Chapter 17

As I woke up, I realized I was between two very buxom women. Both had my head jammed between their bounteous breasts. Sue's were much larger than Beth's, but the big difference was how soft Beth's were compared to Sue's. Sue's had softened since she was pregnant, but not anywhere near Beth's.

I wasn't going to start anything because one: I needed to pee really bad, and two: Beth was Sue's mom and Ben's lover.

I slid down until I was freed from the enclave of four bigger than normal boobs. Actually, the scene would make a great cartoon. A guy like me, trapped between the mammoth boobs of the mother/daughter monsters.

Once out of bed, I pulled the covers over them so they could sleep.

I put on a pair of jean shorts and a T-shirt, and made coffee. It was nearing seven when I came out onto the patio. Surprise, there was no one there. I turned on the air and fans, and checked that the big pot was done perking. The Andy's showed up first. Both Sandy and Mandy gave me a great good morning kiss, that a few months ago, would have meant some heavy activity between the sheets. But now, they were loving kisses that told me the girls were happy, but still liked to tease.

The next crewmember to show was Deanne, who was staying over with Hank and Debbie. She curled up in my lap, which is no small feat, considering she is somewhere around six foot six or seven. As more and more of the neighbors and friends showed up, the place became alive with our mutual excitement of life.

Deanne said, "I have to find a place out here. Just waking up here and being a part of all of you makes me a happier person. I want to be an everyday part of you guys."

Sue and her mom came out of the house in their robes. Deanne was going to get up, but Sue held her down and gave her a kiss. "I guess you need to move into one of our bedrooms then, Deanne. You can wake up every morning to all of us, and even sit on Steve's lap in the morning when you need to."

"I'll get my stuff and move if you're serious," Deanne said.

"Of course, I'm serious," Sue said. "Come stay with us until you find the right place for yourself."

In my head, I heard a smiling Mercy say, "Oh Steve, now you have a beautiful Nubian princess to take care of."

When I shook my head to clear the vision there, Deanne asked, "You okay?"

I smiled and nodded, holding her tall thin frame in my lap.

The day began with Sue's mom announcing she wanted her daughter to fly her somewhere. She wanted to have a little time with her alone, just the two of them.

Sue asked if she would mind if she flew the small plane, as it was a lot of fun, especially if they were just going to fly around Florida. The two of them were off to the Aero Park shortly afterwards. I knew they would fly over us and wag the wings to show off a little.

Deanne wanted Debbie and Hank to help her buy a car. They tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted, saying she wanted to be like the rest of us and have her own transportation.

Phil said he would help her, if Judy would enjoy staying out with us today. Ruth convinced Judy they would have a good time today if she stayed, so Phil and Deanne took off to look for a car.

Charlie said that we might want to have lunch with Hap today, as he had been insistent when asking for me. I said I would clean up my bikes and be ready to go when he was. Martin wanted to help while I changed oil and cleaned up both bikes. I was stuck with a sidecar for a while unless we found out we could bring Deanne with us. A lot, but not all, bikers are a little racist. Perhaps a lady might be different. Maybe others would think she was our nanny in waiting, and wouldn't question us.

A little before noon, Charlie and Hank pushed their bikes over to the front of my house, saying they were ready. I closed up my shop and pushed the shovelhead out to the front.

We fired up and headed down Florida toward the clubhouse. We were welcomed through the gate and parked in the VIP area. The social yard was busy with the St. Pete club visiting. The St. Pete folks were disappointed Sue wasn't with me. I told them we might come by later.

Hap took me off to the side, giving me a long neck. "Steve, you may not have heard, but Bear was sniped Thursday. Somebody took a shot at him and knocked him off his bike. He's alive and doing okay, but he's busted up pretty good. Bear asked me to tell you. He said you would take care of it. You're not obligated, but let me know what I can do."

"Where did this happen?" I asked.

"Up in New Port Richey, where their clubhouse is. He was coming out of the lane road when he was hit. The cops didn't even look around. They just let the ambulance take him away and left. Do you think you can do anything?"

"I don't know, Hap. I need whoever was with him, and nearest to him, to take me up there to look around."

"I'll get 'em for you, Steve. I have everyone down here until he's back on his feet. Bear has a lot of guys that can be a little aggressive if they don't have a leader."

I told Charlie that we needed to take a ride up to New Port Richey. He just nodded and said we would need to stop at a gas station on the way. Hank said he would peel off and go down to Jim's as he wanted to see a guy there.

Four of Bear's men, Charlie, and I took off. Hap sent one of his men along so we could send him back for help if we needed it.

When we came to the lane road to the clubhouse, two of Bear's men stepped out into the road, holding up their hands. As soon as they recognized who we were, they let us pass. I stopped at the gate and asked the four men to show me exactly where Bear was hit.

We were almost back to the road when they stopped and showed me where Bear had fallen. I asked if anyone had been looking at him when he was hit. One of the men said he saw Bear hit.

"Put your bike right where you saw him hit." He did, and I asked, "Did Bear just fall off his bike, or did you see him jerk from being hit?"

The guy put his kickstand down and said, "He jerked to the side right here. He fell off the bike sideways, right here. See, there's still some of his blood on the ground where he landed. Those big rocks are what broke him up."

I went to where he was pointing, and looked back across the bike in a line to see where the round could have come from. About three hundred yards away, there was an old barn type of building that was in line to where Bear was hit. I told everyone to stay there and walked around on the road to the barn. When I came to the lane to the barn where someone would have driven if they were to go to the barn, I saw a motorcycle tire tread track heading to the barn.

There was also a set that headed back out, so I wasn't apprehensive that the sniper was still around. Without stepping in the track, I went to the barn to find that a rear door was hanging off its hinges, half-open. The tread marks led inside.

This was an old barn with a hayloft. I could see the boot prints that led to the ladder going up stairs. The ladder steps looked solid, so I climbed upstairs. It was easy to see what was what. There was a burlap bag laying on the old straw at the end of the barn, facing where Bear had been shot. I walked over to the area, looking for anything that could give me a clue.

The burlap bag was laying lengthwise, toward where Bear had been. When you looked at where someone had laid, there was a smudge of yellow near where a man's chest would have been. I got down and looked back toward where the others were. Easy shot at three hundred yards. A guy would have to be high or drunk to miss at that distance. He didn't miss, he just didn't make a good hit. I poked around in the straw a little and turned to leave.

As I turned my head, something shiny caught my eye. I poked around in the straw where I had seen the shiny object and found a shell casing. It was 5.56 brass. That's M-16 or AR-15 stuff. I carefully picked it up with a piece of straw putting it my shirt pocket.

I went back downstairs and walked over to the men who were waiting. I told them that we should ride over to the barn, but to keep to the side so they could look at the tracks.

They inspected the tracks, saying it looked like a cheap Jap tread. It definitely wasn't Dunlap, Goodyear, or the German brand they saw a lot of. When I took them upstairs, they gasped seeing the easy path toward where their leader had been shot.

Just before we were leaving, one of Bear's men pointed at the tire tracks and made a comment. "It looks like there's a cut on the tire here. See where it spreads out, then about a revolution later it's closed, probably because the tire hopped on a bump. The cut is on the outside right side. It should be easy to spot.

I told them of the shell casing, but said I was saving it for the FDLE, so they could check it for prints. We rode back to the clubhouse where I reported to Hap what we had found. I told him to have his men watch for a cheap tire with a cut on the right side. He said he'd pass it along.

On the way back, Charlie and I peeled off to go home, letting Bear's men go back to Hap's place.

Once home, I told Charlie that I was going to visit Bear in the Hospital. He asked if I wanted him to come along, but I said I thought a private visit would be best right now.

Bear had been transferred to University Community Hospital in northeast Tampa, out by the University of South Florida. They had an orthopedic group that put him back together, and where he was still recovering.

When I went to the desk to find out what room he was in, I almost asked for Bear, but remembered his name from so many years ago. I dropped the Lieutenant part, and just asked for Barton Meyer. When they told me he had restricted visitation, I told them to ask him if he would see Steve Sharp.

I didn't make a fuss, so the receptionist called up to his floor nurse right away. A few minutes later, the receptionist was having a phone conversation with someone, but looking directly at me. When she hung up, she motioned for me to come to the desk. "Mr. Meyer wants to see you right away. The floor nurse said you are on his allowed list of visitors. Do you have a picture ID, like a driver's license?"

My driver's license still had me with a beard, so I pulled out my driver's license and my FAA license that she compared and said, "I like you better without the beard. You should get a new license so it's easier to identify you."

When I went up to Bear's room, there was a uniformed Tampa policeman sitting outside the door to his room. I went through the ID thing with him and was let in.

Bear was trussed up, with a lower leg suspended in a cast all the way to his hip. His left arm was immobilized and wrapped to his body, that was also bandaged.

A nice looking girl sat in a chair next to Bear. She had on a Harley tank top, under a long sleeve man's plaid shirt with folded up sleeves. Her jeans were faded but clean, with some lace up boots showing. Her long, dirty blonde hair was in a ponytail. You almost smiled at the representation of a true biker's old lady. Her face had some worry lines on it, but they just highlighted a face that had seen a lot of sun and wind riding behind a leather vest.

"Jesus, Bear, I thought you were just shot, I didn't know a freight train got you too?"

Bear smiled at me, obviously full of some pain drugs, "I was riding too fast for the conditions out there, in a hurry to get a beer."

He moved around a bit trying to get comfortable and said, "The fucking rag heads were never able to put me down, but some yahoo damn near did the trick, didn't he."

"You couldn't have been going too fast on that dirt and loose gravel."

"You know me, Steve, I love to take it to the edge, I usually do fifty to sixty before I lock up the brakes to make the turn onto the hard road. I know that road so well, I like to slide right up on the blacktop."

"Damn, Bear, you must be death on your equipment."

"That's why I have the best wrenches in the franchise. They keep me going."

"Steve, this is Suzy. She's my Lieutenant's lady. She thinks I need a caretaker, so she and some others keep me company. Suzy, sit over by the window so I can talk to this whiff for a minute."

I nodded to Suzy, and she gave me a half smile as she moved to another chair.

I sat next to Bear's bed when he asked, "So tell me, bro, what do you know, have you had a chance to find out anything?"

"Not much, but I did go out to where you were hit and found where the shooter had been. I found a 5.56 shell casing."

"M-16, huh?"

"That or an AR," I said. "One of your men spotted an unusual thing about a bike tire tread print. First, it was a cheap Jap or a Chinese tire and second, probably the back tire has a deep cut on the right outside of the tread."

"There is one more thing, the shooter may have been wearing a vest or T-shirt that had just been painted or printed. There was a bright yellow smudge on a burlap bag laying up there. I need to go back and get it so I can get it tested."

"Who're you going to get it tested by?"

"I have a friend that is a Major with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's department. He can have the FDLE do it for him. For some reason, I don't think I should go through the Pasco County people. They don't seem to be very interested, from what your men say."

"If you think they will help, but I want to find out who it was and take care of the problem ourselves. You know we don't farm out our work."

"Well, since you seem to be under some kind of watch, this may have too high a profile for your own men to do. They would probably get caught, and then have to suffer for what we can get the cops to do."

Bear grunted a couple of times wiggling around, "You're probably right, but I still don't like the idea of us not taking care of the problem."

"Let me ask you some questions. You know I'm an independent and don't really want to know about club business, but you need to talk to me a little. First, there was the guy that tried to take you and Hap out a little while ago. Then the other night, there was the attack that almost happened. What's made you guys a target? It must be something big, because the news people don't even guess at what's going on."

"Shit, they probably have the room bugged, but I'll tell you what I think. The cops haven't even asked me who I thought might be responsible."

Bear lowered his voice motioning me to scoot the chair closer. "My club broke away from another national club about a year ago. The reason we left was that I found out some of my people were dealing for the national guys. Since we were a splinter club, people like that always like to use groups like ours to take the fall for anything that happens."

"I didn't want that to happen, and I don't approve of dealing. I don't allow the bad stuff around. All my guys know this and know that the penalty for coke and smack hurts, lots. You're only going to walk the line once for that kind of discipline. The next time, you don't get up. We booted a dozen or so of our guys who were immediately inducted by the other patch. I don't even think they had to prospect."

"Anyway, since we were in Florida, that group has wanted to take over in this area for the drug business. Apparently some big time dealers have been busted lately, and they wanted to use Hap's group and my group to run for them. Hap and I see eye to eye on the drug thing, as well as the St. Pete guys. The cops watch us too hard to even be carrying around smoke. I don't care if my guys want to get high, but I'd rather they drink instead. Hell, a hangover often enough will usually convince a guy that there are better things in life."

"I'm getting off track. Since we have been keeping away from them, they have tried to convince some of our own people to try to take over our clubs. Their goal lately has been to get rid of the leadership, and take over the clubs by force if necessary. We're having some trouble getting carry permits, for obvious reasons, and the cops want to take our pieces to have them checked out when they stop us, even with a permit. So we are flying naked. We're even trying to find out if it's legal to have a saddle gun on a bike if you have a permit."

"Hap and I are sure the FDLE is watching us closely, because they know there is some kind of takeover trying to happen. We also figure they know the other patch does not play nice and deals on a major scale. That's why Hap threw the gates open the other night. He wanted them to use their dogs all over the place to show them we didn't have any weight on the grounds. I think they were surprised. We had a guy with a couple of tabs of Ecstasy, but he just got a ticket and has to appear. The cops let a couple small baggies of pot slide. There wasn't any coke around, so the place was cleaner than most churches."

"You know they think I'm a target if they have a real uniform out there. You also know that the FDLE is onto this, as Tampa doesn't have anything to do with Pasco County. That's what I know, bro. Go find something. Take it to your buddy with the Sheriff's department. Let's get this behind us so none of my guys get dead from this thing. Hap's worried about his people and the St. Pete club is drawn in so tight, they hardly let guys go to work. Times are not good."

I had listened to all of this, not necessarily surprised, but wondered why Hap had not let me know he was in trouble.

"I'll get going and let you be peaceful. Get well, and let me know where you are. Have Suzy or someone call me if you can't. I'm on this thing as much as I can be. I'll see if I can come up with something."

"Shit, you've already done more than the cops have, so far. There might be someone working on the case, but not close like you. Thanks, bro, Semper Fi."

"Ooorah!" I exclaimed in response.

I got up to leave saying, "Thanks for watching out for Bear, Suzy. You need to get this guy to settle down with a lady, soften him up."

"Damn, I can't even throw something at you, you asshole, get out of here," Bear exclaimed.

The cop smiled at me as I left, making me think he heard most of what had been said in the room. Bear knew the cop was out there, so he obviously didn't care if the cop heard, or whether the room was bugged.

The whole visit had not taken more than twenty minutes.

After leaving the hospital, I drove back up to Bear's club house area and stopped in the lane and waved for his men to come out. I told them that I was going over to the barn again, but wanted to let them know. They just nodded and went back to become invisible at their gate.

I parked my truck at the entrance of the barn road and walked to the barn, and climbed the stairs to the loft. The burlap sack, with the smudge of yellow on it, was still where it had been left. I carefully rolled it up so the smudge wouldn't be disturbed and carried it downstairs. I looked around carefully for cigarette butts that may be fresh or just squashed out recently. I found two, both Marlboro, so I flipped them into a zip-lock bag I had brought from home. I couldn't see anything else, so I went back to my truck with the rolled up burlap bag and headed back to Tampa.

I drove straight down to the Citrus Park Hillsborough County Sheriff's department substation to see if I could run into my friend. I told the deputy at the counter that I wanted to see the Major. He took my name and made a telephone call. As he spoke into the phone, his eyes got big, he smiled and nodded his head, and hung up.

"Mr. Sharp, it is an honor and pleasure to meet you. Thank you for being there for us when we've needed help. The Major will see you right away." I was led through the office to a glassed in office where I could see my friend the Major waiting for me.

He rose and shook my hand as I entered the office. "Well, Steve, welcome to the station. It is a pleasure to have you stop in, but for some reason, I don't think this is a pleasure call, especially after having visited with your friend in the hospital."

"Keeping tabs on me, huh?" I asked.

"Not really, Steve, but the presence of a major bike club president in the hospital, with a Tampa police guard, is noteworthy. I understand you served in Desert Storm with Mr. Meyer, as a fellow patrol leader. None of that is important though, what can I do for you."

I explained to the Major that I had discovered where the attack had come from, and what I had found out. I carefully leaned over his desk and let the 5.56 brass fall out of my pocket. I told the Major I had not touched it since I found it. I gave him the cigarette butts I had found, and rolled out the burlap sack, to show him the smudge of yellow.

"What do you want me to do with this? It isn't in my jurisdiction. This belongs to Pasco County."

"For some reason, Major, I don't trust Pasco County with this. They were not interested in investigating when the incident happened, and I believe it is related to the big incident at the clubhouse the other night. This evidence is for the FDLE. They can use it. If they need me to verify where I found it, I will, but right now I'd like to find out if the brass has a print on it and what that smudge is. Is it paint or ink? That might be important. The butts are for DNA. The FDLE has been typing DNA for a while and there may be a match. The last thing I need is for you to teach me how to take a cast of a tire print. I think I can do it and not cause a stir. If an evidence truck goes up there, it's going to freak out the neighbors and there could be problems."

"That's a tall order, Steve. I'll get this stuff to the FDLE to analyze, but the tire thing needs to be done by a pro. I have an idea, hang on."