Victor: Grim Riders MC Series, #3

By Molly Black

I knew Victor ever since we were kids. 

We always got along so well. 

But things changed when he was sent to juvie for hacking into the national security system. 

It landed me in hot water as well, since he used my computer to do the deed. 

No one believed that I didn't know what he was up to. 

Now, he wants to use my computer again, but I've learned from my mistakes. 

Haven't I?

But this is Victor we're talking about, and I was never able to deny him anything.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MB
• Release date: Aug 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393481270

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Chapter 1

Victor

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Iwas a little bit early getting to the clubhouse for Monday’s meeting of the Grim Riders MC, but when I walked inside, Logan and Kane were already there. I hid a smirk at the fact that Kane was there. His overeager punctuality had been noticeable ever since Otis had pretty much kicked him out of the motorcycle club for his perpetual lateness and then grudgingly let him back in. Logan, on the other hand, you could never predict, but generally, him being early meant that he had wanted to talk to Otis before the meeting began. Something to do with a collection he’d made.

Right now, he was scrolling through something on his phone, looking bored. I dropped down on the couch next to him. Something go wrong when you tried to get the money from Harrison? I asked. I was the researcher for the club, meaning I was the one who went out and investigated everyone who wanted our protection services to make sure they weren’t up to anything fishy and try to ensure that we were actually going to get paid in the end.

Not that Logan couldn’t find ways of persuading the guys to cough up the money. He was pretty solid in his job as a collector.

Logan glanced over at me and shrugged. Guy wasn’t too pleased, but I got the money. Was just wondering how Otis wanted me to handle Brad Jennings. It’s a bit of a touchy one. But I guess Otis isn’t here yet.

I can tell you where he is, I said confidently.

Logan raised an eyebrow at me, and I could see Kane looking interested as well. Kane and I had done some work together, scoping out potential clients before, but I hadn’t shown him this particular tool. Let him think that I hung out all day keeping tabs on people. Wouldn’t do to make the new recruits think it was okay to cut corners.

Not that any of them would be able to do the kind of stuff I did, anyway.

There was a reason Otis had brought me into the club and a reason I made an efficient researcher. I pulled out my pocket computer and started fiddling around, finally pulling up the map with its little marker for Otis. He’s about six blocks away still, I said, glancing at my watch and smirking. There’s a bit of construction over there; I hit it yesterday on my way over. He might even be a couple minutes late.

Whoa, how do you know that? Kane asked, moving over to the arm of the couch for a better view.

Easy, I said, shrugging. I just plug in his cell phone number, and as long as his phone is on, I can get his location through the GPS on his phone.

Jeez, Logan said, shaking his head, and I could tell that he was at least a little impressed, even though he usually kept his emotions pretty hidden.

I can do it with anyone, as long as I’ve got their number, I added, punching in a different number. Looks like Dax is right outside and about to walk in. I give him five seconds.

Sure enough, a couple of seconds later, Dax strolled into the room, while we all looked over at him.

What? Dax asked self-consciously, looking between the three of us. I’m not late. Otis isn’t even here yet.

It’s not that, Kane said, shaking his head. Victor just predicted you were going to show up.

Dax rolled his eyes. Showing them that stupid tracking software, huh? he asked.

You know about this? Logan asked.

Dax shrugged easily. Yeah, Victor showed me a while ago. Creepy as shit, isn’t it?

But as long as you’ve got location services turned off on your phone, it doesn’t work, right? Logan asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

Nope, I told him cheerfully. "If your phone is turned off, that’s a different story. But as long as your phone is turned on, even if you have the location services turned off and airplane mode turned on and whatever else, your phone is still actually sending out those signals."

Fuck, Kane said, shaking his head. Note to self, if I ever need to find someone, talk to Victor. But that is weird. He paused. So like, if I got some chick’s number and I wanted to bump into her again at some point but not ask her out on a date just yet, you could figure that out?

I raised an eyebrow at him. Things not working out between you and Brea? I asked.

Kane shook his head. Nah, things are great. She’s practically living with me at this point. I was just wondering.

Yeah, I could track her, I said, shrugging. But the question would be, did she give you her actual number or not? I just get the phone location, but if that phone belonged to, like, an old fat guy, you’d show up there and be pretty confused.

A few of the other guys had trickled in by now, and they were all gathered around, looking at the screen. At the thought of Kane, or anyone else, showing up to a place expecting a sexy female and instead getting someone old and fat, and most importantly male, everyone laughed. There were definite limitations to this sort of software.

Hey, Otis is getting closer! Dax said, pointing at the little dot on the screen.

How many seconds until he walks in, do you think? Kane asked, right as Otis himself strode through the door.

I hurriedly closed out of the program, but Otis rolled his eyes, no doubt knowing just what we were up to. Use that shit on our clients, not on the members, he said reprovingly, but he didn’t chew me out about it. Otis, more than any of the rest of them, knew the kind of information I was capable of finding out about any of the men in this room. Or about any of our potential clients.

A lot of the rest of the guys thought I had some secret sources who told me when we were dealing with someone dangerous. But a lot of the information I got came from online. Search around well enough, and you can find whole books’ worth of information on people. Do a little more work, and you can extrapolate, to a high degree of accuracy, the kinds of things they are likely to do in the future.

That was the part where things started to get a little creepy, in my opinion. Because I wasn’t the only one out there who had the ability to access all that information, and I knew that. I didn’t dwell on it, though, nor did I go around telling the other guys all the things I knew about them. Or about Otis, for that matter.

As I’m sure everyone is aware, things have been going really well for us, Otis said, looking around at the group. But that doesn’t mean we can start to relax. In fact, it means our business is going to get more and more challenging as time goes on.

I had to wonder whether he had an actual project for us or if he was just trying to remind us not to rest on our laurels. Not that I thought that anyone had been. If the club was doing well, it was because we were all busting our asses trying to do things the right way. The sheriff had cooled off a little lately, but he’d been a bit too interested in our business for most of the year. Probably worried he was going to be booted from the office if he let us get away with some of our shenanigans.

But since Kane had saved his daughter from one of the rival gangs, the Savages, the sheriff’s attitude toward us had become noticeably friendlier. And he was focusing all of his energies, seemingly, on getting the Savages locked behind bars. Ironic, really, since the Savages were also a large part of the reason that the sheriff had been cracking down on us to begin with.

I’ve had a very interesting client reach out to me in recent days, Otis continued, and ah, there was something more to what he was saying. He looked sternly around at all of us. We’re going to need the utmost in subtlety for this one. A member of the House of Representatives is seeking to hire us for protection.

There was silence in the room. Dax was the first to break that silence, letting out an incredulous laugh. Don’t they have their own guys for things like that? he asked.

Yeah, like the Secret Service? Kane added, sounding just as stunned as his brother.

But while they were busy thinking about how absurd it was for a congressman to come to us for protection, I was thinking of all the reasons that a congressman might need to come to us for protection.

It was the same as with any of our clients, really. Why come to a biker gang for protection? Why not go to the police? Well, you never really knew where the threats were. Or sometimes, you knew exactly where the threats were. It was no secret that the police force was corrupt. That sometimes the danger might lie within the force and its members. And that sometimes they might not believe in threats. We wouldn’t take any chances when it came to our clients’ safety. As long as we were being paid, anyway.

Sure enough, Otis continued, putting his hand up for silence. "It seems that this man is worried that he needs protection from the Secret Service and the guys on the inside."

Another silence in the room. But this time, everyone seemed to be nodding along.

You’ll need me to look into it, though, I surmised.

Otis nodded gravely. It’s an election year, he reminded all of us. And what a feather in our representative’s cap if he could tell everyone that he’s responsible for cleaning up Massachusetts one motorcycle club at a time. We need to make sure he’s legitimate. He paused and grinned dangerously. "Of course, if he is legitimate and wants our protection, he’s willing to pay quite well for the service."

I could imagine. But I also knew just how much was riding on this one. Forget about the safety of whoever was sent to protect the representative; if I made any sort of mistake on this one, if I didn’t notice something fishy was going on, we could all be under surveillance. And even though things like protecting people who came to us for help was a legitimate business, there was more to what the Grim Riders did as well. More that might not be as well received by the authorities, to put it lightly. Things that could end with Otis and the rest of us in jail, for who knew how long.

It wasn’t something we could leave up to chance. I nodded at Otis, knowing he knew that I got the gravity of the situation.

Because it wasn’t just about the surveillance I could do. It was also about tact. Making sure that this representative, whoever he was (I was sure that Otis would tell me in private later), didn’t realize I was delving into his records and everything else I could find about him.

This was where we got into the gray area: it was only good business sense for me to look into someone who was looking at hiring our services. But it was another thing entirely to hack into government records and figure out if anyone was paying our representative to get involved with us. Another way that a wrong move could prove dangerous to us.

Otis handed out another few assignments to the other members of the club, but I was barely listening. I was already thinking ahead to what my next steps would be with the congressman. And remembering the past.

I had already been arrested once for hacking into government systems, and hell if I was going to be caught doing something that stupid again. Granted, back then, I’d more been hacking for the sake of hacking, just trying to see if it was something I could do. Turned out it was, but not without leaving a trail a mile wide that led them right back to me.

I knew many more sophisticated methods by now, though. I had a feeling I could do things right, next time. I was certainly going to try.

For a moment, I ruminated on how differently things could have been in my life if it hadn’t been Otis who’d picked up on my talent. What if the government had come to me, having found me hacking into their systems, and offered me employment? Hell, I hadn’t known the first thing about riding a motorcycle when I’d first met Otis. He’d come forward just after I’d finally been released from juvie, having heard about my skills through the grapevine. And the rest, they say, was history.

The fact remained, though, that things could have turned out very differently for me. But looking around the clubhouse, at the guys I counted as my brothers, at the guys who I knew I could always trust to have my back, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

So I had to make sure none of us ended up in jail because of this representative. The stakes were high, but I was sure that I could rise to the challenge.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I barely heard Logan call my name as I headed outside after the meeting. He caught my arm, dragging me to a stop, his mismatched eyes buried beneath his furrowed brow. Hey, he said. Is it really true that I can be traced anywhere by anyone with skills like yours? he asked, obviously still thinking about what I had shown the guys before the start of the meeting.

I shrugged. Yeah, if they’re looking for you, I told him.

Logan nodded, and I could practically see the gears turning in his head. It was the most expression I had ever seen from him, I was sure. Can we get together sometime to look at a couple of things? he asked vaguely.

I frowned, wondering just what he was worried that he needed protection from online. But I nodded. Yeah, sure, I told him.

You want to come with me to collect some money first? Logan asked, out of the blue.

I had to stare at him for a moment. Logan had been in the club for a while now, but even though I was sure he had my