Soldiers of Chaos- Chaos Abounds: Book 1 in the Soldiers of Chaos series (3 page)

Reaper looked less and less happy while Tex explained himself "So she's basically been supporting that slut?" Tex nodded "Yeah has been for a while now." King interrupted "Speaking of which, Sheila?” Tex’s stomach churned slightly as he thought about it. He wasn’t a soft man in fact by most standards he was hard but there was just some shit that was fucked up. “It’s not pretty. They tied her up and there isn’t an inch on her they didn’t cut up. She’s in the bedroom. They tried the same shit with Nikki from the look of it.” Both men held that murderous thunder in their eyes. “The shooters?” Reaper ground out between his teeth. “Nikki killed them both. First guy, quick. Three bullets through his skull. Second guy she took apart in an unhealthy way. She shot him in both forearms, the shoulder, the thigh and both knees. She also stabbed him high on the shoulder near his neck and put the blade through the palm of his hand into the floorboards, cut him on his arm, his face and his chest. Also looked like she mangled one of his bullet wounds using the knife. Then she gave him two to the skull.” King frowned and Reaper smiled at that “She get a name?” “Dunno she passed out before we left the house.” But if she did he was gonna make that bastard hurt bad. “Let’s do this shit” Tex followed his father and Reaper into the house. They went to Sheila’s room first Tex stayed in the doorway. Reaper stood over her body and shook his head "What the hell did you do you stupid bitch?" He stared at her for a little longer then turned to Tex "They’re in Nikki's room?" Tex nodded and moved towards Nikki's room behind Reaper and King. "Shit if that girl ain't a Soldier" King looked directly at Tex "You boys taught her well." They hadn’t taught her shit she was naturally gifted with steady hands, quick reflexes and a perfect aim "Wasn't us. That was all her. Girl is deadly." Reaper snorted but the corners of his mouth quirked up in an almost smile. A look of pride flashed in his eyes and Tex knew that feeling all too well.

Girl was deadly no doubt about it but he never wanted to see her put that shit in practice again. Wasn't just with a gun either. She was good with her feet and fists, the knife too. They'd got into fights often when they were younger and she never hesitated to have their back. Sometimes she got into fights all on her own and by the time they showed up the fight was all but over with Nikki standing over the loser just to drive her point home. He and Trace had started mixed martial arts a few years ago and where they went she went. More than a few of the guys at the gym had a hard on for her and so it had been quite easy for her to get them to teach her some moves. She learnt quickly and soon she was pulling off moves on them. Picturing Nikki getting one of the guys with an arm bar bought a smile to his face. But this shit was twisted and not like her at all. She was reactionary and quick to finish any fight by going straight for critical blows. She was not about the thrill of inflicting pain on others, slow torment or torture and she sure as shit was not some cold blooded killer. He couldn’t reconcile the cuffed guys injuries with anything Nikki would’ve done. "What do you think Reap?" King asked. "Don't know if he’s a pro or just a sick fuck, he did let the kid get the drop on him" Reaper pulled up the guys sleeves checking for tats. None on his forearms. "Give us a hand" Reaper moved to roll the guy and Tex crouched down to help. He pulled up his shirt, nothing. They moved to the other guy repeating the process, the search revealing a black crow tattooed on the guy's back. "A Crow? We've never had issues with them before and why in the hell would they take out Sheila?" Tex didn't understand this.

The Crows had a small border with the Soldiers of Chaos territory but they'd never been a problem they had their own lucrative money making area and they were happy with their lot. Chaos did business with them occasionally, small arms mostly. The Crows had been having trouble with some mob type gangster who ran the criminal element in the district on their other border. "This that job we did for them coming back to haunt us?" King spoke directly to Reaper. "Don't know. Could be." Reaper's eyes didn't leave the body of the dead man as he spoke. Tex was out of the loop on this one clearly. "What job? What the fuck are you two talking about?" He looked to his father for answers. "That son of a bitch Bridges has been making headway with some of the Crows, convincing them to cross over, bring the club with them. We gave Bull a hand to weed out the rats and teach them a lesson. I'm guessing this is Bridges sending us a message." When the hell did that shit happen? And where the fuck were he and Trace when this shit was decided? This was bullshit. He got in King's face "You forget who your VP is? You make that call on your own or you vote that shit without us around?" King gave him a look that told him to back off "It didn't need the whole club's attention. It was a small issue that Reaper could take care of quickly and quietly." “Yeah well obviously the quiet bit worked out" he gestured towards the mess in Nikki's and Sheila’s rooms. "Someone obviously talked and seeing as how none of the brothers knew, it would appear Crows have more than one rat and that rat nearly got Nikki dead." Tex was seething he wanted that guy’s head and then he wanted Bridges. He was going to make them suffer for hurting Nikki. The rage rolled off him in waves and he did nothing to conceal it. Reaper stared at Tex as if taking his measure. He wasn't sure what to make of it. Was he sizing him up with Nikki in mind or the job of revenge? Reaper went back to studying the dead guy without a word. Whatever. The guy could shove his judgments up his arse, he was partly to blame for this shit as far as Tex was concerned and so was King. Nikki lay in a fucking hospital bed because of someone else's bullshit and that did not sit right with him.

“Did you see a car or anything?” Tex shook his head he’d been too preoccupied with Nikki to notice anything else. “They got any keys on ‘em?” Tex shuffled through the Crow’s pockets while Reaper checked the other guy. Tex found a pair of keys in the guy’s pocket with a ford symbol on them. “Got ‘em.” “I’ll get one of the prospects to look around for the car.” “What do you wanna do about this mess?” Tex gestured to the bodies on the floor. “Take the bodies out and burn the place to the ground” with that comment Reaper stood and stalked out of the house. The man had two emotions indifference and anger that was it. Tex felt a twinge of sorrow for Nikki at the suggestion of burning down her childhood home. He realised better than most that it wasn’t the happiest place in her world but still she’d grown up inside these walls and they'd had some good times when her mother hadn’t been around. Still it was the best solution when it came to disposing of the evidence. “We’ll go with that. I’ll send the prospects in to deal with the bodies.” Tex’s mind shifted to Sheila. He’d seen the way those boys handled things, women, bikes, guns, bodies. With the exception of Brodie they were a heavy handed bunch who showed little care for anything. “I’ll take care of Sheila, Brodie can give me hand.” King nodded at him and left the room yelling orders at the prospects. A few seconds later he heard Reaper’s bike start up and pull away. Bastard wasn’t even staying to clean up his fucking mess. Tex hoped it was because he was heading to the hospital to check on Nikki but he doubted it. “Hey. Shit. Nikki did this?” Brodie stood in the doorway with the other prospects packed in behind him. “Yeah she did” he could see the surprise in the other prospects faces turn into respect and admiration as they took in the scene before them, only Brodie frowned. “Brodie you’re with me. The rest of you get these two. Is someone bringing the van down the side?” Brodie turned his attention back to Tex “Yeah Jay is bringing it round.” “Get something to wrap them in and take ‘me out through the back.” He left them to it and led Brodie down the hall.

"Fucking hell" Brodie stalled in the doorway and took a few deep breaths. "Yeah I imagine that's not far wrong." Sheila's mutilated body was pretty much the definition of hell. Brodie shook himself free of his little shock freeze moment and stepped forward "So how you want to do this?" With as much care as possible for Nikki's sake at least. "We wrap her in the bedding and carry her out carefully. I'm not a huge fan of putting her in the back of the van with those assholes either and Nikki's car is not an option. Did someone find their car?" "Not sure brother, hold on." Brodie ducked back out into the hallway and yelled out to someone. Tex approached Sheila's body cautiously. She was a real mess. Her flesh sliced neatly all over her body and the blood that covered was thick and congealing in some spots and already drying in others. He pulled his knife from his pocket and sliced the rope that bound her ankles to the bed posts then moved up towards her head. Her eyes were still open and her face twisted in a look of fear and agony. He cut her wrists free and placed her hands on her stomach. Then he reached up and used two fingers to slide her eyelids down. The physical resemblance between Sheila and Nikki had always been obvious and as he took in her mangled form it really brought it home for him just how close they'd come to losing Nikki. Fuck she was lying in the hospital right now in who knows what kind of condition. "Yeah Ford hatch back it was round the corner they're bringin' it round now." Brodie stepped up beside him. "Right get one of the boys to put some plastic in the back and we'll load her into that instead."

They wrapped Sheila in the blood soaked bedding and waited as the others bumped down the hallway with the bodies of her killers. In silence they scooped up the bundle that was Sheila and headed out through the back door. As they slowly moved past the van Tex watched the prospects toss the bodies roughly into the back of the van. He shook his head sure they were fucking sick scumbags but those prospects had absolutely no fucking finesse and sometimes a man, even a rough outlaw biker, needed finesse. Brodie's mate Jay was just laying out the plastic in the boot for them. Jay nodded at them as he waited beside the open hatch. They gently slid Sheila's wrapped body into the back of the car. "You guy's need a hand with Nikki's mum?" Tex appreciated Jay's offer, he was a good guy. He was quiet but he did everything asked of him without hesitation. In Tex's mind both Jay and Brodie were going to make the cut, the other guys he wasn't so sure about. Tex glanced back to see the two shitbags lighting up smokes as they unloaded the gasoline from the van "Nah man. I think you better get over there and take over from fucking dumb and dumber before they set themselves alight." Jay looked at the two men and shook his head "Yeah you're probably right." He handed the keys to Tex and jogged over taking the gasoline from the moron twins. "Fucking dickheads" Brodie was shaking his head. Yeah those two were definitely not gonna make it. "Give Jay a hand with splashing that shit around inside and make sure you cover Nikki's room and Sheila's bed and anywhere else that's covered in blood. Don't light it till I give you the word ok." Brodie nodded and followed Jay inside. Tex closed the hatch and headed for the front yard in search of King.

His old man sat on the front porch his head hanging low his phone glued to his ear. "I know darlin'...... Trace is with her......... No there's nothing you can do here go to the hospital and check on our girl..... Where?…. In the back of the hall closet…… Yeah...... Love you too Rose." Mum. King always turned to his wife in times of need. She was the thing that kept him strong and his course steady. Tex had watched their relationship and known that's what he wanted for himself and he wanted that with Nikki. Life never works out the way you want it to though and wasn't that a cold and bitter lesson. "Dad?" His father quickly gathered himself together and stood up from the porch "You ready son?" "Yeah everyone's loaded up and Brodie and Jay are dousing the place as we speak." His father nodded his head “There’s some boxes in the bottom of the hall closet. Your mum said to grab them out for Nikki.” It was his turn to nod "I'm gonna take Sheila out to the farm." There was no way he was taking her to Ash's. Ash was the undertaker at the pet cemetery. The guy was a friend of the clubs and the cemetery had a crematorium. If bodies needed disposing of never to be found again Ash was a handy friend to have. He did not want Sheila ending up in the same place as those assholes. King looked at him for a few seconds before he spoke "You're a good man, son, a good man." Tex was silent as he looked into the weary face of his old man. Sometimes the guy looked ten years older than he was. A loud string of profanities drew their attention to the house. King flung open the front door and stomped inside "What the fuck?" Fuckhead one came careening out of the bedroom with Brodie and Jay shoving him and yelling at him the smell of smoke following right behind them. "I thought I told you assholes to wait." "Yeah well this asshole decided to ash his fucking cigarette in the fucking room coated in gasoline."

Jesus fucking Christ, so not making the cut. "Get the other room going and let's get out of here." He turned towards the idiot prospect "You go back to the clubhouse you've fucked up enough shit for one day." "I came in the van." He did not just answer back. "What did I just say to you prospect?" He watched as the guy staunched up. Not happening. He got in the guy's face "I don't give a shit how you got here Fuckup. You can fucking walk back for all I give a shit but you are fucking done for the day and if you don't get out of my sight right now you will be done permanently." For thirty seconds the guy stayed where was and just as Tex was thinking this is it for you mate he stepped off. Brodie and Jay both jogged back out into the lounge as the other prospect here by known to Tex as Fuckup left the building. "Done. We need to get out of here and quick." Tex could feel the heat building within the house "Let's go." They moved outside quickly. "Jay follow King to Ash's Brodie you follow me ok." With a nod everyone moved to their vehicles. King on his Harley and the van rolled out first. Tex climbed into Nikki's mustang and watched as the first lick of flame came flicking out through Nikki's childhood bedroom window. His already pained heart cracked a little more as his thoughts turned to that beautiful fucked up girl he'd always loved. If only life were easier than this if only he'd let go of her years ago. His phone began ringing and he glanced at it. Trace. He couldn't take that call right now he needed his head on straight. He dismissed the call and rolled out Brodie following behind in the hatchback. He was headed for the farm and the old family graveyard hidden away in a grove of trees at the heart of the property. What was one more grave marked by an old cross? No one would even notice, no one except him and Brodie and Nikki when the time came.