Page 84 of Shadow

When everyone found a seat, my brother Ghost leaned forward and said, “How ya doing over there, Seth?”

Monk looked up. “Better than I was yesterday, Balthazar. Been a long time.”

“Yeah, it has. Sandman, would you please?”

I watched as Sandman reached under the table, then slid a large box towards Monk. The Diamondback brother looked at it, not touching it.

“Thought you’d like that back,” my brother added.

Monk reached for the box and opened it. His hands reached in and removed a black leather Golden Skulls cut.

“Found that in a storage closet. It belongs to you.”

“Thank you,” Monk said, laying the cut on the table before him, his fingers tracing over his father’s name.

“I know you’re a patched brother in the Diamondback M.C. but know that you have Golden family too. Always will. You ever need us, the Golden Skulls will ride, brother.”

“Thank you.”

My brother turned to Kansas, who nodded.

Leaning forward, Kansas spoke, “Monk, your story checked out, but I have more questions. Mainly I want to know why you didn’t come to us regarding your concerns about Keys?”

“My handler told me not to. Said if I did, he wouldn’t be able to protect my sister. She’s all I have Prez. I couldn’t lose her too.”

“We’re your brothers. We would have protected Abigail. Where is your sister right now?”

“At work. She’s a waitress at the Diamond Bar. Goes by the name Molly.”

“Widow. Whisper, go.”

Both brothers got up and rushed from the room.

“What’s going on?” Monk asked, concerned.

“Sypher?” Kansas motioned to the kid.

Sypher cleared his voice and opened his computer. “Mr. Monk, while I was verifying your past, I was also looking into Keys. Everything that you informed Mr. Kansas about regarding your former intel officer is correct. Keys is the biological son of the former president, Big Jim, and a woman named Maria Vasquez. From what I could find, Steven Keystone had a normal childhood until he turned sixteen, when things changed. He began acting out, skipping school, getting into fights. You know the standard adolescent shit, but he got into major trouble when he vandalized the local high school. The school immediately expelled Steven, and a judge ordered him to do community service. Only his father, Big Jim, got him out of it. After that, Steven never returned to school. When he turned eighteen, he bypassed becoming a prospect as his dad was the President. Big Jim never disciplined his son. From what I learned, he let the kid do whatever he wanted.”

“So, what happened at sixteen that changed him?” Pence asked, interrupting.

“No clue. One day he was a straight-A student and the next he was a menace to society.”

“Well, something set him off,” Pence added. “Kids don’t just turn bad overnight.”

“Don’t know what else to tell you, Mr. Pence.”

“What else, Sypher?” Kansas asked.

“Well, it’s just the standard stuff. After the massacre, he laid low as the club’s intel officer. I couldn’t find any information on any relationships other than his friendship with Abigail.”

“THE FUCK!” Monk roared, jumping to his feet.

Sypher looked at the angry man and gulped. “Yeah. When I was searching for information about you, Mr. Monk, I also looked into your sister. She has a Facebook page. Keys befriended her. They conversed occasionally and last month, they went out on their first date.”

“I’ll kill him!”

Chapter Twenty-One

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