My money was limited, so I couldn’t go crazy, but I wanted to buy some things to make a nice dinner for us. I grabbed a couple of rib-eyes, then the things for loaded baked potatoes. We had veggies at home.
Tristan was kicking joyfully as I tossed my purse in the front seat and went to place the bags in the back seat.
“Hey, long time no see,” a deep voice said behind me. I jumped, and one of the bags slipped off the back seat and some of the stuff fell on the ground. When I spun around, I was surprised to see it was the guy that had come to the door the day I’d first met Raiven.
“You scared me!” I said, then awkwardly crouched down with Tristan strapped to my front to pick up the items that dropped. That’s when an awful-smelling rag was shoved over my face, and I gagged.
It was the last thing I remembered before everything went black.
When I came to, I had a raging headache. Panic immediately consumed me regarding my son. I could barely look down because of a rope around my neck. The pressure caused me to choke when I tried to lean forward too far.
Realizing he was still in the baby carrier on my chest, I experienced momentary relief. Then I worried he may have been hurt, so I tried to check him, but it was difficult to move. He wasn’t awake, but I gently felt his arms and legs, which seemed fine. And I could hear his steady breaths telling me he seemed okay.
Wanting to burst into tears, I took a deep breath and tried to steel my nerves.
Inventorying my situation, it wasn’t just the rope around my neck. Sitting on what seemed like a stool, I was against a pole in the middle of an old vacant store. The windows had paper covering them, but it seemed to be dark outside. Dust covered everything, making me sneeze, and abandoned clothing racks littered the floor.
Another rope was tied around my waist to the pole, and my legs were strapped to the stool. All the knots were out of my reach, and my feet were going to sleep. Whatever was behind me was a mystery, because I couldn’t see over my shoulder.
What I could see was a pair of dirty bare feet with pink-painted toes against the one wall. They weren’t moving, and I didn’t know if I wanted to know why.
“Hey, are you awake?” I attempted. They didn’t stir. A sob escaped me.
The sound of a metal door opening behind me sent both terror and relief searing through me. “Help!” I shouted in panic as footsteps neared.
A sinister chuckle echoed through the empty space. “Ain’t no one here to help you, sugar.”
The scruffy man from the parking lot stepped into the edge of my vision. Fear had me damn near hyperventilating.
“Who are you? What do you want with me?” After all, I had no money, no family connections, nothing. He’d acted like he was friends with Gunny the day he’d come by the house. Clutching Tristan close to me, I tried not to seem afraid, but the only thing I could think he wanted from me made me want to vomit all over the dusty floor.
“I don’t give two fucks about you,” he sneered. The gun in his hand trailed over my cheek, and I shivered in terror. Not because he had it pointed at me, but because it was so close to Tristan’s sleeping head.
“Please don’t hurt us,” I begged in a shaky whisper. Choking back a cry, I swallowed hard, which actually hurt because of the rope around my neck.
“Sweetheart, if I only wanted to hurt you, I could’ve done that any time I chose.” His grin was revolting with his dirty, broken, and missing teeth. There was a terrifying glint in his eyes that said he’d lost any humanity he might’ve had.
“Then what am I doing here?”
“I don’t want anything from you. I want your ol’ man and his piece of shit club. I know how they work. That’s why I went after you.”
“I don’t understand,” I said with a crack in my voice. Though I was trying my damnedest not to act intimidated, I was scared shitless. I had no idea where we were or if anyone would actually come for us.
“You’re the only ol’ lady that didn’t recognize me. That’s why you had to be the one. All I had to do was get one of you, and I knew those self-righteous pricks would be on the next thing smoking to get you back. I got lucky with that one when she was headed over to your car, so her and the kid were bonuses.” He appeared so satisfied with himself as he motioned over his shoulder to where the female was lying on the floor. I couldn’t tell who it was, and while I didn’t want it to be any of them, I really hoped it wasn’t Nova because she was pregnant. Hopefully, the guys would get there soon and this would all be over. They’d never let him get away with this.
My relief at the thought that he’d let me and Tristan go was extremely short-lived. “Too bad none of you will make it out alive,” he whispered evilly.
Maternal instinct roared in me, and I struggled against the ropes. My fingernails clawed at the rope around my neck. All I succeeded in doing was breaking my nails, abrading my throat, ankles, and waist. My struggles woke Tristan, and he began to root around. He’d start crying soon if he didn’t eat. The last thing I wanted to do was piss the guy off and put his focus on Tristan. God only knew what he’d do then.
“I need to feed him,” I cried out desperately as I tried not to sob.
“I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you,” he said cryptically, then started unpacking a few small boxes I hadn’t noticed before.
“What are you doing?” I asked with a quiver in my voice. I hated that it made me sound weak, but it couldn’t be helped.
He started taping things to me and running wires around my waist, arms, and legs. Again I asked him, “Please. What are you doing?”
Still he didn’t answer, just kept doing whatever it was that he was doing. Trying to look down, I couldn’t see far. The only thing I could see was that he was crouched down. I heard some digital sounds, but I had no idea what it was.
Suddenly, a sickening realization dawned. Except I had a hard time believing that any human could be so horrid. Until I thought about the woman who called herself a mother. That reminded me that there were some sick humans in the world.
Panic blossomed when he duct taped a box around my neck, under my chin. It held my head uncomfortably upright. “Why are you doing this?” I whispered as a tear slipped down my cheek.
I didn’t expect him to answer me, so I was shocked when he paused, looked me dead in the eye and said, “An eye for an eye. They ruined my life, so I’m going to ruin theirs.” After those whispered words, he patted my cheek and walked away.
Thinking I was going to hyperventilate, I fought to calm down. That’s when I heard it.
The quiet beep of a timer.
“Next Life”—Pop Evil
We’d gotten a grouchy Truth brought back to the clubhouse. We decided he’d stay there so there would be people around to check on him. He was not happy with our decision.
The chick that had been staying at the clubhouse who had the hots for him was extremely pleased. I chuckled as she fussed over him.
“Gunny,” he pleaded as he looked at me with a pitiful expression.
“Looks like you’re in good hands,” I joked. Slice snickered behind me.
“Fuck. You.” Truth mouthed over the chick’s shoulder. She was bent over, propping his leg up on a pillow. Her ass was up in his face, and it took everything we had not to laugh.
Smoke’s phone rang as he started to snort out a laugh. “Yeah. Who’s this?” He was grinning when he answered. It didn’t take long to realize the call wasn’t a social one.
“What the fuck do you want?” he growled as he clutched his phone so tight, I heard it creak. His eyes cut to me, and I didn’t like what I saw. “Where? When? We have one man down, but I think you already know that. You fucking hurt them, and there won’t be a fucking place you can hide.”
My stomach bottomed out.
Smoke ended the call, and his hand dropped to his side. His jaw worked, and I could see him fighting to hold his temper.
“Prez?” I finally asked.
“We need to go. Now.” He looked to
all of us, one by one.
“What the fuck is going on?” I questioned.
“The fucker has Avery, Tristan, and Gwen,” Smoke said with resignation.
“What?” I roared as I fought not to break everything around me. Styx had less restraint. He picked up a chair and threw it across the room as he too let loose an animalistic roar.
“He said we all need to meet him at the address he’s texting me or he’s killing them all.” Smoke looked like he’d aged since he’d answered the call. I had no idea where I was going, but I shoved past my brothers and went racing for my bike. A hand to the back of my cut stopped me, and I began fighting.
“Stop it! Goddammit Gunny! Stop!” Lock’s voice in my ear made me stop fighting, but I was shaking with fury. I was coiled tight and ready to explode.
“Gunny, I have the address, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea for you and Styx to go. Neither of you are in a frame of mind to think clearly. We can’t fuck this up.” He tried to rationalize, but I wasn’t hearing it.
“No. No way. You said he wanted all of us there. If we aren’t there, he’s going to know. Fuck that,” I argued.
“You all realize this is probably a trap, right? All of us in one location?” Slice interjected. He was doing something on his phone and had glanced up at us all when he’d spoken.
“Yes, but what choice do we have?” I asked angrily.
“Where are we meeting him?” Straight asked. His hands were fisted. Styx was pacing as he pulled at his hair. He stopped and waited to see what Smoke said.
“The old strip mall that the Moondrop Bar used to be in, down in South Austin. So we need to get on the road if we’re going to make it in the time he allotted.” Smoke informed us of the timeline we were looking at.
“We need a plan before we simply fly in there blind,” I said with exasperation.
“I think I got that covered,” Slice said, looking up from his phone again.
“What are you talking about?” demanded Smoke. A vein was standing out in his forehead, and I knew he was tightly reining in his temper.
“My cousins are going to cover us. I sent them the location and the time. Now let’s get going so we don’t fuck this up.” Slice slid his phone in his inner pocket of his cut.
Smoke angrily pointed at him. “We’re going to be talking about this later.”
“I’d be happy to, but I suggest we not waste time right now.” His face was flat, but his eyes flashed.
“Drew, I need you to drive the van. Styx, you and Gunny should ride with him,” Smoke instructed, and Drew nodded. Styx and I didn’t argue. We knew we’d need the van to get the women and Tristan back. The old, beat-up panel van was registered to a defunct plumbing company, and we used it when we needed to be inconspicuous. It was a piece of shit, but we kept it running like a dream. It would blend in well with the area.
“Mount up! Let’s get on the fucking road,” Smoke shouted. Smoke, Lock, Radar, Slice, and Straight got on their bikes. Once everyone was ready, we barreled down the road. Every second that ticked by sent me closer to insanity. If anything happened to Avery and Tristan, I didn’t know what I’d do. I hadn’t told her I fucking loved her. What if I didn’t get the chance? No. I refused to think that way.
By the time we reached close to the shopping center, my nerves were about to snap. We parked in a lot three blocks over from the old shopping strip and ran. Drew stayed with the van, looking like he was doing paperwork.
The place had at one time been a decent area but had since become industrialized. The shopping center had been closed down after a fire in the bar at one end compromised the integrity of the building. It wasn’t worth fixing, so it had pretty much been abandoned with a For Sale sign out front that was neglectfully tattered.
We stopped across the road in front of a closed laundromat and searched the area for anything and everything. Realizing we were about out of time, Smoke spoke.
“We walk over together.” He then gave us our individual instructions. He’d obviously thought this out on the way. “Lock, if he starts to lose his shit, you get him the fuck out. Same for you, Styx. I’ll pull your ass in a heartbeat. You understand?”
“Roger that,” he gritted out. I completely understood where he was coming from. Rage was held by a tenuous leash within me.
We spread out as we made our way to the door the caller had indicated to Smoke. As we each scanned around us, we didn’t see anyone, but I could feel eyes on us. My gaze swept the clump of bushes and along the dumpster outside the burned storefront. Obviously left from an initial attempt to clean up the aftermath, it now sat there rusting. Nothing stirred.
Unnatural silence surrounded us as the sky began to darken when the late summer sun began to set. It was unnerving and set my teeth on edge. The thought of someone getting the jump on us rankled.
Pausing outside the door, we gave each other one last look before we cautiously opened the door and took a quick, but thorough, glance inside. What I saw nearly brought me to my knees.
Tied to a pole at the back of the location was Avery. Tristan was in the carrier I’d bought, strapped to her chest. The worst part was the wires and explosives attached to her. She sat there sweating and wide-eyed with fear. Tristan was fussing and wiggling. Several times his foot came perilously close to the shit hooked to the two of them.
“Fuck,” I breathed with my heart in my throat.
“Motherfucker,” I heard Lock mutter, followed by Radar’s growled, “Sonovabitch.”
If Radar was uneasy, that was bad. He was the best explosives expert I’d ever met. Realizing it may not matter anyway, I decided I wasn’t going to stand across the room. I carefully made my way to Avery and my son.
“Fuck, baby.” I reached for her.
“No!” she whisper-shouted. “Don’t touch me.”
“Avery,” I pleaded. A tear slipped over her cheek and I wanted to hit something.
“Can you get Gwen and Tristan out?” She was white as a sheet, and fear shone through the tears in her eyes.
Gwen was tied up and unconscious along one wall. Styx’s fury reverberated off my own and became a nearly palpable force in the dirty, dusty room.
Radar scanned the room carefully before he said, “Styx, you need to get her out of here. But be careful in case whoever did this is waiting for you to go out the door.”
Styx was already moving across the room to where Gwen lay. He checked her pulse, then scooped her up in his arms. The look of fear and sadness he gave me made my chest cave in desolation.
Unfortunately, he didn’t make it a step out the door before we heard a pop and he jerked back inside the door. Stumbling slightly, he backed into the building and I held my breath. He turned my way with his woman cradled in his arms. I was relieved to see there wasn’t any noticeable blood.
“You okay?” Straight asked him. Styx nodded.
“At least one out front.”
“Fuck,” answered Smoke. Then he turned to Radar, motioning toward Avery. “How much time?”
Radar moved carefully until he was next to me. “Not nearly enough,” he replied after looking at the device in front of him.
Smoke swore under his breath. Then he asked Radar, “Can you deal with that?”
Radar looked crestfallen, and I wanted to scream in desperation. This was not happening.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “Maybe if I had some of my shit with me. This is a clusterfuck. Whoever did this either didn’t really know what they were doing, or really knew what they were doing. Either way, that’s never good.”
“See what you can find,” instructed Smoke before turning to the rest of us. “Slice, go check the back. See if the exit is clear that way.”
Slice nodded, and Straight went with him while Radar rummaged around.
“I’ll help Radar,” offered Lock. Radar handed him his phone for better light. He walked cautiously around debris lying around. None of us knew if any of the shit in there was rigged.
/> Straight and Slice were back first, and I didn’t like the look on their faces.
“Door’s locked and metal. We could try to shoot it, but I’m worried about ricochet and tipping off whoever is out there,” murmured Straight to Smoke.
Smoke ran a frustrated hand down his face. Everyone stood around uneasily. With no direction, we vibrated with suppressed agitation.
Radar came back with an armload full of miscellaneous crap. Lock had some things in his arms too. They both set them down next to the stool Avery was perched on. I ached to touch her and tell her everything was going to be okay, but I knew neither would be the right thing to do.
“Jaxon,” she whispered.
“Baby, we’re gonna do what we can.”
Resignation clouded her gray-blue eyes. “Get Tristan out of here.”
At his name, Tristan kicked some more, then turned his head in my direction, fist shoved in his mouth. I saw drying tears clinging to his lashes and under his eyes. When he saw me, he arched in excitement. Everyone sucked in a nervous breath.
When it was obvious that his movement didn’t trigger anything, Radar looked closer at everything. I watched as he followed every wire and studied every inch of the device.
A phone vibrated, and everyone froze. “It’s okay, it’s mine,” Slice said as he pulled it out of his pocket. “My cousins are here. They need to draw the shooter out. They may not be able to get him, but if they can narrow down where he is, they can provide cover to let us get out.”
“What about Avery and Tristan?” I asked, voice laden with worry.
“I think I can get the boy out,” murmured Radar as he circled back around from where he’d been messing with something behind the pole. Sweat was beading on his brow. It was stifling hot in the vacant store, but I doubted that was the cause.
“What about Avery?” I demanded, not wanting to accept the possibility that she wouldn’t get out.
“I’ll keep working on it. I think I can interrupt the timer long enough to get the baby out, but I need time for the rest.” Radar looked uncomfortable, and I didn’t like that.
Jax and Jokers: A Demented Sons MC Texas Novel Page 22
