Golden Trail

by Ashley, Kristen

  Layne opened his door, ordering, “Stay here.”

  He jogged quickly to the Mazda, motioning with flicks of his fingers, communicating to Cal. Cal nodded through his windscreen and passed the Suburban.

  Layne didn’t watch to see where Cal went. He crouched by the back tire, thrusting Ryker’s knife into the rubber. He moved forward and took out the front tire. He jogged around the car and did the same to the other side. Then he jogged back to his truck.

  He swung in, handed the knife to Ryker, pulled out his cell, put the car in gear, released the brake, located the pedestrian entryway to the garage and scanned for a spot with good visibility all at the same time he scrolled on his phone.

  He hit go and put it to his ear.

  “Yo,” Merry said quietly.

  “You at The Townsend?” Layne asked, seeing his spot, he started maneuvering the behemoth to reverse in while still talking.

  “Yes, just got here. This is it, brother. Management says three weeks ago they had an unusual reservation. One day, big money, an entire floor of suites cleared. They had to juggle but they did it. I’m in the security room, they have cameras on the halls. She’s got sentries. Two at the elevators. One outside each room. Three rooms. Two at the emergency exit. The hotel was told it was a VIP with stringent security and that they needed confidentiality and discretion which the hotel assured them they could provide. So we got seven boys, from what I can see by the bulges in their jackets, heavily armed. We don’t know if there are more in the rooms and the hotel didn’t clock them, considering the promise of discretion and all. IMPD is pulling together a team to take the top without collateral damage.”

  “Three rooms?” Layne asked as he put the truck in neutral, set the brake and killed the ignition.

  “Not good news, brother,” Merry answered and Layne’s neck got tight.

  “What?”

  “Wherever Tiffany went, she took her sister with her. She’s thirteen, Tanner.”

  Jesus, Jesus, fuck.

  He didn’t want to ask with Ryker at his side but he had to ask.

  “Have the parties started?”

  “Ryker with you?” Merry asked back.

  “Yeah,” Layne answered.

  “Then I’m not answering that question right now,” Merry replied.

  Layne clenched his teeth and his chest seized. Alexis McGraw had been to his house. Ryker and Lissa sat with Layne and Rocky at the dining room table drinking beer and shooting the shit while Alexis and Seth, Keira and Jasper and Tripp and Giselle all lounged on the sectional, doing kid shit. Alexis was chock full of attitude, the good kind, though it had an edge, but underneath that, she was a sweet kid.

  “You got eyes on her?” Layne asked.

  Merry knew what Layne was asking. “Plainclothes everywhere, big man, but no one has seen Towers. Maybe she’s in one of the rooms. They’re scanning security footage now to see if she’s entered the hotel.”

  “She’s somewhere. I have eyes on her car. A red Mazda, in the parking garage, not the hotel’s, across the street and just south. I’ve disabled the car. We’re on the third floor.”

  “I’ll call that in.”

  “Merry, she’s not getting away,” Layne warned.

  “You make a mess, Tanner, I’ll clean it up,” Merry replied.

  Layne heard the disconnect and flipped his phone closed.

  “Tell me,” Ryker whispered and his tone was the tone of a man broken.

  Layne’s eyes went to him.

  “Don’t make me sorry you’re at my side,” Layne warned softly. Ryker stared at him and the air in the cab became suffocating. “I’ll blow this to take you out,” Layne whispered. “Do not mistake me, Ryker, I’ll do what I have to do to keep you safe so you can take care of her because, brother, she needs you now. Do not fuck this up.”

  Ryker’s breathing started to get visibly heavy, his huge chest moving with it.

  “I can’t lock this down, bro,” he whispered.

  “Yes you can.”

  “No, Tanner.”

  “Focus, brother.”

  “Lexie,” he whispered.

  “Focus,” Layne clipped.

  “I can’t.”

  “Be her hero, Ryker. Do not make her and her mother lose more than they’ve already lost today.”

  They held eyes and Ryker kept breathing heavy.

  “Deep, Ryker, breathe deep, not shallow, suck in air, lock it down,” Layne urged.

  Ryker nodded and took in a deep breath, turned to face front, his eyes locked on the Mazda and his fists curled on his thighs.

  Layne let out a breath, leaned over, pulled down the door to the glove compartment and yanked out his .38.

  “She goes to the car, I go in, you call Merry. Cal provides cover. You’re last resort. You got that?”

  “What if she isn’t alone?”

  “Then you provide cover too, you got your .45?” he asked even though he knew. Ryker didn’t go anywhere without his .45.

  Ryker leaned forward and yanked out his .45. Then he nodded to Layne.

  “This is not a shoot first and ask questions later, deal, Ryker. We are not officers of the law. We’re skatin’ on thin ice here, only so much Merry can cover for us. This is an incapacitate and incarcerate deal, yeah?” Layne ordered.

  Ryker nodded again.

  Layne called Cal.

  “Yo,” Cal answered. “I’m guessin’ the Mazda is important.”

  “It’s hers. You got eyes on it?”

  “Yep.”

  “She approaches, I go in, you and Ryker are cover. Do you have a gun or do you need me to get you one?”

  “My wife was kidnapped and nearly shot in the head, man. I got guns everywhere.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Good call since it was a yes.”

  “Right, we’re done,” Layne stated and flipped his phone closed.

  Then he reached up, turned off the interior cab light, pulled the keys out of the ignition, tossed them to Ryker who caught them and his eyes went to the door to the stairs.

  Layne was right, she felt the heat. They didn’t wait five minutes before the door to the stairs opened and Nicolette Towers showed, wearing sick fuck, underage gang rape party hostess gear of fancy-ass dress and spike heels, her hair out to there, her face made up to perfection. She had a bodyguard but, thank Christ, only one.

  Ryker flipped open his phone and Layne didn’t look at him. He opened his door, slid around it, didn’t close it and then ran quickly and silently, moving behind parked vehicles, keeping his eyes on Towers and her goon.

  They were walking swiftly but engaged in intense conversation which was a mistake. At least the bodyguard should be vigilant. They must have clocked the intensity of the operation gearing up inside the hotel. She looked pissed. He looked tweaked.

  Layne slid up the side of a Pathfinder, positioning at the hood. They were walking toward him. He bent with his body behind the vehicle, his gun aimed, arms resting on the hood.

  “Hands where I can see them,” he barked when they were two cars away from the Mazda.

  The goon didn’t hesitate. He yanked a weapon out of his shoulder holster and started firing. Towers dashed to the Mazda.

  Bullets slammed into the Pathfinder and ricocheted off, Layne returned fire almost blind then ducked. More fire coming his way but also from Cal shooting from the opposite direction.

  The Pathfinder stopped taking hits and Layne bolted up, the goon was turned, returning Cal’s fire. Layne aimed and fired, connected a bullet to his calf and the guy went down to his knee. Cal kept shooting and more gunfire entered play. Ryker had made his call and was in the game.

  The Mazda reversed out of the spot, Towers cutting the wheel, riding the rims. She either didn’t know or didn’t care her man was down behind her because the Mazda slammed right into him. Layne wasn’t in the position to see how she got him but he heard his howl of agony. She shifted into first and Layne moved out of cover, hunkered do
wn and launched himself on the hood of her car.

  Finding purchase on the lip of the hood by the windshield with one hand, his belly to the metal, their eyes locked.

  She cut the wheel and Layne’s body went sliding, she slammed into a car and skidded through it and the next, still moving.

  Then she cut the wheel the other way to make the turn through the garage, the Mazda nearly uncontrollable, riding on rims and Layne’s body flew with the car and his hold slipped but held at his top knuckles.

  She righted the car and he lifted his gun, taking aim at her shoulder.

  He pulled the trigger just as she cut the wheel again, his shot went wide and so did his body. He was losing his grip, he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. They skimmed down cars, metal against metal, sparks flying around his legs. Layne heaved himself back to full on the hood, raised the gun and took aim when he heard sirens.

  She cut the other way but Layne got off two shots through the windscreen then let go, rolling with the movement of the car, he lucked out and rolled straight onto the hood of another vehicle rather than crashing to the ground and getting caught under her tires or smashed between the Mazda and another car.

  He rolled up the windscreen then down to his back. He did an ab curl just in time to see Towers drive through two empty spots, slam into the side of a car and stop.

  Layne slid off the car and dropped to his feet, on the run the minute they touched the ground.

  She threw open her door and fell out, crawling. He lifted his gun, took aim and shouted, “Freeze!”

  She rolled to her back, lifting a .22 in his direction, blood staining the front of her dress.

  Ryker came in from the right, shoving his big body though the opening, he dropped down between floors, his tree trunk legs took the impact then he was up and he trained his .45 on her.

  “Give me a reason,” he growled.

  Cal pounded up behind Layne then slowed, gun drawn, aimed, head cocked to the sight, he inched forward beside Layne.

  Her eyes circled the men then her hand dropped, not that she was giving up, she couldn’t hold it up anymore. Layne knew this because her body dropped too, flat on her back on the pavement of a parking garage. A bubble of blood escaped her lips and then slid down the side of her mouth.

  They all approached slowly except Ryker who got there quick and kicked her gun out of her hand.

  She was audibly wheezing then the blood gurgled in her throat.

  Ryker crouched beside her and Layne and Cal tensed.

  “Brother,” Layne whispered as units came skidding around the parking garage, screeching to a halt, sirens blaring, lights flashing.

  There was a lot of noise but, even so, Layne could hear as Ryker pulled the phlegm up his throat.

  Then he bent and spit, the slimy, yellow hocker hitting her smack on the cheekbone, splashing into her eye.

  “Cunt,” he hissed then straightened.

  “Stand down,” a uniform ordered and all eyes moved to the advancing cops.

  Layne dropped his gun hand, so did Cal. Ryker shoved his in his back waistband.

  The cops must have got a head’s up from Merry. They immediately lost interest in Layne, Cal and Ryker and trained their guns on Towers.

  “Shit,” Cal growled slow and Layne looked to him to see he was looking at Layne. Then he smiled just as slow. “You are one crazy motherfucker. Fuck me, you jumped on her car, man.”

  Ryker strolled close, his eyes locked on Layne.

  Then he said two words.

  “Epic, bro.”

  * * * * *

  Layne, Cal and Ryker strode into the foyer of The Townsend as Merry was moving through it.

  The minute Merry saw them he grinned huge, his gait quickened and that fist that had hold of Layne’s chest loosened.

  There was no reason to smile.

  Unless a miracle happened.

  “Word’s spreadin’, big man, remember us little people when you’re baskin’ in LA sunshine and the glow of superstardom,” Merry remarked upon arrival.

  “What?” Layne asked at this unexpected opening.

  “Parking garage’s got manned cameras, Tanner, that shit’s flyin’ ‘round so fast –”

  “You wanna cut the crap and tell me about my girl?” Ryker barked and Merry looked at him, his grin still in place.

  “Yeah, man, I do,” he said without hesitation. “They took the floor, only blood shed was blood that deserved to leak. The team they put together was top notch. They got into the rooms and all the clients were inside. Champagne and hors d’oeuvres. The good news for you, brother, is that Alexis and the other girls had not yet regained consciousness. They’re not only untouched, they don’t even know where they are.” Merry looked to Layne. “Apparently, they wait for them to be awake. Each suite had two bedrooms and a sitting room. In each suite, one bedroom had our girls in it, the sitting room had drinks and munchies, the last bedroom had girls from her stable. Previews for the final show but they didn’t get the final show. Got some of ‘em caught in the act. Pervs are fucked, every last one of them, pants down or not.”

  “She’s okay?” Ryker growled.

  “She’s absolutely fine. She’s with a female officer and still unconscious,” Merry answered.

  And that was when Ryker collapsed. One second he was standing, the next second his ass was to the floor, his knees bent to the ceiling, his forearms to his knees and his head was bowed between his legs. Merry, Cal and Layne all looked down at a big man brought low by a miracle.

  When Ryker’s shoulders started shaking, Cal stepped away, Merry looked to his boots but Layne crouched beside his friend.

  He wrapped a hand around his thick neck and got close.

  “Colt told me, since they used God, maybe He’d be motivated to help out.” Layne murmured, put pressure on Ryker’s neck and released him. “Apparently, He was motivated.”

  Ryker nodded to his lap.

  Layne straightened and Merry and he moved two feet to Cal, giving Ryker time.

  “Anything new?” Layne asked.

  “Rutledge is still in surgery. Towers is bein’ transported, no clue there but we’ve got her on identity theft, multiple counts of underage prostitution, multiple counts of statutory rape, blackmail, kidnapping and, any of her boys’ guns match the bullets you took, brother, they roll and say she ordered the hit, conspiracy to commit murder. She lives after you drilled two into her chest, she’ll never take another free breath.”

  “What about her other girls?” Layne asked.

  “Too soon, they’re bein’ transported to the Station to get questioned. Though, one gave up the location of at least one of her stables. They’re puttin’ together a raid now. There might be more. Each of those rooms had three or more girls in it, Tanner, and early info says these girls are not all she’s got,” Merry answered. “She left some behind.”

  “Jesus,” Cal muttered, the word heavy with disgust. “It’s this big, how can this be under IMPD’s radar?”

  Merry shook his head. “Don’t know, outside the bitch was smart. But I reckon we’ll find out.”

  “My source says she worked the foster care angle,” Layne reminded Merry.

  “Yeah, and we checked that out. She did that but, like Youth Group, she recruited through a front, a fall guy, or in that case, woman. The woman who acted as her agent is currently serving a nickel but Towers never let her close enough, in fact, the woman never saw Towers. She handed over to a member of Towers’ crew who disappeared after Social Services cottoned on and started their investigation and never was located. The girls were never recovered except to surface later as prostitutes, porn stars, bikers’ bitches and equally limiting professions. That angle died seven years ago.”

  Ryker’s presence hit their group.

  “I wanna see Alexis,” he announced.

  Merry looked at him and nodded. He turned to a uniform who was standing with a plainclothes officer and whistled.

  When he had the uniform’
s attention, he nodded his head to Ryker. “This guy is guardian to Alexis McGraw, the redheaded girl in room twelve oh three. He wants to see his girl.”

  The uniform swept his eyes top to toe on Ryker and then they narrowed on Merry. Ryker looked like guardian of the gates of hell, not guardian to a pretty, fourteen year old redhead.

  “He’s cool,” Merry assured.

  “Merry, are you gonna talk to the girls now or can they go home?” Layne asked and Merry turned to him as the uniform approached.

  “They wake up, they’ll be disoriented and since they were probably roofied, won’t remember much. We can talk to them in the morning,” Merry answered.

  Ryker was moving away with the uniform, his hand in his motorcycle jacket but he called to Layne, “You’re our ride, bro.”

  “I’m not goin’ anywhere,” Layne called back.

  “I know, but you comin’ or what?” Ryker returned.

  Layne glanced through Merry and Cal, nodded and followed Ryker. It would seem big, scary, badass, looking like a raving lunatic Ryker needed his BFF.

  Fuck.

  He heard Ryker on his phone when he stopped beside him at the elevator. “Liss, baby, she’s okay, she’s good. They found her. She’s all right. I’m goin’ to her now. We’re gonna be home soon. It’s all good.”

  The elevator opened and Colt with a variety of cops walked out. Colt clapped Ryker on the shoulder as they switched places but his hand came up to Layne, Layne took it and looked in Colt’s eyes.

  “Cal called, ran it down. Remember us when you’re a big Hollywood action star,” Colt remarked.

  Layne let his hand go muttering, “Bite me,” through his smile.

  Then he moved to the elevator.

  * * * * *

  Layne pulled into Lissa McGraw’s driveway and the front door on the house was opened before he came to a complete stop.

  Lissa was running out but Layne saw Jasper, Tripp, Keira and Seth Cosgrove standing in the yard, each with a can of pop in their hands.

  Seth broke away and slowly approached the Suburban as Ryker hopped down. Layne exited the other side and watched Rocky wander out behind Lissa, Devin on her heels. By the time Layne rounded the hood, Ryker had Alexis in his arms. She was awake but not herself. She slid her thin arms around his huge shoulders just as Lissa collided with them, her arms spanning them both, she burst into tears.