Page 37 of Risk
All of this supernatural mumbo jumbo gives me the willies even after being subjected to it for most of my adult life. It’s incomprehensible to those who are close-minded and those who’ve never been in the company of men and women who can do the bizarre shit they do. There are freaky things out there that are kept in the dark. Thank fuck for that, otherwise there’d be mass hysteria breaking out on the streets.
“We need to take this girl with us when we leave, she’s not here of her own volition,” Wrecker announces which systematically has all of us unleashing an animalistic growl. Two of our old ladies have been forced into situations similar to this where they’ve been sexually assaulted, one in the physical sense and the other one in a digital sense—both wrong no matter which way you look at it. “For now, she won’t be waking until after we’ve dealt with the senator.”
“I wanna meet him somewhere that’s not monitored by his system,” Kodiak announces. “Any ideas?”
“There’s an abandoned barn two blocks down the road, we could have him walk his way there,” Auto tells us through our comms. “I’m sending you coordinates now.”
I smirk at Auto’s use of a city term because we’re not in the city per se. We’re somewhat outside of it, with a lot of farmland, but just before where the good senator lives there are some overgrown fields. Urban sprawl at its finest, I guess. I’m pretty sure we passed the barn in question, so using Auto’s cityboy parameters, it’s probably two or so blocks. Not too far for someone to walk comfortably, even though the last thing we’re concerned with is that fucker’s comfort.
“Appreciate it, Auto,” Kodiak says, relieved that we have an alternative outside of having this meeting take place in front of this monstrosity of a house. “If you see the directions, could you have Albright meet us there, Dragon?”
“Yeah, that’s child’s play,” Dragon scoffs. It always amazes me that he can do several things while keeping somebody under his control. You’d think it’d take every ounce of his effort to stay in a person’s mind and have them follow your prompts, but Dragon’s right about one thing, he makes it look like it’s a cake walk and never breaks out into a sweat.
“Y’all head there and get things set up, I’m gonna stay behind with Dragon. We’ll follow Albright to make sure there aren’t any issues,” Wrecker states.
“Sounds like a game plan, we’ll meet you there,” Kodiak tells them, twirling his finger in the air, rounding us up.
Conan whistles, telling us, “Let’s go guys, we’ve got our marching orders.”
We stacked bales of hay in a circle with one in the middle for Albright to park his ass on. There’s no need in tying him up considering he’ll be under the control of Dragon. Twenty minutes later, we’re joined by the three of them and Albright walks over to where we wanted him to go and sits, crossing one leg over the other and with his hands neatly splayed over histhighs. “Did you make him sit all proper like that?” Conan asks Dragon.
“Nope, that’s naturally ingrained into him,” Dragon answers.
“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s ass,” Hemi cackles.
“I’ve never understood that phrase, it sounds ridiculous and stupid,” I stammer, my words running together. “Who’d want to be a monkey’s ass, they pick at them.”
“I don’t know, man. My grandmother used to say it and it’s something I picked up and use when a situation calls for it,” Hemi excuses.
“Y’all debate this shit later,” Kodiak orders, “we have more important things to address.” He walks up to Albright and leans over, invading the man’s personal space. I’m not sure why he’s using this intimidation tactic, it’s not as if the man’s going to resist, he’s Dragon’s puppet. “You’re going to answer each and every one of our questions.”
“That’s a given,” Dragon states. “He has no other choice in the matter.”
“Good to know,” Kodiak replies. “It’s nice having you around, Dragon. For once, I won’t have to go home to my old lady with blood on my hands.”
“Why?” I whine. “If he’s as crooked as we believe he is, he deserves a beatdown.”
“Because we don’t want to alert Marshall and whoever else the fuck he’s working with that we know as much as we do. We can’t in good consciousness save McKenna but not the others they’ve stolen and put into a life of servitude, Risk. That doesn’t sit right with me,” Kodiak retorts.
Wrecker walks over beside me and elbows me. “And he said so, at least, that’s what Dragon always cites when we question him.”
“Damn straight,” Dragon sneers. “I’m the president, my word is final. End of discussion. No vetoes allowed.”
“Some things never change,” Kodiak murmurs. “They want us to lead them, to make the important decision on what’s best for the club as a whole, then argue with us when we decide on something they aren’t gung-ho about.”
“It’s human nature to question things,” Conan justifies.
“Especially when our pres shuts down our playground,” Regulator remarks.
Kodiak clenches the bridge of his nose with his two fingers as Dragon says, “I feel your pain, brother.”
Kodiak sighs, stating, “You couldn’t have taken these fuckers with you when you settled? You left me with the troublemakers.”
Dragon shrugs his shoulders, and in a serious voice, states, “Could’ve been worse. I could’ve left you Striker and Prowler.”
Kodiak rears back, hissing, “Don’t put that out into the universe. That’s cold, brother. Next thing I know, they’ll be banging on my door.”
“They aren’t so bad,” Wrecker muses. “I kinda miss the little shits.”
