“Pal’s got a point, Prez. Not sure I’d do that myself. You’d need to be pretty desperate.” Mace looks concerned.
“Or angry with the club.” Demon’s rubbing his temples. “You heard him in the cellar, he was scared, worried, but not angry. He got a beef with us? I reckon it would have shown up.”
Hell sighs deeply. “Pal, I tend to believe you. We were questioning Runt with less to go on. VP. What d’you reckon? Question Taser downstairs, or bring it up in church?”
Mace is frowning. “Didn’t mention this, thought it might just be shoddy workmanship. Had a quiet word with Pyro instead. But when my bike was in the shop a couple of weeks back, the brake pipe hadn’t been attached properly. Luckily I noticed the fluid was leaking before I rode it.”
“Taser?”
The enforcer shrugs. “Now I’d like to know if Taser was around in the shop that day. Possible he might want the enforcer position more than he let on.”
“If you’re right,” Prez says, his face going dark, “Taser’s murdered one brother and has attempted to kill another. Where is he now?”
“At the bar when I came in.” I tell them helpfully.
Hellfire leans over the desk. “Right. VP. Lock Runt in his room. Get a prospect to guard him. If he’s innocent, we’ll need to make it up to him. Don’t want him running without giving me a chance to explain.”
“If he’s a right fit for us, Prez, he’ll put the club first and know we were only protecting it.”
“If he leaves, then he’s not right.”
My eyes flick between Thunder and Mace, wondering what I’d do in Runt’s position.
“Mace?” Hellfire continues. “I want you out of it until we’ve got Taser secured. We’ll get him downstairs on some pretext. He’s heavily armed, he always is. Any sniff that we’re onto him and you’re around? He might start shooting and if this crazy story is right, you’re likely to be the target.” He pauses, then looks at me. “You, too, Pal. Make yourself scarce. The dislike between the two of you is mutual.”
I’m only pleased that they’ve believed me. Or at least I’ve put enough doubt in their minds for them to release Runt and question Taser instead.
“Sure Prez. I’ll go and check on my girl. Just let me know if you need me.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Paladin
As Shooter and I walk across the clubroom to the stairs leading to the bedrooms, it’s hard to prevent myself glancing toward the bar and the man whose voice I hear loudly disputing something with Pyro.
“This is going to hit the club hard,” Shooter says quietly, once we’re at the top and walking down the corridor toward my room.
“Too fuckin’ right, Brother.”
“Buster was the only one we ever had go bad back in Tucson.”
“Don’t forget Chrissy. She betrayed the club.”
I had forgotten her. We both had only been prospects then. Our involvement helping to bury the body. It had been a bad business. But somehow, as she was a club whore, her betrayal hadn’t hit us so badly. Not like a brother who’s earned his patch.
We’ve reached my door. It’s slightly ajar. I push it all the way open, Jay’s not inside. I frown slightly, I’d expected to find her waiting for me. I can’t recall having seen her downstairs. Surely if she’d been there, she’d have come straight over to greet me. Instead, all there is waiting for me is Bitch. As I approach the bed, she starts spitting.
“Whoa,” I hold out my hand carefully like I’ve watched Jay do. Bitch’s paw shoots out, missing my fingers by inches. “Fuck.”
Shooter looks from me to the cat. He grins, assessing the situation fast. “Want me to move her?”
Before I can warn him, he’s approached her. “Fuck. Fuckin’ animal!”
I pull him back, eyeing the bleeding scratches on the back of his hand. He puts it to his mouth and starts sucking.
“Best leave her be, Brother. Jay speaks cat and can move her.”
“Where is Jay?” he mumbles, eyeing his bloody skin, then sending a glare at Bitch.
“Here somewhere,” I answer, unconcerned. “Let’s go find her.”
Exiting the room under the watchful eye of Bitch, swearing I can see her grinning a feline smile of triumph, we walk back downstairs. I pause before taking the final steps, confirming that Prez has wasted no time cutting Taser from the rest of the brothers. Mace has appeared too, he’s staring morosely into a beer, avoiding the others. Must be hard to think a man you’ve called brother might have attempted to kill you. As I approach him, I slap his back. He nods at me in understanding.
“Have you seen Jay?” I ask.
“Lost your woman already?” Pyro barks a loud laugh.
“Sindy’s in the kitchen, she might be out there.” I nod thanks to Buzzard. That was where I was going to try next.
But she’s nowhere to be found. I even send a club girl to search in the Ladies’ bathroom. It’s only when there’s still no sign of her that I begin worrying. Returning to the clubroom, I start to question people. No one’s seen her. Dan, who’s been minding the bar all afternoon swears he hasn’t seen her come down the stairs. With a sheepish grin, he says he would have noticed such a pretty girl like her. I tamp down thoughts of why he’d been watching for her in my absence, but that’s not the important thing now.
“Your bathroom?” Shooter asks. She couldn’t be hiding there, could she? “I’ll go and look,” he offers.
“You had words?”
I answer Pyro. “She didn’t like being told where I was going was club business,” I admit.
“Perhaps she’s sulkin’. Kid might not have the right attitude to be an old lady,” Lizard suggests.
There’s no point in me getting angry, he might have a point if she’s hiding away rather than facing up to me.
“Come, let’s search outside.” The enforcer looks like he’d be grateful to have something to occupy him while we’re hanging around, waiting for information as to what Prez has drawn out of Taser. As each minute passes, I’m getting more and more concerned, I’m not going to turn any help down.
“Mace,” I begin, as we step out of the clubhouse. “Can’t see why she’d be out here. She might be young, but she’s never been one for childhood games. And especially not hide and seek. She’s not going to expose herself out in the open, and she wouldn’t be in any of the sheds, she doesn’t like the dark or being confined in a small place.”
“Don’t worry, Pal. She’s got to be here somewhere. Best to let no stone go unturned while we try to find her.” He pushes open the door to the barn where brothers store spare rides. Suddenly his eyes sharpen, and he quickens his pace, going over to a spot where a tarp lies on the ground. “Where’s my fuckin’ car?” he growls.
“Your car?”
“Yup. 1969 Dodge Charger. Keep it in here out of the rain.” He picks up the tarp and looks as if he might find it underneath. “Where the fuck is it?” he roars, his eyes flaring. “You could be fuckin’ right Taser’s got it in for me. Stolen my fuckin’ car.”
That’s only an assumption he’d jumped too. And whether Taser is responsible or not, in my head it’s neither here nor there. “Car’s one thing, Brother. But where’s my girl?” Cars can be replaced. She can’t.
“Pal?” I exit the garage as I hear Shooter’s voice. Mace is right behind me. “Don’t know if this means anything, but the fire escape door at the end of the corridor where your room is, was open.”
Mace swings around to face me. “Would Jay try to leave the club?”
“She’s not stolen your car if that’s what you’re thinking.” I snap back. “She can’t even drive.”
He scoffs. “And unless she knows how to hot wire it, she wouldn’t have known where the keys were.”
“Jay wouldn’t have gone off by herself.” I’m trying to keep my panic under control. “Mace, she’s been living with threats all her life. She’s more used to being on lockdown than not. She wouldn’t put her life at risk. She
wouldn’t.”
Shooter’s arm is around my shoulders. “We’ll find her, Brother. We’ll fuckin’ find her.” He looks at Mace. “Paladin’s right. Jay would not leave the club. Not when there’s danger on the outside. Not voluntarily.”
“Someone took her.” My eyes go wide. “Who the fuck? And how would they get her to fuckin’ leave?”
The enforcer’s face tightens. “I’m the one Taser wanted to kill to get me out of the way. But you’re the one he’s had it in for, Brother, ever since you arrived. He’s one of the few who would know where I keep the keys.”
“You think he stole your car and took Jayden?”
Mace shakes his head. “I don’t fuckin’ know, Pal. But where else can we point the fuckin’ finger?”
Shooter looks from Mace to myself. “If that’s the only lead we’ve got, I reckon we’re wasting time. We’ve got questions to ask Taser.”
A sharp nod, then Mace starts running back toward the clubhouse, I’m only a couple of steps behind him.
Unlike me, he doesn’t knock politely on the door to the basement. He hits it running and smashes it in.
“What the fuck?” Hell turns around.
I have a split second to take everything in. It looks like Taser’s already put up a fight. Demon’s mouth is bleeding, but it’s Taser who’s strung up, with Thunder’s fist hitting his stomach.
Hell gets right up in front of us. “Thought we’d agreed you two should stay out of this.”
“It’s Jay, Prez. Jay’s gone missing.” I sound curt, I can’t help it. “Taser might be behind that too.”
Prez’s eyes widen, then he turns. I look at the man hanging by his wrists, and don’t miss the slight smile on his face. As if what’s playing out in front of him is causing him amusement.
“You know anything about this,” Hellfire snarls.
Taser says gloatingly, “Enough so I can prove my innocence.” Then the motherfucker looks at Mace and myself, and barks a laugh. “That’s the asshole you should be after. Fuckin’ Mace. He’s a lunatic. Didn’t join the dots up til now, but I saw him take your girl off somewhere, Pal. In his fuckin’ car. I’m not the person who’s been fuckin’ with the club. Mace is.”
I look at Taser, then at the man by my side whose head is shaking side to side in obvious denial. I go cold, not knowing who to believe. I’m too new to this club.
Shooter’s hand’s gripping hard on my shoulder. “Focus, Pal, Focus. Think who can find out if Jay went off the compound?”
“Cad. Cad can check the cameras.”
Mace is staring at me. “I had no hand in this, Paladin. That fucker’s setting me up. Lying.”
I just run. Now we know Jay’s been taken off-site, Cad has to be the place to start.
Cad’s in his spot at the corner of the clubhouse. There’s no privacy, but right now I don’t give a fuck. Quickly he calls up the footage on his laptop and goes through it. Starting at the most recent and moving back in time. There’s Shooter and I arriving back, then noting until… Taser’s bike leaving. He’s not alone. Jay riding behind him.
“Motherfucker!” I yell. Why would she go off with him? I can’t think of a reason. He had to have tricked her.
Demon’s come up from the basement. His fingers dig into my arm. “I’ll get the fuckin’ truth out of him, Pal.” He turns and heads back to downstairs fast.
I move to follow him. “Hang on a sec, Pal. Mace’s car’s got a tracker in it.” Cad’s fingers are flying over the keys. After a moment, he consults a map. “What the fuck is it doing there? There’s nothing around for miles.”
“Where?” He points it out. My head drops into my hands. Taser took Jay somewhere. Mace’s car is missing. No fucking proof, just a feeling inside. Fuck knows how long Taser will hold out before he gives them the information. He knows he’s dead once he does. Right now, I’d prefer to be doing something, anything. “Send me the fuckin’ coordinates, Cad. I’m going to find it.”
“There’s nothing to say she’s there. Whoever took my car could just have used an out-of-the-way location to hide it.”
“Fuckin’ coincidence. Taser could hang out for hours, days, Mace. Nah, she might not be with the car, but there’s nothing to say she isn’t. At least we might find a clue as to where she might be. Even if Taser talks I don’t trust him. He might fuck with us, come up with lies to send us off in the wrong direction.” And all the while we’ll be wasting time. I glance at Mace. “I either believe you, or him. Up to now, you’ve done nothing to make me mistrust you. Taser said you took Jay in your car…”
“Recording already shows he’s lying,” Mace agrees.
“The key is Mace’s car, Brother,” Sparky’s next to me, apparently supporting my conclusions. “Rusty will go with you in case she’s there and needs help. At least we won’t have wasted time sittin’ here twiddlin’ our fingers. The moment Demon gets info from Taser, if he says she’s somewhere else, I’ll go find her.”
“I’ll come with.” Every brother is offering.
In the end, it’s me, Shooter, Pyro, Ink, Lizard, Bomber and Rusty who head out to the car’s location.
The only thing that makes sense in my mind is that Taser’s taken her somewhere to hurt her, and by stealing Mace’s car, was somehow intending to put the blame on the enforcer. If Mace had harmed a claimed woman, they’d have killed him. How the fuck Taser thought he could get away with it, I don’t know.
My hand shakes on the throttle. Bomber’s in the lead, I wish he’d go faster, but I’ve failed once already today to keep the shiny side up due to impatience. It won’t do my woman any good for me to die at the side of the road. Hang on, Jay, we’re coming. Is she hurt? Dead? No, she can’t be. She’s got to be okay. How would I survive if she was gone? I’d die myself. if I never held her again. I can’t live without her.
It seems to take forever until Bomber’s indicating and turning onto a gravel road. A few yards down it opens out into a rough area of ground. There’s the Dodge Charger sitting forlorn, looking abandoned. We park.
“This doesn’t make sense.” Pyro stares at the car. “How could he finger Mace, if his car’s here, and he’s not.”
“What were you discussin’ earlier?” Ink questions as he kicks down his stand. “You were talkin’ to him at the bar.”
Pyro’s eyes find mine. “Christ. He mentioned needin’ to show Mace something. Thought he meant in the clubhouse. Now it starts to make sense. Could have brought him here, I don’t know. Killed him? Found the girl? Come home the fuckin’ hero?”
“She’s here.” I state adamantly. “She has to be.”
“Let’s fan out,” Bomber takes the lead. I’m grateful, I just want to rush in all directions at once. “Anyone know what’s around here? Anywhere he could have stashed her?”
“No idea, Bomber.” Pyro’s scratching his head. “Not been here before.”
“Start looking. Mine buildings, wells. Fuck,” Bomber gives me an apologetic glance, “any disturbed earth.”
“We could be looking in the wrong fucking place. He left on his bike,” Lizard observes, from down on his haunches, his hand pointing to tire tracks in the dirt.
But she’s here. Somewhere. I know she is. I can sense it. I start looking for footprints, some type of clue to follow. Suddenly Rusty brushes past me. He tries the car doors, they’re locked. He raps on the trunk, there’s no response, and that’s won’t open either.
“Anyone got a jimmy?”
My eyes widen in horror. She can’t be in there. She’d have responded if she was. Pyro’s thinking the same thing. Ignoring the car, he starts walking off after Lizard, examining the ground, trying to find tracks.
Slowly, too fucking slowly, Ink walks over with his tool bag, he’s smirking. “Wouldn’t want to be in your shoes, Brother, if you bust Mace’s car.”
Rusty stands, tossing a tool between his hands.
“If you don’t do it, I will,” I growl.
He looks at me, shrugs, then applies wh
at he’s holding to the trunk. The lock puts up a fight, but it’s not long before he has it popped. He pushes it up.
Oh fuck no. Jay’s inside. Pushing him roughly out of the way, I reach in and pull her out. She hangs limp in my hands, so still it looks like she’s dead.
How fucking long has she been left here, in a car, in the heat of the sun in the fucking desert?
Now it’s my turn to be pulled aside after I lay her gently on the ground. My mind numb, my brain unable to process I’ve lost her forever. I fight, wanting to hold her, unwilling to let her go, even in death. Pyro’s arms are around me, keeping me away. I struggle, but his grip is too strong. It’s Ink who’s there fast with his knife, cutting the zip-tie which holds her hands together. Rusty places his fingers to her throat.
“She’s alive. Just.”
My own heart starts beating again. Elbowing Pyro in the gut, he frees me. I fall to my knees beside her.
“Pull yourself together,” Rusty snarls, then shouts, “Anyone got water?”
Ink has. Seems he carries just about everything in those saddlebags of his. Rusty sits himself behind her, raising her head, and dribbles water into her mouth. He removes his bandana and wets it, then drapes it over her forehead.
“Are the keys in the fuckin’ car?” Rusty yells. “Or can you get it started?”
Assuming we’re going to be driving her to a hospital, I stand, ready to pick her up.
“I’ll give it a try.” Pyro runs to it.
“Get the air conditioning started.”
“What air conditioning? It hasn’t got any.”
“Fuck. We need to cool her.” Rusty starts lifting her tee-shirt. When I growl, he demands. “Take her fuckin’ jeans off, Pal. What’s worth more, her dignity or her life?”
Put like that, there’s no choice. As I pull down her jeans, they’re stiff with dried urine. What the fuck has she been through? I’d have done anything to save her from this. If she survives I’ll spend my life making sure nothing else ever hurts her. When she’s lying in just her bra and panties, my brothers stand around, shading her from the sun. Tee-shirts come off, Rusty squirts water over her body, and the clothing becomes makeshift fans.
Satan's Devils MC Colorado Boxset 1 Books 1 - 3 Page 33
