Sunny has moved much closer to the desk, still looking in the coolers as if whatever is in there is the most interesting thing he’s ever seen.
Ridge stalks over and slams a twenty down on the counter without breaking eye contact with the strangers. “Everything good here?” he asks.
The two men straighten slightly. Whatever they were about to start with me, they aren’t willing to continue with two bikers there.
“All good,” the taller one says. “Thanks for your help.”
They leave without another word, and I can’t move until I hear the tinkle of the bell above the door.
“So, how much ice have you got there? You find enough?” I ask Ridge brightly as soon as they’re gone, then tip my chin toward the box of frozen shrimp beneath Sunny’s arm.
Ridge exhales first and gestures to the three large bags of ice he’s carrying. “This was enough. You know them?”
I shake my head. “Must be new in town. Tourists, maybe.”
“What did they want?” Sunny asks.
I debate telling him about Jackal, for a second, but given I don’t know any of the circumstances, I could be doing more harm than good. Instead, I casually jab my thumb over my shoulder. “Airboat enquiry.” I make change for Ridge’s twenty and hand it to him. “For when the storm passes,” I add quickly.
Ridge studies me for a second longer than is comfortable. “Watch what you get mixed up in, yeah?”
The tone suggests it’s more of a threat than consideration.
When they leave, the shop feels smaller than it did an hour ago. The fridge compressors, the ones that still work, sound like a pulsatingwhoosh. I brace my hands on the counter until the tremor in them settles.
I don’t know who Jonathan Paltrow is.
I didn’t tell anyone where Jackal went, even though I know.
But they think I did. So, regardless of what I do and don’t know, I’m standing in the middle of something bigger.
Watch what you get mixed up in, yeah?
Ridge’s warning rattles in my brain. I want to tell myself it’s nothing, just two men fishing for the location of their friend.
But as I sip my coffee to ease the chill in me, I have a feeling those strangers were dangerous, and I doubt they believed my denials. I just hope I’m not alone if they come back, but I should get prepared in case I am.
5
KNOX
It’s always a good day when a two-part run moves smoothly. And this one was simple. We’d run some guns from our brothers in Georgia to a Honduran crime syndicate. Then we’d moved the cash to just north of Tampa, to hand off the money to our brothers.
Dropping off one hundred and twenty thousand was nice, pocketing sixty thousand dollars for our efforts was nicer.
Because it was a simple cash move, I’d ridden out with North, Havoc, and Vandal. I run a strict rotation of men; I insist on days off. I don’t dictate fitness and skills and all that other shit some of the other clubs do. I believe in patching in brothers who will do more than the minimum on their own time to remain at the top of their game.
When I get back to the clubhouse at three in the afternoon, after an eight-hour round trip and a one-hour handover, I’m ready for a beer. The last hour has been a battle with winds that are already gusting around twenty to thirty miles an hour. The sky is so dark, it’s like dusk, even though landfall is about thirty hours away.
We took a risk and rode the bikes, knowing that if the hurricane landed sooner, we could duck into shelter on the way. I hate being caged, and a hurricane is nature’s ploy to make me stay the fuck indoors.
“Prez,” Ridge says when I step inside. “You got a second?”
“Let me grab a drink. I’ll meet you in my office.” I gesture to the kid behind the bar, and he starts to pour my preferred beer. He looks like he’s about twelve, but then, a lot of these new prospects do. I’m not old at forty-four, but the gap between me and the prospects sometimes feels a mile wide.
Reaper has a theory that it’s not the difference in days and hours, it’s the difference in life experience. I’ve seen and done shit these kids can’t even dream about yet. And that’s the gap that feels insurmountable when I look at them.
I’ve fucking lost track of all the slang words that have come and gone over the years.
