He just sat there. He wasn’t looking at me and I honestly couldn’t tell if he was even listening to me. This was turning out to be a total waste of time. “It was stupid of me to come here. I thought you would be able to help her! She won’t let me in! She won’t talk! You won’t talk! I know something is wrong. You just sit there in your self-centered silence and do nothing. I will figure out another way to handle it.”
I stormed out of his room and let my rage keep my tears at bay. I paced around his floor several times like a crazy woman. When the nurses started to eyeball me like they were considering trying to catch me with a butterfly net and haul me to the mental health floor, I decided it was probably a good time to head back to my dad’s room.
I arrived to find my dad and Copper deep in conversation. Neither had noticed how long I was gone and neither questioned it when I returned. “You guys look like you’re in the middle of something. Do you want me to wait outside?”
“No, of course not, baby girl. Come on in.” Dad looked me over from head to toe. “Something wrong?”
I sat down on the edge of his bed and let my shoulders sag forward like I had the weight of the world on my back. “Yes. I’m worried about Reese. Something is up with her but I don’t know what. Carbon tells me to let her be when she gets in one of her moods, but that’s obviously not solving anything. It just gives her time to push her issues to the back of her mind until they surface again. Rinse and repeat. On top of that, Duke has apparently taken a vow of silence and refuses to speak. I just don’t know what to do.”
My dad took my hand in his much larger, severely bruised and battered one, “Baby girl, sometimes there is nothing you can do, no matter how much you want to. I know you want to help Reese, especially because she has done so much for you, but this time, I don’t think there is anything for you to do except let her know that you love her and you’ll be there for her when and if she needs you.”
My head popped up, “You know what’s going on with her?”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t, but I do know her brother and a good bit about what their family has been through. No one goes through all that and comes out unscathed, but that’s not my story to tell.”
I sighed again, “I don’t like it, but it sounds like there really isn’t anything I can do, other than be there for her.” I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Dad.”
CHAPTER 31
Dash
Three days after we found him locked in Octavius’s basement, Phoenix came walking through the clubhouse doors and shocked the shit out of everyone. He was limping and struggling, apparently he refused to use crutches, but he was there.
Shouts of “Phoenix” or “Prez” and some form of “Welcome home” greeted him.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were getting out? We would have had someone pick you up,” Badger asked, sounding a bit offended.
Copper appeared from behind Phoenix. “I was there visiting when the doc sprung him, so I brought him.”
“He rode bitch on the back of your bike?” Badger asked, clearly not believing them.
“I ought to knock you on your ass for that,” Phoenix grunted.
Copper just laughed. “I had to pick up a few things, so I took a cage when I left this morning. Worked out well.” I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something did seem off about their explanation, not that I would ever accuse either one of them of bullshitting us.
Phoenix growled, “I’m here and that’s that. Where are they?”
“In the cells,” Badger answered. “Dash busted his ass putting up a new cell with solid walls, just for Octavius. Did a damn fine job, too.”
“I appreciate that, Dash. I’m going to visit our guests. Officers can come down. No one else.” With that, he hobbled toward the stairs that led to the basement. He looked like he was going to fall over at any second. I just knew he was going to go tumbling ass over elbow down the stairs, but I didn’t offer to help him because I didn’t have a death wish. Surprisingly, he made it down the stairs and to the cells without incident.
“Have we got them all identified?” Phoenix asked no one in particular.
Byte stepped forward with a piece of paper in his hands. “Yes we do. Everyone we have is listed on this paper with a basic description of who they are and what they did for Octavius.”
Phoenix took the paper and looked over it. He folded it and shoved it in his pocket without saying a word. He then walked into the walled off cell containing Octavius and closed the door. We all looked at each other worriedly.
“Should one of us go in there with him?” Carbon asked. Before any of us could answer, we heard a sharp cry of pain and then Phoenix hobbled out the door. “Church!” he bellowed.
He was in a mood, a foul mood, which was a rarity for Phoenix. He was a force to be reckoned with and not a man I would ever want to cross, but he was rarely this cold and calculating. He slammed the gavel down on the table and started without preamble. “We’re going to get some of the drugs similar to what Octavius injected me with and pump him full, to the point he’s near death. We are going to carefully string him up and stage it to look like he hung himself. The drugs should slow his breathing and heart rate enough to make it look like he is dead. We’ll even put some makeup or some shit on him and really make him look dead. We have a contact at the funeral home that can help us with any documentation we need to prove that he hung himself, they picked him up, and cremated him. Backing up a bit, after he is discovered in his cell, we’ll let a few of his people see him hanging there. After the funeral home comes to pick him up, we will call in the local authorities and fill them in on what we know about the farm. Since we also have contacts in the department and are handing over a huge case to them, they will overlook the little lapse in time between our discovery and our call to them. Once the cops have taken them all away and finished getting our statements, Octavius will be brought back here for me to deal with in any way I choose for as long as I see fit. Any objections?”
All hands went up in the air except for mine. Badger was the first to speak. “Are we missing something here? Why do you want to keep Octavius here as your personal torture toy?”
Phoenix fell back into his chair. “Fuck! Sorry, boys, the pain meds are fucking with my head. I was so damn focused on making sure I didn’t fuck up my plan of action, I forgot that I hadn’t told any of you, with the exception of Dash, the reasons behind all this.”
All heads turned to me. “He told me to keep it to myself until he had a chance to tell all of you himself, so that’s what I did. The only reason I heard it before you all is because I was at the hospital with Ember and she was going to need someone to lean on after he told her.”
Phoenix cleared his throat to get the room’s attention. “That was my decision and I stand by it. While this is club business, this is also my family business. More so than any of us originally thought. Ember had the right to know first and as my future son-in-law, so did Dash. Now, quit your bitching and listen up ‘cause I ain’t going to tell it a second time.”
Phoenix spent the next hour retelling the story of his past and how Octavius was involved. It took quite a bit longer than when he told Ember and I due to frequent angry outbursts from the men Phoenix had appointed as officers of his club, who were also his closest friends, his brothers.
When all was said and done, Phoenix called for a vote on his plan for Octavius and his men. It was approved unanimously.
I felt sure we would be dismissed after the vote, but that wasn’t the case. Phoenix pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. He smoothed it out and started reading off the names and descriptions. It was the list Byte had given him earlier.
When he finished, he looked pointedly at each one of us. “Tell me, brothers, if this is a complete list of our captives, where the fuck is his son?”
Men cursed, fists banged the table, someone jumped to their feet so quickly it caused their chair to crash to the floor. How in the hell did we mis
s that? I knew Coal was posing as his son, but I assumed his real son had been one of the ones captured the night we found Phoenix. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Quiet!” Phoenix bellowed, louder than he should be able to given the state of his ribs. “Obviously, he’s still out there. My best guess is that he’s been running the farm since we nabbed all of their top dogs. That would explain why things appear to be running smoothly out there instead of the complete chaos I expected once the slaves figured out all of the ‘executives’ were MIA.”
“You want us to go get him?” Carbon asked excitedly.
“No. We’ll let the cops get him when they raid the farm. If we show up out there in those SUV’s again, he’ll know it’s us and he’ll run. He may try to run when the cops swarm the place, but he won’t be able to get very far, not after Ember fills them in on every secret passage, trap door, hidden room, and underground tunnel that exists out there. Only way in or out is with the chip in their cars. A strip or two of tire spikes will stop anyone trying to escape with one of the vehicles.” Phoenix shrugged. “It’s a huge property with a large amount of places to hide. It may take more than a day or two, but they’ll find him.”
The room fell silent for a few beats, which I took to think over this last chunk of information Phoenix just delivered. “Let that be a lesson to you boys. When you think you’ve tied up every loose end, crossed all your t’s, and dotted all your i’s, go back and look over everything at least two more times. Lucky for us all, this time everything came out just fine. It could have just as easily royally fucked us all. That’s all I’m going to say about it, because I am damn proud of how everyone pulled together and how quickly you boys got shit turned around when it went sideways. Damn proud! Now, let’s get this shit done so we can celebrate!” He slammed the gavel down, effectively dismissing us.
***
The next morning, I got out of bed when it was still dark outside, careful not to disturb Ember. I met Carbon at the basement door. He stood there with his creepy, evil grin and a large syringe twirling back and forth between his fingers. “Ready?” he asked, far too chipper for the time and the task at hand.
“Yep.” I followed him quietly down the stairs and into the cell containing Octavius. We silently slipped inside. I quickly placed my hand over Octavius’s mouth and nose, preventing any air from entering or escaping, thus silencing any protests he would have made. Carbon quickly jammed the needle in his neck and pressed down on the plunger. Not even a full minute passed before Octavius went limp. “He’s out,” I whispered.
Carbon nodded. He wordlessly picked up a sheet and began tying it into a makeshift noose. Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that I should be alarmed at how fast and accurate Carbon was at creating nooses out of sheets. When he was finished, we hoisted Octavius up, careful to not actually cut off his air supply. We slipped out of his cell and back upstairs without being noticed.
We didn’t wait long to come down the stairs with breakfast for our prisoners. Usually, we fed them much later in the morning, but they had no idea what time it was, which worked to our advantage. I was the one to go in and “find” Octavius. I yelled for help, telling the other brothers to get Patch. I left the door wide open so the other prisoners could see me trying to hold Octavius’s body up. Carbon rushed in to help me while we waited for Patch. He flew down the stairs with his medical bag, acted like he was checking Octavius over, then shook his head and told us he was gone. We cut him down and placed him back on his bed. Hector and the other men were screaming and yelling, some angry, some sad, some silent with shock. Whatever, as long as they bought it.
We made a big show of “calling the authorities” to report the death. Two guys that Phoenix got from who knows where came in dressed in cheap suits, asked some questions, jotted a few notes in little notebooks, told us to call the funeral home, and left.
Phoenix’s contact at the funeral home came over to pick up Octavius’s body. He loaded his limp, seemingly lifeless body onto the stretcher and wheeled him away. Instead of putting his body in the hearse and taking him to the funeral home, he pushed the stretcher into an empty room near the back of the clubhouse. Carbon and I followed him into the room to handcuff Octavius’s arms and legs to the stretcher, as well as place a gag in his mouth in case he woke up. Patch stayed there to monitor him and make sure he stayed alive.
Once everyone had finished their assigned tasks for the morning, we all gathered in the common room. Phoenix clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I’m going to place a call to my buddy down at the police department so we can get those fuckwads out of my clubhouse and finally put an end to that damn farm. We’ve been over this several times, what to say and what not to say. If any one of you feels like you can’t handle this, speak up now.” He paused and made a point to meet each and every brother’s eyes, even the prospects’. “Good. Let’s get to it.”
***
There were freaking pigs everywhere, crawling all over the clubhouse, trying to get statements from everyone, including our captives. Phoenix suggested they move the party down to the police station, but they were having none of that.
Slipping quietly from the room, I grabbed Carbon and hoped our exit went unnoticed. I grabbed a large laundry bin that we used for the general clubhouse laundry, like towels, dishcloths, and shit. I pushed it as quickly and quietly as I could to the room we had Octavius in. Patch jumped to stand in front of him when I opened the door. “It’s just me and Carbon. We’ve got to get him out of here before they find him. They are coming up with every excuse in the book to enter the bedrooms.”
“His vitals are coming back up, so I don’t necessarily need to watch over him anymore. He’s not in danger of dying from an overdose, but he shouldn’t be waking up anytime soon either,” Patch informed us.
“Good. Let’s dump his ass in here and move him to the shed furthest out. Maybe even the one by the lake if we can make it that far without being discovered,” I suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Carbon agreed. The big bastard removed the cuffs from Octavius and tossed him into the bin as if he weighed nothing. He didn’t even break a sweat. Carbon grinned at me, flexed his arm muscles, and said, “I drank my milk and ate my vegetables.”
“Shut the fuck up, man. We don’t have time for this right now.” We covered the top of the bin with a fitted sheet and discretely wheeled it out the back door. We did have an industrial sized washer and dryer in one of the sheds out back, so I headed in that direction in case we were spotted.
We made it to the laundry shed without incident. “You think we should put him in here or you want to try to make it out to the lake?” I asked. I would rather have him farther away, but we would have to risk being seen to do it.
“I think we can get him to the shed by the lake. Move out of the way and let me push that thing. Try and keep up, junior.”
He wasn’t kidding. The big beast of a man should not be able to move that fast. I had to jog, at a fast pace, to keep up with him. When we reached the shed, Carbon repositioned Octavius, cuffed his arms and legs to the bin, pushed it inside, locked the door, and dusted his hands off. “That’s how it’s done.” The cocky son of a bitch.
We returned to the clubhouse to find that even more officers had arrived. I made my way over to Phoenix, “Got started on some of the laundry that was piling up since it looks like we won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. It was starting to stink and I figured you didn’t want the whole clubhouse smelling like it. What did I miss?”
Phoenix didn’t miss a beat. “Good thinking, brother. I like my clubhouse fresh and clean. You didn’t miss much. As I expected, this is too big for the local boys to handle. The ones that have just gotten here are federal agents from one or more of the three-letter agencies.”
“Shouldn’t they be heading out to the farm instead of hanging around here?”
Phoenix sighed, “They want to get all the info from us and the local officers and formulate a plan before the
y go out there. That one right there,” he pointed to a well-dressed man in his early forties, “is the one in charge. That’s Luke Johnson, served in the marines with him. He asked if they could set up a makeshift command center here in the common room. I’m not happy about it, but I couldn’t exactly say no either. You, Carbon, and Byte go make sure shit is locked up tight and do it without drawing attention to yourselves.”
“Got it. You need anything else?”
“Yeah. When you’re finished with that, wake my daughter up and let her know what’s going on. They’ll want to talk to her at some point. I’m surprised they haven’t asked for her already.”
***
Finally, the clubhouse was free of anyone related to law enforcement. They stayed all day. I think they would have stayed longer, but Phoenix plainly stated that his daughter’s safety was his number one concern; therefore, the gates would be locked at 10pm and would not open again until the morning. If they didn’t want to be locked in for the night, they needed to pack up and leave. They gathered their belongings and scurried off to the only motel in Croftridge.
I sat back on one of the sofas and put my arm around Ember’s shoulders. “How you doing, sweetheart?”
“Okay, I guess. None of this stuff bothered me, but I’m still worried about Reese and I’m also worried about my dad. He’s doing too much. He just got out of the hospital yesterday.”
I kissed her temple and pulled her closer to me. “He’s a grown man, darlin’. He can handle himself.”
Dash Page 20
