by Brook Wilder
She took aim and fired twice. One of the Wild Leopards’ hiding behind a stray car collapsed, clutching at his knee. Then Maddie shot him in the chest and he stopped writhing. A bullet whizzed past her head as Maddie turned to the next man, standing behind his bike. One shot to the head took him out.
Jeremy had gone to the far end of the jeep, shooting around the back fender. Another window exploded above his head and Jeremy flinched, covering his head. Maddie then saw his body jerk and her brother collapsed onto the ground. The back of his head was gaping open and blood was sprayed onto the concrete.
Maddie’s heart stopped. Jeremy? She screamed and scrambled towards him.
“Jeremy!”
She was just within reach of touching him when she was grabbed around the waist and hauled back. Maddie snarled and began kicking, screaming at the top of her lungs. But then she felt something hard hit her in the face and something went over her head.
Then the world went silent and dark.
Chapter Sixteen
Jace’s heart was having palpitations as he screeched his bike to a halt at the scene. It was a mess. There were bodies littering the street, both Wild Leopards and Broken Hounds. Bikes were overturned, tires were blown out. There were even some civilians who had been caught up in the fight, one trying to crawl away as Schuman and a Wild Leopard grappled with a gun.
Jace ran over and grabbed the woman, who was sobbing. He half-walked, half-carried her to a nearby alley and sat her against the wall.
“Stay here and keep your head down.” He squeezed her arm. “And call 911. We’re going to need a few ambulances.”
The woman, a gray-haired woman in her sixties, nodded and her hands shook as she went to her bag. Jace ran back into the street just as another gunshot sounded and he saw Schuman slump to the ground, a Wild Leopard standing over him. The gun was pointed at Schuman’s face as he clutched at his stomach.
Jace fired wildly. The Wild Leopard’s body jerked, and he fell to his knees before slumping to the ground, his head landing with a sickening thud. Jace hurried to Schuman’s side.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.” Schuman’s face was white as he tried to sit up. “Get to Jeremy.”
“Is Maddie with him?”
Schuman shook his head.
“They were putting her in a van when I arrived. She had a sack over her head.”
Jace felt cold. Now they had Maddie. He ran to Jeremy’s truck and found Jeremy’s body. The man had a neat bullet hole between his eyes and the back of his head had been blown off. Blood was pooling around his head, his eyes staring at nothing.
Even then, Jace knelt and checked his pulse. Nothing. Jace snarled.
“Fuck!”
This hadn’t been an accident. This had been a trap. The information Jace had managed to extract from a Wild Leopard he had been following had told him they were planning something big. A sneak through his cell phone had told him most of the story.
Now they had Maddie. And Jace didn’t think they were going to give her back alive.
“Jace!”
Jace looked up. A Hispanic man in his thirties wearing a business suit was hurrying towards him, his tie askew and his long black hair about his shoulders. Jace swallowed and stood.
“Luke. When did you get back?”
“This morning. I was on my way in when I heard about it.” Luke Cruz, vice president for Broken Hounds, stared in alarm at Jeremy’s body. “Fucking hell, Jeremy.”
Jace could feel his throat tightening. He swallowed hard.
“Wild Leopards jumped Jeremy and Maddie. We didn’t get here in time. Now they have Maddie.”
Luke’s eyes widened. From what Jace remembered of him, the man was a mild-mannered person compared to his fellow bikers. You would more likely see him in a boardroom than on a Harley. But Luke had an evil streak a mile wide that he didn’t let loose very often. He didn’t involve himself in fights unless he absolutely had to, and he preferred other instruments to guns.
Jace was not prepared to cross him to find out what.
Luke snarled, and his eyes narrowed, his mouth hardening into a thin line.
“Dane’s gone too far now. Going after Jeremy and Maddie was a ballsy move.”
“Maddie could lose the baby if he harms her.”
“I know that.” Luke ran his hands through his hair. “I’ll get the group together and we’ll go after Dane in the usual places.”
But Jace was already shaking his head. He knew that would be futile.
“Don’t bother.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“He’s not going to be in any usual haunts, not when he’s got a valuable hostage. That would be too easy. He’ll be somewhere a bit more secure and closer by.”
“Do you have an idea where he could be?”
Jace had a very good idea. If not, then he would know someone who did. He nodded.
“I think I know someone who might.”
Chapter Seventeen
Maddie had no idea where she was going. The bag was tightened over her head and it was getting difficult to breathe. If they travelled any longer with her air cut off, she was going to pass out.
There was no way Maddie was going to let herself be a victim. She was angry and ready to fight. Her baby would not be harmed by these bastards.
After what seemed like an age, the rocking of the van stopped, and the engine was cut. Moments later, a door opened, and she was grabbed.
“Let me go!”
Maddie kicked and flailed but her arms were gripped tightly, as were her legs, and she was carried across gravel. The sound of the footsteps changed as they entered a building. Then another door opened, and Maddie could feel herself being carried down some stairs. Then she was deposited on her backside onto hard ground and the bag was whipped from her head. Maddie tried to fling her arms out, trying to grab onto something, but her disorientation worked against her and she only grabbed at air.
Then she heard a chuckle from behind her and spun around, the motion making her dizzy and she had to catch herself from falling. When she managed to refocus, she saw a handsome man in his forties with short dark hair and a trimmed beard leaning against the wall. He smirked at her.
“Nice to know you’ve still got some fire, Maddie.”
Maddie snarled. The bastard had betrayed her brother. Was this his end game all along?
“I have to live up to expectations, don’t I?” She hissed.
“That you do.” Dane Archer indicated their surroundings. “I thought we might be a bit more comfortable here. And no one will think of looking for us here.”
Maddie looked around. From what she could see, it was a basement that had been cleared up and equipped like a gym. It was definitely not a Wild Leopard place; Maddie didn’t think any of them had the money for this. She sat up.
“Where are we?”
“You don’t need to know that. You won’t be here long enough to know, anyway.”
That sent a shiver down Maddie’s spine. But she fought it back and snarled at Archer.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Your bastards killed my brother! Are you going to kill me too? Like I am?”
She gestured at her body. Her belly had been expanding the last few days and it was becoming clear she was pregnant. Archer glanced at her belly, a slight smile twitching at his mouth.
“Yes. I’m just deciding when.”
Maddie felt like she had been slapped in the face.
“You’d kill a pregnant woman? You have kids, Dane!”
“Doesn’t mean I have a bleeding heart when children are involved.” Archer advanced towards her, arms folded across her chest. “I want Broken Hounds and what they have. I only entered a negotiation with Jeremy so his guard would be lowered.”
“So, nobody goaded one of your members?”
“Nope. We just used that as an excuse to do what we did.” Archer rolled his shoulders. Maddie instinctively shrank back. She hadn’t been scared of Arc
her before but now she didn’t know what to think. “We were going to use you as a hostage once we found out you were pregnant, but then I got told by a reliable source that wouldn’t work as you were under guard. Jeremy wasn’t going to step down if you were taken, we knew that. So, he had to go.”
“And that reliable source would be Martin Roberts?”
It was a shot in the dark, but the pieces were starting to slot into place. Archer’s expression didn’t change but his smirk widened.
“You’ve got a wealthy man interested in you and you would throw him away for a drifter?”
Maddie was going to kill Martin. Jace had been right about him; the man was crazy. If Jace didn’t get to the bastard first, Maddie was going to make a beeline for Martin. It was about time she took up softball again.
Once she got out of here.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Well, Roberts wants you as his own.” Archer chuckled at Maddie’s expression and strolled away from her. He looked like he was clearly enjoying this. “He’ll have the baby adopted, killed or whatever and keep you for his own.” He shook his head and waggled a finger. “But I can see that’s not going to work and you’ll end up killing him. That man loves you and you’d rather slit his throat.”
“Too fucking right.”
“So now I’m torn between killing you and the baby now, before I send your body back, or keeping you, let you give birth and then keep the baby while you rot in a shallow grave.”
Maddie stared at him. Had she heard that correctly? She never thought Archer could be so cold.
“What?”
“My wife loves kids, but she can’t have any more. And what could be better than kidnapping the nephew of the former president of Broken Hounds and raising him as our own?”
Maddie’s hands instinctively went to her belly. There was no way she was going to let these bastards take her child. She would fight the whole way.
“Jace will find you,” she growled. “If he doesn’t kill you, I will.”
Archer snorted.
“Jace Howard isn’t his father. He’s a nobody and he doesn’t have the brains. Not a chance and not with Cruz, either. He’s too weak.” Still looking smug, Archer headed towards the door. “Someone will be down shortly with some water and food. Don’t think about trying to escape because we have watchers.”
Maddie watched him go up the stairs and debated rushing him. But she was feeling weak and didn’t want to take her chances against an entire gang upstairs. She could only watch the man who had had her brother murdered leave the basement and close the door behind him.
Chapter Eighteen
Jace was amazed that Luke was letting him take the lead. But he wasn’t about to squander it. Both of them were out for blood and Luke knew that Jace’s priority was finding Maddie. Once he saw her again, Jace was going to grab hold of her and not let go.
Hopefully she wouldn’t care about the blood all over him after he had finished with the man who had betrayed her.
Luke paced around the warehouse. He had divested himself of his jacket and tie and his hair was tied back. He was rolling up his sleeves and Jace brought a chair into the middle of the room.
“Let’s hope this comes to fruition.”
“Trust me, it will,” Jace said grimly, shucking off his jacket. “That bastard knows more than he’s letting on.”
He had been having misgivings about the man from the start. After their stand-off a few days before, Jace knew that there was more going on. Going down the normal channels wasn’t going to work. Not with Maddie’s life in the balance.
There was a commotion going on outside and then someone was dragged in between two burly men, a black bag over his head. He was trying to pull away and fight back, but his captors held on tightly to him. They didn’t even bat as eyelid when their hostage nearly bent himself in half.
Jace stepped back as the man was pressed onto the chair and waited as his hands were tied behind his back and a rope was fastened around his chest. Then the two enforcers left.
Jace glanced at Luke, who nodded and sat on the table they had also dragged into the room. Then Jace whipped off the bag. Roberts blinked in the lights and squinted around him. Jace could see that, when he finally focused on him, Roberts’ eyes widened.
“You again? What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He tried to tug at the bonds but couldn’t. “I’ll get the cops on you!”
Had the situation not been so dire, it would have sent Jace into hysterics. The guy thought he could still get one over on him.
“It’s not him you have to worry about.” Luke responded. “Yet.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Lucas Cruz, president of Broken Hounds.” Jace noticed that Roberts didn’t even blink at the new title. Luke slid off the table. “And I’m the only thing standing between you and Jace.”
Roberts sneered and spat on the floor.
“Screw you.”
“No, thanks. You’re not my type.” Luke turned to Jace and nodded. “Go for it.”
“With pleasure.”
Jace moved to the table and picked up the sledgehammer. Roberts looked horrified and began to struggle more.
“What the fuck? I thought you were standing between us! Why the sudden turnaround?”
“If you were going to be respectful and answer our questions, I would’ve held him back.” Luke didn’t even blink, stepping to the side. “Insult me and he’s got full permission.”
“That’s not fucking right!”
“We’re bikers, not diplomats.” Luke glanced at Jace, who was wielding the sledgehammer, and knelt beside the chair. “Tell us where Maddie is, and I’ll tell Jace to put that down.”
Roberts scowled at him.
“Why should I tell you anything? And how would I know where she is?”
“Because you’ve been feeding them information about her. Now Jeremy’s dead and Maddie’s been kidnapped. She’s pregnant and you claim to care for her.”
Jace was amazed that Luke could stay so cool. If it was the other way around, Jace would have slammed the sledgehammer into Roberts’ face already. Roberts’ face was red, and he sneered at Luke, who didn’t flinch.
“Maddie was meant to be mine. I kept quiet while she was with Drake, thinking she would realize her mistake and I would be there for her. I was there the whole time.” He shot Jace a dirty look. “She finally ended it for good with Drake and then he came along.”
Jace snorted.
“You can’t force a woman to get with you because you’ve got a medical degree and a smile.”
“You’ve not seen me at work.”
“And I don’t want to.” Jace hoisted the sledgehammer onto his shoulder. “And you won’t be doing it anytime soon. Not when we’re done with you. So, answer this, Martin: where would Archer have taken Maddie?”
“I don’t know.”
Luke sighed and glanced at Jace, who was doing his best to hold himself back. Luke may have given the go-ahead but, if they could get something out of Roberts before Jace knocked his teeth out, they would go for it. And Luke had a knack of getting things out of people. Jace didn’t know what that knack was but he wouldn’t want it used on him.
“Archer is going to use Maddie as collateral damage. He’s going to kill her and her baby. Whatever deal you made won’t be upheld.”
Roberts snorted.
“That won’t happen. I’ll get Maddie. Archer promised.”
“I think you missed the part where I said Maddie is considered collateral damage to Archer. Unless you wanted her in your room stuffed and mounted.”
“Stuffed and mounted on my cock, yes.”
Jace snapped. He let out a feral yell and swung. The sledgehammer caught Roberts in the chest and knocked him backwards. The chair upended, and Roberts landed on the floor, his head hitting the concrete. He coughed a few times and then his eyes rolled back in his head as he went limp. Luke sighed and stood.
“Well, that was useful. Now we won’t get anything out of him.”
“He was wasting our time. I wasn’t going to listen to him say that stuff about Maddie.”
