Read Online Ryder by Jani Kay - Free Book Online Page A

accent.
    Yeah, I’d never admit I missed the fuckers. Or the way Ratbag called the brothers “bro”, as they did in the Land Down Under. He never failed to amuse me with his stories about his homeland and their strange way of speaking.
    Since I’d found Ratbag on the streets one night five years ago, pissed out of his fucking skull, he’d pretty much latched on to me as his mentor. Yeah, like I could ever be someone’s hero.
    He’d been robbed of his passport and all his cash by one of our rival gang members and had nowhere to go. Since he was in the country illegally at the time, there wasn’t much he could do, other than live on the streets. Yet somehow, because of his crazy accent, somebody always gave him money or food.
    The food he’d guzzle down, because usually he’d have skipped a few meals by then. Ratbag was always hungry—he could eat and drink any man under the table. He had an appetite that never quit, yet he was as skinny as he was tall. Even though I was six foot two, I still had to look up to him. And he was fast—he could outrun anyone. Hammer joked that he’d seen Ratbag dodge a bullet once, Matrix style.
    The cash he’d collected over the days, he strapped to his body and when he had enough saved up, he’d go on a binge. He’d buy a ‘slab of piss’, as they called a carton of beer in Australia, and treat everybody to a beer or two. For a night, he’d be OK, accepted into the fold of the homeless, and have a few friends.
    It was his generosity that impressed me. Even though he had virtually nothing but the clothes on his back, he’d share whatever he had the good fortune of coming his way. I wasn’t an easy man to impress, and I’d never actually tell the fucker that, ‘cause I couldn’t afford him getting a big head about it. But I trusted him with my life. He had a good heart underneath all that fucked up boozing shit. It was a good day when I found Bruce Williams, our Ratbag, the boy from Australia.
    “Hey, I need you guys to come to the house to look after Mia and the kids. I need to go to the hospital to see Cobra. Brother isn’t doing too well and I need to discuss business with him. You cool for nine pm?” 
    “Yep. We’ll be there.”
    “You can’t come into the house. Young Jamie is having nightmares about everything that’s happened.  I’ll tell Mia you’re outside while I am gone, so she’ll feel safe. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone for, we have a lot of shit to talk about.”
     
    “Take your time, we won’t be in a rush to leave.” Ratbag patted my back. He knew it was going to be hard for me to see Cobra in a hospital bed, shot to fucking pieces, tied to machines to keep him alive.
    “You can’t come with the bikes. Wrong for the neighborhood. Leave your bikes at the shopping center and catch a cab to the house. And make sure nobody is following you.”
    “Sure, boss.”
    “Don’t call me that. Cobra is still fucking breathing. As long as he’s alive, he’s the boss. Got it?”
    Ratbag nodded.
    “Anything else I should know?”
    “Yeah. Razor said there was a fucking cop looking for you. Asked for you by name. Special anti-terrorist team.” I heard the concern in Ratbag’s voice.
    “They got wind of the arms deal that went bad. They’re sniffing around the compound. Razor said to stay away from there. Meet at shopping centers or parks whenever necessary.”
    Fuck. I knew that shit would come back to haunt me. Cobra and I needed a plan. I couldn’t stay away from the fucking compound forever. I’d go crazy. Suburbia was too quiet for me, the silence at night freaked the fuck out of me. Ever since I was a kid, I couldn’t sleep unless there was noise around me.
    “Who’s the cop? Do we know him?” I grunted. I didn’t need more shit in my life. Dealing with our rival MC club, The LA Demon Skulls, was enough.
    Ratbag pulled a face. “Mean looking fucker with a vendetta against bikers. Big as a house. If he wasn’t on the