by K. J. Dahlen
Gage swept her into his arms and looked over at Caine.
Caine frowned. “Put her in my room. I’ll watch over her tonight. The rest of you guys keep watch. The first sign of the Reapers, let us know and we’ll take care of them.”
Gage took her down the hall to the first bedroom.
Caine watched them go and he ran his fingers through his dark hair.
Lonnie stepped over to the bar and grabbed a handful of cold beers. “What do you think of her story?”
Caine sighed. “I don’t know. If it’s true, she’s in a hell of a lot of trouble.”
“Do you think her father really sold her to the Reapers?” Benjy asked.
“No I don’t think he did. If he was drunk when it happened, he likely didn’t realize what was going on. I doubt he would remember the transaction. Lyle is a bastard about shit like that.”
Lonnie snorted as he brought the bottle of beer to his lips. “He damn near got arrested last time he tried this shit. He just took the girl right of the street and he and his group gang raped her. When the police found her she was hurt pretty bad. They were going to charge him with rape but a day or so later, the girl changed her mind, then she disappeared. No one really knows what happened to her. Rumor was she left town but that’s just it, a rumor.”
“Whatever happened to Georgia, we have to keep her safe until we know what really went down. If the Reapers are going cause trouble we have to figure out why and try to stop it,” Caine told his men.
When Gage returned, he grabbed a beer and drunk the whole thing without stopping or saying a word to anyone. All he did was glare at Caine.
Caine ignored him. After waiting to hear if their area had been breached by the Reapers, he went down the hall to his room. He closed the door softly behind him and went to stand over the bed. He looked down at the woman sleeping there.
She appeared to be small woman, barely five feet tall if he wasn’t mistaken. Her hair dark in color and fell to the middle of her back. He noted when she awoke earlier, her eyes had been pale blue, almost a silver color and when she was afraid, they darkened to a slate grey color.
The brief glimpses he had of her body had told him she had good size breasts but he hadn’t looked too hard. He’d been more concerned with her injures rather than ogling her body. Her face and chest had been covered in bruises, so he couldn’t really tell what she looked like but at the moment, that didn’t matter. What did matter was keeping her safe and out of the hands of the Reapers.
When she began whimpering in her sleep, he took off his boots and his cut then he laid down with her. Gathering her in his arms, he calmed her down. Then when she went to sleep again, he laid there for the longest time staring into the dark. Finally, just before dawn he drifted to sleep.
Chapter Three
Georgia groaned in her sleep. Her body felt too hot and she kicked the covers off. She was caught up in a nightmare but nothing made sense to her. Distorted faces rocked her dreams and she cried out in fear. Arms tightened around her and she fought to be free of the forces that would hurt her. A buzzing noise filled her head but she couldn’t make out what the noise could be.
The arms tightened around her. “Shhhh…” a voice tried to calm her thrashing. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He had to repeat his statement several times before it penetrated.
Georgia calmed down and came awake enough to listen to his words. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into his blue eyes. It was the leader Caine, she remembered he said his name to her earlier. “Where am I?” she whispered.
“You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you.” Caine frowned as he felt the heat rolling off her body. Her cheeks looked flush and she had sweat beading on her forehead. “You had a nightmare.” He paused and studied her some more. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.
“I’m thirsty and I don’t feel very good.”
“Let me get you a drink.” He opened his arms and released her. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he got to his feet. Walking to the bathroom, he ran water into a glass and brought it back for her. Handing her the glass, he watched as she gulped it down. He frowned and told her, “Drink it slowly, you don’t want to get sick.”
Georgia couldn’t help it her throat felt so dry. Her body felt overheated and she needed to cool down. Her nausea was back and she did feel like she would vomit, but she held it back. Handing the glass back to him over half full, she groaned and fell back on the bed. “Oh god, I don’t feel so good.” She groaned.
“Do you need the bathroom?” he asked.
Georgia nodded slowly. “That might be a good idea.”
Caine set the glass on the table and assisted her to her feet.
Georgia groaned and with his help got to her feet. Her body ached in protest but she had to move. Her bladder was full and her nausea was kicking up again. When the blanket fell off her shoulders, she didn’t even care that her shirt was gone. She shuffled her feet forward and with his help, moved toward the bathroom.
“Can you manage by yourself?” Caine asked.
“I think so.”
Caine stepped out and closed the door behind him but he didn’t latch it shut.
Georgia held onto the sink as she made her way the last few steps to the toilet. She barely got seated when her bladder let loose, and she closed her eyes in relief. When she finished, she got up and pulled her clothes back on. Then she looked into the mirror above the sink and groaned at the sight of her face.
The door cracked open and she saw Caine standing there.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, I was just taking stock of the damage.”
Caine opened the door fully and came to her. “I wouldn’t take too much notice in what happened. Bruises heal quickly.” He handed her the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders again.
Georgia groaned as she pulled the blanket around her body. “But who knew they hurt so much…”
Caine smiled faintly. “Yeah, they do that but even over time, the hurt fades.”
Georgia gazed into the mirror and caught his eyes. “There may not be that much time.” She frowned as she tried to determine what time of the day it was. “What time is it?” she asked.
Caine glanced over at the window in his room. “It’s still dark outside, so the sun isn’t up yet, why?”
“We need to leave before they find us,” she insisted. “Daylight might be too late.”
“Excuse me?” he frowned. “What does that mean?”
“I need to get out of here. It isn’t safe. I need to get a message to a friend. Can you help me?”
Caine searched her reflection in the mirror and shook his head. “You can’t even walk on your own yet. I don’t think you’re up to going anywhere, except back to bed.”
Georgia stumbled toward him. She hated that her body was so weak. Sweat poured from her forehead and began running down the sides of her face. “You don’t understand, this is important. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I have a feeling something terrible is about to happen here.” She swayed as she spoke.
Caine frowned and grabbed her. Pulling her close to him, he stared into her face. “You’re going back to bed. We can talk about this later.”
“No.” She tried to shake her head but got too dizzy. Groaning, she laid her head against his chest. “I need to get a hold of my friend. This cannot wait.”
Caine swept her into his arms and carried her back to the bed. “You aren’t going anywhere until you feel better.” As soon as he laid her back down, she tried to roll to the other side. When she tried to sit up Caine grabbed her and laid her back down.
Holding her down by her shoulders, he didn’t understand why she wouldn’t quit struggling. “You can’t go anywhere right now. You have a fever. One more day isn’t going to make a difference.”
Georgia struggled as much as she could against his hold and her strength gave out a lot sooner than she hoped it would. “I can’t be si
ck right now. I need to get a hold of Mountain. I have to tell him what I found out.”
A slight knock sounded at the door and Caine called out, “Come in.”
When the door opened, Gage and a couple others came in. “What’s going on?” Gage asked as he looked between Caine and Georgia.
Caine shook his head. “She woke up with a fever a little while ago. She can barely walk on her own but she is insisting on leaving. She wants to get a message to her friend.”
Gage glanced around at the other men before he turned his gaze to Caine and Georgia. “What kind of message does she want to get to him?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ve been trying to get her to rest.” Caine shook his head.
Georgia glanced over to Gage. “Can you help me? I can’t stay here. I need to get word to Mountain about what I know. If the Reapers find me, they’ll kill me first then ask questions.”
Gage searched her face and found her eyes were filled with fever. He knew what Caine knew. She wouldn’t be going anywhere, at least until her fever broke. But he could also see she wouldn’t rest until she got a message to this Mountain guy either. He’d heard the name before but he’d never met anyone with that name. Gage had to wonder how she met him. “Who is this guy? Maybe we can get word to him.”
“He belongs to the Sons of Satan over in Sabine Pass, just on the other side of the Texas border,” she told them.
Caine got to his feet and backed away from the bed. He stared at her before looking around at his own men. “How the hell do you know the Sons of Satan?” he finally asked.
They all knew that the man they called Mountain was almost a legend in this area. He’d earned his nickname and some people were leery of that group.
Georgia closed her eyes. She was so lightheaded at the moment. “I met some of them once,” she murmured.
“Yeah, well I don’t think you’re going anywhere today. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be better. We can drop you off then,” Caine suggested.
Georgia struggled to sit up. Between the fever and her lightheadedness, she couldn’t quite manage it. She flopped back down on the bed and began to cry. “You don’t understand. I have to get out of here. If the Reapers find me, they will kill everyone here.”
Gage frowned at her statement. “The Reapers won’t hurt anyone, not without cause. We’ve never given them a reason to come after us. They might all be bastards but I haven’t heard of them just committing murder.”
Georgia shook her head. “You don’t understand. I need to talk to Mountain. Please take me to Mountain.”
Caine knelt down beside her. “Honey, you can’t go until your fever breaks. You aren’t going anywhere, not today anyway. Maybe tomorrow we can try to find this guy, but you need your rest today.”
“Tomorrow might be too late,” she whispered as tears rolled down her face.
“What does that mean?” Caine frowned.
Georgia’s eyes widened as she remembered what she heard the night before. “Oh my god, this could be the distraction they need to make. We aren’t safe here.”
“Slow down,” Caine urged. “What are you talking about?”
“The Reapers have to distract the police and draw everyone’s attention away from something that’s going to happen.” She tried to sit up by grabbing Caine’s shirt to pull herself up. “When they see I’m gone, they are going to look for me and if they find me here, we all could be in trouble.”
“Honey, they aren’t going to come in here guns blazing.” Caine shook his head. “That would be just plain stupid on their part.”
“But you don’t understand,” she cried out. “They might. They need something to distract the cops and draw everyone’s attention away from the gulf area.”
“Why?” Gage asked. “Why would they need to do something like that?”
“I don’t know. It has to do with the other men that were there.”
“What other men?” Lonnie wanted to know. “What’s going on here?”
“I don’t know!” Georgia cried out. “I need to get to Mountain. He would be able to figure this out.”
Caine laid her back down on the bed. “What if one of the guys takes your message to this Mountain?”
Georgia shook her head. “You don’t understand. The Reapers are going to do something very bad. This would only be the beginning of whatever they are going to do. No one around here is safe.”
“What about the other men you mentioned,” Gage stated. “What do they want?”
“I don’t know.” Fresh tears ran down her cheeks. “I didn’t hear everything I only heard this other group has paid the Reapers a lot of money to distract the authorities for the next week or so.”
Caine searched her face for a moment then looked at Gage. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No it doesn’t,” Gage agreed. “And she might be right. Shooting us if they find her here would distract everyone, and it could very well be just the beginning of their mayhem. Maybe we should get the hell out of here for a while?”
“Can you and a couple of the others ride to Sabine Pass and get her message to Mountain?” Caine asked.
Gage nodded. “I can take Sal and Lonnie with me.”
“Okay, we can wait just this side of the border until we know more about what’s going on,” Caine stated.
“What do we tell this Mountain guy?” Gage asked her.
“Please tell him I need him to keep his promise. The one he made me at Shadow Lake. I’ll tell him everything but I’ll only tell him, no one else.”
Caine frowned. “What haven’t you told us?”
“Please, I need to tell Mountain first.”
Caine tightened his lips in frustration. “You can trust us as well as somebody else. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
Georgia laid her hand on his thigh. “I know that. And I have told you most of it. I just really need to talk to Mountain.”
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Caine insisted. “We’ll take you to the Louisiana border while Gage and a couple of the others ride into Sabine Pass. They can take your message to Mountain while we wait for his response.”
“But we’ll all go?” Georgia asked with desperation in her eyes.
Caine nodded. “We can all go along.” He shrugged. “We aren’t that big as a group but every one of us matters to the rest.” He got to his feet and went over to a dresser. From one of the drawers he pulled out a t shirt and a pair of shorts. Handing them to her he said, “Maybe you should change your clothes. You might not want to be seen in bloody clothing, if you don’t want people to remember who you’re with.”
Georgia nodded. “I don’t know that I can ride on a bike though. I’ve never ridden one before.”
“I have to take my truck. I have two dogs I’m not leaving behind,” Caine replied. “Gage and the boys will leave right away. When you’re ready, we’ll follow them. I have to load my wheels anyway.”
Gage nodded. “Sabine Pass is only an hour away. By the time you guys get there, we may know more to tell you.”
Caine agreed. “Yeah, while she’s getting ready, we can get my bike loaded on the truck. We shouldn’t be that far behind you.”
Gage turned to leave when Caine called out, “If she’s right, we all need to be careful. The Reapers would have found her gone by now.”
Gage grinned. “I won’t start any problems but I won’t stop them either. Anybody takes a pot shot at me and I’m gonna shoot back.”
“They might miss you but I know damn well, you won’t miss them. Just be careful,” Caine warned as they left the room.
Georgia swung her feet over the side of the bed. She found she couldn’t raise her arms to get the t shirt over her head as her body trembled
Caine turned to watch her struggle then asked, “Do you need some help?”
Georgia looked up at him with tears of pain and frustration in her eyes. “Yes, please. I can’t even get dressed. I’m a mess.”
Caine looked angry. “Honey, you just got be
at up and now you have a fever. This is why it’s not a good idea to go anywhere right now. You need to get some rest and recover a little.”
“I can rest later, we need to get out of here now,” Georgia insisted.
Gage, Lonnie and Sal watched the road all the way to the Texas border. They’d heard cycles in the distance but so far, they hadn’t seen any. They even heard gunshots in the distance. This fact led them all to believe Georgia’s warning about the Reapers causing trouble. Instead of turning back to find out what was going on, they pushed forward. When they were far enough away, Gage did stop long enough to send Caine a text though. He wanted the others to be safe.
When they hit the border, Gage got a text from Caine. They were on their way. Gage sent Caine a text back warning him of hearing gunshots and cycles then he and the others pushed forward and by the time they got to the outskirts of Sabine Pass, the sun was well up. The Texas heat was strong even at this early hour, and as they made their way into Sabine Pass, Gage, Lonnie and Sal began to sweat.
As the got closer to the Sons of Satan compound, Gage began noticing things. He saw hidden towers and chain link fencing topped with barbed wire with nothing behind it. At least nothing he could see. Then he saw a cluster of buildings in the distance. The closer he got, the more the buildings began to look like a small city.
The main building looked like a large warehouse. Over the main door, he saw the emblem of the MC. The snarling blood red face of Satan. There were several smaller buildings surrounding the main one and they all looked like separate housing units. There was also an auto shop and a garage. The whole area was kept up with some grassy areas but mostly rock paths. The roads were all paved with gravel. On the whole, the area looked well cared for.
The structures were well back from the fence line with a clear line of sight and there were lines and lines of parked bikes. When they reached the main gate, three or four men stepped up.
Only one came to where they were waiting. “Can I help you?” he asked.
“I have to speak with Mountain,” Gage told him.
