“Your coffee will be ready soon,” she said uneasily, as she snuck a look at me under her lashes.
I guessed she was trying her hardest to work out what the hell I was doing in the diner with this pig in front of me.
“Can you believe that? You and me!” He chuckled.
I sat still as I stared at him with disdain. I felt angry and I wasn’t about to let him play a game with me. I took my mind to another place and switched into lawyer mode. “What are you playing at?” I asked directly without flinching.
“I don’t know what you’ve heard about the motorcycle life, but I assure you it’s not enough. Now, I don’t know what type of clients you typically represent, but this, my pet… is not a game.” His index finger, which had a silver skull ring on it, pointed into the vinyl table.
I focused on his eyes, making him look away first. “I could care less what motorcycle clubs do, but do enlighten me, because as far as I can see, you’ve made a number of threats on my life, and if I wanted to take that to the cops, I could.”
This made Doc sit back in his seat and cross his arms over his chest. He basically wore the same outfit he wore last time. His leather vest with patches and white wifebeater, jeans and biker boots. “You wouldn’t. You don’t have the balls to do that. Meanwhile, you’re over there playing around with low-level thugs at the Rebel Saints. You have no idea of what they used to do. They were way worse than what we are.” His white bushy eyebrows formed a t-junction in the middle of his face.
I saw the ability for his temper to escalate.
“They used to run ho’s right on this corner,” he went on. “So don’t you feel some sort of loyalty to them. They were selling drugs to these pill-popping millenials up near the university campus. Get your head together.” He pointed to his skull.
I stared at him. I knew about the Rebel Saints’ past. That was all it was…the past. It wasn’t the future Numbers told me about. They’d left the past behind. “Again. Let me ask you. What is your next move?” I said calmly. To me, I had the upper hand.
He kept deviating from the topic and trying to justify himself.
The waitress brought over our coffees and I broke out of my steely mode to throw her a smile.
Doc said nothing to her.
“Thank you. Here’s a tip,” I added. I slipped an extra ten dollar bill to her.
“Thank you so much, that’s kind of you.”
“You’re a good waitress. Thanks for the coffee.”
After she left, Doc’s coal black eyes bored into me. “Nice little display of charity there, but you’re not fooling me. You’ve taken my money, so I don’t see how that’s going to change things. Now, let’s get down to it.”
I drank a sip of the dark liquid as I bode my time. “Please. I’m listening.”
“I want you to be a mole in the Rebel Saints. I want to tear down their operation. I know they’re up to something. I think they’re trying to get their hands on Red Stone and us Devil Riders, can’t have that. We need to show these good people of Holbeck and Glenam that we are the sheriffs in town. We’re the ones that run things around this place. You hear me?” He laid out his plan in a booming voice.
That got us a few looks as other patrons craned their necks to see who was causing all the noise.
I shifted my hair over my face. The fewer people that knew I was in the diner, the better. “So you want me to be an insider and report back, is that right? How much are you paying me for that?” I wanted to string it along a little, there was not a chance in hell I was going to do what he asked. I let my lips soak in the coffee and sat up straight again.
“Are you a parrot? You heard what I said. I want you to go inside. This isn’t a game, pretty lady. If you don’t do this, your mother won’t need a home, she’ll need a funeral,” he said with violence in his voice.
The man in front of me was pure darkness and evil.
“You really are a Devil. Still haven’t told me what the amount I’ll be paid is.” I kept my voice calm even though my stomach had already done ten backflips. As soon as my mother’s name jumped off his lips, my cup tipped to his face and the urge was incredibly strong to pour my lukewarm coffee into his lap.
“How’s a ballpark of twenty thousand sound? This will be paid incrementally. You get me the first piece of information, then I give you a slice of the pie. Next piece of information, and so on. You catch my drift right?” he explained.
I recoiled back in my seat. My eyes were latched onto the drips of coffee clinging to his salt and pepper beard. “I’m going to leave it. You can find someone else to do it,” I responded coldly. This was part of my ploy. I planned to pretend to do it and then warn Numbers.
“No. Try again. That’s the wrong answer. When will you start?” Doc pushed forcibly as he finished off his coffee.
I looked up just to have some relief from his ugly eyes, the lunch crowd was thinning out a little bit, and the young waitress that served us earlier kept looking over at our table. As soon as she saw me, her eyes shifted down to the cash register. She was probably still wondering what I was doing sitting with the barbarian in front of me.
“Hmm. Are you sure that's the right amount?” I queried.
“What, you want more?” His eyes opened revealing the whites of them.
“I mean you said it wasn’t a game and that I was involved with lowly street thugs, so I’m guessing with that type of danger I would need more money. Like a danger surplus, don’t you think?” I was going for broke now. The way I saw it, my secret was out in the open now. Rebel Saints knew I was talking to Doc. If something happened to me, somebody would know who the threat was.
Doc made a move out of his seat. “Don’t push it. You should be grateful you’re alive, let alone to receive twenty thousand. I expect an update by the end of the week. I got shit to do, so I’ll leave you with this. If I don’t hear from you by then, you or your mother will be in a world of hurt. I haven’t decided who yet,” he whispered in my ear as he dropped a few crumpled notes on the table.
A whiff of leather and sweat was all that remained as he left.
I closed my eyes, wanting to blink and make the nightmare be over.
Sadly, when I opened my eyes the nightmare was still present.