Page 34 of Inglorious (Unwanted Bastards MC #1)

Inglorious

I looked around the yard that was attached to the back of the club.

There had once been a building here, but it had collapsed years ago.

The club had turned it into an area we could use for cookouts.

We were celebrating the return of Oil, Lasher, and Daisy-Duke.

To my surprise, Drew Lemmon was there as well, having driven down for the weekend.

Nanci had offered the cop the sheriff’s position, and he’d accepted.

He was starting with us in two weeks. She’d, in addition, dropped the vacancies for the Sheriff’s Office in his lap too.

Drew had been amused to learn he was now responsible for finding a full-time day and night receptionist slash dispatcher.

In addition, he also had to hire two part-timers to cover weekends and a deputy.

He and Nanci had agreed that the day receptionist would work from half eight till half five, and the evening one would work from five till two in the morning.

Drew’s phone would cover the hours between two and half eight.

Drew had gone over the budget and the sheriff’s office with a fine-tooth comb.

There’d been a few things he’d needed, ordered, but on the whole, he was happy.

Currently, he was shooting the shit with the Lasher and listening to old stories.

I was sure Drew would be running for the hills by the end of the evening.

I wasn’t surprised to see scantily clad women hanging around. Although we didn’t have any club whores currently, they had somehow found out about the cookout. I noticed a couple of brothers with women hanging off them.

However, Nanci was watching them with a sharp expression on her face. If one of them stepped out of line, Nanci and Daisy-Duke would no doubt put a beatdown on them.

“Hey,” a woman spoke, and I looked down. A petite brunette smiled at me.

“Hi,” I replied dismissively.

“Are you lonely?” she asked.

“No, and I have a woman,” I stated. I didn’t want any misunderstandings here.

“Oh, okay. Nice talking to you,” she remarked and walked away. I glanced at Nanci and noticed her relax as Daisy-Duke scowled at another woman approaching Lasher.

Lasher did much the same as I, and the women moved on. There were enough men here for them to pick from. I chuckled inwardly as both old ladies relaxed.

“I don’t want to disturb Nanci, but we’ve got an issue,” Hercules muttered from behind me.

“What?”

“The cameras have picked up movement at the stables. We’ve alerted the two stable hands that live there, and they’re ready to protect the horses.”

“Okay,” I said and turned on my heel. This wasn’t something to be messed with. There were horses stabled there that were worth thousands of bucks. Anyone who could hurt an innocent animal was a monster in my eyes, and I wouldn’t risk their safety.

Hercules kept pace with me as we headed toward the clubhouse. Nanci intercepted us with a knowing look.

“What is it?” she demanded. Hercules and I swapped glances before I told her.

“Stay here. As president, you need to be seen welcoming Lasher and Oil back home. If you leave, it would be an insult,” I explained.

“They’d understand—”

“No, they wouldn’t because Hercules and I can deal with this. Nanci, we’re wasting time here. Time that could mean the horses are in danger,” I stated.

Nanci chewed her bottom lip but nodded and stepped back. Thank fuck. I hadn’t wanted to cause a scene, but she couldn’t go running off.

Hercules and I hit our bikes and sped off in the direction of the stables.

They were a thirty-minute drive, and we made it in twenty.

As we approached, we could see smoke in the air, and I began cursing.

I aimed my hog straight for the stable building, concerned about the horses, and there was a small fire.

Two figures were on the scene with fire extinguishers and were putting out the blaze.

“The horses?” I shouted as I ran towards them.

“Safe in the field,” Danny, the stable hand, called. I didn’t recognise the girl with him. “Kevin and his girlfriend are moving the last two now.”

I nodded and grabbed the extinguisher from the girl. “Stand aside, honey. Let me do this.”

Hercules raced around the far side of the barn to help Kevin if he needed it.

There were two exits in the barn, specifically for this reason.

Just before we’d opened this, another stable had gone up in flames, an accident, but five horses had died because they’d been trapped.

When building our stable, we’d made sure that wouldn’t happen to us.

“Did you call the fire department?” I asked over the noise.

“Yes, and Inglorious… I smelt gasoline,” Danny replied.

My jaw locked. Arson. This was our fuckin’ saboteur again, and he clearly didn’t care about harming animals. Nausea whirled in my stomach as I heard sirens in the distance. Hercules returned with another extinguisher.

“Horses are safe, and Danny has them all corralled in the small field. He’s watching over them and won’t leave them. None were harmed, although one of the two might be anxious. He’s calling the vet to check them over, just in case,” Hercules reported.

“This is arson. Danny smelt gasoline,” I replied.

“Fuck. I can't get a track on who is behind this,” Hercules hissed.

“No, this is a huge problem. He’s escalating from graffiti to arson. Luckily, the stable hands sleep here. The instant the smoke alarms triggered, they proceeded directly to the fire department,” I said.

“What if the asshole called and gave them a false alarm message?” Hercules questioned.

I smiled grimly. “Then they’d be asked for the code to cancel, and failure to provide that would mean the department would roll out.”

“Nice.”

“I might have been a drunk, but I wasn’t a fool,” I stated, and Hercules nodded.

“Guess we need to have a chat sometime.”

“About the past? Yes. You fucked up, Hercules, but this ain’t the time or place for the discussion. Sure, you weren’t the only one, but you and Vortex are the two who returned.”

“There’s still Tracker and Bow out there,” Hercules said.

“Are you in contact with them?”

“No. But ten to one, Nanci knows where they are.”

“Of that, I have no doubt,” I replied and looked up as the fire engine pulled up.

◆◆◆

Luckily, the damage was minimal, and the horses could be put back in their stables.

The vet had checked them over and proclaimed them all well and fit.

Danny, Kevin and their girlfriends’ quick actions had saved the animals.

I made a mental note to get Danny and Kevin a nice bonus for their quick actions.

Drew was on the scene and speaking to the local cops.

I was surprised to see him there and realised that Nanci had invited him to come.

“Seems you’ve got a problem,” Drew said, approaching.

“Yeah. Having second thoughts?” I inquired.

“Hell no. I wouldn’t be a good cop if this scared me off.”

“Did the cameras pick anything up?” I asked, not having checked them myself.

“Three figures dressed in black with balaclavas,” Drew replied.

I ground my teeth together. “Our last footage showed two. Now there are three of them?”

“Yeah. And no car in sight either. They must have parked and walked in. At this point of the night, it will be hard to pinpoint anyone’s car as that’s a busy road,” the local cop said, pointing to the road.

I couldn’t disagree. The stable was off a main road, although set a long way back from it. We had our own private drive, and the area was fenced in to stop horses from running onto the road. Fencing in several acres hadn’t been easy, but it had paid off in the long run.

“We’ll check CCTV, but don’t build your hopes up,” the cop said.

We nodded as he walked away.

“What are you thinking?” Drew asked, noting my expression.

“If we could get that footage, Hercules could probably compare it to the footage of the other cameras and observe if any car comes up in both places.”

“You can do that?” Drew asked, and Hercules nodded.

“Yup.”

“I’ll look at what I can do, but I am out of my jurisdiction,” Drew expressed and chased after the other cops.

“Didn’t expect that,” Hercules stated.

“Me either. Looks like we might have a good man there,” I replied.

“Hope so.”

When we returned, the party was still in full swing, so I grabbed a soft drink and headed for Nanci. As I was walking, a drunk woman got in my way and stumbled. I shot a hand out to steady her, and she grinned up at me.

“Aren’t you handsome? I’m Katy.”

“And taken, lady, move along,” I said as I searched out Nanci.

Katy stepped closer and clung to my arm. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt.”

“Lady, my woman is meaner than a rattlesnake. Get the fuck off me before you’re in a world of pain,” I replied as Nanci caught my gaze.

She noticed me trying to remove the limpet clinging to my arm, and her eyes narrowed. Nanci said something to Daisy-Duke and then began making her way over to me.

“Allow me to fucking go before my woman takes your ass down,” I warned the silly bitch now trying to check my crotch out. I slapped her hand away just as Nanci reached us and grabbed Katy and twisted her around.

Katy was so caught off guard that she let go of me. “What the fuck?” she screeched.

“My man told you to take your hands off him. You didn’t listen. You’ve got two options: walk away, or I’ll put you out with the trash.”

Katy grinned, and I noted her sudden soberness. What the hell?

“Doesn’t he get a say?” Katy demanded. “Maybe he likes me.”

“Not fuckin’ likely,” I retorted.

Nanci chuckled. “You heard it from him. Now fuck off.”

I saw the gleam in Katy’s eyes and knew what was coming. Her hand snapped up, and she slapped Nanci hard. Nanci’s head flipped to the side, and then slowly she turned back to face Katy. Before I could blink, Nanci had lashed out with three jabs and put Katy on her ass, wailing and holding her nose.

“I don’t bitch fight, you whore. I punch. Now get off my land,” Nanci hissed.