Chapter 15: Grave Digger: Chapter 15

Delaney reached up and caught the back of Memphis’ neck. When he turned to her she whispered, “Thank you. Thank you for believing in me when no one else would listen.” She again kissed him hard.

With a low growl in his throat, he wrapped his arms around her.

Diabolus waited and waited. Finally, he’d had enough of this. “We’d better go tell them what we found.” He looked up at the panels and shook his head. “Zeus ain’t gonna believe this.”

The couple broke apart.

Taking a breath, Delaney nodded. “He didn’t believe me.”

Memphis tapped her arm. “Please don’t mention that fact. It won’t help anything, baby. I claim that you were right. So, that is all that you need to think about.”

Diabolus shook his head then turned and walked out of the room.

Delaney and Memphis followed him.

When they joined the rest of the brothers, Leon and his group were gathered around the camera monitor.

“What’s going on?” Diabolus asked.

“We got movement outside the fence.” Zeus growled. “What took you guys so long?”

Delaney came over and she gasped at the picture on the screen. It was her brother Alijala. He was limping and he had something tied around the top of his leg. He also had blood stains on his lower legs. His hair was flying all over the place and he had bruises on his face. He looked terrible but Delaney overlooked that. She looked from screen to screen, camera to camera, looking for her father.

John’s men then seemed to come out of nowhere as they stood behind Alijala and raised their guns, training them on him.

Alijala turned and faced them all. He slowly raised his hands in surrender.

One of the men came up to him and turned him around roughly, ziptying his hands behind his back.

They all heard Alijala swearing at him in indignation.

Delaney saw the pain on his face but she couldn’t find it in her heart to care about it, not at this stage of the game. She glanced up at Leon and found him looking back. “One down, one to go,” she whispered. “And the one that’s left is the worst of the whole damn bunch.”

Two of John’s men broke away and brought Alijala in, the other three faded into the late afternoon shadows.

As they got closer to the front door, they heard Alijala being Alijala…loud and extremely rude. “Unfucking tie me,” he demanded. “This is my house, not some MC clubhouse. The Raggettis own this place and I demand you fucking untie me now!” His voice got louder and louder and then he was shoved into the clubhouse where he landed on his knees still tied up. He looked up and saw the line of men staring down at him. “You are trespassing in my house and I demand you get the hell out!” He screamed.

“Oh, shut the hell up, Alijala.” Delaney moved around the men and stood in front of her brother. “You, Dad, and Romano are so damn stupid!”

Alijala sneered at her. “I should have known you were here. You probably told them where we were hiding. You fucking little traitor. You sure as hell don’t deserve the Raggetti name.”

Delaney nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right about that but much to my shame, I got it anyway. Where’s Dad?”

“Fuck you, bitch.” Alijala seethed at her.

Memphis strode forward and belted him. “Watch your fucking mouth. You are down there because she is right. You’re stupid!”

Alijala lay on the floor bleeding from his mouth and he began to laugh hysterically, “Aww, poor Delaney went and got herself a man huh? Well, you can have the little traitor!” He scoffed. “But he’s a trashy biker, not a real man.

Delaney scoffed. “He’s more of a man than you, Romano, and dad will ever be, that’s for damn sure.” Then she raised her foot and kicked him hard in the lower belly, low enough to catch his groin area.

Alijala gasped as he screamed out in pain. With his hands tied behind his back, he couldn’t even cup his nut area where she’d kicked him.

Memphis grabbed her and tugged her away from her brother, who was just rolling around on the floor crying like a baby.

Leon stepped forward and ordered his men, “Get this piece of fifth out of here. They have cells in the basement area.”

The two security men grabbed him under his arms and dragged a whining, mumbling Alijala out of the room.

Memphis wrapped his arms around her and just held her for a moment. He could feel her shaking and he worried about her. Looking down at her face, he could see the rage in her eyes and just shook his head. Glancing at Leon he said, “I think he had that kick coming and he’s had it coming for a long time.”

Leon narrowed his eyes but then he nodded. “I think so too.”

Delaney shook her head. “He more than had it coming. That was the second time I’ve kicked him. The first time he wasn’t tied up and after he picked himself up off the floor, he went looking for me. When he found me, he beat the living hell out of me. My other two brothers just stood there and watched him do it. So, I’m not at all sorry for what little paypack I got today.”

Leon sighed and shook his head. “You are right, mia caro, he did earn that kick. Did your father do anything to him for hurting you?”

“What do you think?” she asked him softly. “He left me lying on the bathroom floor while he and my brothers went to eat supper. I couldn’t move for about an hour then I went to my bedroom and crawled into bed. I couldn’t even get up until the next morning. He came in and told me to get up and wash the dishes from supper.”

Leon swore under his breath, “Quel piccolo scarafaggio.” That little cockroach.

Memphis kept his arm around Delaney and looked over at Zeus. “Delaney was right, brother. We found the money Barrett is after.”

“What the hell?” Zeus swore. “In that fucking crawlspace?”

Memphis nodded. “I counted about sixteen cases, all spaced out so the weight isn’t in all one area. It’s all there, under the insulation.”

Zeus shook his head and looked over at Delaney, “Well Ms. Delaney, I owe you an apology. I should have listened to you but I didn’t. I’m sorry.” He then turned to Leon. “So now what? Do we go after the money or wait until we have Barrett in the basement as well?”

“We wait.” Leon looked enraged. “I want his balls on a plaque on the wall of my study. We will wait until my men can find him and drag his sorry ass in here the same as they did with his son.” He too now looked at Delaney. “I thought that was a long shot to begin with and you listened to your gut. I thank you for being…”

“…So stubborn and pushy?” she asked as she smiled. “You all know about gut instinct. But what you don’t realize is that women get that too.”

“AMEN!” Both Marty and Lindy stated in unison.

Emily stared at the two women and then laughed.

The men in the room startled and looked over at them.

“Touché’,” Zeus, muttered. “Touché.”

Leon laughed as well. “I may have been the guiltiest of that assumption. My wife has them all the time and I finally learned to listen.”

Delaney shrugged in Memphis’s arms. “I needed it to be found. The money was never theirs to claim. It belongs back in that safe Alfonzo took it from. He may never know you got it back but me and Grandpa would. It was the right thing to do. And I needed to see it happen.”

Memphis kissed her forehead and smiled at her.

They all wandered over to the screens once again. To wait and watch the cameras for any sign of the last man out…Barrett.

Much later in the night, Click was alone in the main room, watching the cameras when he saw that shadow moving around outside the fence again. Hitting a few keys on his keyboard, he brought the shadow in closer. He paused when he saw her face. He was sure it was a small woman and not Barrett Raggetti out there. But who was she and why was she nosing around the clubhouse now?

He hit a few more keys and began tracking her as she moved along the fence line. What was she doing? She seemed to be looking for a way inside. But why?

All questions he had no answers for, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t get them. He growled under his breath as he shut down the power to the fence line momentarily. Then he reached for his gun and left, via the back door. They had a back door built inside the fence line that no one on the outside would ever find and one he planned to use to capture their unknown guest.

When he reached the door, he punched in the code. Then checking his phone, he noted exactly where she was. Next, he opened the door and slipped into the darkness to wait for her to reach him. Closing the door almost shut but not quite all the way shut, he waited.

He didn’t have to wait long as she came around the corner, moving slowly.

He waited until she was almost within his reach then he sprang up in front of her. Instantly, she opened her mouth to scream but he slapped his hand over it and leaned in closer. “I don’t think so sweetheart. I’m not about to let you go to warn your buddy Barrett.” Using his hand, he turned it sideways and swiftly rapped a spot on her neck.

Her eyes rolled up and she slumped unconscious in his arms.

Click smiled slightly, as he tossed her small form over his shoulder, and carried her inside the fence line. Shutting the door, he paused to rearm the fence on his cell. Then he carried her toward the clubhouse, slipping in through the back door.

Taking her to his bedroom, he set her on his bed. Wrapping her hands behind her back and using zipties, he bound her hands. Finally, he turned her over and studied her for a moment.

She was beautiful. Her olive skin looked so smooth. Her dark hair lay spread out on his pillow. Click then shook himself out of his temporary daze. He needed to forget her looks and remember that she had been sneaking around, trying to get into a place that was obviously at war.