Page 38 of Rogue's Path
“Our guys are fine. They’ll need a cleaning crew, but we need to check out the scene first.”
A cleaning crew! That means there is a body on the ground.
Every mile feels like we move slower and slower. Bodies on the ground with our brothers around is a risk we almost never take. Drop the body and leave it.
Right before we pull down an old road that’s more potholes than asphalt, Havoc says, “Vandal and Cyclops keep watch, but don’t be seen.”
They’re going to love hiding in the woods. Vandal brought his new bike too. That kid has more bikes than most of us have t-shirts.
Most of us have a collection, but his…
We roll down the street with more speed than we have since leaving Ivy Café.
They’re selling drugs right where the kids come out Friday night to party and drink. It’s a smart place to do it, too. The cops never come down this street. There’s a state park bathroom probably fifty feet from where they party. You’re far enough from people that you can set off fireworks without anyone seeing them. It’s wet enough here that they don’t start a forest fire. If we ever get a dry spell…that’s not going to go well.
Leech and Bishop are leaning against their bikes, waiting for us.
“How many bodies?” Havoc asks as soon as his helmet is off.
“Three. There’s one behind the bathrooms. He tried to get the drop on Bishop.”
Like that would ever happen. After all those tours, they’d need to be professionals to get the drop on him.
One of these dead guys clearly isn’t anywhere near being a professional. The kid looks to be around Vandal’s age. Probably from around here. The other guy...he’s old to still be in the business. Really old.
Dealers that make it this long don’t take meets with small-timers like this kid. It doesn’t make sense.
“Fly and Carver are bringing cleaning equipment. We need to get all the information we can from them now. That includes every tattoo they might have.”
Maybe Vandal will switch jobs. “On it.”
The old guy—I shouldn’t call him old. He’s probably only a few years older than me—was stupid enough to put a woman’s face on his thigh along with a name. Too bad most of the name is gone. “This one looks important.”
Havoc walks over to me. “Whoever that hyperrealism artist is, they’re a master at their craft.”
There’s one woman who knows all the masters in her field. “Should I send it to her?” Havoc will know exactly who I’m talking about. He has her work on his body as well.
“Like we want to involve a woman who’s married to a cop in this.”
But Rhys is the best. “She knows how to keep her mouth shut.”
Havoc raises an eyebrow at me.
“She was in a motorcycle club. She knows how the world works.”
“Was in the world. Now she’s married to a cop. That’s not a risk I’m willing to take at the moment.”
Havoc is probably right not to involve her. But I’m sure Rhys would know. Or at least be able to put us on the right path. “Almost everyone in the club has tattoos. We can start there.”
We move on to the one behind the bathrooms.
Like the old guy, he doesn’t have any identification on him.
Bishop hikes back. “We found the cars. The kid’s belongs to him. The other looks to be stolen. The plates don’t match the registration we found inside it. It appears to belong to a woman from Florida. The car’s old, but too ugly to be considered vintage. It’s also showroom pristine. Whoever this woman was, she took care of it and kept it in a garage.”
“Did you dust for prints?” It’s part of the process, but it doesn’t hurt for me to double-check.
“Yeah, Leech has got them. You know how meticulous he is.”
