Need me? What good am I to anyone? I swore to love and protect her. I can’t give up on her now. They think Archangel has her. Why would they think that?
So I ask, and get an answer I suspect I was primed to hear.
Oh, Drummer made it sound innocent, a friendship growing between two people who had conversation over a coffee together. But what exactly would Olivia had shared with him? That she’s married to an asshole who barely speaks to her, who’s expressed a desire to find someone else, who doesn’t act like he wants the baby? Archangel must have been laughing his fucking ass off as he listened to her.
I’d made it easy by rejecting her.
Or was she so starved of affection she’d take it from anyone? Even from the man who was our worst enemy.
She didn’t know.
I’m hurt, raw, as though cut open and bleeding. But now’s not the time to retreat to my safe place. What Liv didn’t know didn’t save her, it hurt her.
With red-rimmed eyes, I stare around the table, then, raise the fingers on my right hand. A familiar gesture, attracting attention, conveying I want to speak. Prez nods his head.
“Stable door, horse gone and all that. But I propose a fuckin’ change.” My voice sounds, feels stronger than it has for ages. “We keep old ladies out of club business for good fuckin’ reason. But when we’ve got an enemy coming for the club, old ladies ought to be warned, ought to know what to look out for. Olivia hadn’t a clue who she was fuckin’ sitting down with. If she had, she’d have run a mile from this Gabe.”
“Seconded,” Wraith says.
“Agreed,” Peg says.
“Happy with letting them see a picture of someone, but with no information attached. Just a watch out for and beware,” Prez agrees. He stares at me. “Amy works off compound. She could have been fooled just like Olivia.”
“Now we’ve bolted the fuckin’ stable door, how are we going to get Hawk’s old lady back?”
Marvel’s referred to me as Hawk. I shrug. It’s just habit.
“It’s my fault,” I admit, sending an apology to Wraith. I’d been blaming him for letting her go out alone, but hadn’t that been what she’d been doing for weeks? It all comes down to one thing. “I took her off compound.” Should have known I’d fuck up.
“Not your fault!” the new VP snarls. “You left the club, Eli. We even helped you out. To us you weren’t fuckin’ club anymore. Problem is, Archangel didn’t get the memo.”
“He knew better than us.” Wizard stares at me. “You were still ours, always would be. You’re club. Our reaction to him taking Olivia proves that. He couldn’t have fuckin’ hurt us more if he’d taken my old lady.”
Heart growls, presumably at the thought his daughter, Amy, could have been taken.
I stare at them as an idea starts to take shape. With a rise and lowering of my shoulders, I shrug off all the excuses. It’s moving forward I’ve got to concentrate on. And that starts by, “I’m going back to the house,” I announce. My words are immediately misunderstood.
“Fuck!” Peg snarls. “You can’t do this by yourself, Eli, and we’re not asking you to. You need the club and you’ve got us, Brother. We just invited you to sit around this table, now you’re throwing that in our fuckin’ faces?”
I grin, evilly. An expression I know look’s eerily like my dad’s, and my eyes become cold as steel as the plan in my head begins to take shape. The mist parts as I begin to think clearer. “Not throwing anything back, Peg. I know I need your help and appreciate it, and can assure you, I’ll be fuckin’ using it. But as you said, we’ve left the club. It’s only Archangel who thinks there’s still a connection. What if we show him there’s not? What if I go it alone, trying to find Liv?”
Most of the brothers are looking confused. Throttle, though, he’s on my wavelength. He barks a laugh. “I can see where you’re coming from. We don’t give a damn about Eli and Liv,” he states. “Club goes on as normal. As far as anyone outside of this room knows, they’ve made their bed, they lie in it. Archangel wants to hit us where it hurts, well, we show this way doesn’t work.”
Wizard isn’t slow to catch up. “So we look like we’re going on as normal—”
“And like the proverbial swan, paddle as fuckin’ fast as we can under the water,” Dad finishes for him, also having caught up.
Blade sticks his knife into the tabletop, hard enough to make Wizard wince and glare. Undeterred, the ex-enforcer starts talking. “Could buy us some time if we don’t react the way Archangel expects us to. Problem. Archangel knew Olivia had gone out today. He must have had eyes on her. What if he’s been watching the house? If he has, he’ll have seen Devils going in and out of Eli’s house, and what’s more, Eli’s here now. How are we going to explain that?”
Wizard has a comeback immediately. “Eli is Drummer’s son, Olivia, Wraith’s daughter. Just because Eli’s out of the club, his parents will still likely be concerned. As for Eli being here now, well, he’s come to ask the club for help, and we’ll send him away with his tail between his legs.”
“No.” Dad’s eyes gleam. “If Eli’s going where I think he is, Archangel’s got to believe we’ve circled the wagons leaving both Eli and Liv on the outside.”
“What about Hound and Throttle?” Wraith asks. “They went to the house. Fuck, if he’s been watching, he’ll know he’s being played.”
I get back into the game. “Let’s think about what Archangel knows and doesn’t know. Two men today turned up in a cage, they weren’t on bikes wearing colours. Even if he’s got eyes on our house, Satan’s Devils don’t have a who’s who on any website so he’s unlikely to know Throttle and Hound are part of the club. They’ve never met face-to-face.”
“Unlikely, but it is not impossible.”
The door opens and Mouse steps in. I swivel around in my chair. Mouse nods at Prez, then holds up Liv’s phone. “He’s installed a tracking app. That’s how he knew where she was.”
“How?” I say, fast.
“Invisible code in a text he sent to her.” Mouse goes to his normal chair. “Very sophisticated and took me a moment to find.”
“When? When they first met?”
Mouse shakes his head. “No. That’s the sophistication, long before she listed him as a contact. He must have found her number somehow and sent a text telling her she’d have the chance to win a few thousand dollars for completing a survey. You know the sort of scamming shit that gets sent through. She opened the text, deleted it, but the damage was done. After that he could trace wherever her phone went, and would have rightly assumed she’d take it everywhere with her.”
For the first time in months I feel a kernel of something I recognise as excitement. “So he didn’t need eyes on the house.” My plan will work.
“What are you thinking, Eli?” Prez asks.
“I take Liv’s phone and as I said, return to the house. He’ll have traced the phone here, so I’ll let him know I came here for help, and you refused me. I’ll let him know I’m on my own.” I grimace, knowing if Archangel thinks he’s lost his hold over the club, he might just kill Olivia, anyway. But there’s a chance he’ll hold off, if sending her back in pieces isn’t going to get the results that he wants, and the only person who’ll meltdown is me.
“That’s all well and good,” Peg frowns, “but surely he’s not going to believe we’re just going to sit back and take the loss of one of our own?”
“Fuckin’ right we’re not,” Wraith growls. “And it’s not going to come to that. Eli, with all due respect—”
“You can’t rely on me?” I challenge, but wearily. He’s seen me at my worst, I don’t blame him.
“Eli won’t be on his own.” Prez stares down the table. “Physically, yes, but we’ll be doing what we can in the background. At the moment we’re in the dark, and Archangel thinks he’s got the better of us. We have no idea where he’s holding her, or what he plans to do with her.”
My gut rolls, but somehow I keep myself under contr
ol. “At the moment, I don’t know it’s Archangel I’ll be calling, do I? I’m a desperate man ringing every contact in her phone, trying to find out if anyone has seen her. I’ll address him as Gabe. I’m hoping it will give him pause for thought and us enough time to locate Liv and bring her home.”
“When Eli makes contact, I can try and find his location.” Mouse’s eyes gleam.
Wraith’s staring at me, then he turns his head and looks at the opposite end of the table. “Prez. This isn’t going to stop us doing all we can. If Eli can play his part convincingly, it could buy us some space or give us a location. If Eli can pull it off. If he can convince him the club doesn’t give a fuck… Lots of ifs…” When he pauses and looks at me again, I try my best to look like a man who can play the part assigned to him without falling apart. I have to. There’s too much at stake.
Wraith resume, “It will annoy him if he’s sitting back gloating, thinking we know exactly who’s got my daughter. He’ll think he’s sent us a plain and clear signal he knows we were responsible for sending him down.”
Peg looks thoughtful. “He’ll know we’ve got that message, but he’s shown his hand with nothing to bargain with, if we can convince him we’re not concerned about getting Olivia back.”
“He’ll be angry,” Rock inputs, his brow furrowing. “What’s to say he won’t harm Ollie and then move on to another plan?”
Prez gives me hard look. “Archangel’s cold. A narcissist with no conscience. He’ll accept without question that we can cut Olivia out of our hearts and thoughts. It’s the way he works, and what brought him down in the end.”
Wraith slams down his hand. “And that there’s the hole in your thinking, Eli, Prez. Archangel’s the devil incarnate. If Olivia isn’t useful to him, he’ll dispose of her.”
I hear Wraith, but I’ve taken that into consideration. I clear my throat loudly. “I’ll leave, go home. I’ll contact him, let him know I’m not getting support. I’ll act…” I break off, knowing I won’t be acting at all, “as if I’m a broken man. I’ll tell him I came to you, begged you for support, and that you turned me down. Now we… you’re forewarned.” I change it at the last minute, remembering I’m not part of the club anymore. “You go on lockdown. What he’s done is made it harder for himself. By taking Liv, he’s put you on guard.”
“What are you fuckin’ talking about?” Wraith snarls. “This plan will only work if we’re actively trying to hunt him down. We’re not going to hide out on the compound.”
Mouse waves his hand. “We will be working to find him. I’m planning on hacking into any CCTV footage we can find to try to track where he was heading when he left the coffee shop with Olivia. When Eli calls him, I can ping his phone. I’ll put feelers out on the dark web, see if anyone knows where he might be. We won’t stop searching, Wraith. Fuckin’ assure you of that.”
“We’ll leave no stone unturned,” Prez says. He’s an even better computer wizard. It’s how he got his name.
“What about the feds?” Rock puts in. “Last time we got the information to them that allowed them to pick him up and take him in.” I nod. It’s a good point. Feds don’t like missing a prisoner who’s escaped from the penitentiary, and definitely not one who’s killed their guards. “We could let them know he’s in Tucson.”
“Or was,” Hounds points out. “We don’t know where he is now.”
“He can’t leave a trace,” Wizard says. “Even chartering a flight would be hard for a wanted man like him. I’d place good money that he’s not taken her far, or at least is within driving distance.”
“He’ll stay close.” Shooter frowns. I realise I don’t want to hear his reasoning that Archangel might be wanting to send her back in pieces or leave her body somewhere it could be found.
“How does he know it was us who ratted him out?” I wonder aloud.
“Good point, Eli. Again, Mouse and I will see what we can find out.”
I’m wracking my brains on what to do next. “Speak to Raptor, Wizard.” He’s the president of the local Wretched Soulz, having taken over from Chaz some years back. “They’ve got a price on Archangel’s head. They want him as badly as us.”
“Another good point,” Wizard repeats. “I’ll do that. Raptor will be very interested to know he’s back in town. They’ll get searching as well, you can bank on that.”
“I can set up a meet,” Dad proposes. Prez nods.
“I want to go back with Eli,” Wraith offers.
I feel uneasy and tense, but for the first time in months, I’m not focused on my inner self. “No,” I say, before Prez can respond. “We can’t rule out Archangel’s got eyes on the house. I need to be on my own.” I’m starting to get twitchy, fed up with talking. “Can I go now? Sooner I get the ball rolling, sooner we can get my wife back.”
Prez considers, then declares, “Wraith, you stay here. I can’t see any fuckin’ point in you going back to where she was. Archangel isn’t going to drop her back home, however much we wish he would. You can best help her from here. Eli, you go get this thing started. We’ll keep digging this end.”
“Yeah. Run out of here with your tail between your legs. Again.” My eyes go sharply to Marvel’s, but he’s cracking up as if he made a good joke.
In truth, it cuts too close to the bone, but I go along with it. “As long as you’re not going to give me a beatdown this time.” I shut my mouth fast when it looks like he’s giving consideration to it.
Prez looks around. “We are going to get her back, and in one piece.” He raises his chin. “Mouse, give Eli a burner phone and walk him through checking for bugs in his house. Somehow Archangel knew just what your movements were. I want to be certain it’s only Olivia’s phone that was tracked. Oh, and Eli? We might not be visible, but never doubt for one second you’ve got all your brothers behind you.”
It’s crazy, I think to myself, as I sit beside the prospect giving me a lift back to my house. I’m actually feeling more like my old self than I have for months. But that goes with guilt that I’m feeling stronger, while my wife’s been kidnapped and is currently suffering fuck knows what.
She’s got to be alright. Both her and the baby. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she’s not.
Butcher doesn’t know what to say to me, so we’re quiet on the drive. I don’t start a conversation. Anyone who’s not a trusted member will have to believe the club has refused to help me find Olivia if we’ve got a chance of Archangel being fooled.
He stops the truck when we arrive at the coffee shop, and I get out without ceremony, then walk over to Liv’s car. Luckily I have a spare key on my keyring. Apart from my bike, it’s the only vehicle we own so I drive it whenever I have need of a cage.
I then take the short journey home and enter the house that’s so quiet and lonely without Liv here waiting for me.
I follow Mouse’s instructions, satisfying myself I’m fairly confident there are no bugs in the house and so Archangel’s information is limited. At last, I take Liv’s phone out of my pocket. Drawing in a deep breath, I call the number of the person who’d texted her.
I hear the phone answered, then, silence.
“Er, is this Gabe?”
“Sure,” the voice replies cockily.
“Gabe, I wonder if you could help? My wife, Olivia, has disappeared. I’ve just found her phone. It appears she was going to meet you for coffee. The waitress told me she was unwell when she left. Did you give her a lift somewhere? Anything you can tell me would help. I’m worried something’s happened to her.”
“Sounds like you’re as fucking stupid as your wife is.” His snort reaches me down the line. “Gabriel should have given it away immediately.”
“I don’t understand what you mean?” I let my voice rise, trying to put on the tone of a distraught man who can’t think straight, and a worried husband. “Er…”
“Gabriel? Think about it for a moment. I’ve got time.” But after a just a few seconds, like a person who wants ever
yone to acknowledge how clever they are, he impatiently expands, “Think about angels.”
I let my pause stretch out, then act as if the penny has only just dropped. “Archangel?” I query, with more than a hint of disbelief in my voice. At his grunt of delight as though I’m a child solving a puzzle, I continue, strengthening my voice. “What the fuck do you want with my wife?”
His voice now carries ire. “I want revenge on your club. It was because of you I got locked up and now have a fucking price on my head. I want every single one of you to suffer.”
“So why take my wife if you’ve got a beef with the Devils? It’s with them, not us. She’s not part of the club. Neither am I,” I rasp out. “I left. I wanted nothing to do with them, and they none with us. Today, for fuck’s sake,” I let genuine distress enter my voice, “today I found out we mean nothing to them. When I couldn’t find her, I went to them for help. They sent me away. They sent me a-fuckin’-way,” I repeat for emphasis. “They don’t give a damn about me or her. They’ve washed their hands of both of us.”
“Don’t give me that,” he scoffs. “Your father’s in the club, hers too. You were both born and bred there. You think I’ll believe for a moment they won’t be going crazy trying to find her?”
“Think what you damn well like. If you want revenge on the club, taking her will break me, but what am I now? A normal citizen. It won’t do anything to them. We don’t exist to them anymore. We took our chances when we left. You’re right, we’ve both got fathers there, but even they’ve turned their back on us and no one else cares. You want revenge on Wizard and his brothers, well this is not the way to get that.” I let desperation seep into my tone, while I’m rapidly thinking. “They destroyed you, Archangel. But they’ve destroyed me too. Give me back my wife, and I’ll help you hit them where it really hurts.”
Another silence, then, “What are you suggesting?” he asks, cautiously.
“I’ve got no reason to love the club. Look what they did to me?” I don’t know what Liv’s been discussing with him, so I decide to stick close to the truth. “I’ve had a fuckin’ mental breakdown, and what did they do? They chucked me out instead of getting me the help that I needed.” I’m crossing my fingers that Liv won’t have said anything to contradict my version of events. “We’re expecting our first child, but that made no difference to them. They gave me a beatdown that was so vicious, I couldn’t even get a job to support my wife and child. After all I’ve done for them, they turned their backs on me and Liv. We lost our house, livelihood, everything.” I squeeze my fingers tighter, hoping he hasn’t tracked the ownership of this house back to them.
Hawk's Cry : Satan's Devils MC Second Generation #2 Page 19
