Page 115 of Devil's Dilemma

As Dad laughs, I cast a sideways glance at Pyro, wondering whether he’s serious or joking.

“What’s your process? How do you test a man?”

“Push him to his limits. See what he’s capable of doing. Prospects can do anything from serving behind a bar to cleaning shit from the toilet. If they are asked to clean a member’s bike with their toothbrush, if they want the patch badly enough, they’ll do it with a smile.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Pyro

Imay have mentioned burying a body but luckily both Mel and her dad thought I was joking. Though another look at Mel’s face suggests she’s not quite as certain as Rufus. Whether I was serious or not is something she’ll never know. That would come firmly under the heading of club business.

“Skull, or the man we now know as Donavon Jordan, passed all this with flying colours?” her dad asks.

“Yes.” I grimace. “Of course, he wasn’t Skull then, but as a hangaround he used the name Kris Cox. When he started to prospect, we called him Runt.” I break off, shaking my head. “How the fuck does he keep track of all his names?” It’s a rhetorical question, no one answers, which prompts me to resume. “Well, he looked like a skinny kid, and among our other prospects, resembled the reject of the litter. Of course, that he accepted the handle without complaint was all part of the process, as you called it.”

“Mel said you beat him? Part of the test?” Rufus’ expression has hardened.

“No, but in his case, it was the turning point.” I sit forward and clasp my hands between my legs, staring at Mel’s father intensely. “We had a situation, someone was fuckin’ with the club.”

“How?”

I shrug. “A dead body was left in the dumpster behind our strip club. Turned out to be a dead tramp who died of natural causes, but it got the cops’ eyes on us. Then there were parts going missing from the auto-shop, even a drive-by shooting at the compound, though no serious injuries thank fuck. Things were escalating, and we had to bring it to a stop. Everything pointed to it being Skull, or Runt as he was then, who was behind it. We, er, tried to get him to admit it.”

“By using your fists?

By using torture.

“Pyro, if I’m going to represent Mel in court, I need to know everything. If I don’t, and information’s thrown at me I’m not aware of, our whole case could come undone. You tell me it all, and I’ll decide how I use the information but only as far as the case goes. You’re protected by attorney/client privilege. If I don’t need to use it, the information stays here in this room.” He stares at me for a moment, then adds, “Skull, Runt, or whatever you want to call him, you can be sure he won’t keep quiet about it if turns out to be relevant.”

He’s got a point. I swallow hard a couple of times. “It wasn’t a proud moment for the club, but the trouble was escalating. We tried to persuade him to tell us, but he wouldn’t. Didn’t know at the time it was because he couldn’t, nothing was down to him, even though it appeared to be.”

“Appeared to be?” Rufus parrots.

“Skull was in the right places at the right times. He was the common denominator. All the evidence pointed his way.”

Again, Rufus’ face hardens. “Am I right to suggest you used torture to get him to admit it?”

I nod. “I wasn’t personally involved, but yeah. He was hurt, not too badly, as another member found out the truth and Skull’s… interrogation… was immediately halted, but psychologically? Must have been a point when he thought he wasn’t going to walk free.”

He casts an eye toward his daughter. “This trouble with the club. It stopped?”

I raise and lower my head again. “The member who was actually behind it isn’t with us any longer and won’t be causing trouble again.” Not going to admit he’s buried six feet under out in the desert. Rufus might want full disclosure, but I’ll say nothing that might bring harm on my club.

For a few seconds, Rufus stares at me intently, as if trying to read whether his daughter will be in any danger if she continues her association with the club. I gaze back just as earnestly. It’s him who breaks first, accepting I’ve been honest in what I’ve said. “What happened with Skull?”

“He left the club. We thought it would be permanent. We’d destroyed his trust in us.”

“But he must have come back?”

“He did.” I frown, remembering it. “He told us that he wanted to be part of the loyal brotherhood we’d shown ourselves to be. He’d been impressed by how we banded together to protect what was ours. He said he understood why we’d made him hurt, that if the positions were reversed, he’d have no reservations in doing the same. Brotherhood, to him, was everything. He became a full member, and that’s when he got a new name. Runt became Skull, because he had a hard head.”

“And you trusted him because of what he said. Probably some guilt involved due to the way you treated him.” Rufus frowns. “Good way for an undercover man to get on the inside.”

“We remained unsure for a while,” I said, thinking back. “It wasn’t expected, we thought he might be out for revenge. He was watched, but never put a foot out of line. As the months passed, particularly when he claimed Mel as his ol’ lady, we relaxed. He became as trusted as any member. But,” I raise my hand to show I’m not finished, “when he went missing, we considered all options. Of course, thoughts circled back to what had happened before, and wondered whether he’d bided his time waiting for vengeance. We couldn’t understand how or why he disappeared off the face of the earth, and one consideration was whether he was setting something up.”

“That’s why you called us all in on lockdown?” Mel asks, and I have to remember this is new to her. “You said it was because he could have been taken by an unknown enemy of the club.”

“That was a possibility too, Mel, but unlikely. We don’t have enemies, so yeah, we suspected Skull instead.” I inwardly shudder at the memory of me checking over what we thought might have been bombs.

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