Road Tripped (Satan's Devils MC Utah #1) - Manda Mellett Page 0,71

stay, we had to blend in, and that meant getting on the right side of the locals. So there was I, in a borrowed t-shirt, sitting down with the remnants of an MC. As they talked, it was clear they were a club with a problem and Cowboy and I needed a home.”

“Surprisingly they fit in.” Snatcher takes over again. “Well, Pip is the master of that, and Cowboy, he rode a motorcycle and knew all the right terms. When we found they’d just arrived, we took them back to the clubhouse to give them a bed for the night.”

“Mystic had had too much to drink. In his drunken ramblings, he let slip that the Devils had a mafia problem. Just so happens I quickly came up with a plan for sorting that out.” Pip grins, showing his teeth.

Snatcher barks a laugh. “Suddenly, all the truck’s carrying drugs and guns were being stopped by the police. Pip’s plan was so clever, the mafia suspected, but couldn’t prove shit, and Pip was more than a match for them when they came and threatened us.”

“Devil helped,” Pip acknowledges. “The mafia got the message and stopped using the shop. At last the Utah chapter was free. Devil, though, wanted a reward.”

“And in paying his price, we started doing some of his work. Then branched out, taking on most of what we do alone. Sometimes we still help Devil out, but we’re not beholden to him. It’s been both satisfying and lucrative.” Snatcher grins.

“We left Grinch, Mystic and Goofy to continue to run our shop and we moved in here.” Pip nods at his VP.

They keep mentioning the names of men I haven’t met. Presuming they’ve moved on, I don’t bother asking about them. “This clubhouse,” I focus on what had bothered me from the start, “it’s more like an office block.”

“That’s what it is,” Pip says. “It’s a front. We still have the old one, that’s where we have our parties, and that’s where the locals think we live. But this is where we do business.”

“And your business is finding and rescuing kidnapped kids?”

“Partly,” Pip says. “We track down bad guys. Some we deal with ourselves, sometimes we help point people in the right direction. We keep our ears to the ground. It’s right to say, information is our business.”

“San Diego and Colorado,” I state, recalling again how angry Drummer had been. “You didn’t just pass on information. You took the fuckin’ kills.”

Pip’s face goes dark. “Stormy can’t follow fuckin’ orders. He likes to show off. Look, Road, I know it was wrong. Fuck, if I were Lost or Demon I’d be out for blood as well. That’s why I’ve pulled Stormy in.”

Pip’s ire is palpable. At least he acknowledges they’d fucked up. “Why you?” I ask the other burning question. “I can follow that you joined the club because you gave them a direction to go in, but Snatcher was the prez.”

Snatcher takes up the story. “Sure, I was the prez, but Pip was the ideas man. If someone wants their daughter returned safe and sound, he’s clean-cut and shaven and can pass for a respectable man.” He grins at Pip who shows him his finger, and it’s my first real glimpse of how this partnership works. “Pip became the front for our business. When he started to issue orders, no one objected. Came so I asked myself why the fuck I was sitting at the top of the table, repeating what Pip had said first.” He glances at me, but I stay quiet. “We brought in new members. Not only did they want to join an MC, but we picked them for their skills. They automatically looked to Pip as a leader.” He raises and lowers his shoulders. “I didn’t care. After all the hassle with the mafia, losing our members as we did, I was happy to step back and abdicate responsibility.”

“We work well together.” Pip sends his second-in-command a sharp look. “Don’t read Snatcher wrong, Road. He’s the outward face of the MC, while I’m the person who brings in the business. When someone turns up to ask for our help, they enter a modern, clean environment and are greeted by a receptionist. Hell, they have a meal in our cafeteria. They find exactly what they’re expecting and have confidence we can do what they want.”

“They enter the Satan’s Devils MC.” I narrow my eyes. “I saw the nameplate.”

“You saw a card which can be replaced with whatever we