Page 19

Demon shuffled around the apartment over the tattoo shop, moving slowly, looking more like an old man than the club’s enforcer.

“Want a beer, bud?” he mumbled, his back to me.

“Nah, mate. Gotta be able to drive in case I need to get you out of here fast.”

“Fuck’s sake,” he grumbled, a bottle chinking as he pulled it from the fridge. “I can fucking look after myself.”

“No, you can’t. Not yet.”

“And I don’t need babysitting.”

“Well, maybe not anymore.”

“Huh?” Demon turned quickly, wincing at the sudden movement.

“Yeah. What does that mean?” Ciara asked from the table in the middle of the room, books spread out in front of her.

“Just we’ve sorted one half of the problem out.”

“How?” she asked, pushing the lid of the laptop closed as she looked at me with interest.

I looked at Demon, who shook his head in answer.

“They came after her as well, mate. She can hear this.”

“Fine. We’ve burnt the fuckers to a crisp.”

Demon and Ciara looked at each other and then back at me.

“When?”

“Last night. Their clubhouse. With nearly all of them inside.”

Demon whistled, but Ciara remained expressionless. I couldn’t tell whether she was scared, impressed, or relieved by what we’d done. But her face told me nothing.

“Do we know how many survived?” Demon asked.

I shook my head.

“Well, we need to find out. They all need taking out, brother, or the fuckers will still come.”

“They won’t. Anyone who wasn’t there will go into hiding. There’s now no doubt we’re coming for them. They’ll stay off the scene for a good long while.”

Demon nodded his approval. “So that just leaves The Notorious and The Hand.”

“Exactly. Reckon if we take the Notorious out, the Hand will leg it. They won’t take us on in the north east without the backing of other clubs. We’ll recover control.”

Demon frowned, something troubling him.

“What?” I asked.

“Don’t think that’ll be enough. Not this time. The Hand will keep coming back. Maybe not in the next couple of years, but they’ll try it again.”

“So, what are you suggesting? We can’t possibly take out the entire Bloody Hand. They’re just too big. They reach too far.”

Demon shook his head. “No. But we need the entire north. Not just the north east. We need it all, from York and Manchester, all the way up.”

It was my turn to shake my head. “That’s a really fucking big ambition, that brother.”

“It’s the only way we’re going to win this war, Chaos. The only way.”

I shook my head but said nothing. For the first time I’d seen Demon scared, and I hoped to my God and everyone else’s it was just because he was too weak to defend himself and us.

The knock at the door downstairs vibrated through the house, hard and urgent. I looked at Demon, his brows furrowing, his arm absentmindedly grabbing his side.

“Check the cameras, Ciara,” I instructed. “You got weapons if we need them?”

Demon nodded, his eyes trained on the door from the lounge, dark and apprehensive.

“It’s the police!” Ciara called from the kitchen.

“Fuck’s sake. What do those cunts want?” Demon cursed, a stubbornness creeping over his body.

“I’ll get it. They’ll start kicking the door in by the time you make it down those stairs,” I said to Demon.

One uniformed officer and one in plainclothes stood on the doorstep.

“Jake. Always good to see you, mate.” the sarcasm was deep in my voice and the uniformed officer rolled his eyes.

But Jacob Gray didn’t even flinch. We’d spent years hating him. And he’d spent years not caring.

“Here to see Demon. I’m guessing he’s in.”

“Yeah, he is. Come on up.”

The two police officers followed me up the stairs, another set of enemies on my tail. In the apartment above, Ciara and Demon sat waiting for them. Demon in the high-backed chair, a throw over the upholstery, hiding the bullet holes and the stains of his own blood where it wouldn’t wash off. The fucker needed a new one, but he was too tight to spend his money. I bet he had it stashed in the floorboards, too.

Jake scanned the room. “Can me and Demon have a minute?”

“Nah, mate. These can stay.” Demon grunted, perched on his chair like a fucking King.

But that was exactly what he was. A Northern King.

“Suit yourself. We never got the chance to ask you questions the other week.,” Jake paused, and Demon tipped his chin up expectantly. “The night you were stabbed…”

“Shot Jake. I was fucking shot. Get it right.”

“Shot?”

“Yeah. A gun. Bullets. That sort of thing. Your lot took them away, the bullets they fished out of me. Thought you guys were supposed to have intelligence.”

“Ok. Shot. What can you tell me about that night?”

“Dunno. Can’t remember.”

“Was…” Jake looked towards Ciara.

“Ciara. I’m Ciara. And I don’t remember either. All happened so fast, you know,” her Irish accent filled the room.

“My report says you also presented with injuries. What happened to you?”

“Can’t remember. It was quite a while back now. Should have asked questions then.”

“Funny thing is, we tried. But apparently the doctors didn’t think Demon was well enough to answer any. What happened in the hospital? We have a report someone got into your room.”

“Can’t remember, Jake,” Demon continued, staring at him from his chair.

The young police sergeant sighed in frustration.

“And what about you, Carnage?”

“Chaos,” I corrected. “And what about me?”

“What can you tell me about the night there was someone in Demon’s room? What happened? CCTV showed you and some of the other MC members turned up immediately after the event.”

“Can’t tell you anything, mate. We weren’t there. Not till after.” I shrugged.

“Strange that.”

The uniformed officer behind Jake moved to the fore now, looping his thumbs into his belt buckles.

“We can either have this conversation here, or I’m happy to do this down at the station.”

I glanced at Demon, at the anger collecting on his face, and I could swear the temperature in the room dropped to freezing. Yet it was Ciara who was on her feet, crossing her arms against her chest.

“On what grounds? You have no cause for arrest, and, in fact, no warrant to even be on these premises. I am now requesting that you leave immediately.”

The uniformed officer frowned. “It’s not your property, so you can’t ask us to leave.”

“Yeah. But I can. Now f…”

“Alright. Alright,” Jake interrupted before Demon finished the word and gave the jumped-up copper just cause. “We’re going. Todd,” he nudged the police officer towards the door. “I’ll meet you outside in a minute.”

We all waited until the front door creaked shut, the wood not quite fitting properly in the frame after it had been kicked in.

“Look,” Jake paused, taking a breath, finding the right words. “What do you know about a fire last night?”

“What fire?” I asked.

“Thought as much.” Jake gripped his nose, nodded to something only he seemed to hear, and turned away. He went to take a step, but then didn’t continue. “You didn’t kill them, you know. None of them. There was no one in that shit clubhouse of theirs. Keep those doors locked and look after your women.”

Jake glanced at Ciara, but his focus wasn’t really there.

“You know the MCs don’t go after the ol’ ladies. Or other family members.”

“No? Then how did Demon’s ol’ lady get smacked in the face that night, huh?”

Neither of us said a word. Not one.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Jake continued. “Times have changed, boys. Honour isn’t what it once was. Be sure you know the rules. See you around.”