He mentally blinked.
Jesus. Since when had he become all soft and shit?
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Kid
He listened to the recording more than once before drawing in a deep breath. His sister and his mother. Two people he should have been able to trust unequivocally. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Jane has never been trustworthy and his mother…his mother was something else altogether.
The only thing his mother ever wanted was for their father to notice her. To love her. That was her mistake, to think a filthy psychopath could ever love anything. They had all been his pawns to move around to get what he wanted. Even his favourite, Jane, had been a pawn. He had used her to get to the Walkers. Turned his own flesh and blood into a whore and a weapon.
But he wasn’t completely to blame for what Jane became. His mother shared some of that blame. She had given Jane anything she wanted. And when Jane wanted Hawk his mother had done the unthinkable.
She had lied for Jane. And her lies had caused heartbreak and endless pain. She thought confessing her sins to Kid would bring them closer together, it didn’t. Her lies had destroyed innocent lives.
That was what he couldn’t forgive or forget. The lives her lies had forever altered.
And when he brought their latest plot to Hawk he was going to have to tell him what he had learned. All of it.
His best friend was going to hate them all.
And who could blame him. He certainly wouldn’t.
Drawing in a deep breath Kid pulled the USB from his laptop, slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans and went in search of his best friend.
No time like the present to face him and get this done.
Hawk
Disbelief. Rage. Desolation.
All those emotions flooded through him as he tried to work through the information his best friend had brought to him. He could see in his face that Kid held himself responsible for the actions of his horror of a family. But he wasn’t at fault. Not at all.
He would never blame him. He had been a victim as much as the rest of them.
“I want you leading the crew. You need to bring her in alive. She’s high up in the Syndicate and we need the information she has in her head.”
Kid looked shocked then confused. “Prez, my family’s actions altered your life and brought all of us to this point. How can you trust me to take care of this?”
Hawk smiled. “I trust you because you’re my brother and my best friend. We grew up together, prospected together, patched in together. You stood beside me when I buried my parents. Supported me when I went through hell with Candy. And when I almost fucked it up with DC you and Ice were there to kick my ass and help me get her back. I trust you, my brother.”
Kid frowned heavily, his mouth a thin line before he nodded.
“I won’t let you down, Prez. We’ll bring her in. I take it we’ll be putting her in the Crow’s little playpen with the other bitches.”
“Ja, put her with the others.” Hawk couldn’t stop the grin even if he tried. “Never heard it called the Crow’s playpen but shit it has a nice ring to it. I might even get a plaque made to put on the door.” He raised his hands as if he had the plaque in the air in front of him. “I can just see it, ‘Crow’s Playpen’.”
Dropping his hands his grin disappeared as he focused on Kid. “Don’t let her play you. Get in, get her and get out. I’ll leave dealing with your mother up to you. I no longer want the past to intrude on what I’m building with DC. I’ve given the past enough of my time. I’m done with it.”
“I hear you, Boss.” Kid stood then looked at him with a strange look on his face. “You truly are my brother, Hawk. You and the Walkers are the only family I’ve ever had. Mallory and Suzy were my mothers, not her. She will be urged to relocate and it will be made very clear that she had better stay out of Iron Dogz and Road Warrior territory. Her life will be forfeit should she ignore the order.”
Hawk gave a slow nod. It was Kid’s decision to make. “Your call, brother. We’ll honour your decision.”
He sat unmoving for several minutes after Kid left. Memories scrolling through his head. Good and bad kept rolling through until he shut it down. He meant what he had said to Kid.
He was done with the past. It had no place in his future.
The future he wanted with his little bird.
He now knew there would always be shit coming at them, it was the life they had chosen to live. He wanted a family. Wanted a good life with the woman he loved and his children. Children he had to fucking hurry up and start making as he wasn’t getting any younger.
But first they had to get through the shit with Jane because he had made his little bird a promise.
And it was one he was definitely going to keep.
Ice and Jagger rushing into his office dragged him back into the present and the shit they had going down with Scar.
“We’ve got shit, Prez. I just spoke to Beast and the buy has been moved up to tonight.” Ice growled with frustration and Hawk knew why when he explained. “The taskforce and the investigating team are there along with the Road Warriors. Doc is on scene himself. Apparently Jules is like one of his kids.”
“Fucking hell.” Looking at Ice and Jagger’s expressions he knew there was more. “What else?”
“Scar told the pigs to get fucked. Not in so many words but he told Van Blerk he was going in to get his woman because they wouldn’t care about collateral damage as long as they took down the main players.” Ice shrugged. “Can’t say he’s wrong or blame him for his decision.”
In his head he ran through the files of the men with Scar. He had sent Rav and Shadow because he knew they had had similar training and backgrounds. There were others who weren’t as well trained but would be able to provide competent back up should he need it. Sliding his phone closer he called Beast.
“Prez.”
“Brother, put Spook, Ratel and Buzz on Scar’s crew. Their training isn’t as thorough as Scar’s but it comes close. They can provide backup while Scar, Rav and Shadow do what they have to do.”
“Got you, Boss. Will get on it right now. He’s about to move, I’ll get back to you soon.”
Ending the call he slid the phone back onto the desk and looked at Ice and Jagger. “Now we start fucking praying that Chris isn’t critical because if she is the pigs are going to be fucking unhappy when their targets turn up full of holes.”
Jagger ran hands over his face and sank down onto the couch. “I should be there, not here. She’s my family.”
“Brother, enough of that shit. You were needed here. He’s a soldier, he knows how this works.” Ice tried to ease his mind.
But Jagger didn’t need to be eased, he needed to get to work. Both of them did.
“Kid is bringing Jane in. I need you to prepare for what’s happening next.”
Jagger’s whole demeanour changed. He went from worried to the solid brother they all depended on.
“I need to check on security. With such a high value target suddenly going missing we’re going to be the first they’ll suspect of taking her.” He gave a nasty grin. “I need to set off my little decoys.”
With a quick nod he was up off the couch and out the door.
Ice sagged and blew out a breath. “This crap needs to stop, Hawk. Our women and children are our strength and our worst vulnerability. We need to strengthen our ties with our existing allies and we need to forge ties with anyone not under the Syndicate’s control.”
“I know. I have a few possibilities we’ll discuss at an officer’s meeting as soon as we have this shit with Scar’s old lady sorted.”
“Fuck, I hope she’s okay, man. I spoke to Slide and he didn’t sound too hopeful. He says the stuff Jules got those fuckers to take has him worried.”
“Let’s just get through the next few hours, Ice. We’ll be ready if our brother needs us once this is over. Whatever happens, w
e’ll be here for him.”
Hawk was fucking praying for a good outcome.
Scar and Chris had both been through enough, they deserved some good in their lives.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Chris
I woke up a little while ago but didn’t move because Jules was asleep in the chair next to me and I didn’t want to wake her. She needed her sleep so that when the opportunity presented itself to escape she was well rested. She was going to have to support most of my weight when we tried to escape from our captors.
Was I being silly thinking we could get away from these animals? Sure. But we had to try. If we didn’t we would regret it later. Bitterly.
While I had been asleep the lights around my cage had been removed and dim lights irregularly spaced around the warehouse were the only illumination. It meant that night had fallen. There were pools of shadow everywhere and I nervously watched them. What if those assholes where hiding in the dark watching us?
It scared me so much that I quickly looked away and up at the outline of the skylight far above us. The moon had to be up because there was a faint light coming through it.
I was lying there trying to figure out which phase the moon was in when I saw it. A shadow. There and gone so quickly I thought it was my imagination. A shadow on the outside of the skylight. Outside the skylight.
A shadow up there could only mean one thing. They were here for us.
The cavalry had arrived.
Very slowly I reached over for Jules’s hand, it was free of the blanket she had pulled over herself and was lying on the arm of her chair. And because the cot and her chair were almost at the same level, and she had pulled it close, it was easy to reach. I slowly clasped my fingers around hers and squeezed softly.
Her eyes shot open and met mine. She was about to speak but I shushed her. Not loudly, more like a soft whisper of a shush. And then I rolled my eyes up to the skylight and back to her. She got it immediately and her fingers tightened around mine before she made a show of waking and bending over to check my blankets and my IV line. What she was doing was closing the IV down and pulling it out then tucking it under the blanket I was lying on.
We both knew the next few minutes was going to be very dangerous but all we could do was trust in the men who were coming for us. Trust in them and the two scalpels that had been at the bottom of one of the packs the assholes had brought to her. If we had to we would defend ourselves. We were fairly safe behind the locked gate because it seemed only Isaiah had a key for the padlock. They could still shoot and kill us but we were putting our faith in the fact that they needed us.
More now than they even knew.
Jules went back to her chair and lay back, pretending to go back to sleep.
We were both actually watching the skylight. A skylight that was slowly and silently being opened. Then I realised it was being removed, not opened. I could hardly breathe I was so worried someone would notice. But the warehouse stayed silent, only the whisper of a body moving now and again disturbed the silence.
I very nearly gave it all away when a black rope suddenly snaked down through the hole in the roof and fell on to the top of the cage making the chain link shiver. But Jules seemed to have expected it and moved at the same time, her foot hitting the chain link close to her chair. It covered the noise of the rope. We both gave a sigh of relief when no one came to investigate.
After a tense few seconds boots and then a body appeared. He slid down the rope and crouched motionlessly on top of the cage before giving a tug. The second and then third man descended the same way. They very quickly cut their way into the cage and dropped inside. As soon as the second was down the first came to me and lifted the black mask from his face.
Scar.
He was here. He had come for me.
As I opened my mouth to speak he put his gloved finger over my mouth and slowly shook his head from side to side. Giving a slight nod my eyes never left his.
Bending over he gave me a soft closed lips kiss. His beard felt rough against the skin around my lips.
“I’m getting you out of here, baby.” He whispered.
I gave him a quick nod and turned my head to look at Jules who grinned widely. Leaving my side Scar went back to his men they softly talked before he came back to the bed.
Motioning to Jules he pulled her to the side and was having a soft conversation with her but she kept shaking her head from side to side. What was she saying no to? He nodded then pushed something at the side of his neck and spoke to someone. He listened, closed his eyes and it seemed as if he had made a decision.
The rope was quickly pulled up and after a few seconds it came back down again with a small black bag tied to the end. Scar reached for it, untied it then gave the rope a jerk.
Three more men quickly abseiled into the cage. All dressed in dark camouflage like Scar and the two men already in the cage. They were all loaded down with weapons. It felt like I was watching one of those action movies where a badass team of guys came to rescue the hostages.
Two men worked on getting the gate open while two others kept watch. Scar and the other man had the bag open and pulling clothes from it. When given a pair of pants and a tee Jules didn’t hesitate. She was out of her scrubs and dressed in a flash. The only thing she now needed was a pair of boots but they didn’t have any for her. Her own shoes would have to do.
Jules and Scar silently lifted the blankets from me and helped me to sit up. I was wearing a scrubs top that Jules had cut down the front to not hurt my arm when she put it on me. But with Scar to help her it was now much easier. I heard the way he sucked in a breath when the bruises that covered my upper body came into view. All his men had turned their backs when they started to undress me. Thank heavens.
They quickly had me in a big stretchy soft black tee. Next was my pants and I knew what he was going to see when he pulled the scrub pants down. The bruises and the thick pad between my legs held in place by bandages because I was still bleeding.
He froze. Then slowly lifted his head to look at me. “Our baby?” He whispered.
I don’t know how he knew but he did.
With tears in my eyes I slowly shook my head. And then I almost lost it as my man, because that’s who he was, my man, got tears in his eyes and started blinking furiously. Ignoring the urgency of our situation he drew me into his arms and just held me. I shoved my face into his neck and gave a shuddering sigh.
“I’ll kill them for this, baby, I swear it on the life of our child.” He whispered against my ear before slowly pulling away and pressing another kiss to my lips.
Then he was back with Jules pulling a pair of black cargo pants up my legs and lifting me so she could slip them over my butt. I was zipped and buttoned and had socks pulled onto my feet before I could blink. Reaching back into the bag Scar pulled out my faithful old canvas slip-ons and slipped them over my feet.
I stifled a moan when I tried to sit up and he was immediately there. Scooping me up and slowly setting me on my feet. It hurt, it fucking hurt but I gritted my teeth and powered through the pain. It seemed to fade the longer I stood and I breathed a little easier. I could do this.
They very slowly and quietly opened the gate and then we were moving towards the back of the warehouse where it was the darkest. The men were looking for something, I don’t know what and I didn’t really care either because I was concentrating so hard on not letting a single whimper of pain escape my lips.
Finally we stopped moving and Scar made me sit down on a crate while they worked on a door hidden in the darkness.
The next minute there was an evil laugh and a voice came out of the dark.
“Leaving so soon, big brother? Not even going to stay and ask me how much I enjoyed fucking your bitch? I can’t believe you’d take such a worn out pussy as your old lady. She’s so fucking stretched out from fucking your brothers it was like shoving a vienna in a train tunnel. Even as a teenager I fucke
d your bitches because they liked my cock more than yours. Even stuck up Jess took it up the ass and liked it.”
We all froze for a few seconds. I heard Scar whispering something to the guy at the door before he turned and started laughing.
He sounded so freaking amused it made me want to laugh as well. Jules started giggling, that set me off and soon the guys were laughing too.
“What the fuck is so funny?” Pesto snarled as more lights started to come on in the warehouse.
“We’re laughing at your very obvious ploy to piss me off. You don’t have to try and piss me off, Jeremy. Not at all.” And then Scar’s voice went from amused to deadly.
“I’m beyond pissed off, motherfucker. I’m in another universe of rage, one you can’t even fucking comprehend. You are finished, done. This is the last time you or your shit will ever impact my life again. You should have kept running, Jeremy. You should never have turned on my family, not ever.”
The asshole gave a nervous little laugh but he didn’t get to say another word. Isaiah was suddenly there with a gun pointing at me and Scar immediately moved in front of me. Protecting me.
“You should surrender or start running, Isaiah. The fuzz is outside, or maybe they’re in here with us, just waiting for my signal to start shooting.” Scar taunted. “Should you decide to run you need to remember one thing. I will be coming for you. You took something from me and you will be paying for it in blood. You and everyone involved in the abduction of my old lady.”
Isaiah smirked and shook his head. “You’re dreaming. The noise outside are my partners arriving. They are here to take delivery of the product I have procured for them. You are outnumbered and out gunned. I suggest you come quietly before we have to shoot you.
Again Scar burst out laughing and he wasn’t the only one laughing, his team did as well.
“You believe the balls on this motherfucker?” One of them asked.
“Fuck, he has no idea he’s about to lose those balls.” Another laughed.
Right then is when everything happened at once. I was grabbed up and whoever had me ran through the door that was finally open. Behind us it sounded like a war had broken out inside the warehouse. He kept running until we were safe behind another building then set me down, put a finger to his lips and went sprinting back the way we had come. It was light enough that I could see Jules sitting on the ground next to me. They had rescued us and now they were taking care of the men inside the warehouse.
Mark Of A Scarred Warrior (Iron Dogz MC Book 5) Page 33
