by K. J. Dahlen
Deke looked up at his friend with a lost look on his face. “What the fuck happened Gator? Where is she?”
Gator frowned. “It looks like somebody snatched her, man.” He handed the wrench to his friend.
Deke stared at it. All he could see for a moment was Cassie’s blood on the head of the tool. Then he noticed the bloody print. Rage filled him and he threw the weapon into the corner. He got to his feet. “Who would do something like that? Especially here. She thought she was safe here. I told her no one would hurt her here, man. Somebody is always around, or they’re supposed to be anyway.”
“Let’s do a search. Whoever took her couldn’t have taken her far. The gate stays locked 24/7 man.”
Deke and Gator joined the others in the main room. Deke still carried the bloody pillow in his hands. He looked around at all the men standing there. Holding up the pillow, he called out, “My woman is missing and there’s blood on the sheets where she was sleeping. I thought our clubhouse was safe for our women and children. This is where we live. This is where we work and play. I want this place searched from top to bottom. I want the parking lot and the woods searched. Don’t leave so much as a blade of grass unchecked. We have to find her.”
Everyone split up and began searching. They moved furniture out of the corners and checked every room. Some of the guys went outside and began to search the grounds.
Reva joined Deke and Gator. Tears still streamed down her cheeks. “Oh Deke, I’m so sorry, please forgive me.”
Deke pulled her in for a hug. “This isn’t your fault.”
Reva buried her face in his chest. “But she went missing on my watch.”
Deke reached down and grabbed her chin bringing it up to meet his gaze. ”Hey, now, none of that. I asked you to check on her once in a while, I didn’t tell you to stand guard. It wasn’t on you to protect her; that was on me. I’m the one that failed her. I’m the one that let her be taken. Don’t you worry, we’ll find her. We have to find her.” He brushed her tears away with his thumbs. “Now don’t you worry about this. It isn’t your fault.” He smiled and said, “Go give that man of yours a hug, so he don’t kill me.”
Reva laughed and Gator swept her into his arms and kissed his woman.
When he finally pulled away from her, she was blushing bright red. She looked into his adorning eyes and whispered, “I love you big guy.”
“I love you too,” Gator told her as his big hand patted her ass. “Now, find something to do while we search for Deke’s woman.”
When Reva left them, Deke gazed down at the pillow in his hands. The pillow still had the scent of her shampoo on it. The amount of blood on the pillow and on his bed told him Cassie was hurt. How badly, is what scared him. He could picture her laying in a ditch somewhere bleeding to death and he felt helpless. He glanced over at Gator. “She’s out there somewhere alone and scared to death. She’s bleeding, man. How can I help her if I don’t know where she is? Would she know to come back here if she could or would she crawl into a hole and hide?”
Gator grabbed hold of his friend. “Stop it man. Get a hold of yourself. It’s gonna be okay. You have to believe that. We’ll find her. Tell you what, let’s get Peaches over here. She knows Cassie the best. She might be able to help and when she finds out Cassie is missing, she’ll want to be here anyway.”
Deke nodded. “Get her here quickly. We need to find Cassie.”
Gator made the call.
Within ten minutes, Peaches was running through the door. “Where is she?” She grabbed Deke’s shirt.
“Chill woman, we don’t know yet. We’re still looking for her.”
Peaches let go of his shirt. Her hands clutched into fists and she began pounding on Deke’s chest. “You have to find her. You have to!”
Deke grabbed her wrists. “You better calm down, NOW.”
Peaches collapsed and would have fallen to the floor in a heap if Deke hadn’t caught her. Swinging her up into his arms, he carried her to a table. Calling out for Reva, he set her down. “We’ll find her. You have to believe that.”
Peaches looked up at him then something caught her eyes. She got to her feet shaking. Her hand went to her mouth and she gasped in shock at the painting on the wall. “Oh, my god…”
Deke got to his feet and stared at Peaches and then the painting. He didn’t understand what she was carrying on about. “Cassie painted that last night.”
Peaches turned to him. “She did?”
Deke nodded. “What does it mean to you?”
“Cassie paints when she wants to share a little something of herself with you. She has talent but she’s very careful just who she shares it with. It’s her own secret.” She turned to study the tiger again. “This is Rufus. She named him that the first and only other time she drew him. He became her escape route when the old battle axe would hurt her. When she would be laying there all curled up in a ball after a beating, she wouldn’t be crying her little heart out. She would be talking to Rufus. She would be hurting so bad but she never shed a tear.” Peaches shook her head. “Not Cassie. She’d never let it out that she was in pain because she didn’t want Mrs. Pierce to know she’d broken her. Cassie wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.”
Deke stared at the painting of the tiger. “So, what does it mean for her to have painted this here?”
Peaches moved closer and reached out a hand to touch Rufus. “She’s sharing her most imitate feeling with you. She’s sharing her art. It’s the one thing in her life she could really call her own and she swore no one would ever take it away from her. In other words, she’s sharing herself with you and your club.” She stared at the painting again. “Isn’t he beautiful?” she whispered.
“You said she drew him one other time. When and where was that?”
Peaches frowned. “She drew him on the walls on Mrs. Pierce’s basement where she was tied up all the time. She told me it was the only thing she could do to keep her sanity. She scratched him out of the stone wall with a rock.”
Deke felt like he’d been punched in the gut as it occurred to him. He turned to Gator and asked, “Does this place even have a basement?’
Gator shrugged. “Damned if I know.”
They both turned to Reva.
She was nodding. “Yeah, it does but it’s nasty down there, so we don’t use it.” She got to her feet and walked over to the door leading to the basement. Everyone had followed her through the kitchen. When she reached for the handle, she felt the resistance. Reva frowned and looked at Gator. “This door wasn’t locked earlier today.”
“How do you know that?” Deke asked.
“I went down there early this morning, thinking we could clean it up and start using it again, but I found standing water on the floor and black mold three feet up the walls. I was going to say something to you guys but it slipped my mind.”
Deke moved her out of the way and checked the lock on the door. What he found wasn’t good. He glanced over his shoulder at Gator. “Somebody broke off something inside the lock. We’re going to have to break the door to get down there.”
“I’ll go find a crowbar,” Gator told him.
Reva backed away from the door. She looked over at Peaches then grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the main room. Sitting her down at one of the tables, she picked a bottle from behind the bar. She poured the girl a drink and shoved it into her hands. “Drink.”
Peaches shook her head. “Don’t drink. Me and Cassie have never touched booze and we vowed we never would.”
“Drink it,” Reva repeated.
Peaches frowned. “No, I won’t do it. Me and Cassie made a vow. I’m not breaking it.”
Reva slammed the drink down her throat and waited while the liquor burned its way to her belly. One by one, the other members trickled back to the clubhouse. She could see by the defeated look on their faces…they hadn’t found anything.
The sounds of splintering wood came from the k
itchen area and everyone stood still, waiting. They heard the sounds of heavy boots descending the basement stairs and then they all heard a male cry of anguish echoing through the clubhouse. Everyone looked at each other. It was a sound they’d never heard before and never wanted to hear again.
~* * * *~
Cassie groaned as she came back from oblivion. Her head ached and her wrists hurt. She tried to struggle but her hands wouldn’t move. She could feel the bite of the restraints get tighter and it lent to her struggle with the past. The smell of mold hit her and her mind flashed back to when she was a child. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She didn’t want to find out if she was back in her own little corner of hell. She tried to move her wrists but couldn’t. The reality of where she was came down on her. She had escaped this particular hell at one of the lowest points in her life and now, she knew even without seeing it with her own eyes—she was back.
She started to remember the days when she was trapped down here as a child. Her body remembered the beatings she took. She could still feel of the strap as it burned her tiny body after each and every stroke.
Cassie finally opened her eyes and saw nothing. She wanted to scream but couldn’t. Her throat wouldn’t allow any sound to be released. Her own fears wouldn’t allow any sound to penetrate the darkness that surrounded her. It wouldn’t allow her to struggle against the obvious but it would allow her to surrender herself to the past.
With her eyes wide open, Cassie sank down into her own hell as the past came back and took over. She was too tired to fight it, so she didn’t. She gave up the struggle to survive and she let the fears take her.
~* * * *~
Deke flipped the lights on and came down the steps. When he saw her hanging there, eyes wide open staring at nothing, he let out a cry of anguish. He rushed to her side and carefully picked her up in his arms. Gator reached out with his pocketknife and cut the cord that bound her to the wall.
Neither man spoke as the made their way back to the stairs leading back to daylight.
Slow heavy steps came back up the stairs. Gator came out first leading the way. Deke carried Cassie in his arms. Without a word to the men standing there, he made his way down the hall to his bedroom where he carefully laid Cassie down. Gator, Reav and Peaches followed him but everyone else stayed behind.
A moment later, Reva came out of the bathroom with a basin of water and a cloth to bathe the wound on her head.
Deke took the rag away from her and knelt beside the bed. Dunking the cloth in the water, he cleaned the wound on her head.
Her eyes still stared at nothing and she was acting like she couldn’t hear him calling her to come back to him.
Peaches was on the other side of the bed sobbing.
Deke couldn’t make her leave. Cassie might be his woman but she was also Peaches’ best friend. If he couldn’t find a way to bring her back maybe Peaches could.
Deke looked down at her hands. Whoever had done this had wrapped a cord tightly around her wrists. Her poor hands were turning blue due to lack of circulation. He tried to unravel it but it was just too damn tight. Suddenly, there was a knife being held out to him and Deke took it. Looking up he saw Gator standing beside him. Deke nodded and began cutting the cord.
When the last little bit of the cord holding her hands together snapped, her wrists fell to the bed with a plop. Deke grabbed one wrist and began rubbing life back into it.
Peaches grabbed the other one and did the same. “Oh Cassie, please come back. I know you can hear me. Please come back to me sweetie. I need you in my life again. I can’t make it on my own without you.” She sobbed. “I need you baby girl. It’s supposed to be you and me against the rest of the whole damn world. Please come back.”
The coloring in her hands was returning to normal but Cassie was still staring into nothing. There was no sign of life. Her heart was beating but she was caught up in her nightmare.
“Cassie, baby, you need to listen to me, “ Deke whispered. “I need you to come back here. I love you baby.”
Cassie’s finger slowly curled around his hand. Her eyes were still blank but it was a sign.
Gator tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to come outside.
When he moved out, Reva took his place. With her and Peaches, at least Cassie wouldn’t be alone while he was gone. He hated to leave her but he had business to take care of. Closing the door behind them, Deke asked, “What did they find?”
When they entered the main room everyone was silent for a moment them Wiley stepped forward and handed him a phone.
Deke glanced up at Wiley.
“It’s Connie’s phone.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Deke asked.
“I took her property vest back after she was caught listening at your door this morning,” Wiley explained. “I took her keys but forgot about the cell. One of the Prospects found it outside the gates on the search today. This would be something she would do to get me back. Either that or to get even with Cassie.”
Deke’s fingers tightened on the phone.
“There’s something else you should know, boss.” Wiley straightened his shoulders.
“What would that be?’ Deke asked.
“She broke the rule.”
“What rule would that be?”
“I checked on her last message. She put a photo of the tiger out on the web and asked anyone and his brother if they knew anything about it. She also put our name out there. Everyone knows where the painting is at.”
Deke’s fingers broke the phone in half. The first rule of any MC club was not to talk about what happens inside the clubhouse. To do so meant death. Everybody knew this and everyone abided by this rule. He looked over at his Sergeant at Arms. “You know what to do. Don’t kill her on the outside, bring her stupid ass back here, I want her to admit what she did before she dies.”
Wiley nodded. He tightened his lips and turned toward the door.
Three others fell in line behind him and the four men left the building.
Deke turned and returned to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he reached for the closest bottle. Chugging the liquor down, he waited for the familiar burn.
CHAPTER FIVE
When Deke’s phone rang a couple of hours later, he almost ignored it. But it kept ringing. Hauling it out of his pocket he growled, “What the fuck do you want?”
“Just giving you a head’s up.” Rusty’s voice came over the line.
“About what?”
“The picture of the tiger went viral,” Rusty explained. “When it hit the net this morning along with your address, several agencies suddenly became very interested.”
“Who and why?”
“Boston police Detective Lance Sullivan for one. Seems the man has an open murder case sitting on his desk. Boston Child Services for another. They seem to have misplaced two wards of the state several years ago.”
“Anybody else I need to know about?” Deke asked drily.
“Yeah.” Rusty paused. “Mrs. Eleonore Pierce wants to know the whereabouts of the two missing girls. She’s even offering a reward of a hundred thousand dollars for information and, or their return. From what I can understand, she don’t care in what condition they are returned in as long as both girls are still breathing.”
“What the fuck is her interest?”
“One of the girls she claims killed her son, Robbie.”
“How did she know?”
“The painting resembles something the girl did on her basement wall.”
Deke sighed heavily. “So, what I asked you to find out this morning is really true?”
“Yeah, every fucking word. The cops are closing in on the girls, and Mrs. Pierce has the clout to make sure they never see the light of day again.”
“Did she kill Robbie the night of the attack?”
“No he lived, but the girl did a number on his manhood. It seems he felt life w
asn’t worth living without his dick. He blew his brains out three weeks later. Got his hands on daddy’s gun and pulled the trigger with his own little hand.”
“Fuck a duck,” Deke whispered.
“Yeah and Mama’s had eleven years to wait for her revenge. That woman is a bitch of the worst kind.”
“Okay, let me know whatever else you can find out. We’re going on lockdown once we settle the business of the leak.”
“Are you all right man?” Rusty asked. “You sound a little strange.”
“Yeah, there’s been some goings on here. That bitch Connie was caught snooping at my door. Wiley took her cut and tossed her sorry ass out. Then she leaked that picture and our MC over the net, clocked Cassie in the head and put her down in the basement. It wasn’t good.”
“Poor girl.” Rusty cleared his throat. “I’ll try to let you know when the cops are on their way down to you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” Deke ended the call and got to his feet. He’d been sitting in the bedroom all afternoon. It was time to take care of business. He glanced over at Peaches. She was curled up on the bed with Cassie and both of them were sleeping.
He left the bedroom quietly. His footsteps echoed as he moved down the hall. When he got to the main room, everyone was looking for word of how Cassie was doing. He went over to Gator’s table and sat down. Deke ran his fingers over his tired face. “She and Peaches are sleeping. I don’t think she’s back yet, at least not all the way. She’s fighting some pretty bad demons.”
Reaching over, Reva patted his hand. “At least she’s trying.”
Deke nodded, then looked over at Gator. “Are the boys back yet?”
Just then, they all heard the roar of motorcycles pulling into the parking lot. They waited for Wiley and the others to come in.
Everyone could hear a woman screaming, begging for her life, as they got closer to the door. Wiley dragged Connie into the room by her hair. He had to pull her along and he wasn’t gentle about it. He brought her over to where Deke and Gator were sitting, then threw her on the floor.
