Malik's Reclamation (Hellfire Dogs MC)

by Crystal Miller

  Upstairs, Lucias is packing the rest of my gear, clothes, and whatever else I might need. Marie hasn’t left my side. I’m not sure if she knows what’s growing inside me but she has been more protective around me. Making sure I have plenty to eat and drink.

  “To keep your strength, ma’am” she calmly says in her Haitian accent. She hands me a glass of something purple to drink. I’m reluctant to drink it, scared it might hurt the seed growing inside me. I look up at her with eyes of concern as she slightly nods. She wouldn’t do anything to harm me. But my guard has been up since Sandja came to the estate to have our little one on one. I can’t read her face. I can’t tell what she is thinking but I trust her with my life. I quickly take the drink and shoot it. It tastes awful, like fish that has long since gone bad. She gives me a weary smile as she takes the cup back into the kitchen.

  I feel so drained. Like all my will power and strength left my body. But as soon as I felt the drink hit my stomach all that seemed to go away. The energy was slowly coming back to me and I felt more myself.

  “Ma’am,” Lucias surprises me at the door. He’s carrying what looks to be my entire bedroom. “It’s time.” Those were the only words he said before he turned around to walk out the door. I slowly lift myself out of the chair as a wave of dizziness hits me. I regain my composure just before Marie enters the dining room.

  “All set, ma’am?” She asks.

  “Yes, Marie. Please have Carter have the car brought around to the front.” She nods her head as she turns to leave. “Marie,” she turns back around. “The club? It’ll be ok while we’re gone, right?”

  “Of course, ma’am. I’ve already made arrangements with the staff to keep it running while in your absence.” Marie explains with a smile on her face.

  “Very well,” I say as I make my way to the foyer. “Let’s go.”

  “Round it up,” LeRoy shouts circling his finger in the air. The sound of combat boots fills the echoing foyer as the men gather. The van is heavily guarded with seven of my best men, each equipped with a side arm and a silver blade. They will escort the van to New Orleans and help with training. The crank of the engines is like music to my ears. I’ve loved that sound since the Hellfire Dogs were created over fifty years ago.

  We pull out the estate onto the main road to lead us out of Morgan City. Once on I-90, it’s smooth sailing. I can hear LeRoy and Marie speaking to each other but the words don’t seem to register in my brain. The world starts to go black and before I know it, I’ve drifted into a sleep noone can wake me from.

  13

  Malik

  Arriving back at the clubhouse, I notice that all is still pretty quiet. It’s just before seven in the morning and while I can say I’m happy about the silence, I find it too quiet. I have my hand on my side arm, ready to draw and fire if I need to. I inspect the common room finding only a few of the guys passed out. Seeing one of the prospects, Jimmy, I quietly shake him.

  “Get up,” I whisper.

  “Man, fuck you.” Jimmy tiredly says as he switches positions and falls back to sleep.

  “Get the fuck up, Jimmy.” I say a little louder. He must of recognized my voice. He quickly gets up, shaking whatever sleep he had left in him.

  “What the fuck, man?” Jimmy questions still shaking the sleep from his face. I put my finger over my lips, telling him to be quiet. He picked up on what I had. He grabs his gun from the cushion of the couch and a quiet click comes from it, indicating that he had flipped the safety off.

  We move almost in silence through the clubhouse. As we enter the tech room, my body freezes. It’s completely torn apart. Papers everywhere, chair overturned, computer screens smashed. Whoever did this, had to still be here. And where the fuck is Nico. Jimmy and I hurry to his room.

  Once there, I start beating on the door. “Nico, man, you in there?” I turn the doorknob to find it locked. Fuck. I think to myself. Panic start coursing through my veins. It’s not uncommon to lock the doors here, but if he’s in there he should have answered the door by now.

  Aiming my gun level with the knob, I blow it off the door. The sound of gunfire echoes through the complex as people start coming out of their rooms to see what all the commotion is. “What the fuck, man?” I hear Seg say behind me. I can here the sleep in his voice but he’s alert enough to know something ain’t right.

  “Nico,” I don’t even wait for the debris to settle before shoving Nico’s door open. With Jimmy on my six, I draw my sidearm keeping it low in front of me. I flip on the light to find Nico’s room destroyed. Clothes, papers, books, everything is everywhere.

  I circle the room, checking every crevice I can find, hoping he’s here. Everything is clear, but Nico’s gone. This ain’t like him. Where the fuck could he be?

  “Find him.” I quietly order. When no one moves, I make my presence known. “NOW!” I bark as I turn around to look at everyone. The sheer panic in everyone’s eyes tell me they got my fucking message. They all disperse throughout the clubhouse. The women and children are ordered back to their rooms, while the brothers search.

  Where the fuck are you, brother? I think to myself. I shouldn’t have left. I should’ve listened. Fuck me and my fucking short temper. I run my hands through my hair, trying to think if there could be something he hinted to in our talks. I can’t recall him telling me anything.

  “Fuck!” I yell as I slam my hands down on the bar. Sierra’s going to be here in a couple hours and one of our guys is missing.

  Trigger comes running up, out of breath. “Nico’s not here, man. Where the fuck would he go?”

  “I have no idea, but I have a feeling he didn’t go willingly.” Trigger seems to be thinking the same thing I am. “Get everyone in the common room, now! Someone had to have seen something.” He nods as he leaves to round up everyone.

  As people started coming into the main room, I found myself pacing, going over everything the last few days. Trying to recall anything he may have said or hinted to. Seeing everyone with terror in their eyes doesn’t give me much hope. Someone had to have gotten past the gate.

  “The cameras.” I think to myself. “Seg,” I motion him over. “Go in the tech room. Don’t touch anything but the security footage. Get me everything that would show someone coming or going through the gate. And make it fast. If Nico’s been taken, we may not have much time.” I whisper to him. He nods as he makes his way over to the footage. I look back up to see that pretty much everyone is in the room.

  “Listen,” I put my hands up to quiet the crowd. “Quiet!” I yell. The crowd grows silent and looks to me as if I have the answers to what’s going on. “Look, I know you’re scared. But I need everyone to think. Did anyone see Nico after I left?” The shaking heads aren’t giving me any answers. “Think real hard.” I start pacing again. “Someone had to have seen him. Even if it were a child, their word counts. I need to know.” Blank looks fill the room. “Okay, let’s try this. Did anyone see anyone come or go after I left? Someone who looked out of the ordinary.” I see a small hand go up. A child’s hand. I kneel down and beckoned her to me. With children, it’s all about how you talk to them whether you get the truth or a lie. This little girl couldn’t be no more than seven. As she stepped closer, I immediately recognize her. Seg’s daughter.

  “Hey sweetie,” I softly say so not to scare her. “Do you know who left?” She just stares at me. “Sweetie, it’s real important that you tell me. Mr. Nico’s life might be in danger.” I grab her hands almost pleading with her, but at the same time, trying not to scare her.

  She looks down at her bare feet, as if deciding what to say. “I can’t say.” She whispers softly. My heart drops.

  “Why can’t you say, sweetie?” I quickly glance around the room and then back at her. “You’re safe here, I promise.”

  “None of us are safe.” She continues to look at the floor. She slowly looks up and makes eye contact with me. I quickly notice how she has the same deep brown eyes as Seg’s. He couldn’t den
y her even if he wanted to.

  “We’re all going to die.” A lump forms in my throat.

  “I won’t let that happen, sweetie. Just tell me.” I plead with her. “Is he in this room?” She nods her head and I take that as progress. “Show me,” I whisper. She gracefully walks back into the crowd, past her momma. I follow closely behind her as we make our way through the people. Towards the back of the room, I see her standing next to a man wearing our cut with the word Prospect stitched crossed the bottom. She walks away to meet her mother when she makes eye contact with me.

  My eyes narrow, as I look the man up and down. I’ve never seen this man a day in my life. With no hesitation, I draw my gun, and point it dead at him. He faces me with no fear, no panic, nothing on his face but a blank stare. “Where’s Nico?” I grit through my teeth.

  “This is much bigger than you, Malik. I wouldn’t if I were you.” He says as he puts his hands in the air.

  “I’ll drop you right here if you don’t start talking.” I growl.

  “No you won’t. Not in front on these women and children. You don’t have the balls.” His lips curl into a sinister smile.

  “You don’t fucking know what I’m capable of.” I glance over my shoulder to see mothers pulling their children close. He’s right. They don’t need to see the bloodshed. “Trigger,” I hear him walking cautiously up to me. “Take him to the hole. We’ll deal with him there.” Before Trigger could move past me, I clocked my gun, and the room echoed from the shoot. Trigger had already hit the ground. He probably knew before I did, I would take the hit

  “You’ll pay for that.” He grimaces in pain. Four of the other brothers gather him up to make a diamond formation around him. He goes without hesitation at that point. I turn around with my gun still in my hand to look at everyone. Some looked to have jumped as if I were going to shoot them too. I slowly holster my weapon as I walk to the crowd.

  “I want all of you back to your rooms. Sierra will be here in a couple hours. She’ll handle what’s just happened.” Everyone starts heading back to their room with the sounds of hushed murmuring echoing in the hallways.

  I head over to the tech room to see if Seg found anything. I approach the doorway as I hear him talking to himself.

  “What did you find?” I must’ve startled him because he about just six feet in the air.

  “I did,” He quickly says as he tries to figure out how to rewind the footage and slow it down. “Take a look.” He stands from the chair. I take a seat and start watching the computer screens. “This van.” Seg points to the bottom left corner of the screen. A dark colored van sits there. I can’t see into the windows to get an idea of who is in it but I can tell if Nico got into the van unwillingly. The van pulls forward cautiously to the gate. You can see Romero come out and start chatting with whoever is inside the van. A few seconds later, there was a flash and Romero fell to the ground. I can feel the instincts starting to kick in. I’m seeing red at this point. I can sense my body starting to turn and I don’t know if I can stop it.

  Two guys get out of the van and starts dragging Romero back into the guard box. The same guy who let me in is the one who dragged Romero’s body into the box. Fuck. I say to myself. “FUCK!” I yell as I punch the desk. “I want who’s ever out there, brought in. NOW!” I growl to Seg. He runs out of the room, shouting to a couple guys to follow him. Within a few minutes, the guy who’s responsible for Romero’s death and Romero’s body are brought into the common room. I storm out. I want to know who the fuck this guy is. I wasn’t paying attention this morning when I pulled in but now these people have my full undivided attention.

  “Take Romero’s body to the back.” I point to the back room while still stalking over to the imposter. My fist meets the imposter’s face with such force, I may ave broken more than just his jawbone. “Who are you?” I growl grabbing the cut he’s wearing. It’s Romero’s, his name is stitched across the left top of it. I’m disgusted with the fact that he’s wearing my brother’s cut. “Who sent you?” I ask again my patience wearing thin.

  A smile filled with blood stretches across my face. He spits the blood onto the floor right next to my boot. “You’re going to regret that.” is all he says. Another punch to his stomach knocks the wind out of him.

  “No mother fucker, you’re going to regret it” I whisper in his ear while he’s still trying to catch his breath. “Lock him up with his buddy. Sierra’s gonna have fun with this.” A look of fear crosses his face. “That’s right, fucker. My Ol’ lady is coming, and unfortunately for you, she’s our Alpha. You, my friend,” I get closer to his ear, “are fucked.” Seg and Trip take the now fighting imposter down to his cell. I turn and face the room that holds Romero’s body. His wife. His kids. Fuck. All I can think about is how to tell them. It’s been too long since we’ve had a death. I did my best to make sure my men were trained to stay alive. We haven’t lost anyone since my father. And I failed him. I failed his family. I let my emotions get in the way. Now Romero is dead and Nico is missing.

  I walk solemnly to the room and crack the door open. I can see Momma trying to clean Romero up in between sobs. She looks up to see me. “My baby,” she rushes over with bloody rags still in her hands and wraps her arms around my neck. “What happened?” She asks in between cries.

  “He was shot, momma.” I pull her away from me to look her in the eyes. “I swear, we’re going to find out who did this.”

  Her eyes are bloodshot, but I can see the tint of orange coming through. I can’t let her change now. Unlike Eve, she’ll have control over herself. She’ll destroy the whole complex just to get answers. “My sons. Ya’ll are my sons. This. This here.” She walks away from me as she points to Romero’s body. “It’s personal. More are gonna die and for what?” I can’t answer that question. “You boys find who did this. I want their heads for suppa.” She growls. A sinister smile creeps onto my face.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Now go get his woman. She deserves to know what happened to her man.” She says as she strokes Romero’s dead arm. She doesn’t look at me but judging by the way she’s watching Romero, I can only imagine what’s going through her head.

  I step outside to find Trip and Trigger standing there. “Find Sofia. Bring her to momma.” “What about the kids?” Trips asks as he crosses his arms to his chest.

  “Tell Bridget and Cara to keep the kids. They don’t need to see this.” I explain.

  “And Eve?” Trigger asks quietly.

  “Is Eve ready? She can be around the kids as long as she can control herself. I don’t want anymore blood.” Trigger nods his head as him and Trip head to go get Sofia.

  I pull my phone out. Sierra has to be close by now. But I want first dibs on beating the shit out of these fuckers.

  I click on my messages and send Sierra a quick text asking how long she’ll be. I don’t get a reply right away so I head to my room to take a quick shower before she gets here. The brothers are cleaning up the common room. I need to clear my head before I let my emotions take control again.

  Once in my room, I find everything in place unlike Nico’s room down the hall. I punch the wall cursing myself for not being here. I could’ve stopped all this. I could have made sure everyone was safe. Maybe then Romero would still be alive and Nico would still be here. I strip out of my clothes, staring at my naked body in the mirror. The scars of war paint a clear picture across my chest and torso. I turn on the water to the shower. As soon as it’s hot enough I step in and wash away every thought I have, every doubt about myself, everything.

  Once clean, I turn off the water and step out. I get that feeling again that I’m being watched. I wrap in a towel and head to my dresser. I slowly pull my gun out of the holster as I inspect the room. I look under the bed, in the closet, every nook and cranny I can think of. But the room’s clear. Thinking it’s me being paranoid, I pull out a pair of jeans, black shirt, and a pair of black socks to get dressed. My thoughts then turn to Sierra and what
she said. I don’t know what she could possibly have to talk about, but those are words no man ever wants to hear.

  Just then my phone dings with a text.

  Sierra: 15 minutes babe.

  Fuck me. I swing the door open to my room and rush out. Seg, Trip, and Trigger are all standing in the common room. “Get the guys in here. Sierra is fifteen out.” They scatter like cockroaches exposed to light. With a few minutes to spare, all the brothers are in the room, impatiently waiting for our Alpha. Things are about to get interesting.

  14

  Sierra

  Upon arriving to the complex, I find everything is quiet. A little too quiet. I open the door to the van to find LeRoy and Lucias waiting for me. Lucias offers a hand and I take it as I step out. The humidity hit my face hard causing what little makeup I have on, to start to sweat off. I hear the door close behind me as all of my men circle me. Each one is furnished with an automatic weapon. Once everyone is in place, we make our way to the entrance of the building.

  LeRoy is the first to enter while the rest of us wait outside. I shake away any nerves I may have.

  “Stand. Your Alpha is now present.” I hear LeRoy say from inside the building. He comes back out and motions me to enter. “Ma’am.” I nod my head to him as he follows close behind me. Once inside, I see all my men standing in the room.

  “Sit.” I order and like good puppies they do. I don’t have time to waste today so it’ll be much easier if they did as they’re told. I catch a whiff of something that smells dead. I smell the air a bit more and I find that it’s coming from the back room. I open the door to find an older woman crying into a tissue as well as a younger woman hugging a body on a table. I step inside as I close the door behind me. “What happened here?” I question.