Page 16

(Kong)

Ever since their conversation on the beach, Scout had been making himself scarce whenever Kong was in the clubhouse, despite his declaration that he wanted to belong to him

“He’s been leaving that bike of his behind when he goes off to wherever he’s been going,” Mark said as he sat across the Chapel table from Kong, the blueprints to expand the custom motorcycle shop stretched out on the gleaming wood between them.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about why that is? ”

“Not for certain, but I have a few ideas.”

Mark rolled his finger, indicating that Kong should get on with it and tell him everything he knew. The problem was that he didn’t know anything with any certainty. There was little he could say that wouldn’t be speculation.

“He’s hiding something about what happened during the robbery,” Kong admitted, “and after the conversation Creature and I had the other night, we’re certain that Axel is too.

Creature said that both Scout and Axel got a bit mouthy with the robbers.

Personally, I think they might have provoked them and are too scared to admit it because an innocent got hurt. ”

“Any word on how Ms. Esperanza is doing?”

“She’ll pull through, but it’s going to be a long road of recovery, and she’s got a son to look after, so we’ve already started passing the boot around and put out coffee cans at every shop.

If those two were responsible, the club will make it right,” Mark declared.

“And Scout and Axel will just have to make it right with the club, starting with owning up to their part in whatever happened.”

“You think that’s all they did?” Kong asked. “Provoked them? You don’t think one of them was stupid enough to make a play for one of their guns, do you?”

Mark steepled his fingers on the table in front of them and tapped his fingertips together.

“I don’t think, for one second, that Axel could get to one of them from behind the counter, but then, he wasn’t the one with blood all over him.

I ran into Byron Pennyworth at Sharkie’s when I popped in for a few rounds at the table with Bruce.

He was one of the EMTs on scene, and he had an interesting take on what he noticed when he stepped inside.

Bruce, incidentally, is ready to sell but would like to wait until after the annual tournament to make the announcement and have the deed change hands.

I’m good with that and with his request to keep the tournament going every year in his son’s honor. ”

“That’s the fundraiser for the children’s hospital, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. That’s the one. I went to school with his boy. Patrick passed away from leukemia when we were fifteen. He said that the folks up there were a godsend because he wouldn’t have been able to afford the treatments they did try, or the hotel stays.”

Nodding, Kong made a mental note to add the pool hall to the growing list of club-owned businesses he needed to do extensive walk-throughs of to make certain that they met state building and fire suppression codes.

“So, what was this interesting take of Byron’s?”

“That it looked to him like Axel and Scout had something that they weren’t sharing,” Mark said.

“He said they kept making eye contact with one another, and that Scout subtly shook his head and even shot Axel what he read as a pleading look when the cops asked Axel if the story Scout told, about the robbers getting into an argument over some chips, was really the truth. He also said that there was a bloody footprint on the ground, leading away from the bodies, one that Scout deliberately stepped on and smeared when the EMTs took over treatment of Ms. Esperanza’s injuries. ”

“He happen to say if he mentioned it to the cops?”

“No, because he couldn’t be a hundred percent positive that the footprint had been heading away from the scene,” Mark said, “But he was a hundred percent positive that Scout stepping on it and twisting his foot before walking away was deliberate and left behind nothing but an unreadable smear. He said Scout got twitchy too and glanced towards the back a few times when the cops started heading that way as part of their search. Between me and you, I think there was someone else there.”

Okay, now that possibility had never entered Kong’s mind. Was Scout covering for someone?

Well, shit. He’d stood right there on the sand and admitted to not working alone.

Had whoever was helping him with the bike parts been in the gas station with him that day and managed to slip out the back while the cops were coming in the front to secure the scene?

Okay, now that he really thought about it, that scenario was way more plausible than Scout’s story about the two tweakers getting into a fight over some chips.

Creative though. He had to give it to the kid for coming up with something like that on the fly and somehow managing to get Axel to go along with it.

Admirable too. Every club brother knew that a rat was the lowest of the low, never to be trusted again once their treachery had been discovered.

If Scout was protecting someone, then no one was going to hold that against him, but whoever it was damn sure better be worthy of Scout’s loyalty.

Kong just hoped the cops didn’t start looking for reasons to poke holes in Scout’s story.

“Looks like you have reason to feel the same way.”

That was Mark. The man always had his head on a swivel and was as intuitive as anyone Kong had ever met.

“I asked him point-blank about the car parts and who he was working with. He wouldn’t answer, but he did admit to not working alone.”

“There’s no way it’s a chop shop; those pieces are clean, serial numbers clear, and certifications authentic,” Mark said.

“Creature has scrutinized every one of them. Prices are reasonable too. Not even top of the market, so if he’s buying them from somewhere, he’s not upcharging us to the degree that he could, so I just don’t get what the secret is. ”

“Unless….” Kong murmured, stroking his chin as he stared thoughtfully at the wood.

“Spit it out already.”

“This is just a theory, but with that Hound ink on his neck, what if those parts are coming from them?”

“You think he’s trying to get us in bed with them little by little until we’re too deep to break ties?” Mark asked.

Grimacing, Kong shrugged, because the thought had entered his mind.

“I just don’t see how,” Mark said. “And that’s the thing that’s got me the most bothered.

I’ve even had Creature disassemble the pieces he’s brought to see if maybe they were hiding drugs or something in the parts that they intended to come back for later.

That was so fuckin’ far-fetched I felt stupid suggesting it when there were no trackers on anything he’s brought us.

I feel like I’m going around in circles trying to come up with the missing link, and I hate coming up blank. ”

“You and me both, brutha,” Kong said. “Ever since that night on the beach he’s been avoiding me.”

“And leaving his ride behind.”

“Yeah, that one has me scratching my head too.”

“Care to do a bit more investigating?”

“How so?”

“He left the bike,” Mark said, grinning.

A slow smile crept across Kong’s face, and he nodded. “Let’s go take a closer look at it.”

“Hang on, if we’re gonna do it, let’s do it right.”

Mark pulled out his phone and, in minutes, had Creature on speaker. “Hey, you’re not too busy at the moment, are you?”

“Never too busy if you need me, Prez.”

“Then get your ass over to the compound and bring your toolkit,” Mark said. “We’re fixing to get up close and personal with a rat bike.”

“Oh hell yeah, I’ve been dying to get my hands on that thing.”

“Good deal, now get moving.”

“On it.”

They’d be breaking an unspoken rule about never touching another man’s bike without permission, but in instances like this, it was better to just say, Fuck it , and do what you needed to do to keep you and yours safe.

“Now we can go take a look,” Mark said as he stood and cracked his fingers.

Outside, the sun was bright overhead, the day promising to be a scorching one. It wasn’t the kind he’d want to be out walking in, which made it even odder for Scout to have left his bike behind, but there it was, parked outside of the cabin he shared with Teddy.

Shit.

“You think Teddy will notice us out here and drop a dime about what we’re doing?” Kong asked.

“If he does, so be it. Scout can be as pissed as he wants, but the bottom line is that he’s the one who left it here, and this is Joker’s property.

I’m entitled to have a look at anything on it or in it if I so choose.

If he wants to take offense at that, he can kick rocks and find somewhere else to stay, or he can choose to stop being a brat about the whole thing and stop leaving holes in the stories he tells. ”

“She sure is a sweet-looking ride for a rat bike,” Kong said as they walked around the machine.

The elongated front end gave it a classic chopper feel, as did the wide rear tire. He’d opted for a high, slanted sissy bar in the back, another nod to the choppers of old.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Kong asked as he knelt to get a closer look at the collection of pieces, all old but in pristine working order.

“This thing has a knucklehead engine, but look here, at the way these pipes are held up by twisted metal melted together, that’s custom. Front forks are knucklehead too, looks like original parts with custom chain wrapped around them too.”

“Yeah and look at the hinged fender; that’s not off a VL; that’s put together like each of the sections came from a different bike.”

“Everything on this thing looks to have come from a different bike, and the chain wrapping—that’s old steel right there,” Mark said. “Someone spent a lot of time edging the fenders and the frame in twisted chains, ultimately making it both heavier and sturdier. “This is no rat bike.”