Warlords MC: Book 6 – Traven : Chapter 8

The sun was high in the sky when a knock pattered softly on Traven’s door.

Traven woke up immediately and grabbed his weapon from under his pillow. He detangled himself from Winter and walked to the door.

Opening it carefully, he saw his man Venom there and he relaxed. Then he noticed the look on Venom’s face. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.

“You better wake our guests and come see the news,” Venom stated grimly then turned around and walked down the hall.

Traven ran his hands over the back of his head and turned to look at his bed.

Winter was already awake and as she stood up she said, “I’ll get dressed and wake Will.” She disappeared through the door.

He went over and got fresh clothes then dressed into jeans and a t shirt.

After about ten minutes, Will and Winter came back through to his bedroom ready to join the others.

Winter paused and stared at him. “Where’s all the black?”

He snorted. “Despite your horror film descriptions of me, I was wearing that for a mission.”

She seemed to appraise him then bit at her lip. “Well, I actually like the black.” Her eyes rose to his face. “It suits you.”

He fought a smile. “As in it suits someone named The Reaper?”

She grinned. “Yeah. I mean you are scarier in black.”

He shook his head again. “My intent is not to scare.”

She snorted and covered her mouth. “Well, you failed in that attempt, Mr. Spooky.”

Will looked back and forth between them as his brow wrinkled. “Is this what you two call flirting?”

Batting her lashes while looking a bit stunned, Winter turned to look at him. “Flirting?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what it’s called sis.”

She sneaked a glance over at Traven.

He crossed his arms over his chest with not a word.

Shaking her head, she headed to the door. “You are full of stuff and nonsense, Will.”

Will snorted now and looked over at Traven. “You do know she really likes you, right?”

Traven smirked. “Kid, she has fought me, kicked me, shot at me, and threatened me with a damned knife. I hardly think that passes as attraction.”

Will tucked his head back. “Oh, wow. She did all that?”

Nodding, Traven stepped forward to push his chair toward the door. “Yep, so I think you’re mistaken.”

Will shook his head as he disagreed. “No, that just confirms it to me.”

Pushing the wheel chair, Traven was confused but curious. “And why would her attacks on me be a sign that she likes me?”

Will stared down the hall at her receding form. “Cause, she did all that and didn’t kill you.”

Traven paused at this theory and then he laughed.

As they walked in, the other men looked up from the screen and stared at Winter.

Pausing at their stares, she then walked over to the group and looked down at the screen. She gasped and went ashen.

Will wheeled over and when he saw what was on the screen he swore.

There on the screen was what remained of the house they lived in. The police and firetrucks were there as well as her neighbors as they watched the firemen putting out the fire that had consumed the house. The reporter standing outside the taped area was saying, “The police and fire department were called out around three this morning when an explosion rocked this neighborhood. The old Snowden house burned to the ground and we haven’t heard if the occupants were caught in the blast or not. As you can see, the property is still too hot to walk through. There was some damage from debris to the neighbor’s houses on both sides but no one else was hurt, as far as the authorities have determined.

If anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary, please call the Three Fork’s Police Department as an investigation will be underway as soon as the fire department finishes up here.”

Winter raised her hand to cover her mouth as she stared at the screen.

Will reached up to take her other hand and he squeezed it hard.

She looked down at him and saw the tears in his eyes.

“They took it all, those lousy bastards.” He growled. “They weren’t happy with just taking Mom and Dad from us and putting me in this fucking chair, they had to destroy what little we had left.”

Winter stared at her brother and saw his rage. Then his words registered. “You know they killed Mom? How?”

“I listened to your nightmares and I figured it out. You could never remember them but I heard the words you cried out night after night. You would describe in detail what happened that day.” He hung his head then looked up at her. “Dad heard the words too. They broke his heart but he knew the truth about Matty and Brady before he died. I know it won’t change how things went down but Matty and Brady are drug addicts now. I thought maybe they were five years ago, when they shot Dad but I think it goes back further than that. I think that’s why they needed money that day. I also think Mom saw they were high or crashing hard and she knew what they needed the money for. She didn’t want that for them that was why she didn’t give in to them.” He hung his head. “And in the end it cost her, her life.”

Winter nodded. “I finally remembered it all last night. And you’re right. They were on something that day. I could see it in their eyes, in their actions too. I know if Brady had found me that day, he would have killed me too.”

“We might need some help on this,” Venom pointed out. “This is moving to a much bigger problem than we thought.”

Traven had to agree with him. “Yeah I know, I might know who to call in. But before we can call them, we need to have our ducks in a row with concrete evidence that there’s something more than this going on here.”

“Maybe I can help with that,” Will spoke up.

Venom and Flint looked up at him.

Venom asked, “Oh yeah, what do you have kid?”

“That camp you guys were at last night?” Will stated.

Venom and Flint nodded.

“What about it?” Flint asked.

“Well, it isn’t only a survival camp. Some big shots from Denver are using an MC to bring drugs there and then shipping them out to different places from that camp.” He shifted in his chair. “A little blue pill called Afternoon Delight.”

Traven turned his head to stare at him. “How do you know that?”

Will shrugged. “There was an article in the paper about an MC busting a dealer not too far from here. When the article mentioned Afternoon Delight was the drug of choice, I dug a little deeper and found that the drugs are being brought to the Shadow Camp and then picked up and being distributed from there to other places.”

“Do you know the MC that’s running the drugs?” Heathen asked.

Will shrugged and said, “They call themselves Minions of Hell and they have chapters all over the states. I’ve never heard of them.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Winter whispered. “I’ve seen them hanging around the camp too. I just didn’t realize until now that they were an MC.”

Traven and Venom turned their heads to look at her.

“Exactly how many times have you been out to that camp anyway?” Traven growled.

Winter just shrugged.

Traven sighed. There it was again. The stubborn, defensive wall she tended to put up.

“Do you know how many Minions visit the camp at any one time?” Venom asked her.

“I’ve heard their names before, Snake, Raz, Thumper and Chewy. I did think at the time that it was fake names, you know like a cover or something. They don’t exactly look like upstanding members of the community.” She scoffed. “But usually there would only be the four there.”

Traven tightened his lips and growled, “Usually? Okay, I need to make a call.” He walked down the hall to his office and dialed a number he hoped he would never have to use. Not in a business sense anyway, a personal one, yeah, but not for this.