Chapter 22: 22. Clues

**Doug**

I feel better leaving Jodie at home with Ames. I know my sister is going to dig everything she can out of her. But I am not worried about Jodie. I know she can hold her own.

When I saw her easily take baby Shawn from my hands I instantly swooned. I like the way she looked holding a baby. *God...I'm so fucking screwed.* But yeah, I can't seem to stop myself from imagining stuff.

Future stuff with Jodie.

This was so messed up. I even lied to Ames, telling my nosy sister that she's Jordan's twin while in reality she *is* him. Ames is going to kill me when she finds out. Because at some stage I know she will.

The drive to the Flaming Skull Club doesn't take long. I squash my thoughts of future Jodie when I park my car in front of their makeshift workshop. I have been here a couple of times before and I sigh when I see Jodie's car is still being tinkered by two guys. They stop what they're doing when they see me.

Brain is there along with Red. And I nod as Brain motions me to come closer.

"Brain, what do you have for me?"

"This is bad, someone punctured the fuel line in the engine bay. This could cause a fire, it was just pure luck that it didn't. Then, some of the lugnuts were loose, but the perp was too lazy doing it since they weren't loose enough. I didn't know the enemy but I'd say whoever it is, they want him dead.

Yeah, I told the bikers that this was Jordan's car and I was luckily in the area when I saw the car and offered to help out. They don't need to know about her real identity, not yet anyway or ever. Now that Kirk is dead I shouldn't have any more issues, right? And why would someone want her dead?

I need to dig deeper into Jodie, fuck...the day had just gotten so much worse.

"Can you fix the car for me?"

"Yeah, sure. But honestly, you should just throw this away and buy a second-hand, newer model. It'll be much cheaper than fixing this one and also safer."

We talk for another half an hour before Mac finds us and invites me in for a drink.

"Brain told me about what happened to your employee's car. Now that Kirk is dead, the person he worked with might want to send a message. I think he's sending a message through the weakest link. Your unlucky employee has the oldest car, easier to be tampered with..."

I soak in every word that Mac is offering me. We never talk this much, not since he knows who my dad is. Maybe things are better this way, cause this is not my line of expertise. Sure, I dabble with the bikers, but doing business with them was pure for financial gain. I know the risks but I wasn't with anyone when I began. And now, knowing Jodie might get hurt...then there's Ames. Fuck...I need to talk to Dad about this.

So, here I am an hour later, having lunch with Dad at Silvio's. This is one of Dad's favorite restaurants and I would've come here more often if I had the time. But owning your bar is no easy task, there's little time for me left at the end of the day. Though maybe it's also because I'm kind of a control freak. My thoughts dispersed when I saw Dad walking towards me. He always has this air about him that makes people around him seem to want to part ways for him.

"Son,"

"Dad, I've ordered your usual I hope that's okay."

"That's perfect. Thanks. So, you said that it's something urgent?"

He takes the water and drinks it before calling the waiter for a glass of Old-fashioned. *Okay, it's five o'clock somewhere.* And when he sees me, he revised the order making it two glasses of Old-fashioned. *Alright, looks like we're going to really talk.*

"Last night I found one of my employees with his car by the side of the road. Then I call Tank to send one of his guys to get the car to their workshop thinking it'll be cheaper since the car looked like it was ready to end at the junkyard." I pause when the waiter is back with our drinks.

"Go on," Dad says as he raises his glass and starts sipping his drink.

I take the glass and have a sip before continuing, "This morning I went to the club and talked to Mac after visiting Brain and Red at their workshop. Basically, he told me that his car was tampered with, and whoever Kirk was working for wants payback."

"Hmmm..."

Dad's non-existent reply makes me move on to my worry. "Now I'm thinking about Ames and my other employees. I really don't need this kind of issue on my plate right now. Not when we have our future venture to think about. I'm a businessman. I just...I don't know, what do you think I should do?"

Okay. I do think I sounded whiney but it's true I really don't want to deal with bad people who want to endanger people whom I care about.

"Well, son, let me talk to Mac about this. I will call you when I know more. I want you to concentrate on handling the legal business side. That alone causes too much headache for me. But I want you to know about the bad side of the business too. There will come a time when I will need you to step up and handle the bad, you're my son. I expected nothing less of you.

*Huh...okay.*

"Dad. About Kirk," The question had been on my mind since the last time I saw my dear old Dad beating the shit out of his grandson's father. Granted that Kirk was a stupid dickhead who gets into too much trouble and always seemed to make my sister cry.

"What about him?" He raises an eyebrow as if any issues regarding Kirk need no explanation.

"Um, I'm just... wondering about what happened to him. Do you do this a lot? I mean you don't owe me any explanation. I'm just curious, growing up, I always wonder where you work. I mean *really work*. But back then, there was no reason for me to question it. You know. Not until I saw what you did to Kirk. Not that I won't beat his ass up for hurting my sister, but that day you look...I don't know..."

Dad chuckles, he must be sensing the uneasiness pouring out of me. But yeah my Dad beat up a person in front of me and the event did rattle me just because it was my Dad. Beating a person with brass knuckles. He came prepared. The man that I looked up to growing up was a caring and loving father.

"Son, I will deny anything I say should anyone ask about our little familial discussion."

"Of course." Not that I'd tell anyone. I love my Dad, growing up he has done nothing but provide for us. Now he keeps on supporting us though my sister and I are both adults. The world is a cruel place, I'm old enough to understand the bad within our surroundings.

"I work for important and dangerous people with too much money and more secrets than the military. I've been working there since I was just a teenager. Your mother knows what I do, in fact, I saved her when I accidentally found her. It didn't take long for me to convince her to marry me." Dad pauses with a smile on his face. "I vowed that no one would ever hurt her. She was in a bad place for a while."

His words make me speechless. "Mom? Oh God...I didn't know."

"And now you know. I'm not going to burden you with the details when all she wants is to forget about her past, and having both you and Amelia is giving her the happiness she dreams of. So, when Kirk happened, it's a no-brainer."

I nod and tell him I'll keep the information to myself. Dad put his hand on mine, giving me an assurance pat before he continued.

"So, let me look into the car tampering thing and see if it correlates to Kirk's shady business partners. Now that the possibility is there, I need Mac to handle those thugs. We can't have them going near Ames and Shawn."

His last words say it all and we finish our meals in silence until I start talking about our next club project as we enjoy our dessert and coffee.