Savage Sacrifice: Savage Angels MC #5 (16 page)

Some see the light immediately and get excited others, who are stuck in their ways, only throw up road blocks. I think I’ve managed to sway more than half of them but Milo has a lot of friends.

The door to the meeting room flies open and Milo stalks out. He’s not wearing his colors, he points at me and takes two steps in my direction and stops.

“Tell your
Prez
he got his fucking wish, I’m out!” Then he storms out of the Clubhouse.

Lester stands in the doorway and clears his throat. “We need to vote in another President, I, of course, nominate myself.”

The Sergeant At Arms comes up behind him and places a hand on his shoulder. “I second the nomination. Lester will make a fine Prez.”

I look around the room, some looked shocked and others relieved, I think this is going to go well. Compared to when Dane took over, no one is threatening to leave or to put him in the ground. That was a bloody time for our Chapter. Many lives were lost.

I walk toward Lester and hold out my hand. “Good choice. I’ll let Dane know you want the building and the garage.”

“You tell Dane there’s another business we need to discuss, transport. We own a warehouse on the other side of town, it would make a good depot for the Tourmaline transport company you guys own,” responds Lester with new found authority.

“The Chapter doesn’t own that, Dane does. It was left to him. But he does employ more than a few of us there. I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Good,” replies Lester.

We shake hands and I head for the door. Time to tell Dane the outcome.

I
t’s our last show with Rockplay and I’m backstage getting ready. A rock concert is a big production and they’re making sure my outfit fits perfectly. There’s a knock at the door and it’s the sound technician, Tommy.

“Is everything alright?” I ask as someone is kneeling in front of me pulling at the front of my shirt.

“Yeah, Kat. Just wanted to check, this is your last night with Rockplay, yes?” he asks.

“Yeah, it is. But Tommy you know nothing will change, right? You are a wiz at what you’re doing, hell, everyone on this tour is, we don’t want to lose you.”

Something goes across his face. “You’ve always been good to me Kat. Well, you and the rest of your band. I want you to know I appreciate that.”

“You do a good job, Tommy and we appreciate
that
.” He nods at me and looks down at his watch.

“Fifteen minutes and you’re on! Break a leg!” Tommy says and leaves the room.

I look down at the costume designer who says, “What was that all about?”

I shrug at her. “I have no idea maybe he thought we’d be getting rid of everyone?”

“Honey, even I know that’s not going to happen especially if the tour is continuing with Dark Ink.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I shrug again. “Who knows? And are you done yet?” I ask.

With one last tug, she stands and walks around me, nodding. “Yeah, whoever got this off you last time didn’t do a good job of storing it but I think I’ve fixed it. I’ll whip you up another one with a little more room in the bustline tonight.”

“Are you saying I’ve put on weight?”

“Now, Kat, I would never
say
that.” She winks at me and leaves the room.

I look at myself in the mirror, I’m dressed in black with a silver chain belt and big silver hoop earrings. My hair is pinned off my face and left long and flowing at the back. The only thing on stage that I’ll be wearing with any color is my guitar, it’s a candy apple red, it looks hot.

There’s a tap on my door and I look up, Truth stands there in black leather pants and a black t-shirt with Heaven our number one song written across the front. I burst out laughing.

“What?” he asks.

“Dude, you look like me!”

“I do not!”

“Okay, you look like I
used
to look. Remember I used to always wear a T-shirt with Heaven on it? Except I wore it for the encore, not the beginning of the show.”

Truth looks down and then back at me. “Fuck, you’re right!”

Then we both laugh. Truth grabs my hand and leads me toward the stage. He has a huge grin plastered on his face and I know he’s ready to rock and roll.

“Last night with Rockplay!” I state enthusiastically.

“My princess of rock, why do you think I’m so happy?” Truth says dramatically.

I laugh at him and we both watch as Rockplay begin their last song and then it’s showtime for us. I look across the stage and can see Tommy the sound engineer on the opposite side. It’s weird, he’s normally in the sound booth which is up in the crowd ensuring the music reverberates around the stadium at it best.

I watch as he walks out on stage and raises his hand. In it is a gun and he has it pointed at Will’s head. Will doesn’t notice him until Tommy has the gun pressed firmly against the side of it. Will turns toward him and stops singing, the rest of the band has stopped playing and Tommy reaches up and takes the mic off him.

Holding the mic to his mouth he says, “Tell them what you did to Cherry.”

Will looks confused. “What?”

“Tell them what you did to my sister, Cherry, when you were on tour in twenty ten.” Will shakes his head. “You were in New York. Tell them!” yells Tommy.

Will looks around frantically, looking for someone to save him. Security is too far away to help and his band members are slowly leaving the stage, away from the danger.

Tommy points the gun lower and fires, shooting Will in the leg. Will screams and goes down, clutching at his leg as blood pours through his fingers. The cast on his arm is blue but as the blood touches it, it appears black.

Tommy brings the mic back to his mouth and in a calm voice says, “Tell the truth about how Cherry died or I’ll put the next one in your skull.” Then he aims at Wills head.

Holding out a blood-stained hand Will screams, “Alright! Alright! I gave her a roofie!”

“And the rest!” yells Tommy.

I look out at the crowd and they’ve gone quiet, some are trying to get out of the stadium but most seem transfixed on the gruesome display on stage.

“Man, you have to know, she was always hanging around, teasing. But she wouldn’t fuck me so I helped her, that’s all! We all took turns. It wasn’t just me,” pleads Will.

“You all took turns?” asks Tommy with disgust.

“Yes!” yells Will.

“How did she die?” asks Tommy quietly.

Will looks around and sees that no one is coming for him. Security is busy trying to keep us out of harms way and none of them are approaching the scene on the stage.

“How did she die!” yells Tommy firing another shot but this time it goes into the floor beside Will.

“I was last but she wasn’t moving, she struggled with the others, so I wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled it tight. She moved plenty then but by the time I was finished she was dead,” admits Will.

Tommy falls to his knees, tears streaming down his face. A security guard comes out on stage, hands raised. “Just put the gun down, man. He’s not worth it.”

“I
should
have been there but I got caught up. You don’t understand, I should have protected her. They covered it all up. Cherry’s been dead for over
five years
and no one’s done anything. I was her big brother, it was up to me to protect her and I failed.” Tommy points the gun at Will’s head. I hold my breath waiting for him to finish what he started when he turns the gun on himself and pulls the trigger. The sound of the bullet echoes around the stadium as Tommy falls backward, twitching. For a moment there is quiet, then everything happens at once. Security runs in and grabs Will, the gun is kicked from Tommy’s hand and the paramedics, that are present at every concert, run on stage.

People are trying to leave the stadium quickly, falling over each other. Truth grabs me and holds me close. I look up at him. He has tears in his eyes. I feel mine start to well up.

Will is rushed past us, screaming in agony. I feel no sympathy for him, he’s a psychopath with no remorse. He would never have admitted what he’d done if Tommy hadn’t forced him.

“What do we do now?” I ask Truth.

“Let's go find the others, get drunk and hold our loved ones close.”

I nod at him. Truth keeps an arm around me and heads for the exit. When we get outside, we find the rest of the band, all looking shell-shocked.

“I knew Van Ryken was a dick but a murderer? Didn’t see that one coming,” says Jasmin.

“Yeah, wonder how many women they’ve roofied in the past?” asks Jamie.

“Fucking press is going to crucify him and the rest of them,” says Blair with disgust.

“Let’s get out of here. I could use a drink,” says a shaken-looking Curtis.

“I feel the same way,” agrees Truth.

We all pile into a limo. Just getting out of the parking lot took forever. The trip back to the hotel, due to the mayhem took an unusually long time. None of us speak on the way back to the hotel, all seemingly lost in our own thoughts. When we finally pull up at the hotel the press is everywhere.

“
Great.
How do we handle this?” I ask.

“Give a statement, if you don’t they’ll never leave us alone,” responds Truth.

I look at them and ask, “Why me?”

“Because you are our fearless leader and the press fucking loves you,” says Truth with honesty.

I cock an eyebrow at him and the others nod. “Fine but I want you all surrounding me.”

“Like you have to ask,” states Blair.

I open the door and camera flashes go off, blinding me momentarily. I climb out of the limo and yell, “Stand back! We’ll give you a statement but stand back!”

The crowd parts and I move to stand near the entrance of the hotel with my band near me. I’m only five-foot-four and realize no one can probably see me. To my right is a concrete planter box with fake plants inside it. I climb up onto it so I can look over the sea of reporters. Blair stands in front of me but the others all join me on it.

“Tonight was a tragic moment in our history. Tonight saw the unfortunate death of one of our road crew, Tommy. While we do not condone what he has done we do offer our sympathies to his family and friends.”

“Kat! What about his sister Cherry?” yells a reporter.

“This is our first and only time that we have toured with Rockplay so I can’t comment on Cherry or the events surrounding her death. The only thing I will say is, the Devil wears many disguises and we all have to be vigilant. I’m sure Rockplay’s management will release a statement on the issue. Again we would like to offer our condolences to Tommy and Cherry’s family. Thank you.”

Blair helps me down as the reporters start yelling questions and we push our way into the hotel. Once inside we all get into an elevator and head to Dave’s room. I know he’s probably not happy with me for talking to the press but it was something we needed to do.

I knock on his door and Dave opens it almost immediately, it’s probably the first time in a long time that he wasn’t at our concert. With all the re-negotiating he’s had to do with getting rid of Rockplay, he wasn’t able to come.

“The Devil wears many disguises and we all have to be vigilant? Really?” he asks motioning us to come in.

“Well, it’s true.”

“Yes, Katarina it
is
true but you shouldn’t have said it. On a personal level I’m glad you did, but on a professional level that comment is going to land us in hot water.” Then he pulls me into an embrace. “Are you all okay?”

Dave can be a hard ass but right now he’s more worried about us than what we just did. He lets me go and embraces all of us, making sure we’re all in one piece. When he’s satisfied we aren’t hurt he motions us all to sit on the couches in his suite.

“They televised the shooting only a few moments before you got back to the hotel then cut to your press statement. I’m so glad you weren’t hurt,” Dave says.

“He came to see me before it happened,” I whisper.

“Who?” asks Blair.

“Tommy. I thought he was worried about his job, I told him we wouldn’t want to lose him. I should have known something was up...”

“How could you have known? I saw him leave your dressing room and thought it was odd but figured he wanted to check something with you. No one could have known,
but
it does bring up an interesting issue for our security. Dave how are you going to handle that?” asks Truth.

“If I have to make everyone go through metal detectors, then that’s what I’ll do. I’m too old for this shit.”

“Dave, you can’t make everyone go through metal detectors. It wouldn’t work anyway, they could hide a gun in a guitar case or in a piece of the set. You can’t x-ray everything,” replies Jasmin.

“More security guards, ones we can trust. It’s the only way.” All nod at me. “We have to reimburse for the concert tonight and the insurance company is going to have a fit as I’m pretty sure some of the audience was hurt trying to get away from the stage.”

There’s a loud banging on the door to the room and Dave goes to answer it. He’s practically pushed out of the way as Dane comes barging into the room. He only has eyes for me, I stand and he engulfs me in a bone crushing hug.

“I’m okay, I wasn’t hurt. I’m okay!” I say as he holds me at arms length and checks me over.

“We’re all okay too,” says Truth with false hurt in his voice.

Then there’s another loud knock at the door and Dave opens it, to only be knocked out of the way by Judge and Dirt. Jasmin gets up and dramatically throws herself at Judge who takes her into the other room for some privacy. Dirt looks at all of us, worry on his face.

“Who the fuck does your security?” thunders Dirt.

“We weren’t hurt,” I repeat to Dirt.

“No, but you could have been. Always knew the elevator didn’t go all the way to the top with that fucker Van Ryken. You were lucky he didn’t try any of his antics with you. Sick fucker,” says Dirt with hatred in his voice.

The room is quiet for a moment but then there’s another loud knock at the door.

“Who now?” asks Dave questioningly.

He opens the door but his time no one comes barging in. He’s talking quietly to whoever is on the other side, then Dave moves so that they can enter the room. It’s the police officer from the police station. The one who threatened that he could have Dane hurt.