“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect my family. We don’t want any of this. We never did. Three million dollars gets us out. Whatever happens after isn’t my concern,” Dakota said.
Charlie opened his mouth to speak, but then he stopped and cocked his head to the right. Unconsciously, Dakota did the same thing. They were both listening to something they could not yet identify. They could both hear the roar, but it took them a moment to figure out what it was. It was the roar of dozens of bikes racing down the dirt road; Scarred Angels had arrived.
“Judgment Day,” Joey said, still kneeling on the floor. But he didn’t look scared or weak. He looked defiant.
“I didn’t call them,” Dakota said to Charlie who was staring furiously at her. How did Adam know she was here? What would he think when he saw her? What would he say when he heard what she had done? He would never forgive her. But while Adam put Scarred Angels in front of everything else in his life, Dakota couldn’t say the same. She needed to protect herself and her father, and this was the only way to do it.
“Everybody up!” Charlie screamed, as he pulled a gun out from underneath the table and pointed it right in Dakota’s face. The men around the TV scrambled, grabbing guns and positioning themselves at the windows.
“Don’t bother,” Joey said, “you’re outnumbered and outgunned.”
“Shut up!” Charlie repeated, but his gun and his eyes stayed on Dakota. “You still hooking up with Adam Mendel?” he sneered. “Did you enjoy slumming it with a biker?”
Dakota didn’t answer, though she wondered how this man had found out. She remained frozen to the spot, staring past the gun to the man who held it. The gun was pointed right at her face; she could see down the barrel. She could die at any second, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“Move,” he ordered, pointing the gun at Joey, as well.
Dakota walked over to Joey and helped him rise unsteadily to his feet. She felt pressure on her back and realized that Charlie had his gun pushed up against her back as she and Joey were shuffled over to the white door.
“Open it,” Charlie said, and Dakota reached over and slowly opened the door. The roar of motorcycles was getting louder. The ill-lit headquarters was bathed in bright light from the motorcycles’ lights outside.
But Dakota could only get a glimpse of what was happening; the Soul Stealers were lining themselves up against the walls near the window, guns at the ready. And then the door was slammed shut and locked, leaving Dakota and Joey trapped in a dark room.
“Are you all right?” Dakota asked as Joey slunk to the floor.
“Oh, yeah, never better,” the young man joked as he let out a beleaguered cough. “Just a couple of bumps and bruises. Nothing to worry about.”
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Joey,” Dakota said, sitting down on the floor next to Joey. The room was small, only about five feet by five feet, and there was no furniture or anything on the walls, just four bare walls and a single light bulb in the ceiling.
“Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault. The Stealers got desperate. They couldn’t get you, so they lashed out at us. It’s not your fault. Were you really going to pay them a million dollars for me?” he asked, a small smile appearing on his face.
“Of course,” Dakota answered. “I wasn’t going to leave you here. It’s so gross.”
“Yeah, it’s a real shithole. Worse than I ever thought. Half these guys are on crack. I don’t know what kind of crew they’re trying to make here. But I don’t think it’s going well.”
“What’s going to happen now?” Dakota asked, listening to the roar of the bikes outside.
“Probably Adam will tell them that if they let us go unharmed and scatter themselves, no one will get hurt,” Joey answered with a sigh.
“Will they?” Dakota asked.
“I don’t know.”
They both stared at the closed and locked white door. Dakota was desperate to know what was going on outside, what was going to happen to her and Joey, what was going to happen to Adam. Sitting in the room, Dakota felt her adrenaline leave her, all the energy that was fueling her confidence draining out of her. It was one thing to negotiate with Charlie, to have some control over her situation. It was quite another to be trapped in this room, stuck waiting for whatever would happen to happen. She drew her arms around herself and fought back tears as she looked at the locked door. Her money and wealth were nothing now. All she could do was hope that Adam was prepared and that he would be willing to save her.
Dakota and Joey both jerked their heads up as they heard the sound of locks being undone and the doorknob slowly twisting. She reached out for Joey’s hand and when she found it he gave her a reassuring squeeze. Slowly the door opened and Charlie walked in, gun drawn. He wasn’t alone, though. James Hastings was with him.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
The bikes of Scarred Angels were lined up in front of the Soul Stealers’ headquarters. The hostages they had taken laid hogtied in the road between the two gangs, uncomfortable, but otherwise unharmed. Members of Scarred Angels were out back, as well, cutting off the Soul Stealers’ escape. Adam and his men were waiting beyond the wall of bikes, hiding behind the light. There was no movement from inside.
Adam was handed a megaphone and he weighed it in his hands for a moment before bringing it up and shouting out a warning. “Release your hostages. If they come to us unharmed, we’ll let you leave. But if you don’t, this will be a firefight you can’t win. Any Soul Stealer who values his life will come out now with their hands up, and we will let you leave, unharmed.”
They had only waited a minute before the door opened and three men came out, their hands up. They walked over to the other hostages and knelt down, hands still in the air.
“It could be a trap,” Bill said, holding Adam back.
“Only one way to find out,” Adam responded and he motioned for the men to walk back behind the wall of bikes. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust and in that moment members of Scarred Angels frisked them for weapons and put their hands behind their backs.
“We don’t want nothing to do with this, man,” one of them whimpered. “We never touched any of the Kanes, swear it.”
“This isn’t about the Kanes,” Adam yelled. “What about Joey?”
“I didn’t touch him. He’s a little roughed up, but nothing permanent, man.”
“What about the girl?” Bill asked. And Adam wished he could thank his uncle. He was desperate to know about Dakota, but knew he couldn’t ask.
“She came with money. Was gonna pay for your guy’s release and wanted the name of the guy who ordered the hit. She was offering big money. Like three million dollars big.”
Adam stifled a sob. Dakota had come here, to Echo Lane, by herself to pay for Joey. She thought Scarred Angels had turned against her family and instead of turning against them, she put herself on the line to save one of their own.
Dakota was in there, somewhere. This couldn’t turn into a firefight until she and Joey were both out and safe. Only then could they burn this place to the ground.
“Boss,” Adam heard from his walkie-talkie, “I got an entrance in the back. I see right in. We got three guys on each window. Not many left, no signs of Joey, over”
“I’ll be right there, over,” Adam said, and taking ten men with him, they snuck around to the side of the house. Pushing their way through weeds, short trees, and garbage Adam and his men found their way to the back of the house.
One of his boys was standing next to a large piece of plywood propped up against the wall. Motioning for quiet, the man pulled the wood away and Adam could see right into the Soul Stealers’ headquarters. He could see nine men, each holding a shotgun and multiple shells. They were at the windows, sneaking glances out. But Adam knew they couldn’t see past the lights.
Where were Dakota and Joey? The large room had two doors and he figured they must be behind one of them. But what should Adam do? If he started a fight, he co
uld get them both killed, but he gained nothing by waiting; there could be reinforcements on the way.
“Bill,” Adam said quietly into his walkie after they put the piece of wood back. “Call for the hostages again, tell them you want to talk to their leader, over.”
“Roger,” Bill said.
“Soul Stealers,” it was Bill’s voice booming from the megaphone. “We have more hostages out here than you have fighting for you. We want the return of our man and the girl. Bring them both out, or bring out your leader to discuss terms.”
They moved the plywood, but no one inside moved, neither door opened.
“In thirty seconds, we’re going in through the back, then you come in through the front. We have clear eyes on everyone back there, anyone coming through the front door is a Stealer, roger?” Adam said into his walkie.
“Roger,” Bill answered.
“Mark,” Adam said. He looked at his watch; it had been a gift from his uncle the day he graduated from high school. He watched the seconds tick down as the men around him pulled out their guns and got ready for the fight. Each second felt like an eternity as he watched the large hand tick away and forced himself to not imagine what was happening to Joey and Dakota inside.
They’ll be fine, he repeated to himself as the seconds ticked past. When there were ten seconds left, Adam brought up his hand. He whispered the last countdown, “Five, four, three, two, one. Hands up! Nobody move!” Scarred Angels poured in through the hole in the wall, surprising the few Soul Stealers who were still inside. At Adam’s order half of them dropped their guns while the other half began shooting wildly.
Adam and his men hid behind whatever they could find as bullets whipped past them. And then there was another yell as more members of Scarred Angels knocked down the front door and raced in, taking out the men who were still shooting. In seconds, it was over.
Nine more Soul Stealers were trussed up along with their brothers, their weapons and ammunition taken from them. Adam marched over to the one man who had been shooting and, taking him by the thin collar of his shirt, Adam pushed him against the wall. “Where are the hostages?” he demanded.
“Fuck you,” the man responded.
Adam released the man’s neck and nodded to two of his men who each took the Soul Stealer by his arms. Adam reared back and slammed his fist into the other man’s stomach and the man coughed and doubled over, but failed to speak. Adam stood up, ready to hit him again, when he heard someone call his name.
Bill was standing by the door, his ear against the wood, “In there,” he said with a nod. And then a shot rang out as the door exploded and blood splattered the white door as Bill fell back.
“Don’t shoot!” Adam shouted as the men of Scarred Angels erupted and pointed their arsenal at the white door. “Joey and Dakota are in there,” Adam said as he rushed over to his uncle. He was bleeding on the floor, but he was still awake. The bullet had ripped through his thigh, and someone was already making a tourniquet out of a bed sheet they had found.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Bill said through clenched teeth.
“You need to get to a hospital,” Adam said.
“Not until Joey’s out,” Bill said.
Adam had never been this furious in his life. They had kidnapped and beaten his best friend, turned the woman he loved away from him and taken her hostage, and now they had shot his uncle, the man who had raised him. Adam was done with the Soul Stealers, done. He was going to take them out, all of them.
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
“James?” Dakota said as she looked at her father’s oldest and closest friend.
“You’re the guy who hired us,” Joey said, staring equally confused at James.
“Yes,” James said, as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Yes it is me, Dakota.”
“What are you doing here?” Dakota asked.
“Have you not guessed?” James asked.
But Dakota had been rendered speechless. James Hastings on Echo Lane, standing before her in his imperious all black three-piece suit and perfectly shined shoes. Charlie stood next to him, gun still in his hand, smiling a knowing smile.
“It was you,” Joey said.
“No,” Dakota interrupted. It couldn’t be James Hastings. He was Dakota’s godfather. He had been with her father at the hospital. He had been roommates with her father in college.
“Yes, I’m afraid so, dear girl,” James said. “And I am sorry that you’ve been stuck in this crossfire. It is a shame. I meant for your death to be painless.”
"I don’t understand –” Dakota started, but she was cut off.
“Of course you don’t understand!” James shouted. “You and your father with your heads in the clouds, what have you ever understood! I did all of this! I am smarter than your father will ever be. I found the pathetic group of men called the Soul Stealers and I put them to work. I gave them one hundred thousand dollars to kill your father the first time, but I knew they would fail; a bunch of meth-addicted morons. I told your father to hire Scarred Angels. I couldn’t believe when he did it. A bunch of unqualified bikers driving around one of the richest women in the world, who could ever imagine such a thing. But I recommended it and your father agreed. The attack at the house was another plant, another Soul Stealer idiot. I knew he would fail.
After that, after the dust had settled and the investigation was done, I put Charlie in charge of the Soul Stealers and you and your father were both meant to die from natural causes – your father in an accident on his way home from the hospital and you, dear Dakota, were going to tragically fall to your death from a parking garage roof. ‘She was chasing a party,’ the tabloids would say. Everyone would be very embarrassed for you and the investigation would be light, as to save your post-mortem reputation.
But I will admit, Scarred Angels has been more impressive than I initially thought. I had expected them to be as dumb as the Soul Stealers. But they’ve been shockingly competent. Not that it matters. You see, we’ve planned everything, Charlie and I-” James stopped speaking as they listened to the voice that was shouting at them through a megaphone.
“Release your hostages, if they come to us unharmed, we’ll let you leave. But if you don’t, this will be a firefight you can’t win. Any Soul Stealers who values his life will come out now with their hands up, and we will let you leave, unharmed.” It was Adam. Dakota knew his voice and her heart swelled when she realized that he was going to save her, too.
“Never mind them. Where was I? Ah yes, Scarred Angels’s shocking competence. I knew I needed to drive a wedge between you and them, and what better way than by using one of their own as bait? Now there will be a terrible firefight. Scarred Angels and the Soul Stealers will kill each other. Whoever doesn’t die will be arrested, and I will leave. None of them know it was me and none of them ever will. You, my dear Dakota, will sadly die, trapped in the crossfire. What was sweet Dakota Kane doing in Echo Lane in a biker gang’s headquarters? People will ask. But I’ve already started the rumors of a relationship between you and Adam Mendel. People will think you were a foolish girl who got in over her head, which is accurate,” James finished, a disgusting smirk covering his face.
“But why?” Dakota asked. “My father loves you like a brother. He trusts you. He made you my godfather. All he’s ever done is supported you. How could you do this to him, to us?”
“Do you know what it’s like to not be born into wealth? To be born poor with no connections? Can you even imagine how much harder I had to work than your father? Yes, we were friends in school, and your father introduced me to a great deal of his wealthy friends, and every one of them looked down on me, called my blood weak like we were living in a medieval village. Each one of them has started a business and failed, most of them several times, each time their daddies would open their checkbooks and bail them out. Well I don’t have a rich father who can solve all of my problems for me; I’ve had to work, to scrape, for everythi
ng I have!
Tritronic Electrics was my dream! I started the money; I leveraged everything I had for it. I worked to the bone and it should have worked. It should have worked! I did everything right, everything! And still it was failing. Your father came to me and offered to buy me out of the company. He came to me as if it was a favor, and like I was a drowning man and he had come with a lifeboat. It killed me inside, Dakota. But I took the offer, and what did you dear old dad do next? He turned the Tritonic Electrics around, miraculously. Now my company is just another jewel in his crown.”
“He made you rich with that offer. He saved your company,” Dakota said.
“He saved it for himself! And he made me rich, but my riches were nothing compared to his. He just waved his hand and spent his ancestors’ money and expected me to kiss his boot in thanks.”
“He never wanted you to kiss his boot,” Dakota spit. “He was trying to help you-” But she was cut off as bullets were fired on the other side of the door and men were shouting to each other. For a moment in the room, no one moved, all staring at the door, wondering who was winning, and who was losing.
HANDS OFF MY BRIDE: Scarred Angels MC Page 22
