Page 7 of Scorpion (Riders of Retribution #4)

Scorpion

I’m working a shift at the garage owned by the Riders of Retribution when my phone vibrates several times in quick succession.

Normally, I’d ignore it and focus on work, but we’re slow and I’ve been worried about Lilah since I dropped her off less than an hour ago.

So, without bothering to tell anyone where I’m going, I fish my device from my jeans and head to the back lot.

When I scroll through the messages, I’m glad I stepped away.

They seem frantic and don’t really make sense.

There’s a text about a box and another about a note.

The last message says that Dan quit today.

I take a few moments to try to make sense of it all, and when I fail to do so, I go ahead and call her.

“Scorpion?” she says, and I can tell from the pitch of her voice that she’s panicked.

“Hey, babe,” I say, trying my best to convey gentleness and comfort over the line. “I just got your messages. Can you explain what’s going on? I didn’t really understand.”

Lilah speaks quickly, her voice hushed like she hasn’t left her desk for this conversation.

She tells me about the package she brought inside with Dan’s handwriting, and the note she found on her desk.

Finally, she tells me about her meeting with the insurance agency’s HR department where she found out that Dan resigned this morning.

I hum when she finishes speaking, turning all this information over in my mind. Then, I murmur, “I’m going to look into this. I’ll keep you updated, okay?”

“Okay,” she says weakly.

“I don’t think anything’s going to happen to you while you’re working,” I say. “He’s not going to come back after he quit, at least not today. So, you stay there and do your best to carry on like normal. I know it’ll be hard, but he wants to upend your life. Don’t let him fuck up your job, okay?”

“You’re right,” she says, and I hear her chair squeaking as she leans back. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s my girl,” I praise. “Now, I’m going to get off of here and do some digging, okay? If anything changes or you need me for anything, call me.”

“I will,” she promises. There’s a slight pause before she adds, “Thank you, Scorpion. For everything. I appreciate what you’re doing for me.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” I assure her. “I want to keep you safe. Now, do your best to focus on work, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

After bidding each other goodbye, I immediately reach out to Throttle.

He knows more about this Dan guy than I do.

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s already got a file of information on the creep.

He’s thorough and doesn’t play around about his family.

I find myself thinking what a great brother-in-law he’ll be.

Throttle picks up after only two rings, his voice deep with sleep. The bastard was probably up all night doing god knows what. He deals with some of the shadier business our MC handles. Mostly, that means he’s doing odd jobs and helping with… disposals. So…maybe not everyone’s ideal brother-in-law.

“I don’t mean to bother you when you’re sleeping,” I say. Then, I get right to the meat of why I called, relaying all of the information that Lilah told me.

For a second, I’m not sure if Throttle understood everything, but then I hear the springs in his mattress groan. He sighs and says, “Well, that’s not good, is it?”

“I’m afraid not,” I agree. “I figured I’d defer to you to figure out where we go from here.”

“I’ve already got that fucker’s address,” Throttle says, not bothering to hide the venom in his voice.

“Lilah wouldn’t let me do anything about him before, but it’s too late to dwell on that.

Anyway, I’m going to go with some of our guys to the creep’s place so we can try to get to the bottom of all this shit.

In the meantime, I’m going to need you to head to Lilah’s office.

I doubt he’s going to try anything with people around, but who fucking knows.

If he’s threatening my sister, he’s probably not above that.

I don’t want her there without protection.

I’ll ask around and get someone to cover your garage shift. ”

“I’ll leave the right now,” I say, already turning around to head through the work area and into the office to get my helmet. “It shouldn’t take me more than ten minutes to get there. Probably less, I don’t plan on obeying the speed limits.”

“Good man,” he says. “I’ll keep you updated on anything we find, and you let me know if anything looks fishy over there. Just keep watch, okay? I want to catch this guy. If you see him, stop him. Then give me a call. No one fucks with my sister and walks away from it.”

“You got it,” I reply, already on my way out the front of the garage. I don’t bother telling anyone where I’m going. The place hasn’t picked up any since I got Lilah’s messages, and this is MC business after all. “If you guys find him, let me know. I’d like to have a word or two with him.”

“I’ll keep you in the loop, brother,” he says. “Now get off of my fucking phone and make sure my sister’s safe.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to respond, but I don’t need one. I know what’s expected of me, and even if this is MC business, it’s personal now. Lilah is my girl, and I promised her that I’d keep her safe.

True to my word, I ignore traffic laws to get to the insurance agency as quickly as possible.

When I get there, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, but I don’t put it past Dan to be positioned somewhere that he can see my girl.

So, parking my bike a ways away, I do a check of the perimeter and all of the surrounding buildings.

My search comes up empty, which is both a relief and a disappointment. I was hoping to find him and take care of him here and now. Nothing would bring me more joy than to be able to greet Lilah at the end of the day with the news that she doesn’t have to worry about him anymore.

Since that’s not going to happen, I grab myself a coffee from the shop across the street, keeping my eyes on the building the entire time.

Then, when I have my drink, I head back and make myself comfortable on the bench near the door.

My eyes flit around the parking lot, then up to the security camera over the door.

I doubt it would be too difficult to get our hands on the security footage, even though I’m unsure of what we’d be looking for.

So, I shoot a quick text to our president, asking if he’ll put in a request. Once that’s gone through and I get his affirmative response, I settle back against the bench and sip at my black coffee.

I’ve always hated sitting around, so today’s going to be a long one.

I’ll do anything if it means keeping Lilah safe, though.