by Lexie Davis
“There’s a fence. I can’t get through. They closed the fucking gate.” She turned and crouched, her heart pounding in her chest. “Dad, he’s right behind me. I don’t have anything to defend myself.”
“I’m almost there. Hide, Ella.”
She ducked between two cars trying to control her harsh breathing. Her stomach cramped to the point she felt she needed to go to the bathroom. She moaned softly.
“Ella, you’re okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” Her father’s voice was calming, and she closed her eyes as she tried to push away the fear.
“He’s right there. I can see him. He’s the got a gun that looks like the one that was in those photos on the news. The successful women that were brutally murdered. Did he do it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dad, if he finds me, he’s going to kill me.” Her stomach ached, and she rested her forehead against the car next to her.
“He’s not going to kill you. I’m almost there.”
She cringed. Glancing around, she spotted a rock the size of her palm and grabbed it. It’d been a long time since she’d played softball, but it was better than nothing.
“I can’t talk anymore, Dad. He’s too close. If anything happens, tell Mom and Ryker that I love them.” Ella hung up the phone and set it beside her.
The gunman’s back was to her, so that gave her the perfect opportunity to strike. Her stomach ached, and she cringed. She only had one shot. Stepping out of her hiding spot, she took aim and threw the rock at the back of his head. She hit her target and knocked him down, the gun flying to the left of him. She stood there for a moment to see if he’d get up, and nothing happened.
“Good shot.”
She turned and another man grabbed her arms, pushing them behind her back. A different man had a black bag, and he forced it over her head while someone shoved flexi-cuffs around her wrists. She screamed, and the new man backhanded her. Her cheek stung even through the bag.
“Get her in the van.”
“What about Alex?”
“He can stay there for the cops. He let a woman get away from him, and she knocked him out. He deserves whatever he gets.”
The two men tossed her in the back of a vehicle. Ella’s face slammed against the hard flooring inside the van, bringing tears to her eyes. She wanted to puke. With the bag on her head, she’d suffocate.
If they didn’t kill her, the stomach bug would.
****
The doors to the meeting room busted open and Pat came at him, grabbing Ryker’s cut and lifting him out of the seat. “Where is she?”
Ryker stared into the man’s frantic eyes. “Ella’s at the hospital.”
“No, she’s not.” He shoved Ryker back. “Alex and his crew took her. The same fucking thugs you sell those damn guns to. They have her and…”
Ryker clenched his fists in an effort to not swing at Pat. “What do you mean they have her?”
“Ella’s gone, you asshole.” Pat shoved him again. “I told you to get those damn guns off the streets and now they’ve got her. I warned you…”
Ryker’s heart sped up. “Wait a minute. How do you know this?”
“I was talking to her.” Pat’s face contorted with a mixture of grief and pain. “Alex went to the ER to find her. He forced her out, and she ran away from him. She hid in the parking lot, and they got her.”
Ryker grabbed his cell phone. “Did you call her? Did she pick up? Maybe she’s still hiding.”
He dialed her number and Pat’s pocket rang. “She left it behind.”
“Fuck!” He flung his phone across the room.
“We’ve been watching Alex for nearly a month, ever since the murders started happening. He’s involved. You know who is putting those damn guns on the streets. You know. You’ve got to get her back.” Pat shook his head. “If anything happens to her…”
Ryker blew out a breath. They’d struggled so much with who could have set them up from inside the club and came up with nothing. If anything happened to her, Ryker had no doubts that he’d clean house with the club members. Fuck them all.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight. I told you to stop selling those fucking guns. I told you that Ella would end up hurt.” Pat shoved him again.
Ryker stumbled back before standing upright again, narrowing his eyes at Pat. “Get out of my fucking club.”
Pat held out his arm, clearly pissed at him too. “She’s sick. Caught the damn stomach bug going around the ER. She needs to be found right now. So tell me who you sell the fucking guns to.”
“I don’t sell guns. I’m not part of the fucking gun business. You’re the one that has the info. You tell me who fucking has her.” Ryker’s voice grew louder as he continued to speak.
“I only had Alex. He showed up on our doorstep after he asked one of our undercovers to get him some bullets for the guns. I don’t have who he works for or is associated with.” Pat moved into Ryker’s personal space. “But you do, you sonofabitch.”
Ryker got into Pat’s face. “I didn’t sell the fucking guns. But I will promise you, Ella is coming home safely. Or there will be one hell of a fucking war this city doesn’t want to see.”
Pat glanced around, seemingly noticing that the club members were still in the room with them. He cleared his throat and turned toward Ryker again.
“Everyone out.”
The men filed out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Pat glanced away, not quite looking at Ryker. “I’ll try to gain info on my end, but if you get anything worthwhile, you need to tell me. I don’t fucking care about your club or your business. You tell me.” He ran a hand over his head before finally looking up at Ryker. “That damn junkie said that the Roaming Devils were seen at the club Alex hangs around. I thought you knew him or at least his boss.”
Ryker frowned. “Someone spotted the cut? Where?”
“Blood Brothers.”
He shook his head. That was the second time someone had spotted the cut around Young Blood territory. “No. None of us hang out there. Not even in our off time.”
“The snitch said you did.”
“And you’d believe a junkie snitch over me?”
“Find my daughter. I don’t fucking care what you say. Find my little girl.”
Ryker nodded. “I will.”
Pat nodded and made to leave the club.
“Pat?”
The older man turned.
“I’m giving you fair warning. There’s going to be bloodshed when I find them. Especially if they hurt her.”
Pat licked his lips. “You say that like I would object.”
Ryker waited until Pat left the room before he went to the other side of the table to grab the phone he threw. If Roaming Devils had been spotted at a well-known trouble spot, they weren’t his crew. They had to be Rizzo’s, and that only meant one big clusterfuck of a mess for him.
Chapter Nine
Ella opened her eyes when a single drop of water hit the center of her forehead. Her first thought was that she wasn’t dead. Her second thought was that she felt like dying. She groaned as she tried to move. Her hands were still cuffed behind her back, and she’d been lying on them for God only knew how long. She tried to sit up and realized she was in a puddle of water. She frowned and took in her surroundings.
Nothing looked familiar. She was in some dank warehouse handcuffed to a stake in the concrete. Her clothes were wet. Her stomach ached, and she really wanted to go home.
“Hello?”
A man came around the corner with a mask covering his face. “It’s about time you woke up. I thought about drowning your ass in the water to save us all the trouble.”
She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Never mind.”
“Look, I’m sick. I have a stomach bug, and it’s very contagious. Just being around me means you can get it too.”
The guy’s eyes widened. “Are you fucking with me?”
“No.” Ella groaned. “My stomach hurts. Will you please take these cuffs off?”
He rushed toward her, and Ella waited while he undid the cuffs. “I told him that you needed to be in the bathroom.”
Ella gave him a pained face. “Where is the bathroom?”
He pointed.
Ella went to the small room and closed the door. She didn’t have much left in her stomach. After cleaning herself up, she stared at herself in the mirror. If she didn’t get her wet clothes off, then she’d get even sicker. Her skin was clammy though that could have been from the water. She felt warm which meant that she probably had a fever.
She stood at the sink a moment before her stomach lurched and she vomited again. Yeah, if they didn’t kill her, the damn bug would. She’d had to admit three patients due to dehydration with it. Two more had asked her for something to kill the cramping. She wanted to huddle up in a ball on the floor. Of all the fucking times in her life to get kidnapped, she also had to get sick too.
Ella washed her hands and flushed the toilet. When she stepped out of the room, she didn’t see the man that had greeted her before. There was a set of dark gray overalls to the right, and she took the liberty of changing into them. She didn’t care if there was anyone hanging around to watch. She wanted something warm to wear and something that didn’t smell.
Afterward, she glanced to each side of the large room, looking for anyone lurking in the shadows. There was a security camera hanging up above her, and she supposed that that was how they kept an eye on her. She didn’t like the idea of trying to make a run for it if she didn’t know where she was running.
At the moment, she wasn’t in any immediate danger. She needed water though. Her throat burned and she felt dehydrated. She took in her surroundings. The warehouse had been abandoned for a while. There was no indication of where she might be. The windows were blacked out, and she assumed that if she made a run for the door, there would be hell to pay. So she didn’t try.
Not yet.
Her stomach ached painfully enough to cause her to double over. The cramping was the worst part. She’d gotten a good look at the man’s face: He was skinny. Shaved head with deep blue eyes. He had stubble on his chin like he didn’t have time to shave properly. He wore a black t-shirt and jeans. She didn’t know his name, but she assumed he was the boss. Or at least the one in charge.
A high-pitched scream came from across the warehouse, and Ella sucked in a shallow breath. She glanced around the room for anything she could use as a weapon. A discarded chain sat off to the side, and she picked it up. She didn’t have much strength. With her stomach aching to the point she wanted to rip out her intestines, she wasn’t sure how much she could really defend herself.
The door opened, and Ella watched as five men entered the warehouse. Her previous assumption of the main kidnapper being the boss proved to be wrong. Another man, one dressed in an impeccable suit with a black hat, appeared to be the one in control. Men followed behind him like an army. He stopped nearly a hundred feet away from her and stared at the chain in her hands. “He told me you were a fighter.”
She didn’t say anything. Who the hell was he talking about?
“I told him that you weren’t anything we couldn’t handle, but you sure gave my crew a mess to clean up.”
She blinked. “Mess?”
“Surely you remember. You woke up in a puddle of water because of it.”
She snorted. “Yeah, well, I’ve been dealing with patients all day. It’s part of the job to catch a virus now and then. Maybe next time you’ll go after someone that isn’t sick.”
“I’m not worried about you being sick. That doesn’t matter to me.” He reached for the gun in the man’s hand beside him. “Anything you want to say?”
“Who are you?”
He cocked the gun. “Who I am doesn’t matter either.”
She glanced between him and his crew. She didn’t recognize any of them. “Okay. Who told you that I was a fighter?”
“Not important.”
“Oh, come on. If you’re going to kill me, the least you can do is have enough balls to tell me who ordered the hit.”
The man pointed the gun at her head. “Razor.”
It should have surprised her, but it didn’t. A million thoughts flooded her mind though none of them made any sense. She was right. She’d told Ryker her opinion and he’d dismissed it. Ryker should have killed him when he’d had the chance.
“And the other women? He killed them too?”
“No. Those were mine. We had a deal. He gave us the guns. He gets to kill you.”
“Wow.” She felt like puking again, only this time it wasn’t due to the virus. She gagged, and what little was left in her stomach came spewing out, all over the guy’s shoes.
“What the fuck?” He moved back along with his crew. “Get her.”
Two men came at her, and Ella grabbed the chain and swung, knocking them to their knees. She’d never realized that bodily functions could be used as a weapon, but she’d take whatever she could. Her forehead dotted with perspiration as two more men came at her. She swung and made contact with the guy’s crotch, causing him to howl in pain.
A gunshot sounded, and Ella jumped. The guy in the suit motioned for his goons to get her, and two men grabbed her arms before she could defend herself.
“I don’t care if you vomit or shit on them. You’re not getting out of this alive.”
Ella’s eyes closed as they dragged her out of the warehouse. Her stomach ached and she groaned in pain. The goons tossed her to the concrete ground in a different room, and she curled up in a ball. Maybe death wasn’t so bad. With the way she felt, it couldn’t get much worse.
****
“I’m not running guns in Atlanta. I don’t know where you got your info, but it’s not me they saw at that club.”
Ryker frowned with the phone pressed to his ear. “Who the fuck is doing this?”
“I don’t know, man, but it wasn’t me and my crew.”
Ryker glanced up as Superman came in the room. “All right. I’m sorry to bother you with this. If you hear anything, let me know.” He hung up. “Fuck!”
Superman sat in the seat beside him. “I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but your father was dabbling in the gun business before you exiled him. Is there any way he could be in Atlanta again?”
“I don’t think so. Not without me knowing.”
“Razor has connections. He can slide under the radar if he wanted to. He sure as hell wouldn’t give anyone the common courtesy of a head’s up. It would explain why club members were seen at the shady joint.”
Ella had thought the same thing and he’d blown her off about it. An overwhelming amount of guilt washed over him as he considered the possibility. What if his father really was behind this? What if he had just listened to her and dealt with the situation before it got this far?
“So you’re suggesting I give him a call.”
“If you want Ella back, yes.”
Ryker didn’t even think about it. He scrolled through his phone for his father’s number and hit send. Waiting, he decided to put him on speakerphone.
“Yeah?”
“I’m only going to ask you this once. Where is Ella?”
“Now, why would you think that I’d know? I don’t keep track of your little girlfriend.”
“Don’t fuck with me, old man.”
“I don’t know where she is.”
Ryker sat back in his seat. “Let’s start with an easier question then. Where are you?”
“I’m where you left me, minding my own business.”
Ryker snorted. “I highly doubt that. If you’re in the city, I’m giving you one opportunity to come to the clubhouse on your own. If I find you, you’re dead.”
“All you’ve done in this minute-long conversation is threaten me. Is the pressure of the position getting to you, son?”
“Not even a little bit, old man.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. Now if you don’t mind, there is a beautiful Brazilian that wants to blow me and I’m really not in the mood to say no.”
Superman snorted when Ryker hung up. “He hasn’t changed.”
“Yeah. That’s the problem.” Ryker rubbed his forehead. “He had a gun deal with the Young Bloods, right?”
“Yeah.” Superman folded his arms over his thick chest. “Cramer and crew.”
“Let’s go talk to them.” Ryker stood and sauntered out into the main area of the club. A few of the guys were gathered around talking and he nodded, motioning toward the door. Cramer was the least of his worries. He didn’t know what kind of bullshit his father was dabbling in, but he didn’t believe him when he’d said he stayed where Ryker had left him. Razor did what Razor wanted.
Ryker pulled out his phone and dialed Pat. The cop answered on the second ring. “I need something from you.”
“What? Did you find Ella?”
“No.” Ryker turned his back to his crew. “I need you to tell me about the gun deals you had against my father.”
“I can’t and won’t give you that information. Besides, don’t you already know it?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t ask. I think he’s linked to Ella’s disappearance. Just tell me what you know.”
Pat hesitated. A criminal and a cop working together probably wasn’t the ideal situation for either of them. He knew Pat wanted Ella home safely. Both of them would do anything necessary for her. It was the only way they would ever become allies.
“Razor was making deals with Young Bloods.” Pat huffed. “The vein of distribution stopped nearly a month ago when you took over. We assumed you’d killed him and waited for the Roaming Devils to pop back on our radar, but nothing happened for a while. Then the murders started. The guns were left behind as a statement, so homicide called Guns and Gangs in to help. We couldn’t trace them. We couldn’t link them to anything we had. Not until my guy spotted a few Roaming Devils club members at the bar. Your club was all we had to take these murderers down.”
Ryker straddled his bike. “The guns were a statement for me. And it wasn’t even my guys.”
“Someone set you up? Is this some kind of fucking turf war between motorcycle gangs?”
