It was his cut.
There was something off about it.
The patches were in the wrong spot, and his road name patch was missing. “We need to roll him over.”
Moaning, Lena said, “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
Wasting no time, we rolled Nitro off the couch and jumped back when his stiff body landed on the floor.
Then I saw it.
“You sneaky son of a bitch,” I whispered as I leaned down and ripped the Golden Skulls patch off the back of his cut. Holding the patch in my hands, I smiled.
“What?” Lena asked.
Holding the Golden Skulls patch up, I turned it over. There, sewn into the lining of the patch, was an SD Card. The drunk fucker transferred the files to a memory disc, which he easily hid behind the patch on the back of his cut.
Nobody would ever know unless they knew what they were looking for. I remembered watching my dad do this several times before he died when he needed to transfer files between clubs. My dad came up with the idea on the fly after a run went bad. He never told anyone. Not even Pop’s knew he did it. Of course, Nitro would know. He was always dad’s partner on runs until my dad died.
Taking the patch from me, Lena removed the SD Card and lifted it to the light. Grinning, she said, “It’s old, but no worries. I can get the information off this.”
“What are we going to do about Nitro?” I asked, not wanting to leave the body. I couldn’t do that to him. He may have been a drunk, but he was family.
“I’ll text Reaper the address. Then he can decide what to do. We need to get back to the hotel room and find out what’s on this card.”
“You can’t text him.”
“Why not?”
“She will know.”
“Kitty, we can’t just leave Nitro here. He deserves a Skulls burial.”
“I’ve got an idea.”
Thirty minutes later, three men walked out of the small house wearing white hazmat suits. Two were pushing a gurney with Nitro’s body on it towards a black undescriptive van with the ‘Anna’s Flowers logo. The other walked over to me as he took off his hazmat suit.
He was as I remembered. He was tall, lanky, and looked more like a serial killer than a human being with his long thinning black hair and hollow face. But what he lacked in appearance, he made up inexperience.
“Never thought I’d see you again, girl.”
“Thank you for coming on short notice, Acid.”
“Want him delivered to the compound?”
“Please.”
“What about the house?”
“Burn it.”
“You’re the boss.”
“Acid,” I said, stopping him before he walked away. “Delivered in one piece, please.”
Lena and I moved out of the way as the three men finished their work, and as we were driving away, I turned to watch the small house burn. It wasn’t what I had planned, but it was efficient.
By the time we got back to the hotel room, Lena had wasted no time plugging in the SD card and retrieving the information while I went and jumped in the shower. After the last few hours, I needed to wash the death off my body. I should have been used to it by now. I grew up around death my whole life, yet there was just something about it that still bothered me deeply.