by Rae B. Lake
“I should punch you in the fucking jaw Clean, I need to know everything. Not just what you think is relevant. What else do you know?”
“Well like I said, Cleve was taken out. The police aren’t looking into it which is a bit concerning. Thad, the VP has now taken the president seat, and that club has grown by six members since the shooting. No other crew has been implicated in the shooting of Cleve. Honestly, it seemed like once Cleve hit the dirt, a lot of good things started to happen for the Cobras.”
“What do you mean, the police aren’t looking into the shooting? Didn’t a civilian get taken out? You think the Cobras got local PD in their pockets?” Prez walked back over to the other side of the room, pacing back and forth like a caged lion.
“I can’t say for sure but I can look into it.”
“Yeah, you do that.’ Prez stopped in his tracks ready to give out orders, “Archer, you got your head on right?”
“Yeah Prez, I’m good, what do you need?”
“You go with Clean, back him up.”
“You got it.”
Clean and I walked to the back room to get what equipment we might need. My rifle was stowed away in the gun closet, I raised my hand to get it but my fingers trembled before I could even wrap my hand around the grip.
“You don’t need to come with me for this, I am just going to be staking shit out, not even talking to anyone,” Clean said from behind me, I turned to see he was staring at my hand. I’m sure he didn’t want back up from someone with the shakes.
“Thanks, brother.” I turned to go back to my room. I thought I was through with the detox portion of my drinking binge, guess I was wrong.
“Clean, did you find out any information about the woman that got hit? Did she die?”
He turned towards me, a skeptical look on his face, “Nah she didn’t die, she’s still at the hospital last I heard. She didn’t snitch though, so nothing to worry about there.”
A weight I didn’t know I was carrying flew off my chest, “Really, how is she? Do you know any further information? What hospital.”
“Wow, calm down brother, we don’t need all that info.” Clean tried to leave but I put my hand out to stop him.
Again with this shit!
“We do!” I took a deep breath to calm down. “I do. Please brother.”
“Fine. Her name is Daria Lummock, she’s 25 years old and from what I can tell she is a web designer. She isn’t affiliated with any crew, she was there with her roommates. Is that good enough, or did you want to know the color of her underwear too?”
“Yeah, that’s good, thank you.” The wheels in my head started to turn.
“Archer, leave her alone. She hasn’t reached out to press any charges but if we go around harassing her she might change her mind. The last thing we need on the top of war is problems with the law.”
“I know brother, I’m not going to bother her.” I walked to the door trying to think about the information that I had. “Give me a call if you need me for anything.”
There was no way I was just going to sit on this information. The fact that she was alive was more than I could have hoped for. I thought for sure that she was dead, that I was again responsible for extinguishing the light of an innocent. I felt the beginnings of joy, I don’t think I would’ve been able to live with myself if I had killed that woman. I closed my eyes and for the first time since all this shit went down instead of seeing her pale skin, eyes closed and blood pooling around her pillow soft hair, I could finally see her eyes opening, a pink flush painting her cheeks and her hair bouncing with movement. I could see it, just not clearly, I was never a man of great imagination and I had only ever seen her close to death.
How bad would it be if I just went to go see her, no one would ever know.
Before I even had a chance to stop myself I was moving towards the front of the clubhouse. I would just make sure that she was ok. I wouldn’t tell her who I was and she had no way of knowing. There was a possibility that someone from the Cobra’s was watching her and that was why she didn’t tell the cops anything but I could sneak in. I doubted anyone would know who I was just from my face, I mean all of my work took place a hundred or more yards away from my target. Still, I took as few chances as possible, I wore a coat over my kutte and if I saw anyone that could cause any trouble, I would be out of there fast.
Yeah, this is a good plan.
I don’t know if I really believed that, but I was going to go through with it, I had to. I got into my truck deciding to leave my bike at the clubhouse, if any of the Cobras were there, they would surely notice my bike and that would definitely cause problems we didn’t need.
I took the longest possible route to Grady Memorial and didn’t find one reason to turn back toward the clubhouse. I parked and looked around the perimeter of the hospital to see if I spotted anyone I knew lurking about.
Stop being such a wuss, there is no one here watching her.
I got out and made my way to the information desk. “Excuse me, can you let me know what room Daria Lummock is in?”
“Sure thing, give me one second.” The man at the information desk turned to the computer typing in my request and searching the database. “She is on the 3rd floor, room 317.”
“Ok, thank you.”
I made my way to the elevator bank and pressed the button indicating that I wanted to go up. My eyes were darting from side to side, watching for anyone who could be following me. All I needed was to bring more trouble to this girl.
The doors opened and two tall blonde women slithered their way out of the elevator, making sure they got as close to me as possible without actually grabbing me.
“Oh, yum-my.” The first blond enunciated each syllable in the word as she angled her body so her fake balloon boobs would brush against me.
“I’ll console you if you need.” The other blond said with a fake giggle. I gave them a polite smile and got into the elevator. I looked them over once before I pressed the button for the floor I needed. They didn’t intrigue me in the least, I knew from one glance that they didn’t have what I needed to please me and I wasn’t going to waste my time.
I walked out of the elevator on the third floor and made my way to Daria’s room. I stopped in front of her room and looked through the window, I felt my face turn up in a slight smile as I watched the machines next to her beep signifying that her heart was beating.
“Do you need some help?” A nurse asked from behind me.
“No, I was just coming to visit but it looks like she is sleeping.”
“Oh yeah, the poor girl hasn’t been sleeping well. I could let her know that you came to visit.”
“No that is ok, I’ll come back in a little while to check up on her.” I was surprised that the words came out of my mouth quick as they did. There was no reason for me to come back. I could see her with my own two eyes, I could see that she was alive and breathing. Even though her cheeks were the pink color that I imagined, I couldn’t tell what her eyes looked like. I had to know. I stood off to the side for a second daydreaming about the first time that I would be able to see her open her eyes, trying to find a way to explain my presence without scaring her. Before I could get too lost in my thoughts, my phone began to ring.
I stuffed my hand into my jeans, fumbling to get to my phone before the shrill ring woke Daria up. I wanted to see her awake but I wasn’t ready just yet.
“What!” I answered without even looking at the display to see who was calling.
“Bro, I need you.” Clean was whispering but I could hear him loud and clear.
“Location?”
“Just outside Macton, there is a small farm area. I’m just past the first field. Get here fast.”
“On my way, sit tight.” I turned on my heels not even concerned now with who saw me and ran out of the hospital. I jumped into my truck and put the pedal to the metal. Macton was over thirty minutes away. There was an edge in Clean’s voice that scared me a bit. It didn’t sound l
ike he was in any immediate danger but whatever was happening, he was in a bad spot. I got to Macton within twenty minutes. I saw the small farmhouse and parked directly in front. I pulled out my sidearm and did a quick scan of the area. The inside of the farmhouse looked immaculate; in fact it was too clean. It seemed like someone went to a lot of trouble to keep the place clean but it didn’t look like it was lived in. There was only one reason to keep an empty house this clean, it was a fucking decoy. Once I made my first pass of the house, I walked carefully around to the back, making sure to stay as quiet and as low as possible. If there was anyone trolling around, I didn’t want to get caught with my head poking above the crops that were growing.
I made easy work running through the first field and looked around for a place where Clean could be hiding out. I didn’t see any sign of him out in the open and no struggle was evident, which was a good thing. The roar of a bike broke the silence of the air around me, I dropped down to the ground and waited for the sound to pass me. As soon as it did, I popped back up into a crouched position and watched as a bike with ape hanger handlebars flew down the dirt road. As I watched, it headed to one of the barns that were plopped haphazardly towards the east of the farm, where there was also a small stable with a few horses. That had to be where Clean was, I had to hope that he wasn’t in the barn. I made my way toward the stable and the second that I opened the door a hand flew out and tried to grab my face.
I spent six years in the United States Military and even though I excelled in marksmanship, my hand to hand training was exceptional. I was a trained killing machine in every sense of the word, so while most people would have seen this hand shooting out towards them and perceived it as an attack, I was already trying to figure out the best way to sever the arm and silence the victim. I grabbed hold of the appendage, bent the first two fingers and the wrist at an impossible angle, then waited for the split second the elbow joint came into view, bent that into another strange angle allowing me to press the arm to the back. I used my knee to buckle the person’s legs and allow his body to fall face-first into the dirt on the floor. I forced my body weight to land on top of him and made sure to mash down his face further into the ground. I didn’t want any sounds to come out of this man beside the subtle grunt of pain. All of this was done within a few seconds if there was anyone on the outside of the stables they would have never seen the exchange go down. I pulled my hand up, ready to deliver the final blow that would render my assailant unconscious, and that was when I saw the Wings on the kutte. Shit, Clean.
Whoops.
“Shit, Clean, my bad! You good?” I reached down and helped my brother up as he wiped the dirt off his face.
“You’re lucky I didn’t want to bring anyone over here. I would have thrown you through that wall.”
“Yeah, you wish. You’ll never get the drop on me.” I smiled and crouched down where he was already set up. Though I am pretty fucking sure if he ever got the drop on me, Clean would be one hell of an opponent. He was raw strength, he may not have the training I did but if he put all his superhuman strength into one hit I would have a hard fucking time getting up from it.
“What’s going on here, I’d rather not be sitting around horse shit right now?” I asked looking out to the barn I saw the motorcycle go towards. It was the same place Clean was looking.
“I followed a black and white here, they were following a Cobra. At first, I thought that it was just a coincidence or that maybe they were going to raid the place. When they got here a few of the Cobra’s came out of the barn with bottles. Instead of the cops declining they took a drink right along with them. It’s a motherfucking party over there. I’m guessing they aren’t the cleanest cops on the force.”
“Ok, but we already knew that there were some bad eggs in the PD, so why are we sitting here about to get caught?” I asked trying to keep my voice down.
“Look over there, towards the back, one of the side doors is open. I’m assuming for ventilation.” Clean pointed where he wanted me to look and passed me a pair of binoculars that I hadn’t noticed he had. I took them and focused on the area I wanted to see.
Pussy ass cowards.
I sucked in a deep breath to keep my cool, everything in my body was telling me to run over there and help but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that. I could see at least three women all on beds, handcuffed to the metal headboards. Some of them in bikini tops while others were completely naked. Even from all the way over here I could see the discoloration on their skin which I guessed were bruising.
We were right all along, it was the Rolling Cobras that were taking these girls, but something else was wrong. Prior to Larry’s sister going missing, no one even knew that there was a problem with missing girls, let alone a huge barn probably filled with abducted girls. It seemed as if the Cobras were stepping up their game and becoming bolder
“Holy shit, do you know how many are in there?” I turned to Clean who hadn’t moved his gaze from the barn.
“I have seen half a dozen women in there, but I am sure there are more. I saw some Cobra’s and other dudes, though I’m not sure who they are, they look like they are on the higher end of the crime world.”
“Do you think, maybe, they are the ones that are buying these girls?”
“I would think so but I can’t be sure until I find out who they are.” Clean raised a small camera that I assumed he was using to take photos of the men that he was talking about. “I got a few shots maybe Prez knows something about it.”
“Look at you all prepared and shit.” I nudged him slightly. Clean is anything but responsible. He is loyal and non-judgmental, but he would leave his head rolling on the floor of his dirty ass room if it wasn’t attached to his neck. He is like the big ass kid brother no one knew they wanted.
“Shut the hell up, I can do a few things from time to time.”
“Let’s get up out of here.” Just as we began to stand up from our position a woman burst out of the side door of the barn. She was naked from the waist up and visibly bleeding from her face. She screamed and ran hard.
“Oh shit,” Clean said beside me, we couldn’t help her and risk our asses and if she came to this stable, she would bring the rest of the Cobra’s over here and we would be caught. If she didn’t change her direction quickly, we were fucked.
I watched as she tried her hardest to get away, her feet tripping over the various brush that had overgrown in the field. Her skin was the color of burnt honey and I could see the darker markings on her breast that looked like hickeys or bite marks. They were torturing this poor girl.
Two men on motorcycles raced after her, catching up to her quickly, laughing as they surrounded her.
“Please, please, just let me go!” She begged as she was being circled by the two bikes. She was a sitting duck with no way out.
I grabbed onto Clean to keep him down, I could feel the tension radiating off of him. I could only guess at what he was feeling, and if it were anything like what I was feeling, we wanted to tear the faces off those men for what they were doing to that girl.
“Please, I just want to go home.” She cried, her voice wobbling with the effort.
“Oh my girl, we’ll let you go if you want to go.” They stopped their bikes, one man walked up in front of her while the second walked up behind her, he grabbed her hair and yanked it so her face was looking up to the man in front of her.
“Please, please.” She was still begging.
“Shh, sweet thing, we’re going to let you go.”
I almost rose out of my position as I watched the man behind her reach behind his kutte and pull out his gun, place the nuzzle flush against the base of her skull and pull the trigger.
“Oh, what the fuck!” Clean whispered beside me.
There was nothing like feeling helpless, and that was exactly how I felt. But there was nothing we could do, especially if we wanted to get out alive.
I watched as the man standing in front of her began to laugh and wipe
chunks of the woman's brain off his face. The blood dripped down his face and stained the brown hair of his long beard.
“Come on, Mac, let’s get us another girl to party with.” The man who shot the girl grabbed hold of the man covered in blood and they turned toward the barn.
“We have to get out of here.” I held onto Clean and pulled him back to the opposite end of the stable. We had to get back to our club and tell our people what the hell was happening. There was no way Prez was just going to let this go down, not in our back yard. Not in our town.
Chapter 11
“Prez, if I didn’t know any better I would think that we took out the wrong Cobra,” Clean said as we stood in the church trying to explain to everyone this was more than just a few girls being kidnapped. This was a full-blown human trafficking and possibly a prostitution ring. All the worst shit you hear happening to girls overseas, but now happening in our fucking territory. Not only were we now worried about the Rolling Cobras but also a new group of players we didn’t know and how many local police seem to be in on it.
“Yeah, I am seeing that too, the numbers of missing girls have gone up since Cleve was taken out. It has to be Thad.” Prez said from his seat at the head of the table.
“How? There is no way, he just got into the chair. Maybe these mystery players are running things and the Cobras are just caught in the tide.” Ryder, our club treasurer suggested.
“Nah, if anyone was going to go against Cleve it would be Thad. He is the only one who knows the in’s and out’s of their club.”
“So that’s it then, let’s take him out,” Clean said without a care in the world.
The shit that happened earlier must have really bothered Clean, he wasn’t the ruthless type.
“No, we can’t do that, there are too many lives at stake here. We need to know about the women that were taken. Who’s pulling the strings on the other end? We need so much more information. No pun intended, but we need to cut the head off this snake.” Prez said.
