“You’re supposed to be our brother! You were trusted and loved, and you turned your back on this family.” I make out Cowboy’s words as I get out of the truck. They hit me like a fucking Mack truck, and I can’t help my audible reaction.
“No,” I mumble, stopping dead in my tracks. Hearing Cowboy makes it all the more real.
“Rambo, Storm, get him in the truck. Tie his dick to the truck bed if needed.” Cowboy barks, lifting his foot from Bigfoot’s throat and heading toward where we have our bikes parked.
I don’t know how the guys solved the mystery. I’ve been going over every single piece of evidence I have. Working hours combing through any video feeds I can find. Doing everything I can think of to get the answer, and I never once thought it was Bigfoot. Gears came first, but I was able to nip that in the bud. Then, the more I dug, the more everything pointed to Sever. When Butcher’s pigs were slaughtered, I thought about how easy it would have been for Sever to pull off. Claiming he’s Butcher’s best friend, yet they constantly fight. It would have been easy to get close and get away with it. Why wouldn’t anyone guess him?
No.
This can’t fucking be right. Nothing points to Bigfoot. Nothing, but now I’m out of time.
***
Cowboy is waiting for all of us at the entrance to the root cellar. He’s running a hand down his face in frustration. It’s obvious this is taking a toll on him. I assume Rambo and Storm got Bigfoot down here already—given they just walked out of the cellar and are now standing next to Cowboy, and Bigfoot is nowhere to be found.
“Before we go down there, we need to keep our emotions in check,” Cowboy says, cutting a look at all the brothers.
“Are you telling us or reminding yourself?” Gears snarks. He never did get over the shit Cowboy pulled a while back. The fact that Prez didn’t rip his face off in response tells me how serious this is.
“Probably both at this point. Rambo, and unfortunately, Audrina discovered the mole. We need to get as much information as we can from him before we let Butcher lose on him,” Cowboy explains.
“Bigfoot?” Zombie spouts.
Cowboy nods. It wouldn’t have been hard for Zombie to deduce. Bigfoot is the only one that isn’t here. I run both of my hands through my hair, pulling it from the roots. This can’t be. This can’t be. Nothing points to him. Nothing.
“What do you mean Audrina discovered him?” Willie asks.
Before Cowboy can say anything, Rambo steps forward. He tells us all about how they went off to have sex in the barn, but before they could get started, they heard Bigfoot on the phone. He repeated everything he heard. It’s damning, to say the least. But to me, it still doesn’t make sense. How was he getting away with it all? How was he hiding? Everything points to Sever!
“That mother fucker!”
I’m so consumed by breaking it all down in my head; I don’t even know who the hell is shouting. Everyone seems to be pissed. They should be. We’ve had someone inside our ranks working for The Company. They’ve been killing people with drugs and fucking stealing kids. He’s been selling kids.
“How could he fucking do this?” I ask. I didn’t mean to ask out loud, but it couldn’t be stopped. The words came out like vomit. Even though they were softly spoken, they all stopped. I made eye contact with all of them. “How could he do this? Murder people—parents. Steal their kids. Fucking fuck! He took these babies and sold them to pedophiles. He went against everything we stand for. He gave people drugs, knowing it would kill them. He’s sat here, pretending to be on our side. He’s looked at all of us and claimed he’s been here for us. Fuck, he brought us back Dillon. Why? And she was a total fucking cunt, but Steffie didn’t deserve what happened to her. He brutally murdered her. She was fucked up but didn’t deserve that. Why? Huh? WHY?”
I’m screaming now. Tears are running down my face. Bigfoot took me under his wing when I first found this club. He gave me friendship and someone to look up to. He told the stories about building up the club and all the kids he’s helped. He’s been someone we’ve all looked up to. I wasn’t here when the club started, but I’ve met Detroit. The President of the Satan’s Children. Every time he comes down, he asks if we’re sick of Bigfoot yet and if he can have him back. He’s obviously fond of him too. So what the fuck happened that Bigfoot would turn on all of us and become this vile fucking monster?
“Only he can tell us,” Cowboy states calmly, “and it’s time we find out why. I’m tired of asking myself and pondering all the different answers. It’s time he talks.”
There were very few times we had all the brothers in the cellar. This is one of the times we all need to be here and hear the answers directly from the horse’s mouth. Normally, the man in the middle of the room was sniveling and pleading for his life or trying to piss us off to end his suffering faster. But this time, a heavy silence surrounds us, all because of him. Bigfoot is looking down at his feet. He is too much of a coward to look any of us in the eyes.
Cowboy stands back and watches him—like he’s waiting for Bigfoot to make the first move so Cowboy gets a reason to beat the shit out of him for some fucking answers. My mind is still reeling that he is the mole. I start to playback all the events and issues that arose to see if I can place where Bigfoot was during every one of them. There were too many to recount every single person’s moves. I need to get my hands on his things and see if I can crack the code and track his movements. Before I can even move over to Cowboy, the cellar door bursts open, and a small wave of confusion ripples over all of us. Then, followed closely by his number two, in walks Artem Siderov like he owns the fucking room. I watch Prez and his posture go rigid, and his eyes cut from Artem to Judge.
“I am here to offer my services. Davayte voz’mem etogo sukina syna.” Artem simply states, fixing the cuffs of his crisp white shirt.
“Not yet,” Judge tells Artem. Besides Artem and Rafe, Judge is the only one who knows what the fuck Artem just said. Judge turns to Cowboy, “It’s your call, Prez,” Judge starts, trying to defuse the rage we can see on Cowboy’s face. I hold my breath, watching the emotions warring on my Prez’s face.
“We are too close to this,” Cowboy starts, and for the first time since I have been in the cellar, Bigfoot looks up. “You can use your tactics, but he cannot die. His blood will be spilled here by our hands.” Cowboy finishes, squaring his stance and looking Artem in the eyes.
“Trust me. I have ways to make him talk.” Artem says as he turns to Bigfoot. He grips Bigfoot’s hair and yanks back his head. When Bigfoot is looking at Artem, Artem lets out the side we don’t see very often. “You’re not ready for the torture I have planned for you. Ty budesh’ molit’ o smerti.” he finishes, and with a snap of his fingers, Rafe quickly gathers up Bigfoot and drags him back up the steps with the help of Rambo.
“If I find out you had anything to do with the disappearance…” Rambo’s thought is cut off when the cellar door closes behind them.
“Knuckles,” the sound of my name brings me out of the visual of what Rambo intends to do, “I need you to take Bigfoot’s phone and see what you can get from it. I want his locations, the numbers he calls and texts, and everything you can find. I want you to pull it.” Cowboy tells me, tossing the flip phone to me.
I don’t say anything. I take the phone, leave the cellar, and head to my bike so I can go back to my apartment. I need to remove myself from this situation and refocus on everything. I ride my bike and reflect. There have to be things we’re missing. Bigfoot was terrified of the pigs. Why would he kill them? Besides to fuck with Butcher? No. He wouldn’t do that to his brother. Bigfoot is brother to all of us. He wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t attempt to break Butcher. We all knew his love for the foul beasts, but no one knew his true connection to them but Sever!
I quickly make my way into my apartment. Much to his dismay, I shoo Phil from my computer desk. His grumbled mow, because god forbid he fucking meows correctly, is enough to let me know I will find a hairball on my pillow when this is all done. I plug the phone into my booted computer and try to pull as much information from the phone itself. Unfortunately, all the text messages have been wiped. Once I have it all loaded, I pull the sim card. I search through all the phone numbers he calls and texts, and there I see a few numbers that are not ours. One he contacts more regularly.
