Page 33 of Devil's Due

All of us work. I’m happy to turn my hand to anything and will never turn down a chance to work on a bike. Cages too, though I’m not so keen on them. Especially the modern shit which are more like mobile computers than anything mechanical. Mind you, some of the recent models of bikes are becoming that way too.

“Beef? Prez wants to see you.”

“Just come when you’re ready.” Pyro waves off my apology about being delayed. “Sure Prez’s business takes priority.”

It would in any of our chapters.

When the prez wants to see you, he wants to see you. Swallowing my last piece of bacon and carrying my half-drunk cup of coffee, I head straight for his office. When I enter, I’m surprised to find Cad standing there.

“Beef, sit.” Demon waits until I’ve done so. He notices me looking at Cad, trying to calculate why he’s there. “Don’t know how it works in Tucson, but here? If we think there’s something that might affect the club, or a member, then I want to know about it immediately.”

I’ve only asked Cad to do one thing. “Stevie.”

“Beef, I’m sorry, but…”

“But Cad quite rightly brought it to me.” Demon raises his eyebrow as if daring me to object. I don’t.

But going around my head is a question.How the fuck can a blind woman have anything to do with an MC?I finish my coffee then sit back and fold my arms and raise my eyebrows expectantly.

Cad clears his throat. “Stevie Nichols doesn’t exist.”

I bark a laugh. “She’s not a figment of my fuckin’ imagination, and if you don’t believe me, Pyro and Pal saw her as well. Dan too.”

“I’m not saying the woman isn’t real.” Cad ignores my reaction. “What I’m saying is, whoever she is, that’s not her name.”

Absentmindedly I reach for my cup, see it’s empty—damn, forgot I’d drunk it—and replace it on the desk.

Cad continues, “I looked in every database I could. Called on Mouse, he worked some magic and got that sheikh’s wife, Cara looking into the government databases.”

That makes me grin. Sheikh Nijad is a Dom who doesn’t like his wife using her amazing hacking skills. When she helps Mouse out, he doles out punishment—of the type that apparently does nothing to stop Cara doing what she shouldn’t. Yeah, Mouse has described some of his threats in great detail. But if she’s got involved, she’s the best. Whatever Cad has to tell me I can take to the bank.

“And?” I prompt.

“There’s been no registered blind person with that name, with or without a guide dog for the past thirty years. No one on Medicare, in no fuckin’ database. Retinal pigment you told me. Retinitis pigmentosa is the correct term, but we’ve checked databases of registered sufferers to no avail.”

I shake my head. “You can’t have run through everyone with that name…”

“Well, with Cara’s help we investigated everything.”

“Jeez, Cad. You’re saying she’s a ghost?”

“Nah. Think about what I said.For the past thirty years.Found a spanking brand-new identity though. Six months old. Cara could even pin point the person who added the records. And unlike her, they were legit, or someone with legitimate access.”

“Unless your girl was only born six months back, she’s using a fake identity,” Prez puts it simply, slightly annoyed eyes flicking at Cad. “Which is what he should have said in the first place.”

“She’s hiding.” My teeth are gritted.

“Seems to be the case. But it’s the why that concerns me, seeing as you’ve become involved with her. Which brings me back to how you met her and my question then. Was it an accident or deliberate?”

Cad nods. “That question is exactly why I brought it to Prez. She’s hiding. Just might be that she’s been found and the car heading straight for her wasn’t a coincidence.”

Fuck! If Cad’s suspicions are right, she’s in danger. My stomach churns. If that’s true, she’s at a great disadvantage. She can’t even see who’s at her door. Her hearing may not be enough to protect her. She wouldn’t hear the gun a visitor was pointing at her, not until it was too late, and a shot was fired.

Demon’s fingers rap on the desk. “I don’t like this, Beef. Don’t like any woman being hounded, but a woman with a service dog by her side? Can’t see how she could have done anything bad enough to have someone gunning for her.”

Resting my elbows on my knees, I steeple my hands and place my chin on them. “I might only have just met her, but I can read people well, Prez. Have enough experience not letting someone get one over on me.” He meets my eye and nods. There are skills you learn to stay alive when you ride with an MC. I continue to think aloud. “The thought of her doing something criminal is crazy, so my gut feel is she’s not running from the authorities.”

“On the scant facts we know, I agree,” inputs Demon.

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