“The guy at the bar with the bright green hat on backwards.”
“What about him?”Petra asked.
“He’s the guy that tried to attack me at Warren’s bar last month.”
Warren laughed and grinned.“The guy that pissed his pants when Paul leaned down and said something to him.Then he ran out of there like his ass was on fire.I still don’t understand what you said, but I liked the results.”He downed several swallows of his water, and nodded.“He walked in the other direction.”
“Is he wearing colors?”
“No, his back is bare.”
Paul nodded, and the four of them left the beer tent in the opposite direction from what the guy went.They hadn’t gotten far before Sally swore.
“What is it?”Warren asked when he saw his sister’s expression.
Sally turned to look at the three of them, and looked directly at Petra as she talked.“Remember the day of your interview?I hired you on the spot because Paula called off?”
“Yes, what about her?”
“Look over my shoulder, at your eleven o’clock.See that young woman with a dog collar around her neck, and a leash attached to a tree?”She waited until they looked and then back at her.“That’s Paula.”She turned to Psycho.“Don’t quote me, but I am about ninety-five percent sure that the man you pointed out in the beer tent is her old man.When she worked, he would show up toward the end of Paula’s shift.I can’t tell you how many times I had to tell him to leave if he wasn’t going to order anything.”
“I remember now,” Warren snapped his fingers and picked up the story.“Sally told me about Paula and her boyfriend.I didn’t know him, and he was never seen on security cameras in the diner.Legally, I couldn’t do anything, because he wasn’t really breaking the law.Loitering really isn’t an arrestable offense.I did have a talk with him, but I could tell it went in one ear and out the other.”He looked at Sally with a frown.“How long ago was this?”
“I’ve been working for Sally for six weeks now,” Petra said as she discreetly looked over at the woman tied to a tree like a pet.“I don’t know how long before I arrived that this happened.”
“A few weeks, by the time you came, she was calling in more and more.I was about to fire her when she never showed up again.”She sighed and shook her head.“As much as I want to run over there and rescue her, I don’t want to cause any problems for her.”
“I understand,” Paul said.He pulled his phone and looked at Petra.“Stand beside Sally, and I’ll take your picture.”
Petra knew immediately what he was doing, and it didn’t take long for Warren to catch on.As he snapped their photos, he was able to move his phone and get several shots of Paula.When he returned home, he would start a file on her.It would be good to have it in case something terrible happened to the young woman, and her body was found somewhere.What little he knew of these guys, and have seen so far, he wouldn’t put it past them to do something that evil.
They walked around and became more observant of their surroundings.All four of them took photos with the guise of taking pictures of each other, when in reality, they were getting photos of the people in attendance.At one point, Paul was able to get several illegal activities on film.They continued to walk around, and at one point, Warren stopped them to speak softly.
“Straight ahead, the guy with the long ponytail, black leather vest, no shirt, dirty blue jeans.”
“What about him?”
“That’s Ted, he’s the President of Iron Men.”
“The club the guy that tried to take me out wants to strike for?”
“Yes, the guy he’s talking to, is Scot, his street name is Road Rash.”Warren grinned at Psycho’s snort.“Yeah, he laid his bike down once and ended up with his entire left side, from ankle to shoulder covered in road rash.”Warren shook his head sadly.“He was only wearing sneakers, shorts, and what people call a wife beater.This was when he was young, like sixteen or seventeen.”Warren grinned.“His first bike out on the road.The name stuck.Now he’s the President of the Vultures.This is his event today.”
“And the bald guy?”Psycho nodded to the people Warren talked about, and watched as another man joined them.
“Fuck,” Warren said and turned to look directly at Psycho, with his back to the people they had been discussing.
“What?”
“The bald guy is Larry Emmerson, he’s the President of the Bastards MC.”
“Bastards?”
“Yeah, and believe you me, every single member of that club are bastards, so the name is fitting.We, my task force, have tried for years to get something on them, but it always falls through.”
“Do you think someone on the inside is tipping them off?”
“Yeah, I was thinking about it since we talked a few weeks back.I haven’t told you yet, but I never went to my superiors about you.I want to see what you can do, and if we can leave them in the dark, then I feel we might have a chance to get these guys.I know this is going to be a marathon, and not a sprint, I’m good with that.I want to make sure we get the evidence against them to make it stick.I know I should have talked to you about this, but I thought with you being at the federal level, you can get better responses than I can.”
