“What qualifications do you have?”Warren demanded.“What makes you better than the police that have been trying to take them down for decades?”
Paul grinned, leaned up on his hip and withdrew the wallet he had shown him a couple of days prior.Petra did the same thing.“These are our shields.I am double certified for ATF and DEA.Petra is ATF.The rest of our club members will be either ATF, DEA, or like me, both.When we’re ready to start taking people out, all we have to do is call our bosses in Washington and tell them that we need things.”
“Like?”Sally asked as she handed the shields back.
“Drugs or weapons.As I said, we’ll have to get established first, but once the first dozen men arrive, enough for them to be officers in our club, then we’ll start by having dice runs, pig roasts, poker runs, any type of event that would bring in a big batch of bikers.We’ll have different stops on some of these runs, and Warren, I would like to use your bar.We can eventually put feelers out for these one percenters to come to us if they want to purchase large quantities of drugs or guns.”He shrugged with a grin.“Who cares if a phone call is made a few days later, after the sale is made, and the product picked up, that a raid is done on these particular buyers.”
“Ah, I get it, and you’ll spread it out enough that people won’t suspect it’s you?”
“Yes, or at least that’s our plan for now.However, right now we’re waiting for others to arrive.Since the factory closed, and people moving out of the area to find work elsewhere, our bosses have been slowly buying up the empty houses in the area.Our men will move into them, and I’m starting a motorcycle repair shop out back here.They will work here, and eventually, it will be a lucrative business.We’ll just be doing the set ups once we’re established.”
“Damn,” Warren said with a respectful nod.“I never would have thought of something like that.Do you have a club name yet?”
“Yes, we’re going to go by Tainted Shield Motorcycle Club.We all carry shields, but they are just a little tainted around the edges.I’ve done some things in my life I’m not proud of, and I’ve made amends for them.That’s why the guys are going home to do what they have to settle any amends they have to make, talk to family, because there’s no telling how long this operation will last.”
“Will your bosses in Washington be coming here?”Sally asked in concern.
“No.During my debriefing from the Devil’s Scorpions aftermath, I told them about my plan to form Tainted Shield.Oh, if anyone comes to town, anyone, looking for a Peter Randall, contact me or Petra immediately.”
“Why?”
“That was my name while I was undercover.My legal name is Paul Rankin.”
“Ah, I understand,” Warren said and looked at Petra.“What was your name while you were undercover?”
“Patty Tomlin.Legally, I’m Petra Thomas.Our bosses wanted to keep our undercover names as close to our real ones so it wouldn’t raise any flags if we didn’t answer when someone called us.”
“I understand.”
“For your question about the brass coming here, the answer is no.I informed them what I had planned, and that they only had to answer my call.”Paul shook his head and gave them a wry smile.“I might have been a little pissed when I told them they had no say in what I was going to do.When they tried to say that I had to follow the company’s rules, I actually laughed in their face.I told them that they were only paper pushers in Washington, DC, and that they weren’t in the trenches.I was literally sitting in their office in DC when I told them this.They didn’t see what we did, they didn’t walk the walk, or talk the talk on how to be a biker.When I laid out how I would be taking them down, yes, we will be setting them up, but if we do it correctly, then they can’t scream entrapment at the top of their lungs.I told Flynn and Kessler that we would contact them when we needed to make a sale, then call them once it was done and where to go to make the raid.”
“Are you thinking that if the raid is a couple of days later, and miles away, then it won’t blow back on you?”
“Yes, that’s what we’re hoping.”Paul turned to Petra and when she nodded, he turned back to Warren and Sally.“We’re hoping with our computer equipment and government programs, we can find people with outstanding warrants, so it won’t look like the club is targeting them.”
“Ah, I can see that.If they have a warrant, let alone a federal one against them, then they are already in the system and tagged for being bad.”
“Another thing,” Petra said and nodded when everyone looked at her.“Paul and I really are dating.While undercover with Devil’s Scorpions, we were so good at our jobs that I thought he was actually a genuine member of the club, not a spy, and he thought the same about me.It wasn’t until months after we were being debriefed, separately, at different times, then sent to different locations for our next assignment, that we were told we worked on the same team.We liked each other, but didn’t do anything because we thought it wouldn’t work once the arrests were made.”
“Yes,” Paul said with a nod and placed his arm on the back of her chair, massaging her shoulder.“One of the conditions of me doing this was that I wanted to know where Petra was.Not just because I wanted to date her, but because we were both undercover with that club for damn near three years, and neither knew the other was working for the same team.I thought not only could I date her, openly, but we can work together as a team to take these guys out.She knows what’s at stake, and I know she can handle herself in an awkward situation.The only thing is that we are now aware that we are working on the same team.”
“So what do you want from us?”Sally asked as she rose and refilled their coffee cups.
“Information.”Petra nodded.“If you still want me to work for you, even knowing I’m an undercover ATF agent, then I would like to get to know the people that come into the diner.I can’t sit here at this farm all day and not interact with the locals.I need to be seen, and thought of as a nice person.Get to know people, you know?If I need to know something, like you told me about Paula’s boyfriend, then I would like to know.We have a set up here that we can run background checks, and it’s all with government clearance.Oh, and if I still have a job with you, when we start taking runs, I would like those days off.”She turned to Paul with a raised brow.“What?Maybe two years before we can start having our own functions?”
“Probably, by the time everyone gets here.I only know of five other guys coming within the next six months.Petra did tell her boss that if there are any other undercover agents that are hot and need to disappear, then they should send them to us.”
“I like that idea,” Warren said with a nod.“I could even use some help in the bar if things get deep.”He sat back and studied the couple across from him.“Not that it matters, but how old are you guys?”
“I’ll be fifty on my next birthday,” Paul said and looked at Petra with a raised brow.
“I’ll be forty-eight on mine.I know we don’t look like your typical young bikers, but with our jobs, we have a few years under our belts.Some of them rough, but all of them with experience.”
“I think it’s perfect,” Sally said.“I told you that Paula’s boyfriend is a biker, but they’re young, still wet behind the ears yet and think they have to make a name for themselves.”
Warren sighed and told Sally and Petra what had happened at his bar with Paul a few days ago and he shook his head.“What I didn’t tell Paul at the time was that the Iron Men Motorcycle Club are hardcore.”
“How hardcore?”Petra asked.
