Tank

8 - There's something about that girl

Tank

“There’s something about that girl.” Ghost says before knocking back his scotch. Nova is sitting in a booth over from us with a couple of the women who belonged to Gunner and Ripper.

Since she walked into our lives a week ago, she’d made firm friends with Eileen, Ripper’s girl, and Tonya, Gunner’s wife. Gunner is the only one of us married apart from the Prez, BlackJack, Red, and Stryker. Even the older members of our MC aren’t married. But then Gunner fell in love with Tonya within days of meeting her. He patched her three days later and married her a month into their relationship.

Now, three years later, they’re happier than I’ve ever seen two people. I don’t believe in the whole love and marriage crap myself, but each to his own.

How fucke.d up is that, when I want nothing more than to meet a woman, I can make mine?

I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. I feel like a damned idio.t, but I’ve wanted a family of my own since my parents were killed. Yes, I have my brother; he means more to me than I think he actually knows, but he’s the only blood relative I have in the world. I want my own family. A woman I can call my own, a kid who’ll call me Dad.

I won’t just settle for any woman out there. I want to love her, I want her to love me, and I won’t risk getting any woman pregnant until I know for sure she’s mine.

“What are you talkin’ about?” I ask him.

“I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

“Have you?” I ask casually.

Ghost can't have seen Nova before; none of us even knew she existed until last week. Okay, I knew she existed, but I hadn’t seen her since she was a little girl. Everyone believed the Prez’s daughter was dead. Then she walks in here looking so fuckin’ hot I’ve done nothing but think about fuckin.g her little puss.y for hours on end since. I’d have her riding my dic.k like her fuckin’ life depended on it. I’d wreck that puss.y like you wouldn’t believe. But, as it is, I can’t touch her. Prez would tear me a new asshole and then some.

“This is going to sound insane,” Whatever Ghost says usually does. “But do you remember the stories about The Exorcist?”

“The film?”

“No, dickhead!” He snaps, causing me to laugh. “The guy who wipes out scum for a huge price. There’s never any trace, no evidence of what he’s done but for the rosary beads he leaves behind on his victims’ bodies.”

I nod.

Of course, I’ve heard of him.

Who hasn’t?

He’s smart and quick and never leaves a trace that he’s even been there. His victims are taken out in the worst way. Some are even tortured to death.

I’ve killed in my time, once or twice... Or twenty times. But nothing like that guy. The man is crazy and then some. And not one person has ever been able to find him.

There are no photographs of him. No one knows his real name, age, or where he comes from. Nothing. It is known that he’s the best in his field. If he wants you dead, you’ll be dead fast. There’s no way to stop him once the wheels have been set in motion. It’s said that whoever you contact to hire this guy asks you once and once only if you're sure you want to go ahead. Because once you tell him yes, there is no way back, even if you change your mind.

That, and you need a literal fortune to hire this guy.

Put it this way, I wouldn’t want him coming after me.

Not that I’d know he was after me. It’s said that his victims don’t even know what's hit them. He could be the man next to them on a bus or in a bar; they could also be talking to him like an old friend, and they wouldn't know he was about to end their lives.

He can get into any place he wants without being seen. Going on lockdown wouldn’t help even a club as big as this one. It wouldn’t save us from him if he wanted us dead.

I pity the little people of the world. I don’t even think the local Mob would be safe from this guy.

“They say no one has ever seen him.”

“I know this. However, if that's the case, how the hell does anyone hire him?” That’s the question that has bugged me for months.

How does anyone hire him if no one’s seen the guy or ever actually spoken to him personally?

Because he doesn’t post anything online, not even subtly. Believe me, people have checked and rechecked time and time again. The Mob has had the best men in the business looking for this guy. On the streets, the internet, and even by word of mouth. Nothing has ever come up.

Either the guy is a phantom, or he’s smarter than any other person around.

Could be an asset to the right person.

“Through her.” Ghost points to Nova.

I turn to look at her. She’s laughing with the girls. That beautiful smile of hers drives me crazy with want for her.

Why do I want her so much more than I’ve ever wanted another woman?

Maybe it’s because I can’t have her?

Yeah, that must be it.

I turn to look at Ghost. The man has lost it. She's just twenty-two years old. Yeah, she’s confident, but she’s no killer’s bitc.h.

“Are you insane? She’s just a girl, man.”

“A dangerous one. Do you remember when Hammer hired a guy to take out those who killed his girl?”

I nod. I do remember. Of course, I do.

How could any of us forget?

Hammer was all set to kill the whole state; he was so angry. Hammer is a good man, my brother. Cindy was everything to him. She was kidnapped a couple of years ago and killed in retaliation for us killing a member of the Sons of Hades. An MC that we’ve had trouble with for a couple of years now.

“Hammer hired The Exorcist to do the job.”

“He did?”

That I didn’t know. Okay, I knew he’d hired someone to do the job, but I had no idea whom he’d hired. Shepard had forbidden Hammer from hiring anyone. Of course, he found out, but Hammer wouldn’t say who it was, no matter what Shepard did to him, and trust me, he didn't let Hammer off easily.

Man’s a lunatic. Runs in the blood.

So how could he keep such a thing from me, of all people?

I’m his brother by blood, for fuc.k sake!

“How in the hell did he manage that?”

“I don’t know. Some guy made all the arrangements. I went with Hammer to meet with the person who collects the information for the guy. That person was her,” He points at Nova. “She was wearing a disguise, but it was definitely her.”

“Maybe you’re mistaken. Look at her; she doesn’t look like the kind of girl who’d get involved with something like that.”

Ghost suddenly bursts out laughing. “Come on, Tank. If you look close enough in her eyes, you’ll see a very dangerous young lady.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” She’s not dangerous; she’s barely a woman!

“When have I ever been wrong?”

“True.” He never has, not when it counts. He goes with his gut.

“You know what that means, though, right?” I shrug. “We can use it to our advantage.”

“If she does work with him, he must trust her. There’s no way she’d go against him and give up his identity.” There’s no way she’d be working with him if that guy thought, for a second, she’d give him up. He’d have to trust her with his life.

As I said, she’s barely a woman, and this Exorcist person has been going for a few years; there’s no way she'd be working with him that long.

No way…