Page 13 of Wrecked

Drag bikes can be highly dangerous if they are tuned incorrectly.

“I’m still new to the voting. I agree that favors are good, but I’m going to reserve my vote until I know if they will let Keys run a diagnostic on it,” Frenchie says in her soft voice as she looks up from the notes she’s taking on her laptop.

“I think we should approach Justine about prospecting.” I put the suggestion out there and they all mull it over. “Okay, laptop away,” I order Frenchie, who shuts it down. Keys pulls out her laptop. After a few clicks, images pop up on the large screen on the wall.

“This is what I have.” She shows us an image of a guy who looks ordinary. I mean, I wouldn’t kick him out of bed. Until she pulls up the next image. “He’s been grooming this young girl.” The girl can’t be more than fourteen. “She’s supposed to be meeting him in a couple of hours at the end of South Cushman. I’ve looked. There are a few businesses, access to the river, and a shooting range down there.”

“It’s no man’s land after nine o’clock at night. The parties that used to happen down there were always talked about,” Jinx says, and I remember them too.

“It’s too dangerous for her. Even though it doesn’t get dark, she is still tempting men when she shows up there alone,” I add.

“That’s my thoughts. I didn’t know about the IRL meetup until just a bit ago.”

“Okay, Jinx and I will ride down there and check it out. Ginger, I want you and Vixen to wait at Van Horn. Keys, you and Frenchie are in my truck so we can bring her home. Everyone arm up. We roll out in an hour.” I wait to see if anyone has anything to add. When there are no further questions, I stand and move out of the room. We never take our cell phones in there with us. Some lessons are learned the hard way and we don’t want anyone to be tempted. The notes taken by Frenchie are just general business, and she shuts her laptop off before we get into the nitty gritty. Only Keys will have her computer in the room when church is going on. I step into the large great room filled with couches, pool tables, and enough furniture to accommodate people when we have parties here. My office is down the hall behind a fire door and across from the kitchen. As I move toward it, I dial my mom’s number.

“Hey, Mom, you got Little Bear for a while?” I ask as soon as she answers.

“How long?” She knew we had business, but because she’s not a part of the club, I can’t tell her more. She’s been wanting to join, but I keep pushing her off. I need someone to be there for Sky if something ever happens to me.

That thought is chased on its heels by thoughts of Thad. He yelled at his mom. I don’t know how much of that to trust, but I do know he must have confronted her. I knew my slipup last night wouldn’t go unnoticed. I must keep him at bay for a bit longer. I still haven’t told my mother the truth about Sky’s father.

I look at my watch and think it through in my head. “How about you bring her home in the morning and we spend the day together? I’ll cook dinner.” It’s time I told her.

“Sure, sounds good. She’s having fun. I’m teaching her to bake.”

“Good, you know I never was able to conquer that one.”

I hang up after talking to Sky for a bit and telling her I love her. Before every mission like this, I have to call her. I don’t want her to ever doubt that I love her. I’d give up everything for her.

Once in the office, I pull the correct books on the shelves for it to slide open and reveal the gun safe behind. We can arm up, but we don’t want to draw unsavory eyes, so I leave the shotgun that can holster to my other bike. I’m not going to ride my Indian. It’s a wonderful riding bike, but it’s also a bit showy and I don’t want to stick out more than women on bikes do. I’ll ride my Dyna Fat Bob instead. I grab the Springfield .45 that was my father’s and then a shoulder holster. I have my pancake holster at my back and always have a piece there when I can. It’s the first gun I bought myself, a Springfield XD-M .40 compact, and I’ve loved it ever since. It’s the perfect amount of firepower for me as a personal conceal and carry.

After double-checking all my gear, I grab my full-face helmet. It will make it so I’m not recognized and I’ll be able to communicate with everyone else via the Bluetooth connection. Moving to the back of the garage where my personal vehicles are kept, I open the door for my motorcycles and look at the machines in there. Not only do I have the two motorcycles, but I have a dirt bike too for playing around.

I’m not rich, but I made enough money back in Kentucky between being a race car mechanic and my business that Sky and I are taken care of. Then there is my inheritance from my father that’s just sitting in the bank accruing interest. Running these businesses will be enough for us to live off of. Sky and I don’t need much, but I love my toys and she has her special things she likes. She loves to ride motorcycles too and has been for a couple of years. Her small bike is sitting in the corner. But she has a thing for clothes and dolls. She’s nine, I’ll give her that.

I push my flat black Fat Bob out and lock up the garage as Jinx pulls hers out of her garage. She has a classic car sitting in there that was her father’s. She thought it was sold after he died. She didn’t know my dad had it stored for her. I can’t wait until she takes it out and goes riding in it.

We all mount up on our bikes. The current prospects stay here to watch over everything on the property. They aren’t ready for a mission like this yet. I have to work with them first. Frenchie is still learning some fighting techniques and hates to do it, that’s why she’s in the truck with Keys. Keys is in the truck because she’s running the computer and monitoring emergency services to make sure we don’t get caught.

We make it into town, and I head for the South Cushman area. It’s still a part of town that is scary in the daylight, but I’m not afraid. I move past the old strip joints that have now moved to other areas of town. As we get to Van Horn Road that intersects South Cushman, Vixen and Ginger break off from us. Ginger wanted to be with me, but I told her I needed her out here in case the guy got away from us.

“He should be driving a Chevy Cobalt,” Keys says through the comms.

I’m sweating and wishing I had the wind in my face, but this is the safest for us. All of us have our faces covered. They’ll know we are women but not what we look like. Even Jinx has her long hair pulled back into a wide leather wrap and braided back.

“Oh yeah, he’s a real creeper in that,” Ginger says, and everyone chuckles.

We drop off the pavement at the end of the road, and I direct Jinx to the side where the gun range is. I hear guns going off and figure we won’t look strange if we are stopped here.

“Heads up. He’s coming.”

Jinx and I stay straddling our bikes as we wait for the small car to show up. He pulls into the river access area.

“I’m going to walk that way. Jinx has our bikes.” I keep my helmet on but lift the full-face part so I don’t look too strange walking around with my helmet on. I’ll hide my face if someone shows up.

“I think this is her,” Keys says again, and I run back to my bike. “She’s on her bicycle for fuck’s sake.”

“He’s waiting. There are a few teenagers hanging out partying on the river. We might need you, Keys, to come racing down here acting like an undercover to get them to run after we grab them if it gets too dicey.”

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