light switch and flipped it on. LED lights flickered to life, sending a soft glow over a messy foyer. Boxes of supplies were stacked haphazardly in the small room.

Walking to the back of the foyer, I pushed the secondary door open and turned on the lights in the large sitting room.

“Does every bunker have three doors?” Riley asked, as she looked around the room.

“No. The crazy fucker who built this place was obsessed with doors and locks. I guess that was to be expected, since he turned out to be a serial killer. He even had a room with multiple cells where he kept the women he abducted. That was before my time with the club, but I remember something about how he got into a wrangle with his brother over what he was doing here, and the brother ended up killing him. Nasty business, all of it.”

“How did your club end up with the property?”

“We helped the brother track him down, and after being forced to take his own brother out, he didn’t want any part of what his brother had going on here. Storm took it off his hands for a tidy sum. And just like that, what had once been a place where women came to die became a safe house. It’s a shelter of last resort for use when danger threatens our club brothers and their families.”

“How does such a remote location have electricity?”

Edward walked by and grumbled, “It used to be off grid, with only solar panels to power everything. But my tribal elders joined the Dark Slayers in routing electricity from the electrical substation on our lands to this shelter. Together we dug almost a thousand feet by hand in order to lay underground power lines, dropped a private well and installed a sewer system. Now, our families are welcomed in the event of disaster as well.”

“That’s a clever bit of teamwork,” Riley replied warmly.

Edward rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’re all nothing if not clever around these parts.”

Marcus fast-walked past us, saying over his shoulder, “It was fucking exhausting, that’s what it was.” Gesturing to towards the utility room, he announced, “I’m going to turn on the heat. We need to get the chill off the rooms and get some air circulating.”

Hauling in a deep breath, I almost gagged at the lungful of stuffy air. “That’s a great idea, Marcus. The air fuckin’ sucks. It’s not only stale, but musty too.” I told him.

“It’s breathable,” Mace said as he knelt to pet Nine.

Alicia flung herself down on the oversized sofa and said, “Speak for yourself. It smells like fry bread and old socks in here.”

Mace’s old lady wasn’t wrong about that, I thought to myself. I called out to Marcus, “We’ve got a big box of extra air filters back there.”

Chapter 19

Riley

Ihad been turning this situation over in my mind all the way to the shelter. These bikers and their Native friends clearly had formed an alliance, one that made them both stronger than either of them was on their own. Digging a thousand feet of utility lines together was an astonishing feat. Then again, if Mace’s family had as many strong, robust young workers as the Dark Slayers, maybe it wasn’t as impossible as it sounded.

Although Mace was clearly the hinge pin the alliance was built from, all of them interacted like lifelong friends, coming together for a common cause. They’d figured out a way to overcome insurmountable hurdles to bring utilities to this bunker. And in doing so, they’d created a haven of last resort all could use in their time of need. And there was clearly a need, because here we were.

Havoc’s boots made a soft thudding sound as he walked across the concrete floors. By comparison, my sneakers barely made a noticeable sound. Havoc busied himself by clearing things off the chairs and the end of the sofa that Alicia wasn’t sitting on. The large sitting room didn’t quite look like a hurricane had hit it but was messy enough to be noticeable. When he pulled out a large trash bag, I went over to help him clear up.

He saw me coming and waved me off. “Have a seat and take a load off, Riley. When I’m finished straightening up, I’ll show you around.”

I was tired, but it seemed wrong to sit around and do nothing when they were all here because of me. “I really should help you,” I protested, feeling guilt eating away at me.”

Alicia spoke up, “The brothers are likepequeño hombre tornadosthat storm through any situation, kicking ass, taking names, and making things right again.”

Havoc jerked his chin at me and said in a firm voice, “You’ve been through enough for one day. Let me take care of this.”

I nodded and dropped down into a comfortable armchair.

He immediately turned to Alicia with a frown. “Pequeño hombre tornado? Really? I can’t believe you just called me little tornado man in Spanish. That’s fuckin’ emasculating.” He brought two fingers up to his eyes and then pointed them at her in the traditional gesture for ‘I’m watching you’.

She just laughed merrily when he walked off in a huff. Alicia clearly wasn’t worried about Havoc keeping an eye on her. She rolled her eyes and said, “Hombre oso de peluche grande, the lot of them.”

It had been a long time since I had spoken Spanish, but it sounded like she was calling them big teddy bears.

Havoc grumbled from across the room. “I fuckin’ heard that.” Then he shouted, “Mace, come and get your woman. She’s insulting the brotherhood.”

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