“Hey Hawk. How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. The old lady went to Pachanga with her sister for a coupla days so I’m batching it.” He raised his glass and said, “Liquid lunch.”
“So, Hawk. Have you noticed anything going on with Padre?”
His eyes narrowed a bit and I could tell that he knew something. “Whaddya mean?”
“Well, for starters, he’s missed a couple times at church.”
“So? Lotsa guys do that.”
“True, but he’s the president. But also, he’s just been acting…I dunno, weird. Working odd hours. Seems distant.”
Hawk didn’t say anything and took a sip of his drink, and set it down. There was a minute or so of silence as he was contemplating his response. Then, he sighed and said, “Yeah. I noticed.”
Relief washed over me. I didn’t want to say anything about him accusing me of stealing if I didn’t have to. I was just glad to know that I wasn’t the only one who saw changes in Padre. “What do you think is going on?”
“Honestly, it reminds me of my dad before he got diagnosed with Alzheimers. The personality change was our first clue. He was acting kinda paranoid and suspicious.”
That would make a lot of sense. My heart sank at the thought. What if Padre was having cognitive issues and this wasn’t just some phase?
“Oh!” Hawk said, “I almost forgot. The guy I know over in Las Balas says that Scorpion is almost ready for his initiation. I figured I should let you know, since he’s seeing Lily and all.”
Shit. That was the last thing I needed right now. I shook my head and said, “Thanks, man. Not what I want to hear, but I’m glad you told me.”
Hawk looked me in the eye and his small brown eyes carried a warning. “You need to do something about this, Ryder. I’d hate to see anything bad happen to Lily.”
He was right. It was time to take matters into my own hands.
* * *
I finishedmy lunch and went to the shop for a few hours, but I was distracted. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Hawk had told me about Scorpion. I needed to find that little shit and knock some sense into him, if need be. He needed to step away from my sister immediately.
“Chalupa,” I called to him under the body of a car.
“Wassup, boss?”
“I’m taking off for a bit. You got things around here?”
“No prob. It’s all good.”
That was the thing. We had a loyal group of guys here at Ortega. Even if there were missing parts (which there weren’t—I looked), no one would dare do that to Padre. We all knew what he was capable of. We were a team.
The afternoon sun was right in my face as I aimed my bike to downtown La Playa. Traffic was shit this time of day, so I took side streets. It was the reverse of what I’d done a few days ago… the graffiti and homeless encampments made way to million-dollar homes and art studios. It always shocked me how diverse La Playa was.
Las Balas used an old warehouse down by the pier to have their meetings and store their shit. La Playa had a huge port and where commercial boats and cruise ships would dock, and Las Balas took advantage of that to buy and sell shit illegally from the vessels before the Coast Guard got to them.
I got to the parking lot just as the sun set, locked my bike, and walked over to the warehouse. I wasn’t expected, and I sure the hell wouldn’t be welcomed. Some guys would call me crazy for just showing up like this, but I wanted the element of surprise.
I was taking a chance that Scorpion would even be there. As I walked up, I saw him outside guarding the door with another recruit, and they were both smoking cigarettes. That would explain why Lily smelled like a fucking ashtray sometimes.
His face was pockmarked from acne and his blonde hair was swept back. He was not an attractive guy, not that I found guys attractive. I just couldn’t imagine what the fuck Lily saw in this loser.
He must have sensed me because he looked up and then his body shot up in alarm. His hand went to his pocket, so I shouted, “Leave it, Scorpion. I just want to talk.”
The other prospect ran off, ostensibly to alert the other guys, and so I knew I had about two minutes. Scorpion just stood there, frozen, looking from side to side.
“I got nothin’ to say.” His jaw was set defiantly, but I could tell from the way he bit his lip and his eyes darted back and forth that he was nervous.
