“You see what he did, Prez?” Kid asked but didn’t give Hawk a chance to answer, he did it himself. “He rode this beast, controlling it as much as he could, all the way down here. Only then did he lay it down and jumped. Look at the way the bike fell. If he had hit the side of the ditch head on, like he would have if he wasn’t in control, there would be way more damage. He fucking rode it like he was riding a scrambler.”
“Hang on, wasn’t he an off road champion or something before he started prospecting?” Beast asked as he crouched next to the bike to inspect the damage.
“Ja, he has been riding since he was a little kid. If it had been anyone else on Chris tonight they would be seriously injured or dead right now.” Ice said as he swept the beam of his torch up to where Sludge said they had found Will.
Climbing out of the ditch they walked over to where the flattened grass showed the route his body had travelled.
Hawk stood next to where he had come to a stop then looked back towards the road. Sin hadn’t followed instead he had walked further down the road. Hawk had no idea what he was looking for but he knew his road captain would let him know when he found it.
“They would have been unable to see him over here in the dark, even if they had lights on the area. From here to where Chris’s car left the road is only about three hundred meters. They didn’t stop to check on him, he wasn’t their focus, she was.”
“Prez.” Sin came walking towards them and Hawk realised he must have climbed up the side of the ditch closer to where he had last seen him. “They chose this piece of road deliberately. The ditch becomes a shallow indentation back there and the ground is hard as fucking rock.”
“What are you telling me?” Hawk knew but he wanted Sin to say it.
“I would bet my left nut they scouted the area during the day. They knew exactly when to ram him and expected to take the bike out from underneath him and kill him in the process. He was fucking lucky. Jag has cameras along the perimeter of the pub property and at the gates. Plus he has all those cameras at our gates and at our offices. If they had driven down this road more than once, which they would have to have done to scout it, they would have been caught on the cameras.”
“Good work. Call it in to Ziggy.” Hawk started to walk along the top of the ditch towards where Chris’s car lay, lit up by the lights of the bikes parked around it.
As he neared the car he kept walking and passed the accident site. It was as Sin had said. If Chris had had a bigger, faster and stronger car she might have been able to ride it out. The drainage ditch was cut out of a slight rise in the road and was deeper right where first the bike, and then her car, had left the road. It had definitely been scouted. Jumping down into the ditch which was now barely a shallow indentation he walked back to where the car lay.
Everyone was silent as he played the beam of the torch over it. It was obvious from the extensive damage to the back of the car that it had been rammed. It had been hit more than once and by the marks he had seen on the road, and on the side of it, it was most probably the last hit that had sent the car off the road and into the ditch. Sin and Kid joined him and they inspected the rest of the car. The back seat was destroyed. It had deep gashes with big wads of stuffing hanging out with blood all over. The back of the front seat had been torn open as the dog had pawed at the seat trying to get to Chris.
The front was worse. The impact had pushed the left front end of the car right into the passenger side. If anyone had been sitting in the passenger seat they would not have survived the impact. The driver’s side had been smashed in as well but not as much. The wall between the engine and the interior of the car had crumpled around where her legs would have been and by the blood on the floorboards he suspected she had lower leg injuries. There was blood all over the seat and between the seats. She must have reached for Brutus and that’s how the blood got there.
The bent and buckled car door had been forced open and her seat belt had been cut. There were no signs of a struggle which he took to mean that she had been unconscious at the time.
Fuck. There was way too much fucking blood.
“There’s blood splatter on what’s left of the windscreen and dashboard, Prez.” Ice said quietly from the other side of the car.
Hawk nodded and made sure he didn’t touch anything as he leant in to take a closer look. He wasn’t an accident expert but he could clearly see where her head had hit the steering wheel because there were fucking strands of her hair caught up in the blood. There was a similar looking patch where the seat belt was anchored to the door strut.
Moving away from the car Hawk looked at his officers and shook his head slowly before he started going over what they had just seen.
“She took at least two hits to the head. One to the forehead and another either on the side of her head or the back. The foot well has a lot of blood which indicates lower leg injuries. By the blood on the seat and between the seats she has injuries to her arms and body.”
“Facial wounds bleed a lot, Prez.” Kid said. “Maybe she’s not as badly hurt as we think.”
Beast shook his head. “No brother, she’s badly hurt. This piece of shit of hers would have offered zero protection once it left the road and hit the ditch. It’s so old it doesn’t even have airbags. Look at the fucking thing, it’s been totalled.”
Sin looked up and down the road with a frown. “Anyone else wondering why there are no pigs here yet? There should have been at least one patrol car out this way during the night. Which has me wondering why tonight of all nights they weren’t in the area.”
Interesting. Pulling his phone out Hawk called Rick. When he was done he was satisfied that the scene would be well taken care of.
“We’ll leave six men guarding the scene. Rick is doing us a favour and sending out a team he trusts to take care of this. They should be here within the hour.”
Walking over to Sludge and Bok (Goat) Hawk quickly brought them up to speed.
“You take care of the scene until the pigs arrive. They’ll be in unmarked cars, and the lead investigator is called Captain Stevens. Both of you stay here until they say it’s okay to leave, and then come back to the clubhouse and report.”
“Will do, Prez.”
What he had to do next lay like a mountain ahead of him and he waited until he was in his office with his little bird close before he called his brother.
He fucking hated being the bearer of bad news.
Drawing in a deep breath Hawk hit the contact and waited as the phone rang.
“There has to be a fucked up reason for you calling me in the early hours of the morning, Prez.” A sleepy voice rumbled.
“There is. Scar’s woman has been taken. There’s a lot of blood at the scene and it’s not looking good.” His arm tightened around DC who was sitting on his lap.
“Fucking hell. I take it you haven’t called him yet.” There was a rustle and a woman’s voice mumbled something in the background and Hotdog’s answer was too low to hear.
“No, I haven’t. I spoke to him yesterday. He said two of your men were with him at his beach house. Before I call him I need you to give your guys a head’s up. He’s going to need his brothers around him.” Hawk explained.
“Spanner and Rav are with him. Spanner was one of the brothers who stood up for him when shit went down and Rav’s new to the club and a good man.” There was a beat of silence. “Do you think this is that piece of shit’s work? I wouldn’t put it past him.”
For one second Hawk thought about not saying more then he shrugged it off.
“We don’t know who took her. She called it in as it went down so we know it was a big black SUV but that’s it. We have a few leads we’re following up and we’ve got a special investigations team on it as well.”
There was a stunned silence.
“You saying we’ve got pigs working on finding one of ours?”
“Ja, they come highly recommended and we can use all the
help we can get to find her. If she has been taken by our usual enemy then she’ll get medical attention. If it’s that little bastard you know as well as what I do that she won’t. So the sooner we find her the better.”
“Okay, brother, I got you. I’ll call Spanner and have them standing by to take care of our brother.” Hotdog sighed. “Fuck, he just can’t get a break, poor sod.”
Hawk didn’t answer because there was nothing he could say. Hotdog was right.
“I’ll call back once I’ve spoken to my guy.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Ending the call Hawk set his phone down and shoved his face into his little bird’s neck and just held her.
“We’ll find her and when we do we’ll take care of the piece of shit who took her.” She said against his hair and Hawk sighed deeply.
“I have a bad feeling.” Hawk said quietly, pulling his face out of her neck. “This is not like when you were taken and we had a trail to follow, or like Leo who had a fucking tracker on her. We have nothing. She has trackers on her car, her phone and on Brutus but that’s it. We never thought she would need one on her.”
DC nodded and he saw those dark eyes of hers go even darker. “I would like to get Skelly in to help us hack into both metros’ camera grid.”
“Give him a call, baby. Like I said to Hotdog, we need all the help we can get.”
Hawk’s arms tightened around her when his phone rang and he answered right away.
“It’s done, Hawk. They’re standing by for your call.” Hotdog said quietly.
“Thanks, brother. I’ll call you after I’ve spoken to him. We’re going to have to make arrangements to get him back here as soon as possible.”
“No worries. I’ll have a crew ready to ride with him as protection and to keep an eye on him.”
“Good. Talk soon.”
Hawk ended the call and didn’t wait around to call Scar. He found his contact and listened to the phone ringing.
“Scar.” A sleepy voice mumbled.
“Wake up, brother.” Hawk said then heard the rustle of bedding.
“Prez. What’s wrong? You won’t be calling me unless something has gone down.”
“You have to brace because it’s not good.” Drawing in a deep breath he laid it out. “Will was taken off his bike and Chris’s car was forced off the road last night. Whoever it was took her. She called while it was going down and Buzz immediately sent brothers to the scene but they were too late. She was already gone.”
“No! Fuck no! This can’t be fucking happening! Prez, this can’t be happening.”
Scar’s voice had risen in shock and disbelief then became soft but hard as steel.
“Not going to fucking lose her, not when we’re so close to sorting out our shit. I’m coming home, right the fuck now. I’ll be joining in the search for her. What do we know so far?”
“We know very little, brother. Let’s get you home first then we’ll chat.”
But Scar wasn’t falling for that. Hawk heard him shouting for Spanner.
“Spanner! Spanner! Get me the first fucking flight out of King Shaka back to Joburg. I don’t care if it’s to OR or Lanseria, either will do.”
Then he was back.
“Boss, I’m flying back, no time to fuck around with hours on the road when my girl is out there suffering God knows what.”
Hawk was a bit stunned by the decision but went with it. “Okay, you text me your flight details and I’ll have someone pick you up at which ever airport. Stay focused and we’ll talk when you get home.”
“Will do. See you soon, Prez.”
He immediately called Hotdog but he had already been informed of Scar’s plans.
“I’ve sent a cage with two prospects to bring his bike back here. A small crew I trust will bring his bike up to Joburg and they’ll help however you may need them to. Spanner and Rav insisted on coming up to help their brother find his girl so they’ll be part of the crew.”
“I appreciate it, brother. I’ll call when we have news.” Hawk said and ended the call.
Sliding the phone on to his desk Hawk sighed and shook his head. “Wish I didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news so many fucking times. It’s starting to piss me off.”
“That’s good.” His old lady gave him hard eyes. “You’re at your best when you’re pissed off.”
Looking into her eyes Hawk stood while holding her in one arm, with the other he swiped shit off his desk then laid her down on it. Right now he needed to feel her close.
“I’m at my best am I? You want me taking my temper out on your sweet little body, hmm?”
She wriggled her butt and licked her lips. “It would be a good start.”
He had her jeans unbuttoned and the zip down when someone hammered on the door.
“Damn. We don’t have time right now, baby, but later today I’m going to make love to my little bird. So fucking glad I have you here with me.” Hawk leant down and kissed her soft and thoroughly before he zipped and buttoned her jeans then drew her back off the desk.
“I’ll remind you later.” She replied with a wink.
He was grinning when he pulled her back into his lap but the grin disappeared very quickly.
“The door’s open you bastards, come the fuck in.”
Ice, Kid, Sin and Beast walked in with knowing little smiles on their faces but the smiles didn’t stay long. They were back to serious between one blink and the next.
“We’ve got the property on a soft lockdown. All the school going kids will be staying home today and the women who work off site will have two men on them at all times” Ice reported.
Kid was about to speak when Ziggy walked in with his laptop and they all watched as he walked up to the desk without a word and set it down.
“We’re going to need help, Boss.” He said as he tapped and a large roadmap appeared on the screen against the wall. “Kobus and I traced the most likely route they might have taken and nothing. We need more eyes to check every single possible route, however improbable it appears to be.”
“You’ll have help. DC is calling Skelly. He’ll help to narrow possible routes down.” Hawk looked at the map with a frown then pointed. “This is the site of the accident?”
“Ja, we stripped all colour out of the map then coloured the route we’ve checked blue. That makes it easier for everyone to see where we’ve checked. When Skelly starts checking we’ll have his routes in green. I want to call Dagger and ask them to help with the search. Will that be okay?” Ziggy looked up from what he was doing and they could all see the worry in his eyes.
“I’ll call him, you do what you have to do and leave it to me.” Ice said.
“Thanks Ice. I was so sure we’d have them by now. It’s like they just vanished after they left the scene. Of course it’s damned easy to do that if they took side roads with no traffic cams. But somewhere they must have crossed a road with a camera, they have to. I just have to find that damned road and camera.”
“I’ve just texted Skel and he’s on it. He says he’ll call you to discuss a grid search.” DC reached over and patted his clenched fist on the desk.
And finally a smile appeared on his face. “Good. I’ll be in my computer room if anyone needs me.”
Picking up the laptop he walked out without another word.
No one said a word as they listened to Ice explaining the situation to Dagger, the president of the Sinners Sons and his sort of brother-in-law. It was obvious from what Ice was saying that the Sons would be joining the search. When he ended the call Hawk was ready.
“Right, we now have three clubs searching the roads for the SUV. There’s no way it will slip through the net with all those eyes looking for them. Our next step will be…”
He didn’t finish because Jagger walked in with Brutus next to him and the big dog was limping painfully and had a long line of stitches across one shoulder.
“Is it okay if he use
s one of the dog beds? I don’t want him lying on the floor.”
“Of course, Jagger. What did the vet say?” DC waved a hand at the two dog beds against the wall.
Jagger didn’t answer until he had the dog settled and sat down on the couch.
“He was shot and has twenty stitches in his shoulder. The doc said he’s going to be muscle sore for a day or two because of the accident and trying to get loose. And he is highly pissed off.”
“The fuckers shot him?” DC growled.
“Ja, he must have moved or the fucker had bad aim because a few centimetres to the side or down and he would be dead.”
“Fucking hell. Glad you made it through big guy.” Sin said and the big dog lifted his head and stared at him before laying down again and closing his eyes.
“I thought about taking him home but without Chris there I don’t know how he will react. I was going to put him in his bed behind the bar but then I remembered Chris took it to the pub. I can’t leave him alone right now, so where I go, he goes.”
“He’s fine in here, brother.” Hawk reassured him. “He can sleep off the pain meds where no one will bother him. If I have to leave the office I’ll leave the door open for him so he doesn’t feel trapped. Do you think he will be okay around everyone?”
“I’m not going to take the chance, Prez. I can work out of the common room and he can take over one of the couches.”
Hawk nodded. “That’s good. I want you to check the cameras in and around the pub and the perimeter cameras. Maybe they picked something up that could help us.”
“Sure thing, Boss. I’ll get on it right away.” Jagger stood and Brutus immediately got up as well. “Come along big boy, let’s go do some work.”
With the big dog right up against his leg he left the office. The heavy silence was broken by Spider as he walked into the office and laid his phone on the desk.
“Prez, that’s the recording of Will’s recounting of what happened.” He was about to start it but Hawk stopped him.
“Before we listen give us the short version.”
Mark Of A Scarred Warrior (Iron Dogz MC Book 5) Page 27
