Dixon's Resurrection (Hell Raiders MC Book 2)

by Lowe, Aden

  She took another step and excruciating pain shot through her foot, nearly bringing her to the ground. Bending down, she found a heavy metal bar lying on the ground. She'd kicked it as she walked. Careful where she put her hand, she slipped her fingers around it and tested its weight.

  Damn thing didn't seem all that heavy, but she couldn't get it off the ground for all the weeds grown over and around it. She tried again, with both hands, and ended up falling back on her ass when it came free. Sitting there, she examined the steel bar, about three feet long, maybe an inch and a half wide and over a quarter inch thick. It would make a formidable weapon.

  All she needed to do was find a way to keep it handy, where she could get her hands on it when she wanted. Getting it back to the well, and possibly to the house, might not be so difficult. She stood lifted the bar with her, careful to keep it down at her side. With the tall grass all the way to hide it, she might manage to get it all the way to the porch. Then the only problem would come in finding a spot to stash it.

  Heading back toward the well along her earlier path proved just as difficult. The weeds were pushed down, tops toward her, forcing her to step over them to keep from tripping and getting tangled. The last thing she needed was to fall and lose her weapon. Hell, with a little luck, she might find another one the next trip.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Dix leaned back to let the little fire burn. Mind cleared of everything except what he needed to do, he turned to getting it done. The salt from the box in the duffle bag marked the perimeter of his Circle, just large enough for him, his fire, and his supplies. He recited the little verse he'd been taught to create a safe space and focused on turning that circle of salt into a sort of shield to protect him from Belial and anything else that might be out there.

  A small handful of herbs from the bag created a cloud of fragrant smoke for him to pass his knife through. Salt, and then water from the spring at the Ferguson place further cleansed the blade. He used the tip of the blade to open a small cut on the palm of his hand and coated the blade in his blood.

  Weapon readied and clean for his purpose, he settled to building a shield to keep Belial and his followers out of his mind. Time stood still until the little fire burned out. Finally he was satisfied that he'd closed all his own mental doors, and taken steps to protect information. Not much else he could do. He closed his circle and climbed to his feet.

  In the time he'd spent between the worlds, his legs had gone entirely numb from the knee down, but his ribs didn't seem to hurt quite as bad as before. Maybe he was just becoming used to it. He stood there for a moment and let the blood flow return to his feet, then made his way carefully to the edge of the clearing.

  From that vantage point, he looked for Ryker. The side-by-side was still right where they'd left it, but the big fighter was nowhere in sight. He checked once more to be sure, then pulled the .22 handgun from the holster someone had mounted to the dash of the machine, and fired straight up into the air. Now all he could do was wait.

  He threw his bag into the bed of the vehicle and climbed into his seat. No sense standing around when he could sit. Impatience suggested he just climb to the driver's side and take himself back to the clubhouse, but he couldn't just leave Ryker to walk back. Besides, he also wasn't certain he could handle driving just yet. Hopefully Ryker would hurry his ass up. He'd already wasted too much time, and now the blade of his knife burned with its purpose, pushing him to take care of business.

  Ryker climbed into his seat without a sound to warn Dix he'd arrived, startling him. Man moved like some kind of predator. Not someone Dix would want hunting him.

  "Man, why don't you wear a bell or something? Save me a few heart attacks." Dix held onto the rail as the vehicle started forward.

  Ryker grinned. "You just ain't right, you know that? If I warned everyone I was coming, my little prize from the fight the other night might get shy."

  Dix stared at him. "What the hell you talking about?"

  Ryker grinned again. "I won my match the other night. Prize was a bit unique."

  "You won a chick?"

  "Just for the night. But she stayed and I ain't sending her away yet."

  "Huh." Dix needed to digest that information. Ryker was a bit of a legend, even among the Hell Raiders, for the sheer number of women he bedded. A second go with one was practically a long-term relationship. "Any of the others know about your little prize?"

  "Not yet. Once we find your woman, I'll bring her by to meet everyone."

  Dix reached toward Ryker's head. "Better check if you got a fever. That definitely is not you talking about plans with a chick."

  Ryker laughed and slapped his hand away. "Fucker." He sobered for a moment. "I don't know what it is about her. Can't get enough."

  Dix tried to draw enough breath for a sigh and gave up. "I know that feeling." He would never get enough of Georgie, not in a thousand years. He braced himself as they headed for the creek. He didn't need to fall out in the damn water.

  "We'll get her back. And those idiots will pay for every bit of the worry they've caused."

  Dix nodded and turned to his own thoughts of revenge. If Belial made good on his threat to escape prison, Dix had to make sure he went back. Death would be far too easy for the bastard. No, he had to go back to jail and serve his time. But now with the Raiders' help, he could make sure that time became a living Hell on Earth.

  Finally they rolled back into the yard at the clubhouse. Ryker parked and Dix climbed out to head inside. Badger met him at the bottom of the porch steps and offered a steadying hand. Inside, all eyes followed him as he made his way to the chair he'd occupied before. Kellen and Trip came over and took seats opposite him, obviously ready to hear what he had to say, while the others gathered around.

  "You get your shit taken care of?" Kellen's words echoed through the silent room.

  Dix nodded. "I did." He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the next part. "I need everyone to know the kind of people we're dealing with. You've probably heard some of it at least. But this guy, Belial, the leader of this cult, is in prison right now. But he's planning to get out in the next day or so." He took a long look around, meeting each pair of eyes in the room. "He also made some threats against the Raiders."

  He spent the next half hour giving more details. The Raiders surprised him once more. Rather than the rejection and disgust he'd expected, only calm acceptance reflected on the rough faces surrounding him.

  "I think I found the place." Trip stood up. "That is, if they took her to the most logical place. It's a small farm, abandoned since the eighties. This Belial character, his mother was raised there and he visited summers as a kid. When the old folks died, they left the place to him instead of to his mother. Guess there was some bad blood there. Not sure why, but he hasn't done anything with it."

  "You know where it is?" Dix practically choked on the words. "Why are we still here?" Impatience skipped along his nerve endings.

  Trip held a hand up. "Don't get all tweaky on me, man. I have the location, but we'll need a plan to get in there. They can cover the way in easily. It's isolated enough they can get by with just about any damn thing they want."

  He forced himself to slow down and take a deep breath. "Okay. So what do we do?" Every muscle vibrated with the need to get moving.

  Kellen stood. "We prepare for war." He waved a hand and led the way into the room they used for official club business. "Dix, you're with me."

  Full members dropped cell phones into the tote waiting for that purpose and took their seats at the table. Once everyone was inside and the room secured, Kellen called the meeting to order.

  "You all know the deal. This is life or death. We'll come under fire, no doubt. We have to split our forces, keep someone here just in case. They've already attacked on our turf, so I don't think for a minute they won't do that again if it gives them an edge."

  Ryker spoke up. "You think any of them are still around here?"

  Trip n
odded. "Count on it. I haven't been able to get an accurate count on how many people they have, or locations on them. It seems a lot of them are drifters. But we know at least three were here. I have no doubt some still are, probably more than that."

  Badger cleaned his nails with the tip of a knife. "We'll be ready for them to come at us in force, just in case. I've already got a couple guys in town watching for them."

  "Good. I'm not terribly worried here. We've got the advantage. Those idiots stick out like sore thumbs around here." Kellen looked around the table. "What I am worried about is how we're going to get onto that farm and get Georgie away from them. We don't have much time."

  Trip nodded. "That's what I'm worried about too. I have a few old aerial photos of the farm, but they don't show us what's there now. I also have some more recent satellite images. The problem is, the place looks so overgrown and neglected, there just isn't much way to tell much about it. There's a rundown looking house, a barn, and a couple of small outbuildings, all in terrible shape."

  Ryker grinned. "So basically, we're going in blind."

  "Yeah, that's the size of it."

  "Good to know. We got a plan?" Crank took a long drag off his cigarette.

  Kellen lit his own cigarette. "There's a little town there, but we can't expect any help from the locals. My guess is they'll figure we're just about as bad as the Satanists, if not worse. I think our best bet is to go in quiet and keep out of sight." He went on to lay out a few more details.

  Several of the others gave suggestions and nearly an hour later, they had the plan as solid as they could get it. Sitting there listening to it all had Dix vibrating with nervous energy. He wanted to strap up and ride in and get his woman. The rest of it could go to hell. Only the realization that without the Hell Raiders' help, he wouldn't have a chance made him stay.

  By the time Kellen adjourned the meeting, assignments had been given and at least a vague plan formed. The only Dix cared about was getting the hell out of that room and getting under way. Georgie didn't have time for them to sit around making plans like a bunch of generals.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sweat soaked Georgie and she itched like nobody's business, but she had a weapon hidden near the house. Satisfaction settled into her tired muscles as she sat on the edge of the porch and tried to cool off. Another benefit to all the work made itself known, too. She utterly reeked. Any man who got near her smelling like that would be one determined motherfucker. Hopefully it would deter her captors.

  Her progress at the well showed clearly in a nice neat patch of cleared ground surrounding the pump. Since it seemed likely carrying the water would be her job, at least maybe she wouldn't step on a snake in the process. Although that might be preferable to what they had planned for her. It took some work to force that line of thought from her mind.

  No one had checked on her as she worked, even when she went to the barn and poked around. Either they were supremely confident she wouldn't try to run, or they had some other way of making sure she didn't get away if she tried. She had to figure out which.

  Getting cooled off seemed like a lost cause, so she headed back for the well. At least she could pump water over her head. Maybe that would help. On second thought, she turned back and went inside the house.

  "Lilith?" The woman was nowhere in sight. Good. She grabbed three empty water bottles from the top of the trash, one to carry while she worked outside, the other two to stash.

  The thought of traipsing through the wilderness without water failed to appeal to her. If she did manage to get away, she would need whatever advantage she could get, even just a bottle of water. Careful to keep her movements casual, she filled one bottle and dropped the other two. After a drink, she bent to pull some weeds, then filled one of the empties. By working a little and pretending to drain her bottle again, she managed to fill all three and hopefully not arouse suspicious in case anyone watched.

  As soon as she had a good pile of weeds pulled again, she loaded up and headed for the barn. A fake fall allowed her to stash the two extras out of sight under a bush at the edge of the path. Back on her feet, she gathered her load again and trudged toward the barn, only one water bottle tucked under her arm.

  A slight breeze stirred the seed heads of the grass near the barn and she hurried to free her arms and enjoy it. Half a bottle of water dumped over her head helped considerably, too. Slightly more comfortable, she sat in the shade to rest a few minutes and think.

  The problem with the water bottles was how to carry them. Not like she could stick them in a bag and just bring them along. No, she needed a way to tie them together or something, to hang over her shoulder and keep her hands free. Shoe strings seemed the obvious answer, but she needed hers in her shoes. What else did she have? She looked around. Too bad, the only thing she had an endless supply of was weeds.

  She lay back and stared up at the clouds, trying to figure a way out of this mess. There had to be something. A fly buzzed lazily past a few times and then landed on her arm. Suddenly, she didn't have the energy to brush it away. Her eyes closed and she let herself drift back to Dix. Was he okay?

  Something tickled her cheek and she smacked at it half-heartedly. Exhaustion pulled at her limbs and threatened to drag her under. The damn fly tickled her cheek again. She waved it away with a little more aggression, only to have it return immediately.

  With a sigh, she opened her eyes, prepared to climb to her feet and get back to work just to get away from a stupid bug.

  Abaddon stood over her, wearing a broad grin as he brushed a long grass stem along her neck. A short startled cry escaped Georgie's lips before she could stop it. Heat flared in his eyes and she could have sworn they flashed red.

  She sat up fast and leaped to her feet, ready to run. "I didn't see you."

  His laughter echoed back off the side of the barn, turning it into a creepy soundtrack from a bad movie. "I know you didn't. That was the point." His gaze swept over her, lingering too long on her wet shirt. "You look like you could use a bath. You've been working hard."

  Shit. "I'm fine." She started walking, heading back toward the house. The last thing she wanted was that bastard thinking about her in a bath.

  He followed close behind. "Yes, you definitely are fine. But it's hot and I know a nice cool place for a little swim."

  "I don't swim." She quickened her pace a little. The house seemed even farther away than when she left the barn.

  "Ah, it's not nice to lie, sweet little Georgie." He caught her arm and spun her around to stare into her eyes.

  A wave of nausea pushed through her. She stood helpless while he sorted through her memories and thoughts, running his creepy hands over everything.

  "That's what I thought. Come on, you'll like swimming with me." He tugged at her arm.

  She jerked back reflexively. "I'm not going anywhere with you." Her mind spun, searching for a defense. "Belial wouldn't like it."

  The words struck the mark. He dropped her arm and grinned again. "That gets you a pass. For now. I'll be waiting and when he's done his thing, I'll have what's left of you."

  Georgie turned and started walking again. After a few steps, she dared a glance back over her shoulder. Abaddon was nowhere to be seen. She stopped and took a good look. Nothing. Not even a trail in the grass. What the hell? He couldn't have just disappeared into thin air.

  Fear buzzed along her spine and she turned to hurry on toward the house, expecting him to jump out at her at any second. Her heart hammered in her chest and her lungs threatened to burst with the effort of sucking in enough air. Black spots swam before her eyes by the time she reached the house.

  The flimsy door fell off its hinges when she grabbed it to rush inside. Lilith sat at the table once more, with her book. She looked up with a scowl. "What are you doing?"

  Georgie stopped, hands on her knees and heaving for breath. Relief made her nauseous.

  Lilith stood. "I expect an answer."

  Able to breathe a
little better, Georgie attempted to answer. "I was at the barn, dumping the weeds I'd pulled. I sat down to rest and that guy came. He tried to make me go swimming, but that wasn't what he meant." Okay, listening to herself, it didn't sound all that urgent. But the fear had been overwhelming at the time. She tried to calm herself.

  The other woman scowled. "Which guy?"

  "What's his name… Abaddon. The one who kept saying stuff about me."

  "What did you do?"

  "I did the only thing I could think of. Told him Belial would be mad, and ran."

  "Did he chase you?" Lilith's face darkened with anger.

  "No, he just disappeared." The irony of looking to this woman for protection was not lost on Georgie.

  She returned to her seat. "If he approaches you again, do the same thing. Remind him you are for Belial. I won't have him soiling the vessel."

  Not surprisingly, Georgie felt no safer after sharing her fear. Sure Lilith would keep her from one rapist. Only to turn her over to another, likely worse. Her resolve hardened. She might not have a real plan, but she refused to just sit and wait for whatever they intended to do to her. If she couldn't escape, then she would fight.

  She turned to go back out. "Is there anything in particular you'd like done outside? I've cleared the weeds from around the well."

  Lilith looked as if she wanted to make some smartass remark, but changed her mind. She shook her head. "I don't understand why you would rather be out there in the heat working than sitting in here where it's at least a little cooler."

  Georgie tilted her head, not sure she'd heard right. "Have you ever known something was about to happen? Something that scared you? Even getting a shot as a kid?"

  "Of course."

  "Did you want to just sit and wait for it to happen?"

  Lilith nodded. "I guess not. Okay, I understand. If it means you're less trouble until the Dark Lord takes you, fine. Pull every damn weed you see if you want." She shrugged. "If you get tired of outside, there's plenty to do inside too." She waved to indicate the hall from the living room Georgie had noted earlier. "There are three bedrooms down there, and a basement. We have more people coming later today and over the next few days and we'll need the space. Knock yourself out cleaning it up."