Hell Fire Riders MC: The Complete MC Series, page 65
“And we want you too,” She paused then asked, “What about my family?”
Bastian sighed heavily. “That is something we have to talk about.”
“Are you saying I have to give up my family?” Her heart was breaking.
Bastian sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Bracing his arms on either side of him, he stared at the wall. “No I cannot ask you to give up your family.”
Sawyer sat up and stared at his bare back. “So what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. All I do know is that as long as you are here, I’m not going anywhere.”
“This mess isn’t over yet is it?”
Bastian glanced over his shoulder. “No it isn’t. Not by a long shot. I need to talk to your father and the rest of the men that live here. This is so much more than getting revenge on your father.”
Sawyer stared at him for a moment then nodded. “Then we’d better get everyone together huh?”
Bastian got to his feet and turned to face her. “Before we go anywhere, there is still something we need to talk about.”
Sawyer caught her breath in her throat. “What would that be?”
“Before we can go forward in this relationship, we have to have a truth between us.”
“What does that mean?” she whispered as fear rolled through her.
He knelt on the bed and leaned toward her. “You need to know who I am. I am more than just a man known to one and all as the Priest.”
Sawyer nodded. “Okay. You always told me you kept your real life a secret for a reason.”
Bastian nodded. “Yes I did and that reason was to protect you from my past. I can’t and won’t put you or our baby in danger from my enemies.”
Sawyer cocked her head to one side. “And that has changed?”
Bastian shrugged. “Perhaps. That depends on what happens when I talk to your father and the others.”
“I don’t understand.”
Bastian grasped her hands. “Jim did some research into this group your father is with after one of them tried hacking into my computer. No one had ever done that before. I have and maintain top notch security. In my line of work, I have to be able to keep my own secrets. What he found astounded him. The people here have set themselves up to protect this country from people who would bring chaos and death to our streets.” He shook his head. “Most people in this country serve only themselves. We have become a nation of fools, thinking the kind of terrorism prevalent in the other countries could never happen here.” He sat back on his heels. “He was explaining all the good these people hope to do here on the way back from the gulf last night. Both he and I want to see this situation to the end. Maybe it would be possible for us to contribute our expertise to this effort. We’d like to try at any rate, if they would allow it.”
“But what does that have to do with us?” She frowned.
“As I said before if we are going to make this relationship work there has to be a truth between us. I want you to know the real me.”
Sawyer gulped. Her fear of the unknown made her tremble inside. “Okay, who are you?”
“I’m not the man you see in front of you.” He announced. Then he began to strip off his disguise. He peeled off the fake beard and dark wig. Then he leaned forward and took out his colored contacts. Running his fingers through his silvery hair, he gazed at her through his pale blue eyes. Holding out his arms he let her look on his real self. “This is the real me. My name is Sebastian Castil but most people who know me by that name call me Bastian. I am an only child. My parents are gone and I have no other family still alive.”
Sawyer stilled and stared at him.
“Jim Branken is the only other person who knows who I really am. I met him fifteen years ago right after he came back from the war on terror. He has a set of skills that enables him to protect us both. He’s been my friend for a long time and he accepts me for who and what I am and for who I have become.”
“Bastian,” she whispered his name. Then she smiled. “Your name is Bastian.” Raising her hand to cup his jaw she said, “I love you Bastian.”
Bastian smiled. “And I love you Sawyer Moon.”
There was a knock on her door and Jolene called out, “Sawyer, are you awake yet?”
“Yeah Mom, we’re awake.”
Jolene paused then asked, “We?”
Sawyer smiled at Bastian. “We’ll be out in a moment ok?”
“Ok baby.” Jolene said.
Then they listened to her footsteps fade away.
“I suppose we should get dressed and face the music huh?” She shrugged. “I’m sure Pappy and the others will want you to answer their questions on what you found out from Tomas and Enrique.”
Bastian nodded. “Jim would like to be here for that as well. Maybe we could contribute to the operation.” He reached for his phone and placed the call to Jim.
When he finished, he turned to Sawyer.
“Better get dressed then.” Sawyer suggested. “Are you prepared to share your secrets with everyone here?”
Bastian nodded. “I hate to, but I guess I’ll have to if I want to stay.”
“Are you sure you really want this?” she asked. “You’ve stayed hidden for so long for good reason.”
Bastian shook his head. “I can’t protect you and the baby from the shadows. I need to be right next to you. You and this baby are my life now. I would die to protect you and I would kill to do the same thing. It may take me some time to get used to the new way of things but I’m not walking away from you. I love you too much for that.” He reached down and picked up the small bag he’d brought with him.
Sawyer took a deep breath and when she exhaled, she smiled. “Then let’s go face the good guys.”
Chapter Eight
When they reached the main room, Bastian paused and watched everyone for a moment. He knew what he carried in the bag would be important to this mission. The men and women fighting this battle would need what he’d found.
Calico was the first to see him. Instantly, he got to his feet and growled as he walked toward his daughter.
Bastian watched as the other man came closer then held his hand up to stop him. “I’m not looking for trouble here.”
“Dad, please don’t force this,” Sawyer begged her father.
Everyone else stopped what they were doing and watched to see what Calico might do next.
Jolene joined him and laid her hand on his arm. Without saying anything,
Calico just glared at Bastian. He took a deep breath and caught Bastian’s eyes. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he finally asked.
“I came to be with my woman and claim my child,” Bastian answered simply.
“Are you going to take her away with you?” Jolene asked worriedly.
“I don’t want to. I think I can help and if it’s possible, maybe I could offer my services to you and your people.”
“What services?” Calico sneered. “You’re nothing more than a thug who likes to play with knives.”
“Dad, please don’t be this way,” Sawyer begged. “If he doesn’t stay, then I don’t stay. He won’t have to kidnap me this time. I will go with him of my own free will.”
Calico took a step toward her but Jolene pulled him to a stop.
Pappy seemed to decide this would be the best moment to get things started. He stepped forward and held out his hand to Bastian. “My name is Stone Masterson but everyone calls me Pappy. Everyone here is a member of the Hell’s Fire Riders MC. We are mostly ex-military but we also swore to protect this country against terrorists, both foreign and domistic.”
Bastian nodded as he shook Pappy’s hand. “So my man Jim tells me. My name is Bastian Castil. My friend, Jim Branken tells me nothing but good things about this group.”
“Would that be Captain James Quinlan Branken?” Dewey asked as he stepped up to the group.
Bastian raised his eyebrow. “It would. Do you know him?”
“I did sixteen years ago in the desert of Syria.” Dewey nodded as he smiled. “He was a hell of a good man back then.”
“Still is today,” Bastian admitted.
“Were you able to get any more information from Tomas and his brother last night?” Pappy asked.
Bastian nodded. “Were you able to find anything in the papers you took from the boat?”
Pappy nodded. “We did indeed. We’ve been working on that information all night.”
Bastian held up his hand. “Before we swap information, Jim wanted to be here. Like I said, we hope you will allow us to help you figure this out and try to stop it. The info I got leads me to believe this is a much bigger operation than anyone realized. It won’t be easy to put a stop to it.”
Pappy ran his fingers through his long white hair. “Damn.” He looked over at Bastian. “Are you positive?”
Bastian nodded. “Oh, yeah.”
“We do have people across the nation willing to stand beside us,” Dewey said.
“That would be a good thing,” Bastian agreed.
Just then, Jim came through the front door and paused, searching for Bastian. He bypassed Dewey then snapped his head back. “Sargent Mann?”
“Captain Branken,” Dewey called out as he came toward Jim holding out his hand. “Great to see you again.”
“You too man, you too.” Jim smiled.
Dewey turned to Pappy. “Pappy, come meet an old friend.”
Pappy stepped up to him and shook his hand. “Glad to meet you.”
Jim looked at Pappy for a moment then looked over to Bastian. “My friend and I would like to join you if that’s possible. We want to offer our skills.”
“Yes,” Pappy turned his head to stare at Bastian. “He’s told us that already.”
“Yeah well…” Jim nodded. “After we got back last night, I began researching the meaning behind the group responsible. I didn’t have much to go on and maybe your own hacker person found the same material I did but I brought what I found along to share. Maybe it could be a starting point.”
Pappy nodded. “We were waiting on you to get started but as long as you’re here, we can begin.”
“Don’t forget Michael and Gage are coming in today,” Dewey reminded the other man.
“That will be a good thing. Michael is ex Special Forces,” Pappy said.
“We may need him before this is over,” Bastian agreed.
“Ok this is what we found on the boat.” Pappy led them over to the timeline established during the night. “All this started many years ago through trial and error. We don’t know the name of the main player but his symbol of power is a big black snake. Right now we don’t know why he chose this symbol either but it’s what we have to work with.”
Dewey moved over to a bigger map of the US. On this map were several heavy blue lines. “Their main course of travel is water. We found a smaller map tucked away in one of the books we took from the boat. What we don’t know at the moment is where they are going to strike. Which targets they hope to hit or how many. The waterways cover a lot of ground. We do know they plan to move weapons and explosives by boat.”
“Enrique more than Tomas knew about the plot,” Bastian explained. “He’s been working under the man behind the Black Snake, even though he didn’t know who the man was by name. He calls himself Asp. What the name means nobody knows.”
“More than likely, it’s what this man sees as his power symbol.” Jim suggested.
Bastian nodded. “Sounds about right.” He glanced over at Pappy. “Both Tomas and Enrique had the symbol tattooed on their wrists. As did the other men on the boat. I checked their bodies. They all wore the tattoo.”
“Do we want to know what happened to them?” Pappy glanced at Bastian.
“There are ten bodies resting for the rest of eternity at the bottom of the gulf,” was all Bastian said.
Calico grabbed his shirt and pulled Bastian around to face him. He glared at the younger man and asked, “He’s dead? You’re sure he’s dead?”
Bastian nodded. “He’ll never come for Sawyer again, not in this lifetime or the next. I’ll keep her safe.”
Calico fisted Bastian’s shirt in his hands and stared at the younger man for a moment then pushed him away. He stomped away going over to where Sawyer was standing with her mother. Wrapping an arm around both women, he glared at Bastian.
Dewey shook his head and sighed. “Now that the Barrone brothers are gone, maybe Calico can relax a bit. He’s been crazy the last little while.”
Reaper joined the group. “Then let’s hope their father and older brother stay in Mexico where they belong.”
Bastian twirled around to ask, “Father and older brother?”
“Clancy told me about the whole family years ago after the trial where he sent Tomas to prison. Tomas was supposed to spend the rest of his life behind bars. When he was sentenced, the father and oldest brother vowed they’d get revenge, then they were escorted back to Mexico by members of our military and told to stay on their side of the border.”
Bastian ran his fingers through his hair. He glanced over at Jim and nodded wordlessly.
Jim acknowledged what Bastian was asking him to do and moved over to one of the tables. Taking his laptop out of the pack he carried, he got online and began searching for the elder Barrones.
Dewey walked over and watched over his shoulder.
Jim was searching foreign security for the information. He found what he was looking for and began printing out the information.
“Are you completely safe and hidden from prying eyes?” He asked Jim. “We don’t want anyone coming here because you hacked into government site that is supposed to be protected.”
Jim looked over his shoulder. “Yes, I am. I would never revel our location to anyone. This is a program Bastian and I created. It’s secure.”
“You should meet my wife.” Dewey grinned. “The two of you have a lot in common.”
Jim smiled back. “I would be honored to meet your wife. She must have the patience of Job to put up with your ugly ass, Sarge.” With a grin on his face, he got up, went over to where the printer was, and grabbed the pages from the stand. He walked over to Bastian and handed them over.
Bastian took them and studied the photos of Maximillian and Juaquin Barrone. Both men led the El Diablo cartel in the mountains of Mexico. Maximillian was older by twenty years but Juaquin looked more like his brothers. Juaquin was nicknamed Paco. All the men from the Barrone family shared the same rough face. These two looked as if they had smoked too many cigars and drunk too much whiskey over the years.
Calico left the women and joined the group.
Bastian passed alone the photos of the Barrone men left alive.
“Sonofabitch,” he swore.
Bastian leaned in close. “Let’s not scare Sawyer or her mother,” he told the other man quietly. “They will both be safe surrounded by the men here until we know what they are going to do. If they come looking for trouble, we can hunt them down but remember, no one knows anything about what happened last night. No one knows Enrique and Tomas along with their crew are dead. Let’s just keep it that way for now.”
“He’s right Calico,” Reaper told his brother. “All we can do for now, is watch over the women.”
Calico nodded. “I won’t start anything but if either of these men stick their noses around here, they are dead. This has to be over.”
Pappy grabbed Calico. “Just don’t start a war with a Mexican cartel. Those bastards are ugly and mean and they have long memories. They can’t prove a thing, let’s leave it at that.”
“They won’t find any trace of the boat either,” Bastian informed them. “I made sure of that.”
“Maybe you and Sawyer should stick around the compound until we know for certain this is over,” Dewey spoke up. “Barrone found your daughter because she shares your hair color.”
“We can set up some men to watch our perimeter as well,” Pappy suggested. “We sure as hell don’t need any more surprises right now.” He handed the photos of the Barrone men off to Reaper. “Make sure the men on guard know what these men look like. The best way we can protect this compound and everyone in it is to be prepared. As soon as Michael and Gage get back here, we’ll lock it down.”
Reaper nodded and went over to the copier to make sure everyone knew about the Barrones.
“There’s something else,” Bastian announced to the group. “The Barrones were waiting on a shipment due in tomorrow. They were supposed to take it up river to meet one of their contacts and pass the shipment off, so he could take it further up river. That’s how they move this shit. They were supposed to take part of the shipment while someone else took the rest of it. It’s to a different contact every step of the way. That way, not one person knows the entire route or the contacts the others make along the way.”
“The Asp doesn’t trust any of his men,” Pappy pointed out.
“Not only that but if one team is caught most of his shipments still get through,” Bastian noted.
Dewey whistled. “Clever.”
Bastian shook his head. “The Asp did make one mistake though.”
“Oh, what was that?” Pappy asked.
“Enrique.” He shook his head. “That man really doesn’t like being number two. He hated taking orders from an unknown person. He only answered to his brothers before Tomas went to jail. Even then, the three of them ran the gang they were with. He had a say in what went down. When he hooked up with this group, he no longer had any say in what happened. He told me he kept track of the things he saw and did. The Asp never met with him or any of the men he had working under him. Enrique thought he had a god complex but from what I’ve read from his notes, I think this goes deeper than that.”
“What do you mean?” Pappy looked confused.
Bastian pulled out the small bag from his back pocket and handed it over to him. “This guy is just plain crazy. He’s paranoid of everything and yet, Enrique seems to think that there might be something this guy is looking for. He didn’t know what it was but there was something he spent a lot of time searching for.”
