There’s murder in his eyes, menace in the scowl that takes over his mouth.
It hurts to know he will be torn away from me again. Just as I feel like I’ve convinced him to open himself up to what he really wants, to what I really want. Our relationship is so new, so tenuous, so fragile. Who knows what could happen to it over the next few days?
He ends the call.
Drops his bag, opens it, and takes a few spare clips of ammo out and shoves them into his pocket.
“What is it?”
“Axel and Crash were on a patrol, scouting around. They’ve found Silas. I’m to take you to the clubhouse. And then me and some of the club are going to pay that bastard a visit. I’m finally going to get my hands on that son of a bitch who thought he could touch you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Snake
“Nephew of a notorious thief and he’s hiding out here?” Blaze says, eyeing the sign for Big Richard’s Motel from our stakeout position half a block away. “I’ve seen this place in, like, at least half of the ‘Casual Encounter’ ads on Craigslist.”
“Does Tiffany know you’ve been looking around on her?” Rusty says.
“This was before Tiffany. And I never followed up on any of them. But sometimes you get real drunk and you start to wonder a few things and Craigslist is a real easy way to satisfy your curiosity, you know?”
“No, I don’t know, lad. What sort of satisfaction did you want to gain from these casual encounters?” Mack says.
Every one of us — Mack, Rusty, Axel, Stone, and myself — all turn to look at Blaze. He hardly notices the look of disbelief, and concern, on our faces and plows right ahead like his usual self.
“Not like that, man. But sometimes you want to mix up the ratio a little, or whatever, and you think about what it would be like if—”
“Blaze, I swear to god, if you keep talking about your sexual explorations on the Internet, I will send you in there to face Silas without your gun and without any of your fucking clothes. Then you can see if meeting strangers naked in a motel is everything you’d hoped it would be,” Stone says.
“Oh, come on, prez, you had to have thought about it. I thought you older generation types were all peace and free love.”
“That was before my fucking time, Blaze. My generation, we were about different things. I mean, I met Trish at a Talking Heads concert in the 80s. I started a fight with one of the bouncers just so she could sneak backstage and steal one of their guitars. We sold it and used the money to drink for a week. We got a little hedonistic, yeah, but I never had the urge to look up anonymous dick pictures online and think ‘Yeah, that’s how I want to spend my Friday night.’ I’ll be honest with you, brother, sometimes you distress me.”
“Thanks, prez,” Blaze says. “I mean that.”
“So, what’s the plan, Stone? Can you lay it out for us before Blaze tries to convince us to take up pole dancing?” I say.
“How do you think we should handle it, Snake?”
I look at the motel for a moment. It’s an unassuming, rundown heap of a concrete building. Two stories, with an outdoor walkway connecting every room on the second floor and offering an overlook of the parking lot. There’s a decrepit office building at one end of the building, but there’s no one inside, though the light is on.
“Are there any back entrances? Any fire escapes on the other side?” I say.
“Does it look like Big Richard gives a shit about building codes? Big Richard wants you to keep your mouth shut and take what he gives you,” Axel says.
I grin at him. Axel’s been in the club nearly as long as me. He’s an enormous man — big arms, barrel chest, a bit of a gut, and a thick beard; like a teddy bear gone wrong.
“No, it doesn’t.”
“So, Snakey boy, how the hell are we going to hit this bastard?” Mack says.
“It’s a simple plan. First, we strip Blaze down, then we send him knocking on Silas’ door. We have him say that he’s got a pizza delivery. Silas answers the door, Blaze distracts him — in whatever way that he sees fit — and then, after we give the two of them some time alone, we break the door down and take Silas hostage, or whatever the hell it is you want us to do with him. I’m sure Blaze has a few suggestions on what to do with a tied-up Silas.”
“You ass, I am not going in there as the pizza boy,” Blaze protests. “I’ve tried that shit before and it doesn’t work. The movies lie.”
“No, I like the plan,” Stone says. “Blaze, I’m serious, you get in there. Do us proud.”
“You’re fucking joking.”
Stone takes out his gun, levels the barrel of it right at Blaze’s face.
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
Blaze stares at him, a blank look of shock on his face. And then he undoes the buttons on his long-sleeved flannel shirt.
“If you guys insist, I ain’t afraid of the human body.”
“Stone, stop this fucking travesty before we see things you can’t unsee,” Mack says.
Stone doesn’t move.
At least, not for a moment. Then he puts his gun away.
“Blaze, sorry to bust your bubble, but you won’t be going in there alone.”
“Stop kidding around. Let’s focus, guys,” Blaze says. “And someone give me a commitment: do I take my clothes off or not?”
“You ready for the real
