Page 50 of Ash (Dragon Riders MC 3)
He chuckled. “Could’ve fooled me.”
“Hey, you just wait until you finally fall in love.”
“Yeah, that’s never happening.”
“That’s what I always told myself. But one day it’ll happen. You’ll meet a gal that changes everything. And when you do? I’m gonna be right there to give you shit.”
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s nice that you actually talk right now.”
I barked with laughter. “At least no one’s telling me to shut up.”
“Yeah, well. I’m sure the moment’s coming. But until then? Keep your head in the game. Hannah’s gonna be fine with your brother checking up on her, so focus on the task at hand.”
I locked my eyes forward. “You don’t have to worry about that, either.”
The task was simple: keep Skeleton from gaining any more power or money in our area. And in order to do that, we had to track our movements. While the Steel Cobras thought they could ambush a man like this, I knew better. Hunting was a passion of mine—something I did many mornings with Scottie at my side—and in order to hunt big game like Skeleton, we had to stalk before we ambushed. We had to plot his movements before stalking out his favorite places.
And thankfully, Link understood that, too.
Tracking his movements wasn’t easy, but we did it. After paying off a couple of ice cream parlors and a gas station attendant, we figured out where the Jags gassed up, where they had their meetings, and when they’d been spotted the last time in that part of town. That kind of information was invaluable to hunters like us, and we quickly put the puzzle pieces together to create a coherent picture of Skeleton’s movements around the east part of town.
Then, we came upon something that seemed odd.
“You see that?” Sly asked.
“You mean, that abandoned parking lot full of beat-up cars that Link seems to be cruising by?”
“Yep. That’s the one.”
I pointed. “I think Link sees it, too.”
I watched our president point his finger at the parking lot before cruising past. I recognized that place, too. Me and Scottie frequented that park a great deal when we were kids growing up in the orphanage. We’d sneak out at night and climb over the wooden fence before meeting our girlfriends underneath the metal jungle gym. Like we were big and bad ladies’ men.
This place held a lot of memories for me.
And seeing Skeleton’s bike parked off to the side made me irate.
I’ll be damned if he’s going to destroy a part of my childhood.
Granted, the park was overgrown with weeds and shit now. After two children had been killed when I was in middle school in a gang shoot-out, the park had been closed down. And they never bothered to reopen it. That was what happened on this side of town sometimes. Things that were once staples were shut down and forgot about once things got too dangerous. A lot of people never saw the point in restoring this side of things, but I always saw myself restoring it one day. Piece by piece.
Maybe that would still happen. Maybe, one day, Hannah and I would be in a position of power to be able to do something about these rundown places. Like, the hot dog and ice cream place across from the park. Or the free clinic up the street that was begging for its last leg to give out. One of these days, I’d throw some of my investment money into purchasing these rundown pieces of property and restoring them back to their former glory.
But for now, I’d settle for wiping Skeleton’s memory off the planet so he could never come over here again.
We cruised up the road for half of a mile before we pulled into an abandoned building that used to be the K-Mart in town. We circled around the side of the dilapidated place and parked our bikes in the shade to give them some cover.
Then, we hopped off and gathered into a tight circle.
“Ash, this is your side of town. What’s the best way to get into that park from here?” Link asked.
I nodded. “If we cross the road and walk up about a quarter of a mile, we’ll come across a bunch of condemned apartment buildings. Behind those buildings are overgrown walking trails that lead right into the back of the park. If we stay quiet enough, the thickness of the trees and shit will completely cover us.”
Sly nodded. “Which means we can expect those areas to be patrolled by Skeleton’s goonies.”
Bowser sighed. “Unfortunately. So, we get dressed into what we can here, then stuff our pockets and shit with as much ammo as we can carry.”
Link pointed at us. “Just make sure you don’t shoot unless you know you can make a connection. Because the second gunfire pops off, we’re going to lose him if we aren’t close enough.”
