“How many locations do you have for him?” Scar waited anxiously for the answer.
“Five.”
“Any of them near the Kalafong Hospital?”
“Two. Both are in rundown and mostly abandoned warehousing estates with hardly any security to worry about.”
Scar looked at the rough sketch on the table. “We are looking for a location where they can avoid traffic cameras for the most part. Ziggy’s been searching for them and not a single sighting.”
Sitting forward Rick drew a cross on the paper. “This is roughly where the Kalafong Hospital is.” He drew another cross. “And this is where I suspect they are holed up.”
Scar nodded. “I need a detailed road map and topographical map of the area and a detailed map of the commercial estate. I need a team to check out all the available high points overlooking the warehouse.”
Beast smiled and pointed at him. “And that right there is why Hawk wanted you home. That military trained mind of yours.”
Scar just nodded because he was already focused on solving the problem in front of them.
He was getting his family back. And he’ll maim and kill whoever stood in his way.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Jules
Saturday Night
I wanted to kick my own ass for being such an easy mark.
I had been dead on my feet after working an extra-long and very busy shift when I shuffled out of the hospital towards my car. The only thing in my head had been the two full days I had off before I had to be back at work. I had been looking down scratching through my bag looking for my keys when they pounced. When I realised what was happening I had tried to fight them off, but I was quickly over powered and flung in the back of a banged up vehicle that raced off almost immediately.
And now I was here, being marched towards a rundown warehouse. Shit, shit, shit, this wasn’t good, not good at all. What did they want from me besides the obvious?
The dick in front of me pulled the door open and bright light flooded out. As I was pushed inside and through another door a shiver slid down my spine. I knew exactly what this was. My brother’s club has been investigating people like these for a while now and he had warned me over and over to be careful. To keep my eyes open. To always be aware. And if I should notice anything out of the ordinary to protect myself until the club could get to me.
And I had failed him. Damn, he was going to be pissed when he comes to get me.
And he will come and get me. I had no doubt about that.
I mentally warned myself to focus on the present. A man dressed in an expensive suit and with an arrogant expression came striding purposefully towards us. I judged him to be somewhere in his early forties, he was coldly good looking but his eyes held no warmth whatsoever. He ignored me and spoke to the assholes who had snatched me.
“Get her in the cage.” He ordered.
Damn. I looked around at the cages set against the walls and couldn’t suppress a full body shudder. Women and girls lay on blankets in several of them. None of them moved, they lay with their eyes closed, limbs loosely sprawled. Drugged. They had all been drugged.
I had been lost in my head dealing with the realisation that I’d been taken by human traffickers when the rattle of chains brought me right back into the horror around me.
We stood in front of a cage that contained a girl lying on a blanket with another thrown over her lower body. Just like the others, with one glaring difference. One glance was enough to know she had been badly hurt. There was a lot of blood on the bandages around her head and arm. There was more blood in her hair as well as on her blankets and clothes, a lot of blood and she was pale, deathly pale.
Once the gate was open I was unceremoniously shoved into the cage. Only now did the asshole in the suit deign to speak to me.
“Fix her.”
I looked at him, snorted with disgust and shook my head. “With what do you want me to fix her?” I snapped sarcastically as I flung my empty hands out at my sides.
He looked at me like I was asking a stupid question.
“Where’s your doctor’s bag? You must have something in there to help her.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. For heaven’s sake, was this guy for real?
“Trauma doctors don’t carry around doctors bags, we don’t need to because everything we need the hospital supplies.” While I spoke to him I approached the girl and crouched next to her, feeling for a pulse. It was there but not strong, not strong at all. I lifted the blanket and closed my eyes briefly before I dropped it back down.
“Jesus, how long has she been like this?” I asked as I swivelled on the balls of my feet to look at him.
“She was in an accident at about 2.00am on Friday night, well it was actually already Saturday, so.” He shrugged. “Why?”
How stupid was this fucker? “It is now Saturday night. She’s been lying here for hours without medical attention. She needs to get to a hospital. And what the hell have you given her to keep her under?”
“She isn’t going anywhere. She’s been given something to keep her calm and asleep. I didn’t like seeing her in pain.”
The asshole was killing the girl and he stood there pretending to care about her. Damned pervert.
I shook my head in exasperation. “No more drugs. That shit will kill her.”
Pushing myself up from the floor I faced him with my arms crossed over my chest.
“I can’t help her. I need medicines, equipment, and she needs to be off the floor for a start. Lying on the cold cement floor is not helping.”
Suitman gave me a long cold look then nodded. “I’ll get you what you need but it’s going to take a few hours.”
While crouching next to the girl I had realised that there was a way to summon my brother and his club. Shaking my head from side to side I set my plan to get us rescued in motion.
“She doesn’t have a few hours. It’s only because she’s dying that I’ll help you assholes. I’m about to set up my own practice and have a lot of medicines and equipment stored in the garage at my house. I’ll give you the codes to the garage and a list of exactly what I need and where to find it. All you have to do is send your men to collect it.”
In actual fact all the shit in my garage belonged to the club. Slide and I had plans to open a free clinic with the help of the club and he had started stockpiling what we would need at my house.
“Why would you do this? What is the catch?” One of the assholes who had grabbed me asked but Suitman held a hand up to silence him. He lifted an enquiring eyebrow at me.
Jesus the man was an arrogant ass. Slide is so going to gut him when he comes for me. I kept my thoughts off my face. Giving him my calm doctor face.
“I swore an oath to help anyone in need. She needs me but without equipment I can’t help her. All I can do right is clean up her wounds and keep her comfortable. And I can tell you right now she will die without medical intervention.”
Suitman kept his eyes on me as he gave his little lackey his orders.
“Bring her some paper and a pen. If this is a trick she won’t like what I will do to her.”
I sighed and cocked a hip while looking at him.
“How is it a trick when I’m here and they’re the ones going to my house? Now, if you had sent me with them I might have tried to make a run for it.” I shrugged. “But I’m here. Locked in a damned cage with a girl who will die if you don’t move your asses.”
Turning my back on them I went back to the girl and crouched down next to her. “While you are getting me what I need I’ll start cleaning her up. I need hot water and clean bandages. And a bed. I have to get her off the cold floor.”
Ignoring the shuffles behind me I took the time to inspect her and stifled a groan at the amount of blood on the crotch of her jeans and down her legs. She was bleeding and I wouldn’t know the cause until I could get her jeans off and examine her. I was hoping l
ike hell it was a heavy period and not the result of something else. I took another look at her face and was damned glad they couldn’t see mine.
Good glory and all the freaking angels. I knew her!
She belonged to the Iron Dogz MC. A few weeks ago I had been at the opening of their new pub with Slide and the boys. My dog of a brother had been interested in making a play for her until he saw the way the Dogz treated her. Exactly the way the Road Warriors treated me, like a little sister. A little sister who had possibly been violently raped. Damn, damn, damn.
We might not belong to the same club but we were family. Sisters. No way was I going to allow her to die on my watch. Plus now I knew she had people out there looking for her. Just like my people would be looking for me. We just had to hang on, help would come, no doubt about it.
“Get a move on. I need those medicines like right now!” I shouted over my shoulder then ignored the watching assholes.
An exam pad and pen was dropped next to me and I sat down on the cold floor and started making a list. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance. I listed everything I thought I might need and the exact location where they would find it. I even added two pairs of scrubs. Lastly I put down the codes to my gates and the garage. Not my house though. I had to keep them out of my house. Too many photos on the walls of me with the club. What I didn’t give them was the code to the hidden alarm. They were going to trip that alarm and would be caught on camera. Skelly would be on their asses as soon as the alarm was tripped.
After giving them my list I focused on the girl in front of me. Why I kept calling her a girl I didn’t know. She just seemed so young and helpless as she lay there.
Soon, I promised her silently, our families will be here soon and we’ll get you out of here.
Chris
I woke to very bright light, pain and aches all over my body. I was covered by a blanket but my leg felt cold. Slowly turning my head I saw a woman in scrubs bending over my leg. A leg that was hurting and the moan slipped out before I could stop it. Her head jerked up and she looked at me then quickly looked around. She shook her head very, very slightly before going back to what she was doing.
Looking around I wanted to cry, I was still in the flippen cage. When I had seen her scrubs for a minute there I thought I was free. At least I wasn’t chained to the wall anymore. I had an IV in the back of my hand and I followed it up to the bags hanging from the drip stand next to my bed.
A bed. I was in a bed, covered by a blanket and someone was treating my injuries. Who was she?
Wetting my dry lips I opened my mouth to speak but she stopped me by speaking as if to herself.
“This is a damned shame, girl. You’re going to have a few scars once you’ve healed. I’ve done what I can to save your arm but it’s going to need surgery. You’re lucky I’m a trauma doctor. I’ve seen all sort of injuries come through the trauma department. I wish I had the proper facilities but we’ll make do with what we have. I would have liked to have x-rays done but…” She looked up and winked and I blinked in confusion.
Just as I was about to try to speak again the gate clanged and she closed her eyes. I took that to mean I should close mine so I did. But I didn’t close them all the way. I watched through my lashes.
“How is she doing?” Isaiah asked in that high class, snotty, arrogant asshole lawyer voice of his.
“As well as can be expected. Her arm needs surgery as far as I can tell. Without x-rays I can’t give you more than that. I’m finishing suturing the cuts on her lower legs and then I’ll be taking care of the lacerations to her forehead.” She explained while totally ignoring him.
The look on his face said he didn’t like being ignored but could do nothing about it while she had her hands on me. As he started to turn towards me I closed my eyes, breathed evenly and waited. Waited for him to leave.
He stood next to the bed and ran cold fingertips over the side of my face then rested his hand on the top of my head for what seemed like an age before he finally left. I waited for the clanging of the chains around the gate and his footsteps to recede before I let out a relieved sigh.
“Jesus, what a fucking asshole.” The woman whispered. “Who is he? Do you know?”
Licking my lips I whispered. “Isaiah Jacobson. A friend of my father and a crazy asshole.”
She nodded. “And the men working for him? Do you know them?”
I tried to nod but it hurt too much.
“Unfortunately. They used to ride with the Iron Dogz MC but they’ve been kicked out.” I licked my lips again. “May I have some water? So thirsty.”
Straightening she put her hands on her back and stretched while looking around. She was being very cautious. Taking a bottle of water from the box sitting against the chain link fence she brought it to me and cracked it open. Lifting my head a little she gently tipped it against my lips and I sipped slowly.
“I can’t give you too much because I don’t want you to throw up.” Setting my head down and closing the bottle she set it down on the bed next to me.
Picking up my hand she drew in a deep breath then blew it out. “I have some bad news for you, Amaliah.”
I started to shake my head violently and it flippen hurt. “I’m Chris, my name’s Chris. Please don’t call me by that name.”
She frowned then nodded. Drawing in a breath she squeezed my hand then slowly blew her breath out.
“Okay, here goes.” She said as she bent over me. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry, but you lost your baby.”
My heart clenched when what I had refused to acknowledge for weeks was confirmed. And lost in the same breath.
Staring at her my mind raced. It went back to the best day of my life. Scar and I at my cottage. Talking, laughing and making love. A lot. Without using condoms.
Surprise Scar. No, wait, no longer a surprise. Our baby was dead.
Tears filled my eyes and ran unchecked down my face and into my hair. I bit my lip to stop the cry of pain and the sobs that wanted to escape from my lips. I would have loved a little baby of my own. Someone who would have loved me. Someone I could have given all the love I had locked up in my battered heart.
I cried silently while she held my hand in both of hers and cried with me. We sniffled at the same time and it almost made me smile. Almost.
“Thank you for being here for me.” I sniffed. “I…I didn’t want to acknowledge that…that I was pregnant. I had a lot going on in my life and…and to be honest I was trying to forget about him. About the father.”
Leaning over me she whispered. “I know you belong to the Iron Dogz MC.” I wanted to interrupt but she shook her head. “I belong to the Road Warriors MC, so I know how those men are, my sister, so say no more. My brother is a patched member and their medic. They’ll find us soon. I promise. And then I’ll get you to a hospital.”
“Did I lose the baby because of the accident?” I had to know.
She smoothed a hand over my hair as she nodded. “There was significant trauma to your abdomen and I suspect the drugs they pumped into you were a factor in the miscarriage. With you being so heavily drugged you wouldn’t have realised what was happening. And even if you did, there was nothing you could have done.”
Looking away from her I swallowed heavily. I had to be strong until we were out of here. Once I was home I would mourn my loss. Not now. Not anywhere near the men who were responsible for my loss. I would not allow them to witness my sorrow.
“I’ve cleaned the laceration on your forehead and given you a local to numb the area. I’m no plastic surgeon but I’ve had a lot of experience and I promise I’m going to do my best to minimise scarring. Close your eyes and rest while I take care of you.” She patted my hand and that’s when I realised I didn’t know her name.
“What’s your name?”
She smiled. “I’m Jules, Jules Agiotti. And you?”
“I’m Chris Marx.”
“Close your eyes, Chrissie. Rest w
hile I take care of you.”
Closing my eyes I let go and sank into sleep. And this time it was sleep and not the darkness from before.
I had a dream while I slept. A wonderful dream.
I dreamt of a laughing little boy with wild dark hair and sea glass green eyes who ran and played with Brutus in the bright sunshine in the veld behind my cottage. He laughed and waved at me before running into the tall green grass and disappearing from view.
I woke and felt his loss but at the same time I felt at peace. As if seeing him in my dreams had reassured me in some way. Maybe to others it would seem too much like woo-woo stuff but to me it was real. So very real.
I had been given a priceless gift. I had seen my son. And to me that’s all that mattered.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Scar
Saturday Night
“My team just arrived.” Rick said as he came out onto the patio.
Scar turned and looked into the lounge that had filled up since the last time he had glanced in. Everyone looked pissed off.
None of them could feel the amount of rage he was feeling right now. None of them.
“They have information for us. Come back inside.”
Following him through the doors Scar looked over the men who had arrived. He couldn’t remember ever seeing them before.
“Right, let’s get started.” Rick said and silence fell. “Doyle, what do we have?”
The man he called Doyle looked right at Scar as he stepped forward. “About an hour ago there was a disturbance at Jules’s house. Four men gained access to her garage and left with a shitload of medical equipment. Apparently Jules is about to set up a free clinic with the help of the Road Warriors and they had an itemised list of the contents of the garage. From what was taken Slide could guess at your woman’s injuries.” He was silent for a beat before he continued. “As far as he can tell he suspects she has broken bones and several bad lacerations. Apparently they took almost the entire stock of antibiotics. Elmo, you give them the rest.”
The bald mountain who had been leaning against a wall straightened then continued with the briefing. “The Road Warriors had hidden cameras around the garage and the house. Jules didn’t give them the code to shut off the silent alarms. That means she’s thinking and has laid a trail of breadcrumbs for us. The club has trackers in those boxes just in case some dumb fuck tried to steal their, or rather, Jules’s shit. And that means we now know where they are. And so do the Road Warriors, they are already on their way to the location. We convinced them to wait on us before doing anything. We’ll leave as soon as we’re done here to do a recce before reporting back to our boss.”
Mark Of A Scarred Warrior (Iron Dogz MC Book 5) Page 31
