When the alarm on his phone went off, it pulled him out of a deep search.He sent out a couple of quick messages, letting the others know he was logging out for a few but he’d be back soon.He grabbed both sets of keys and went to check on Delilah.
He found her, along with Andy and Taylynn.They had moved from Raven’s office to a table in the main room of the clubhouse, and they sat laughing and pointing at one screen, then someone would look something up and they’d laugh again.He wondered for a minute if he should interrupt them or hold off for a few minutes and see how things went.
“They’re good for a few minutes.Come have a drink and tell me what you’ve accomplished over the last hour,” Raven said, slapping him on the back as he passed.Hawkeye turned and looked at his president for a moment then pulled out a stool and took a seat.He nodded to Hunter who was manning the bar, and waited for the prospect to approach.
“What’s Delilah drinking?”he tilted his head toward the table where the three women sat.
“Water, why?”Hunter glanced at the women, then back to Hawkeye, his eyes wide as if he wondered if he’d somehow screwed up and didn’t know it.
“Just checking.Have they asked for food yet?”
Hunter shook his head.
“Give me a Pepsi for now.”He didn’t know if they would need to go out for some reason later and he didn’t want to have been drinking if they did.Plus, he needed a clear mind if he was going to go back to making the arrangements to take down Jericho.Hunter pulled a chilled bottle from the cooler and set it in front of him.
“Want a glass?”
Hawkeye shook his head.“This is fine.”He twisted the top off and took a long pull, wishing for a moment it was a beer before lowering the bottle and turning to Raven.“I think we can do it without making a trip.I’ve got a couple of the guys leaking info to the right people so there’s a raid.A couple of them have done this kind of thing before.They know what to make sure is there in order to ensure the raid, and that they treat the women and children like the victims they are.”He watched the women in the mirror behind the bar, making sure Delilah didn’t look like she felt out of place and that none of the brothers approached her and said anything to make her uncomfortable.
“And what would our risk be?”
“Minimal.Unless someone in Jericho ties it back to us and Delilah, then we should have no risk.I’d like to be more hands on, to make sure the women go places we can keep track of them, make sure they do okay.I’d like to bring some of them here, if you think it would be a good idea.Not a lot, maybe one or two.If we arrange to split them up between a bunch of clubs, those we have ties to, some they have ties to, and so on, it would look weird if we don’t take any in.”
“What would we do with them?”
“That’s something I haven’t figured out yet.If we had the space, and there were any looking for homes, I would say we can take in some of the kids, at least one or two, but we just don’t have anywhere for them, at least not until we have a few houses done, and I want this thing with Jericho done by then.”He lifted one shoulder and let it fall.“We could use the no spare housing as an excuse not to take in any of the women either.”
Raven tilted his head back and forth as if he was weighing the options.“Give me a bit to consider all the implications, or at least the ones I can think of, then I’ll let you know.Any other concerns?”
“Not that I can think of.I’m getting ready to snag her, make sure she gets something to eat then see if maybe she wants to rest for a bit.”Hawkeye watched Delilah in the mirror.It hadn’t taken her long to warm up to Taylynn and Andy.They hadn’t talked a lot, but he knew she hadn’t been allowed to interact much with men in Jericho.While he didn’t know much about her time with the Crows, other than they hadn’t treated her like a whore like they’d done with all the other women, he knew her time there hadn’t been easy either.He wanted to give that to her.To give her the choice to do what she wanted, whatever that might be.
“You find out if she exists, legally?”Raven asked, there was no doubt who the president was talking about.
“I looked.She didn’t.But she will in a couple of hours.Lack knife is taking care of it for me.He’s the best at making it look real when they plant the records in the government databases.They’ll trigger the system to mail her out an ID card.I haven’t had time to ask if she knows how to drive, but we have time to figure it out and for me to teach her, which I figure I’ll probably have to do, since they did anything they could to keep the women beneath the men.Not teaching them to drive guarantees they have no way to get away.”
“That hadn’t occurred to me, but you have a point.”Raven said with a nod.“Speaking of driving, I’ll need to go pick something out for Taylynn.With more women around I don’t want them relying on the club trucks, especially if we’ve got work crews in and out.”
“We might consider assigning someone to stay with the women while the crews are on site.I don’t know how big an issue it will be, but we don’t know their crew.We wouldn’t know if they brought in someone who might be targeting us somehow.We can take care of ourselves, but if something happened to Delilah, I’ll lose my shit.You might as well salt the earth and start over.”
“Let’s try to keep you from going apocalyptic on anyone, at least for the next few months.It’s been a rough few weeks for the Angels.I’m ready for a little bit of a break.And I am not going to start something if I can help it.”
Hawkeye opened his mouth to say something, to apologize for getting them mixed up with the Crows and Jericho, but Raven shook his head.
“I’m not talking about this.They brought us into this when they snatched Andy.Once we knew what was going on, we couldn’t leave it.Same for Jericho.I’d like to get my house built, get Taylynn moved in and settled in.We’ve got so much to do, and we’ll be out of time before we know it.”
Hawkeye watched Raven for several seconds.“Is there a deadline I’m unaware of?”
Raven’s eyes went wide for just a second as if he’d just heard what he said.
“Shit.I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”
“Taylynn’s pregnant?”Hawkeye lowered his voice to little more than a whisper so no one would overhear them.
Raven nodded.“And it’s not been easy keeping it a secret since we all live so close.She wants some space, and I get it.Living in one room would not be easy with a baby in there with us.”Hawkeye winced as he thought of putting a crib in his room.The space was already cramped with his desk and computer set up, there was no way a crib would fit.
Delilah wanted children.He looked up at the mirror behind the bar and watched her.He imagined her round with his baby.The mental image filled him with a warmth and contentment that he couldn’t recall having ever felt before.At least not to this degree.He could see why his president was eager to make the compound more secure.He needed a safe place, not just for his woman, but for his kids, too.Imagining Delilah pregnant and holding his kid, he wanted that, too.He wanted them all to be safe.And there wasn’t much he wasn’t willing to do to make sure it happened.
