Logan: New Crusaders MC (4 page)

Logan knew he should have brought backup.  The closer he got to Iconoclast territory, the worse he felt.  He knew Wiseman would be reasonable when it came to sharing information about the Devil Kings, but he was less certain about the fate of Nicole’s father.  As he rode, he remembered Nicole’s pleading eyes, the feel of her hand in his.  Such small things, yet he couldn’t shake the memories.  After everything that had happened with Zeke, he needed some comforting thoughts.  Of course, he wanted more than comfort.  He wanted to go back to that diner, push her down into the nearest booth, pull off those sexy little shorts, and drive himself into her.  Now
that
would be comfort.

Instead, he was slowing his bike outside an old warehouse on the periphery of the Iconoclasts’ territory.  He wondered if Chuck was being held here.  It was possible, since Nicole hadn’t told Wiseman that Logan was coming to negotiate for Chuck’s life.  The place was huge, and fenced off.  It looked like the perfect place to hide a kidnapped man.

Logan cut the engine outside the gate.  It was locked, but someone was approaching from the shadows to fix that.  Reggie Morris.  One of the Iconoclasts’ best fighters, despite the fact that he was shorter than most.  He made up for the lack of height with a killer right-hook and deadly accuracy with a handgun.

Logan nodded to him as Reg unlocked the gate for him.  Reg nodded back ever so slightly and led Logan inside the warehouse. 

Inside, Wiseman was playing poker with a few other members of his club.  He threw a few chips into the pot, then looked up and cast a wolfish grin in Logan’s direction.

“Logan.  Glad you could make it.”

“Yeah, thanks for letting me set this up,” Logan mumbled.

“What do you need?” Wiseman asked.

“Came to talk about Zeke,” Logan replied, staying near the exit.

He did not like his odds of coming out of this alive if this friendly meeting went sour.  He should have taken backup.  Cork.  Maybe Sam or Yancey.  With them at his back, he wouldn’t have started losing his nerve.

“What about Zeke?” Wiseman asked, going back to his game.  “Gotta say, I’m surprised he’s not the one conducting this meeting.  You going behind your president’s back, Kirkwood?”

Wiseman was a big guy, with tattoos that ran from his right temple all the way down his neck and over his shoulder and arm.  He had scraggly gray hair that had been almost blonde once, years ago when Logan had first met him. At first glance he didn’t look like much, but Logan knew he didn’t want to get on Wiseman’s bad side.  He was going to have to tread carefully here.

“He’s dead,” Logan stated.  “Took a bullet to the back of the head few nights back.  Wound up in a Dumpster.  My prospect found him.”

This got the club’s attention.  Wiseman put his cards down, and the other guys around the table began muttering to each other.

“Who killed him?” Wiseman asked.

“Came here to find out.”

Wiseman’s hand went to his belt.  Whatever was hooked onto it was hidden by the table, but Logan was pretty sure it was a gun.

“You accusing us of something, pretty boy?” Wiseman growled.

Logan glanced around.  The other Iconoclasts were getting restless, too, like they were ready to jump to their feet at the slightest indication from their president.

“My club’s looking at the Kings for this,” Logan said.  “If I really thought one of your boys was responsible, do you think I’d be standing here talking to you right now?”

Wiseman hesitated for a moment, then smiled and settled back in his chair.

“Fair enough,” he said.  “The Kings have been a thorn in my side for some time now.  Killing another club’s president in cold blood sounds about their style.”

“I wanna know if you’ve heard anything about their plans,” Logan said.  “They pissed me off in a bad way, and I’m not gonna lie down while they pick off a few more of my boys, or step in on my territory.”

“It would be
your
territory now,” Wiseman mused.  “Congrats on the promotion.”

Logan had to stop himself from inching back toward the door.  He was liking his position in this less and less.

“So have you heard whispers or not?” he asked.

“Are you expecting me to give you answers for free?”

“Nah.  For your own self-interest.  Mutual protection, Wiseman.  We’ll watch each other’s backs.  Work together to put the Kings in their place.”

“That’s an interesting offer.”  Wiseman stood up and regarded Logan, his hand still hovering in the vicinity of his gun.  “The Kings have been on us, too.  Cutting in on our drug deals, killing off our informants.  They’ve got some big plans for their future.”

He sounded certain, and Logan was pretty sure he knew where Wiseman was getting his information from.

“You got any specifics for me?” Logan asked.

Wiseman gave him a tight smile.  “Mutual protection’s fine.  For now.  That’s in my club’s best interest.  Giving out sensitive information isn’t.”

Logan wanted to shake on their tentative agreement and get out of there, but he had promised Nicole he’d try to bust Chuck out.

“And what would I have to offer you for the life of Chuck Hamilton?” Logan asked.

Wiseman’s expression darkened, and his eyes flickered over to a door at the back of the warehouse.  It was just a second, but Logan caught it.  Chuck was here after all.

Wiseman kept his voice calm when he replied.  “What makes you think we have Chuck Hamilton?”

“Call it a hunch,” Logan said.  “He’s been selling you out to the Kings, right?  Suddenly he goes missing.  Not hard to figure out who stepped forward to silence him.”

“Careful, kid,” Wiseman said.  “You’re moving out into dangerous waters.”

“Look, Chuck made a mistake, but he has to know better now.  You’ve left his daughter all by herself with no one to look out for her.  The Hamiltons have been good to the MCs.  That’s gotta count for something.”

Several of the Iconoclasts got to their feet.  They didn’t move toward Logan, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

“You’re starting to sound desperate, Logan,” Wiseman said.  “You come in here talking about mutual protection, but now you want to us to set a rat free.  A rat who was our informant, who turned around after years of loyalty and stabbed us in the back.  Sold us out to the Kings.”

Logan felt anger welling up within him.  Nicole had conveniently forgotten to mention that Chuck wasn’t only informing for the Kings.  If he’d been ratting for the Iconoclasts for years, then what kind of information had Chuck given up about Logan’s own club?  If the Devil Kings found out that their informant wasn’t quite as loyal as they’d thought, and Logan broke him out, then Chuck would have nowhere to hide.  He’d be facing the wrath of two separate MCs.

“The Kings wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here and bust him out themselves,” Wiseman continued slowly.  “You here on their behalf?  Is this whole deal a setup?”

“Hey, the Kings took out my club’s president,” Logan told him.  “I’d die before I sided with them.”

“You just might,” Wiseman said.

“Is that a threat?”

“Boys, our meeting is completed.  I’m sorry, kid, but your hard-on for Nicole Hamilton isn’t my problem.  Mutual protection.  See to it that you don’t go back on that deal, or we’re going to have problems.”  He gestured for two of his men to step forward.  “Escort our friend back to his bike.”

Logan didn’t wait for the two burly guys to get to him.  He turned around and walked out.

They tailed him all the way back outside the fence, locking the gate behind him.  Logan jumped on his bike and tore off into the night, seething.  Suddenly Nicole’s pleading gaze wasn’t a comfort to him.  He was going to have words with that girl.  But first he had to run the new agreement with the ‘Clasts by his club.

He called Cork from the road, had him set up a meeting.  They were all waiting for him in the clubhouse when he got back.

“Just got back from seeing Wiseman,” Logan told the room.  “The ‘Clasts are getting shit from the Devil Kings, too.  We talked about mutual protection between our clubs.  Might be the best way to keep the Kings off our backs.”

“Are you out of your mind?” roared one of the old-timers, getting to his feet.  “You stupid punk kid.  Getting in bed with the Iconoclasts?  You sold us out?”

“It’s temporary,” Logan said.  “This is what we need, Yance.  The Kings are most likely behind Zeke’s death.”

“You’ve got no proof of that.  For all we know, it was Wiseman himself who pulled the trigger.”

“Maybe he did, but until we know different, we need to watch our six.”  Logan looked around the table, making eye contact with each of his brothers.  “We’ll put it to a vote.  All in favor of going forward with the mutual protection pact with the Iconoclasts?”

Hands slowly went up.  Cork was behind him.  Yancey wasn’t.  A couple other old-timers kept their hands down, but the majority still ruled in favor of the pact.  Logan nodded.

“We’ll go through with it.  From now on, we leave the ‘Clasts alone.  And hopefully they hold up their end and do the same for us.  Priority one right now is finding out who killed Zeke, and figuring out how to retaliate.  I’m not going to take action against the Kings until I’m sure they were behind Zeke’s death, so let’s make goddamn sure it was them.”

Yance grudgingly sat back down.  “I can do recon,” he offered.  “Find out who knows what about the hit.”

“Good,” Logan said.  “Start at the Rust Bucket. Take the prospect with you.”

Danny jumped a little when he was mentioned, but he licked his lips and nodded.  The kid hadn’t been the same since discovering Zeke’s body.  Logan wasn’t sure he was cut out for this life, but he deserved a chance just like every other prospect before him.

Logan turned to Cork.  “Give Holman a call.  See what was going on that night, what kind of calls he got.  Maybe Zeke was killed that night for a reason.  Tell him the Kings might be making a move.”

Cork nodded, and Logan called the meeting to a close.

Holman was a local cop on the New Crusaders’ payroll.  Logan was hoping they’d get lucky, and Holman would tell them he’d gotten a call about shots fired somewhere around the bar that night.  If there was any information to get out of the cops, Cork would get it.  He was an ex-cop himself.

Logan had his own mission.

He was going to find Nicole, get the whole story out of her.

As he made for the door, Yancey stepped into his path.

“You got something you want to say to me, Yance?” Logan said, looking the older man in the eye.

“There’s a lot of things I want to say to you,
kid
.  I respected you enough as our VP, but if you think you’re going to stay in power with this candy-ass bullshit, you’re in for a rude awakening.”

“You wanted me to declare war here and now?” Logan asked.  “You ever think maybe that’s exactly what the Kings wanted?  I hate those sons of bitches, but right now I can’t help getting the feeling they’re ten steps ahead of us.  Until that changes, I’m going to play it safe.  Protect the club.”

Yancey didn’t exactly get out of Logan’s way, but he didn’t stop him when he tried to leave, either.

That was progress.

Logan went outside and threw a leg over his bike.  Down the row, the prospect was waiting for Yancey.

“Doing okay, prospect?” Logan called.