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We needed to find Guru.

Problem was, it looked like he didn’t want to be found.

Between Karen and ATF records, we had a decent, if incomplete, bio on the man. Pennebaker and Walker—Guru and Wook—were both local boys who ended up together at Camp Pendleton, where they joined the 1st Marine Division. They both saw active duty in 2003 and 2004 in Iraq, first against the Iraqi Republican Guard, then against the far more combative and deadly insurgents, a mutually loathing mishmash of local militiamen and foreign mercenaries whose only bond was their common hatred of the American and British troops there. Most significantly, Pennebaker and Walker fought side by side in Fallujah during Operation Phantom Fury, a down-and-dirty weeklong street fight that left a heavy mark on all its participants. They managed to make it back home to California with all their limbs intact and with solid service records, but by all accounts, they left Iraq as changed and disillusioned men. Angry, bitter men, according to Karen. They resigned their commissions and bailed on the Marines as soon as they landed on home soil and moved back to San Diego County. Soon after that, they formed the Babylon Eagles. Interestingly, it seemed that Pennebaker was the one who had coined the club’s name.

A couple of their war buddies joined them. So did Pennebaker’s younger brother, Marty, who’d been floating around aimlessly and barely scraping by. The two missing faces in the photo gallery at the clubhouse—those were the Pennebaker brothers. Then, about a year into the club’s life, a scuffle with a rival biker gang left Marty bleeding to death on the street. Pennebaker went ballistic. He found the guy who killed his brother and beat him to a pulp. He then did something unexpected and turned himself in.

At the trial, two things worked in his favor. The biker he’d killed was a scumbag who had a rap sheet as long as his arm. Also, Pennebaker’s story resonated with the jury at a time when there was a general feeling that our government wasn’t really looking after the returning veterans with the care they deserved. Guru was given a seven-year sentence for manslaughter. He ended up serving only four of them at Ironwood, getting out early on good behavior. That was about fifteen months ago.

Then he disappeared.

The ATF didn’t have a take on that. According to Karen, he came out of prison with a new mind-set and didn’t want to have anything to do with the club anymore. He saw Walker one time—Karen didn’t see him—then he was gone.

No records. Nothing. The man had gone totally off-grid.

I was now twice as interested in finding him. He could potentially help us track down our Mexican bad guy by telling us who he and Walker used to ride shotgun for. Beyond that, the “dropping out” business got my curiosity pinging. He disappears and all kinds of bad stuff starts happening to his ex-bike brothers. Could be a coincidence. They did happen—occasionally.

I couldn’t know until we found him.

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