Twisted Pieces (Back Down Devil MC #5)(31)

When Miller turned off the road, the guys followed. A hundred feet up ahead was a single cruiser. Its lights weren’t flashing, but its headlights were on. Chief Jerry sat on the hood of his cruiser, pounding down a sandwich. A half empty bottle of soda sat next to him with the cap off.

“Chief,” Miller said.

“Got a sandwich for us?” Blaine asked.

“Got some of those fine women for me?” Chief Jerry asked.

“Chief, you’re a married man. With a kid now," Gaige said.

“Yeah? So? My wife’s miserable because she had a kid and the kid cries half the night looking for my wife’s tits. If I dare touch her tits, I get yelled at.”

“You mustn’t be cute enough,” Jace said.

Everyone laughed except for Chief Jerry. He stepped to the ground and held out the sandwich to Blaine. “Few bites left if you want it.”

“Hell yeah,” Blaine said.

As Blaine reached for it, Chief Jerry opened his hand and dropped the sandwich.

“Whoops,” he said.

He then stepped forward, planting one of his black boots on the sandwich, and twisted it into the ground.

“Fucking prick,” Blaine said.

The chief smiled and then looked at Jace. “Jace. How’s it going?”

“Better than the last time I saw you.”

“Time’s up, right?”

Jace stepped forward, but Miller shot an arm out and stopped him. “I don’t think we’re here to hash out old feelings. You had bodies?”

“Yeah. Haven’t called it in yet. Wanted you guys to see it first.”

“Why?” Miller asked.

“Execution hits,” the chief said. “One bullet between the eyes. Hands tied behind their backs. Their throats were slit, but it happened after they were shot.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because of where the blood is,” Chief Jerry said. “None on their shirts. It's only on the ground. Come on, take a look.”

The chief walked off the road and everyone followed willingly except for Jace. He kept his eyes open and looking. It bothered him to think for a second that the chief would be involved in anything crooked, but then again, Back Down Devil had been letting the club pay him off for years. He even married his wife with the money the club gave him. And every high end baby item came from the MC.

When they stopped walking, they all looked down. Sure enough, there were two dead bodies on the ground. Everything was just as the chief described.

“Fuck,” Griffin said. “That’s hardcore right there. That’s not what we’re used to seeing.”

“Agreed,” Miller said. “That’s not a club thing. We didn’t do it.”

“I know that,” Chief Jerry said. “But it’s an outside thing.”

“Looks that way,” Jace said.

“No. It is. Want to get really f*cking pissed off?”

“Sure,” Gaige said.

Chief Jerry took a pen from his pocket and bent down. He used it to open the jackets on both guys. He poked around and baggies of white powder fell from their inside pockets.

“No f*cking way,” Jace said.

“Drugs,” Miller said.

“Yeah,” Chief Jerry said. He stood up, tucked the pen away, and put his hands to his hips. “Now, if I call this in legit, what do you think will happen?”

“It’ll probably be a big investigation,” Blaine said.

“Coast Road,” Jace said. “I f*cking told you about this. They’re dealing, man. Right here. Look at this. Someone took these guys out…”

“Not my f*cking problem,” Chief Jerry said. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take the baggies and get rid of them. That way this is just a double homicide. Since it’s near the edge of Frelen and connects with a nice pile of shithole people not that far away, it’ll be a simple murder. I’ll send some of my guys into that shithole to poke around. They’ll find nothing and life moves forward.”

“So why get us involved?” Gaige asked.

“Simple,” the chief said. “I want this cleaned up. I’m not letting drugs into my town. This is… my town.”

“It’s our town,” Miller said. “Don’t forget the silent justice we provide for you, Chief.”

“Fuck you, Miller. My badge. My gun. My town.”

“You know,” Miller said, “we could take care of that pain in the ass wife of yours… and that whining shithead kid…”

“Go ahead and threaten me,” Chief Jerry said. “We’ve done this dance for years, Miller. You push, I pull. I push, you pull. The same bullshit. I know enough to bury you forever.”

“We could bury you a whole lot faster,” Gaige said.

“So we have a deal then,” the chief said.

Jace watched this all go down. It was cold and tense. Nothing calm and enjoyable anymore. Jace grabbed one of the baggies and tucked it into his pocket.

He turned and started to walk away.

“Good seeing you, Jace,” the chief yelled. “Hope to see you soon.”

Jace stopped. He wondered what would happen if he punched the chief, just once, right in the face. Before Jace could determine the risk versus reward, Blaine was next to him.