Imminent Danger (Wrench & Spanner 2)

Imminent Danger (Wrench & Spanner 2)
Shelby Morgen
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2020 Shelby Morgen

Nickie popped her tinted visor down to keep the glare from blinding her. This late in the year the sun was already setting even though it was only a little after five p.m. She’d made good time coming across US-58, and she had the route set in her head. But she hadn’t counted on the ache in her thighs or the haunting fear that gripped her shoulders in a deadlock. She’d pay for that tomorrow.

Assuming there was a tomorrow. One that didn’t involve her running from a murder charge. Not that she cared about herself. She didn’t matter. Nothing mattered -- nothing but Angie. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to keep Angie safe. Including finding her father. Because if Wrench was anywhere near as bad as her mother always said he was, he might be the only man alive who could fix this mess.

Old Rt. 11 split off at Abingdon, just past the new Walmart. Nickie took the exit, leaning hard into the long, banked turn before she merged onto Lee Highway heading west. She still remembered the way, even though she hadn’t been here in more than a decade. She’d been far too young to drive, but Daddy’d taught her to always pay attention to where they were, and how they’d got there. And how to get back. Just in case.

Daddy never said in case what, but now she guessed she knew.

The getting back route had changed a bit over the years. She might have made a tactical mistake there. When she’d last been through here all this had been the absolute middle of fucking nowhere, Virginia. As different from Lexington, Kentucky as back roads and beltways could be. Now there were fast food joints and shopping centers everywhere. And a huge Harley Davidson dealership. And traffic. Fucktonloads of traffic. Google maps firmly planted in her head or no, she didn’t want to miss the turnoff in the dark. Fuck.

But once she made that next turn, everything came back. Everything. The farms. The hills. The fights. That last night. And Stevie.

Terror rose like bile in the back of her throat. Her voice cracked into a high pitched cry. “Stevie, come on!”

“Stevie, get in the car.” Momma’s voice, pissed. More pissed than normal. “Stevie! Get in the car. Now!”

“No.” Stevie, defiant as always, five-year-old fists on her hips, red hair whipping in the wind of the approaching storm. Refusing to move from the doorway.

“Stevie! It’s time to go!” Nickie’d never seen Momma so furious. “Stevie, if you don’t get in this car right now I’m leaving without you. Let that bastard deal with you.”

“Daddy always says never run from trouble. You’re running. I’m not coming and you can’t make me. You’re not my mother anymore!”

Even then, Nickie’d known Momma was wrong. Daddy wouldn’t hurt them. Not ever. But Momma was mad, and she had her mind made up.

So had Stevie. And what Stevie hadn’t said still hurt. Nickie, don’t go. Get out of the car, Nickie! Anything. Nickie’d had her hand on the door latch. All she’d needed was one word. Anything. Anything but silence…

* * *

Stevie… How long had that stubborn lasted? Would she still be there? Maybe running the yard by now? Maybe married to some biker who’d have more men to pull in… men who could help Nickie out of this shitstorm she’d landed in? Or would she just stare at Nickie again, angry eyes flashing daggers, silently accusing her of deserting them just because things got tough?

She and Stevie had always been so close… like two sides of the same coin. How could two sisters be so much the same, and yet so different?

The road to the yard was paved, now, with a billboard-size sign at the edge of the lane, lit up with a spotlight. Showed a guy on an old Harley wearing a leather jacket with a logo that looked a whole lot like a biker’s patch. Wrench & Spanner. Vintage Restorations. Nickie slowed and drifted to a stop, staring past the open gates. What if Wrench wouldn’t help her? What if…

Too late to change her mind now. Four hours on the road and a lifetime too late. She kicked down into first and gunned the engine, sending out a loud warning. It was after closing time, but everyone who worked on site had lived on-site back in the day. Likely still did. And she had no intention of sneaking up on them. No point in proving her mother right.

Security lights flooded the perimeter of the yard, and a garage bay door rolled open, spewing out more light -- and men. Six men. No. Five men, and a dark-haired woman who looked just as capable of delivering a righteous ass-kicking. Nickie’s best guess was she’d found the Spanner in Wrench & Spanner.

Nickie hit the kill switch and coasted to the open door, pulling to a stop and kicking the stand down no more than a bike’s length from the wall of men. She didn’t see any weapons, but she wasn’t stupid enough to assume any of these bikers went unarmed. Moving slow, so they could follow her hands, she unstrapped her helmet and pulled it off, letting her tangled, sweat-damp hair fall free.

“Stevie?” A tall man with dark blond hair and a darker beard took half a step forward, as if to reach out to her, then stopped, as if he’d thought better of the notion. She didn’t recognize him -- and she would have remembered him. He looked like trouble. Exactly the right kind of trouble.