by Naomi West
“What do you want us to do, boss?” Tar asked after a moment. “We’re getting Grinder all cleaned up, but he’s told us everything he knows. He had watched Piper all day, and she had gone back to the office after lunch. He hadn’t seen her since then.”
Tank sighed. “I guess we’re going after the Devils.”
20
Piper
Piper screamed as someone grabbed her out of the back of the vehicle, and she moaned in pain when her knee hit the doorframe.
“Quit whining, you bitch. That’s nothing compared to what we’re going to do to you.”
She wished she could pass out so she didn’t have to endure this, but her adrenaline was surging through her body. The ride from her office to wherever they were had been a rough and fast one, and judging by the feel of the vehicle she thought it was probably a truck. The men who had captured her didn’t talk much, exchanging only a few words in low voices followed by vengeful laughs that sent shivers down her spine.
“Put her down there. That way nobody will hear her scream.”
A few minutes later, Piper’s breath was knocked out as she was tossed onto a concrete floor. With her hands bound, she had no way of catching herself. Her elbow smacked against the surface, and she reeled from the pain.
Someone yanked the blindfold off her head roughly, taking a handful of her hair with it.
“Ow!” She was in an industrial area, something that resembled a basement, but it was much bigger than any normal basement. Several men were clustered around her, and she instantly noticed the red badging on their clothes. Piper had heard of the Red Devils before.
“I told you earlier to quit whining.”
Piper’s eyes slowly focused on the man in front of her. He snarled at her, hate gleaming in his eyes. “Oh, Demon is going to be happy to see you.” He turned to the man next to him. “Did someone go and get him?”
“He’s on his way.”
“Who the hell are you?” Piper asked, certain she already knew the answer.
“Hell is about right,” came a new voice from the other side of the room. The small crowd parted to let a new man through. He was of a much slighter build than Tank, but the tattoos that crawled up his neck and over his face made him much scarier. His pale eyes against his dark skin only accentuated the look. “I’m Demon, but I imagine you already know that.”
Piper felt her organs recede toward her spine in protest. This couldn’t be good at all. “I don’t. I don’t know anything.”
Demon looked to his fellow men and laughed. They laughed along with him, but Piper had the distinct feeling that they would do whatever he said. “Did you hear that, boys? She doesn’t know anything. We must have gotten the wrong girl. Who would go and make a mistake like that?” The men instantly stopped laughing, not wanting to be blamed for messing up their boss’s plans. “I didn’t think so.”
“Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with me. Just let me go. I’ll go home, and I won’t tell anyone about this.” Her eyes flicked to each of their faces, trying to memorize them. Piper knew they wouldn’t just admit they’d made a mistake and let her go. That wasn’t how these sorts of things worked, and she was starting to feel like an expert in the field. All she could really do was stall and hope that these guys weren’t as good at keeping their prisoners as Tank was.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Demon said, his thin lips curving into a wicked smile. His name befitted his look and his character, and he knew it. “You’ve been working with the Chrome Kings to bring us down.”
“What?” This was news to her, and as she moved to a seated position she gave the Devil leader a look of confusion. “I’m not working with them.”
“That’s not the way I hear it.” With a motion so quick she barely had time to register that it was happening, Demon whipped a pistol from the back of his waistband. He pointed it at her, his hands steady, used to the work. “I suggest you tell me everything you know about the Kings.”
“But I don’t really know that much,” she protested.
“You’re a reporter, aren’t you? And you’ve been spending the last several days with Tank.”
“As his prisoner!” she retorted, checking the tone in her voice as Demon adjusted his grip on the gun. “I was following him around, trying to see what he was doing so I could write a story on it, okay? But he caught me, and I was his captive until this morning. Actually, I technically still was up until your goons grabbed me.”
“Oh, I suppose you’re talking about the one man they set to guard you. Not a very smart move on their part. He wasn’t hard for my men to overpower.”
For a reason she couldn’t explain, this man made Piper angry. She didn’t know the man who Tank had assigned to her, and she had no reason to feel defensive of him, but she was suddenly pissed that something had happened to him. “What’d you do to him?”
“You see, boys? She claims she doesn’t have any alliance with them, but she showed us right there that she did.” Demon straightened his gun arm, pointing the barrel straight at her head. “Anything else you would like to say before I get rid of you?”
Piper stared down the end of the gun, the little black hole where the bullet that would kill her would emerge looking like a vast tunnel. It was ironic that it would end this way, just as she’d thought she would finally be free again. Let them kill her. If she wasn’t going to get a story out of her research of the Chrome Kings, then this guy wasn’t going to get anything, either. “No.”
To her surprise, he lifted the gun and took a step back. “I’ll let you think about that for a little while, shall I? And in the meantime, I think my men could use a little entertainment.” Demon strode from the room.
Demon was gone, but the other men closed in on her. Piper scooted away, but her back hit the wall. The one who had spoken to her initially was at the forefront a devilish grin on his face. “Take off your clothes.”
“No.”
He pulled out his own gun and cocked it. “What was that?”
With tears running down her face, Piper slowly did as she was told. The men leered at her, sitting there in her underwear. She wondered just how far they would take this.
21
Tank
“Bring him in here.”
Chain had located one of the members of the Red Devils, and he and his men had taken him down and brought him in. Tank waited impatiently in his office for their arrival. Chain had already interrogated him, but he hadn’t been able to get any pertinent information. Tank sure as hell hoped that the situation was different once he questioned him.
“He’s a feisty one,” Chain warned as he brought the man into the office and shoved him into a chair.
The red on his clothing was accentuated by the blood that had poured from his nose and onto his shirt, but the Red Devil had yet to give up. He kept his chin in the air, giving Tank a defiant look. “I don’t know what the fuck you want from me, but I suggest you let me go. My boss is going to be pissed when he finds out about this, and he’s gonna—”
“I don’t care,” Tank interrupted, his voice low and menacing. “You can threaten me all you want to, but the last I checked you weren’t in a position to do so. I believe you have some information that I’m interested in.
“Fuck off,” the man spat, blood dripping afresh from his nose.
Tank sighed. By the bruises on his cheeks and the vast amount of blood he had already shed, the security men had beaten the shit out of him. If that wasn’t going to convince him to talk, then it was up to Tank to figure out what would. “No, thanks. How about you just tell me your name? That would be a start, wouldn’t it?”
“They call me Dagger, and I would be more than happy to show you why.” Dagger grinned, his dark eyes sparkling.
“Thanks, but no thanks. Now, tell me where to find Piper.” It was all Tank could do to control himself. If this man knew anything about Piper, or if he was the one responsible for a
bducting her, then he wanted to hear him scream as he ripped his limbs from his body.
“Oh, that’s what this is all about?”
Tank exchanged a look with Chain. Dagger had already been asked about her. He just wanted to play games. “Yeah, that’s what it’s about.”
“Tell me, why would you want a skinny little bitch like that anyway? I mean, I assume you’re the one fucking her, since she’s the one helping you disassemble the Red Devils. Or are all of you fucking her?”
Playing nice and polite was definitely not working. Tank whipped his knife out of his pocket and came around to the front of the desk. Chain instinctively held Dagger’s arms behind him, and Tank poked the knife right into the man’s fly. “Who I fuck or don’t fuck isn’t any of your business, but I suggest you tell me where the girl is.”
Dagger gave a nervous laugh. “How would I know? I’m just a lackey, low down on the totem pole. They don’t really tell me anything.”
“Oh, really?” Tank pressed the tip of the knife into the denim. “That seems pretty odd considering you know everything else I’m asking you about. If you were really just a lackey, then you wouldn’t know who Piper is in the first place.”
“Hey, you see a pretty girl and you tend to remember, am I right? I mean, we don’t get a lot of women coming around our clubhouse.” Dagger’s legs were twitching nervously, and he struggled with Chain to get his arms free.
He was talking, at least, even if it wasn’t exactly what Tank wanted to hear. “Is that so? Maybe you should talk to Demon about getting you a promotion. That way I won’t have to cut your balls off just to get a few details out of you.” He jabbed the knife forward, letting it puncture the fabric.
Dagger screamed. “Okay, okay! Just stop! I’ll tell you.”
Tank instantly pulled the blade back, watching the Devil’s face carefully. “I’m listening.”
“I don’t know exactly where she is or what’s going on, but I do know that Demon wanted her because of her connection to you. He said it was because of you and the chick that the cops have been all over us lately.”
“The cops have been on us too, you idiot!” Tank straightened his arms and curled his hands into fists. “I haven’t ratted you out to anyone. Whoever is spreading these rumors is probably after both of us. Now tell me where Piper is. They have to have taken her somewhere.”
Dagger hesitated for a moment, but he began talking rapidly when Tank flashed the knife again. “I can’t be sure of all the details, but I know someone who can.”
“Who?” This game was getting tiresome. Why did he have to drag all the information out like he was pulling teeth?
A whimpering sound escaped Dagger’s throat, as though it pained him to say more. “You’d have to ask Eagle.”
That final word hadn’t been what Tank had expected. He’d figured Dagger knew more than he was letting on, but he had never imagined it would take that turn. He didn’t want to believe it. “Tell me you have a man in the Devils who’s also named Eagle.”
Dagger shook his head.
Tank pulled the trigger. The other man slumped in the chair, instantly dead. Tucking his pistol away, he sent his men into action. “Clean up this mess, and someone find Eagle. Now.”
22
Tank
“There’s no sign of him, boss,” Chain said, almost apologetically. “I’ve checked every square inch of the clubhouse, and he’s not here. I tried to call him about twenty times, but there’s no answer.”
“Shit.” Tank had moved out of his office to give his men a chance to clean up, and he paced the garage impatiently. “Eagle, of all fucking people. I should have known.”
“I don’t think any of us did,” Chain countered. “We used his connections with the cops, and we thought that meant he was loyal to us. Clearly, something went wrong.”
“No shit.” Tank crossed the room to his bike. “I’m going to his house. It’s the next most logical place to look, and I’m not going to rest until I find him.”
“You want some backup?” Chain offered.
It was a nice idea, but they wouldn’t get anywhere if they didn’t split up. “I can handle it. But you take your men and hit the streets again. I don’t want anyone to stop until we have Piper.”
“Forgive me for asking, boss, but if Eagle is working with the Devils and he has her, then why don’t we just let them keep her? I mean, I doubt they’ll let her live very long, and that way we won’t have to worry about the situation.”
“Not true, if she decides to talk,” Tank countered. “I want Eagle, and I want Piper. They’re the keys to this whole thing, and I’m not putting up with it any longer.” He fired up his engine and shot out of the garage, grateful that he at least still had his motorcycle. He needed some way to blow off steam, even if he knew it would only build up again as soon as he had to deal with someone from either club. There was something big going on here, and his attempts to get to the bottom of it weren’t working out the way he wanted them to.
It didn’t take long to get to Eagle’s house, a little bungalow in a poorer part of town. Tank had never been able to understand why Eagle had chosen to live here rather than in the clubhouse, where the apartments were small but nice. But as soon as he pounded his fist on the peeling paint of the front door and it opened, he understood. A woman had answered the door. Tank had seen her once or twice before, but he hadn’t realized that Eagle had taken her on as his.
“Can I help you?” she asked nervously, her blue eyes fixed on Tank’s face.
“I need to talk to Eagle.”
“I’m afraid he’s not here. Actually, he—”
Tank wasn’t interested in listening to her cover up for her man. He charged past her and into the house, stalking into each of the rooms.
She flitted after him. “I told you, he isn’t here! I haven’t seen him since earlier in the day. I was hoping you might know where he is.”
Tank swirled and pinned her to the wall by her throat, still not convinced that she was telling the truth. He knew how women were, especially when they were loyal to their men. She would say anything she thought Tank might believe just so she wouldn’t offend Eagle. “Listen here. I don’t know why you’re covering up for him, but I suggest you fess up and tell me where he is. He’s gotten himself into an awful lot of trouble, and it’s better for everyone if I find him.”
The woman screamed, her eyes rolling in her head. She clawed at his hand, her fingers futile against his strength. “Please! I don’t know anything! He’s been acting strange, and I know there’s something going on, but I don’t understand all of it.”
Tank let her go, hoping it would encourage her to talk more. He didn’t really want to hurt her. He was a brutal man, and he would do whatever he had to in order to get to Piper. Eagle was the key, and nobody else know where he was. “Tell me what you do know.”
She was crying in earnest now. “He doesn’t tell me everything, you know. I thought things were fine. But he started leaving at all hours, and sometimes not coming home for a full day. I asked him once or twice, but he just gave me a look and left. He said it wasn’t any of my business.”
“There must be something else you know. Where was he going? Who was he talking to?”
“I’m telling you, he was keeping me out of it!”
Tank raised his fist.
“Okay, okay!” She held up her hands to fend off the impending blow, though they would have done little to stop the damage. “I can tell you that he has an apartment downtown. It’s just a cheap little slum, a place he said he was using almost like an office where he could meet his clients.”
“Clients?” This was news to Tank, and he didn’t like it.
She shrugged, looking embarrassed. “Drugs, you know?”
Tank nodded. This in itself was a revelation. The Chrome Kings ran plenty of drugs, but that wasn’t one of Eagle’s jobs. Independent dealers made trouble for the club, and now it sounded like they had one in their midst. “Tell me wh
ere.”
She gave him the address. “I only know because I found the rental contract and asked him about it. Eagle was pissed, and he said it wasn’t any of my business. I almost left his ass over that, because I figured he had a woman on the side. I wasn’t sure if I should believe the part about the drugs, but at least he wasn’t doing it out of our house.”
Tank really didn’t give a shit if Eagle was cheating on his woman or not, but at least he had a lead. “You stay right here. I need to be able to find you if I need more information.” He rode away from the house, thinking about having a guard put on her. But given the shabby condition of the home and what few possessions it contained, he doubted she had anywhere to go. What was Eagle doing with the money he made from the club, especially if he was dealing on the side as well? He should have had more than enough to keep them in a nice place. He tried to dismiss the thought, figuring that wasn’t important, but maybe it was another piece of the puzzle.
The apartment building was the kind of place anyone would have expected drug dealers to use. It barely looked suitable for living, although Tank had a feeling that plenty of people lived in it regardless. He charged up the stairs to the right door, and when nobody answered he didn’t hesitate to knock it down. He was well past the point of being careful.
The living room was lit only by the street light that shone in through the broken blinds, but Tank could see that there was no furniture here other than a ratty recliner and a small table cluttered with beer bottles and paraphernalia. A larger figure lay in the middle of the floor.
