He let out a prolonged sigh.
“I would forget everything, every little stunt that you and your department have pulled here today, if you find Cole,” he said. “You’d be the first to see him in a full year.”
That would be nice,I thought.
The only fear, though, was that we weren’t state or federal officials. We were relegated to the Springsville area and a little outside the town for the entirety of the county. If anything transpired beyond, we had no jurisdiction over it. We’d have to pull in state resources, and the last thing I wanted was more bureaucracy getting involved.
“Either way,” I warned. “The Reapers were the ones responsible for the murder of my best friend. Whether you’re lying or Cole did it or— ”
“Get out,” Lane snarled, and I knew this was a very different level he had than before. “Get the fuck out of here before I do something very illegal that puts me in a prison cell and you in a hospital.”
I didn’t show my fear, but for the first time all visit, I felt it. I stared at Lane as I walked by him. When I was out of striking range, I warned, “I will be back!”
I needed to be back because right now, I just felt so fucking pissed off. I hadn’t uncovered anything, I was now confused as to how much I should hold Lane versus Cole accountable, and if word got back to Beth, I was in some real major shit.
I needed a warrant. I desperately needed one. Maybe if I could find a way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Reapers were dealing in drugs...
But given how things had gone with Beth so far, that wasn’t likely.
More likely than not, I was going to have to do some work on my own. I was going to have to break some boundaries to bring Shannon justice.
I was, quite literally, going to have to become an out-law.
Lane
The nerve of that woman.
I had seen a lot of people stand up to us who thought they were tough or could beat us in a fistfight. I saw a few women come by who were upset that the man they had slept with, shockingly, had decided not to contact them again. I saw a few men whose wives or girlfriends had cheated on them with a club member and who thought they could stand up to us, only to realize we didn’t posture, we just punched.
But I had not seen a member of the government come here and act with such audacity as to threaten to shut us down... and I had most especially not seen any of them invoke the name of the woman I loved the most.
“Did any of you know she was coming?” I growled.
I glared at Patriot and Butch. No one said a word. It was typical for Butch to not say anything, but for Patriot to be silent... someone had to have seen this coming, right? Surely, someone in the club would be on top of government officials who felt like they could waltz into the club, make their presence known, and then try and intimidate me with the mention of Shannon, right?
“Butch?” I said. “Did we have any warning from Beth about some new hotshot in her office coming to threaten us?”
“No.”
At that moment, Axle walked out, looking like he thought he was just going to go home for a few beers and a quiet night. But when he saw my expression, he thought better of that quite fast.
“Axle,” I said. “We just had a goddamn official come and threaten to shut us down. Said she’d clean us up for what I did to… her best friend.”
To Shannon...
“Do you have any knowledge from anyone about some new big shot in the government of Springsville promising to sweep us out of town?”
“No, Lane. None of us who work here know it.”
I was beyond frustrated. It was bad enough to know I couldn’t protect Shannon and bad enough to know the Fallen Saints were still roaming around the other side of Springsville, just beyond Brewskis. But now I had to deal with some government bitch who thought she could get promotions from the DA by acting tough on us?
“We need to make sure whoever this girl is, she knows her place,” I growled. “Axle.”
Axle crossed his arms, almost in defiance. I remembered what Patriot had told me about being more involved, more active in the club... but this was just too frustrating for me to do anything productive. If I decided to get involved in this, I was going to do something regrettable.
And besides, he and Butch had the best relationships with the DA. What good would it do if I suddenly showed up and made a list of demands? That was a good way to get her to roll her eyes and tell her our favors were off.
Still, I needed to do everything I could in my power to not sound like a boss lazily waving his hands from his throne, drawing resentment from the crowd while I lorded back and relaxed.
