Chapter Twenty-Three
Cane
It neared midnight when I stood at the edge of the tree line. The fresh breeze brought with it the distinct scent of sugar maple, fir, and petunias and cleared my thoughts. The moon hung high in the sky and cast silver streaks along the vast road before us. The road led to a fucking compound, surrounded by walls and trees and monitored by CCTV cameras.
“You think we can take out those fuckers before they shoot us?” Caleb asked, nodding to the two guards in the gatehouse.
Others circled outside the grounds. Excessive security even if the house did look like a fucking mansion from Beverley Hills. From what little information Rex gleaned from Google Maps, the place had a large main residence, what looked like a fucking pool house, as well as two barns.
“You think Thea and Cherrie are both in there?” Lucky asked.
I glanced at the trees behind us, where Jameson and Bono ushered Blondie back to the rest of our brothers concealed in the forest. “That fucker seems to think so.”
Fuck. He’d better be right. I’d been playing events over and over in my head, wishing I’d done things differently. That Thea had never got in that fucking car. I shook the thought from my head. There were more important things to focus on than shoulda woulda coulda.
“You got a plan yet?” Bono said on his return.
I returned my attention to the road and guards, mulling over possible ways in. Every muscle in my body tensed. What I wanted to do was run straight in and rip Dan-the-fucker’s head off, but knowing that if I didn’t move with a level head, I’d be dead and no use to Thea, stopped me. “How about I just drive straight up to the fucking gate?”
“What?” Caleb and Bono said at the same time.
“Take a look. We may be covered by trees here and the house surrounded by them, but between here and there is an open field.” I nodded to the gibbous moon blazing like some fucking beacon and lighting up the whole sky. “No matter how quiet we are, there’s no hope of sneaking up on them. Not without a distraction. Even if we did, those walls are too high for us to climb without equipment. The only way in is through those gates.”
“I don’t know,” Bono said. “The guards don’t seem that alert to me. I reckon we could do it.”
“They don’t,” I agreed. “But why take the risk? And that still leaves the walls. If I drive straight toward the gate, their eyes are gonna be on me. That’ll give you five the chance to sneak up behind them and take them out.”
“It’s a hell of a fucking risk.” Caleb ran his hands over his head and stared at the gatehouse. “What if Thea’s brother sees you coming and decides to kill her?”
“Or Cherrie?” Lucky added.
I thought about it a moment. A certainty washed over me. Dan liked to play games. He liked to watch people suffer. “He won’t,” I said, knowing he was more likely to torture me in front of Thea or... shit... the other way around. Just the thought of him laying one finger on her had a growl bubbling up from my chest.
“Hell, I’m game,” Rex said. “Beats standing here all night.”
I turned to Caleb, who shook his head. “This doesn’t sound like much of a fucking plan to me.”
“You’ve been quiet,” I said to Jameson. “What do you think we should do?”
Jameson squinted at the house and nodded. “Let’s go with your plan. Drive up and ask to speak with Thea’s brother. We’ll sneak behind the guards at the gatehouse and try to take them out. If we fail, there’s a possibility, they’ll take you where you want to go. If we act now, the perimeter guards will be on the other side of the compound. After fifteen minutes, every other brother rides straight into the place and creates havoc.”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “Fifteen minutes.” Knowing Lucky to be the noisiest fucker on the planet whenever he tried to sneak, I suggested he go back and let the others know what we decided. “Set your watch. We’ll see you on the other side, brother.”
“Fuck, yeah, you will.”
Lucky headed back up the road, and Caleb stared straight into my eyes as if he was trying to read my fucking soul or some shit. After a moment, he let out a huge sigh. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s do this shit.”
I turned to follow Lucky and grab Bono’s Jeep. Within five minutes, I was driving straight towards the gate and the motherfucker who had Thea. As soon as the fuckers at the gate saw me, they came outside, packing AK-47s. And their whole fucking attention was focused on me. A good thing too, as a quick glance to my left highlighted my brothers slinking across the meadow. Their goddamn leather jackets reflecting silver in the moonlight.
My anger built as I neared to gate, but I tried to fucking push it down, and focused my attention on the guards. As Jameson predicted, the perimeter guards were out of sight on the other side of the compound. I reckoned that gave me around five minutes to get through the gate or risk them raising the alarm.
Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my muscles, pulled the Jeep to a stop and opened the window. One of the guards came over, his eyes glaring. The other hovered behind him and leveled his AK-47 at my face, ready to fire.
I rested my arm on the opened window and plastered a fake fucking smile on my face.
“How you doing, fellas?” I said, resisting calling them fuckers to their face. At least for now.
The guard puffed up his chest, trying to look big and tough, but we both knew I could crush him with one hand. “This is private property,” he said. “Turn around and leave.”
“I know exactly whose property it is. Do me a favor, tell Dan, Cane Landon is here to see him.”
The two guards exchanged a glance, while I tried not to react to the flicker of movement behind them. “Mr. King is not to be disturbed at this time,” the talker told me.
“I think he’ll want to speak with me. I’m a friend of Thea’s.”
At that, he took a step back and the guards exchanged a whispered conversation. It was as clear as day, neither of them wanted to be the messenger.
My nostrils flared as I wondered what that meant. It better be because Dan-the-fuck tended to shoot the messenger and not because they wouldn’t like what they found if they did. They may be lowlifes who work for a fucking drug lord and wouldn’t think twice if he ordered them to kill someone, but Dan was a special kind of sick fuck and these guys knew it.
“Out the car.” Both guys pointed their guns and me and motioned me to get out.
“Easy, fellas.” I pulled my arm in to open the door.
“Hey, open it from the outside.”
“No problem.” I reached through the open window and pulled the handle, as I did Caleb cracked one of the fuckers over the head with his balled fist and Bono put the other in a chokehold. The guards were on the ground before they knew what hit them.
I knelt in front of the fucker turning blue in Bono’s hold. “Tell me where Dan is and we won’t kill you.”
Bono released his hold enough for him to talk. “He’ll kill me.”
I smiled. “Not if I kill him first.”
“P-pool house.”
“Thanks.” Caleb bopped him on the head, and he went out like a light.
“You and your bear paws,” Bono said as he lifted the guy and chucked him in the back of the Jeep.
Caleb kissed his knuckles while Jameson shook his head as if dealing with a bunch of fucking kids and grabbed the second guard.
Rex stayed in the guardhouse with one of the AK-47s to wait for our brothers. Bono grabbed the second, and Jameson drove the Jeep inside and out of view. As far as the perimeter guards would see, fuck all happened.
Clear night. Bright moon. Not the best time for sneaking around.
According to blondie, at any given time, at least ten men guarded the property. Then there was Dan and his old man. They could be anywhere. A part of me wished, all the brothers had ridden in and stormed the place. But I couldn’t risk Dan getting away with Thea.
Most of the noise centered around the house, which was
lit up like a Christmas tree.
“If Dan’s in the pool house, there’s a good chance Thea’s there too,” Caleb said as he glanced towards the back of the building.
“Unless he took her straight to her parents,” I said, or worse, the fucking basement. Shit! A shiver ran through me and my neck felt as heavy as a ton of bricks, and just as solid.
“We’ll find her,” Caleb said. I nodded and huffed out a breath, before trying to slow my breathing.
A tree branch creaked in the wind, sending my eyes flying in that direction. I was jumpier than Thea had been back in the bar the first night I met her.
“We start at the pool house,” I said, knowing by the certainty that burned in my throat, Thea would be wherever Dan was. He’d have something special planned for her first night back.
Shoulder to the wall, we edged around the main building being careful to keep to the shadows. I hesitated. The area around the pool was open and there was little cover to be had on route from the house. A bad feeling twisted my gut and tore at my heart.
“All good?” Caleb asked beside me.
“Thea’s in trouble,” I said. “I fucking feel it.”
“Then what the fuck are we waiting for,” he growled. “Let’s move.”
I took a deep breath and pulled my fears deep into my gut. They were no use to anyone out in the open.
I glanced back at Bono and Jameson and signaled them to move with a nod of my head. A creeping sense of unease worked its way under my skin. We moved wraith-like through the shadows and approached the pool house.
With every nerve itching to punch something, I peered in through the large patio windows. Fucking empty. I tried the door to be sure and edged inside when I found it open.
My brothers followed suit. Frigid white leather sofas faced each other stiffly across a marble floor. A sixty-inch plasma TV hung on the wall. The whole placed reeked of Dan the slimy fucker. The only thing out of place was the vase knocked over on a round glass table.
Caleb stepped closer to examine it. “You reckon this is a sign Thea was here and put up some sort of fight?” he asked as he looked at the spilled roses on the table and ground. Water had pooled on the floor and Caleb kneeled to beside it.
“Fuck.” He reached out and snatched up the chair.
Blood pounded in my ears and my heart kicked into overdrive. Cuffs were attached to its arms and legs as though to bind someone in place. To bind Thea in place.
“We got to find her. Now.” Rage bubbled inside me fit to burst.
Bono cleared his throat from across the room. “Her clothes are in the bedroom,” he said, and I rushed over. Sure enough, folded in a neat pile at the bottom of the bed were the jeans and oversized T-shirt she’d been wearing.
“Someone’s coming this way,” Jameson said.
“Good. Maybe, he’s got some fucking answers.” I peered out the window and my temperature spiked. It was the fucker who’d held a gun to Thea’s head.
I clenched my fists, every inch of my body made ready to charge forward, but Jameson placed a hand on my chest. “He’s carrying a tray of food,” he said. “Along with two glasses and a bottle of champagne. Maybe we should wait and see where he goes.”
He looked at me pointedly. Every piece of me wanted to make the fucker pay, but Jameson was right.
“Enough chat, brothers.” Bono ushered us into the bedroom and closed the door, leaving it open a crack. “He’s literally coming this way.”
Realization hit me like a warm shower. If he was bringing a fucking candlelit dinner for two to Dan’s pad, then the slimy fucker wouldn’t be far behind, and Thea with him. The look on my brothers’ faces told me they’d guessed the same thing.
We watched through the crack in the door. He entered the pool house, but didn’t put the tray on the table. Instead, he put it on the chair. The one with the fucking cuffs, and lifted it.
A rumbling built inside my chest.
Caleb placed a hand on my shoulder to silence it. “Follow that fucker and we’ll soon find Thea and Cherrie,” he said.
Bono glanced at his watch. “You have to hope so, and soon. You have about three minutes before the shit hits the fan.”
“Fuck. You two go to the main house and be ready to face whoever comes out,” he said to Bono and Jameson. “We’ll follow the fucker.”
“Bring them back, and keep safe,” Jameson said.
Caleb clapped him on the shoulder. “You, too, brother.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Thea
Panic flooded my system. God, if I’d learned anything over the years, it was never to talk back to Daniel. He was quick to anger at the best of times. But a strange defiance settled in my chest. No matter what I did, Daniel would do whatever Daniel wanted to do. My being polite and submissive was never going to change that. Besides, maybe if I pissed him off enough, he’d slip up and kill me sooner.
I clamped my eyes shut and tried not to focus on the pain I was in. Or on Cherrie’s gentle sobs. She’d long since given up on telling Daniel to stop. We both knew it was a waste of her time and energy.
Nausea churned my stomach. I was too tired, too weak, too beat up, and desperate to breathe. Above all, I was always desperate to breathe.
My nerves jumped and burned, and my body flared in agony. Daniel’s hot, panting breath invaded my senses and seared my skin. But... then there were footsteps... running. I tried to focus on the sound, but my brain couldn’t think.
I opened my eyes in time to see a figure enter the stall. Daniel turned to look. My heart soared as my vision focused in time to see Cane swing a metal tray at his head. It hit with a satisfying thud and Daniel fell to the floor. Cane looked at me with wide eyes full of concern.
I crumpled to the ground. Unable to take my eyes from Daniel’s body. Dirt marred his suit and specks of blood stained his collar from the would on his head. He wouldn’t like that. Good.
Cane knelt beside me and looked at my face. I flinched when he touched my wounds.
“Fuck, I am so sorry,” he said. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
I tried to lift my arm to touch his face, but didn’t have the strength to move it.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” It hurt to talk, and my voice came out raspy and hard to understand. I glanced at Daniel. “Just, get me away from him.”
“No fucking problem,” he said before lifting me and carrying me out the stall. I rested my head on his chest. Unsure if I was dreaming or dead. Not really caring either way if I was.
“Thea.” Cherrie rushed to my side, looking far too old and frail. “God. If you knew what that fuck did to her.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed.
“To you,” I said and found the energy to wriggle, signifying to Cane that I wanted to stand. I stood in the stall doorway and pulled Cherrie in for a hug.
The rumble of bikes filled my eardrums to bursting. Cane moved to his brother’s side and clasped him on the shoulder. “It’s time to get them out of here.”
I released Cherrie ready to leave. A rustle sounded behind me. I swung my head. The movement caused my vision to blur and my brain felt as though it was about to explode.
Daniel grabbed me by the arm, pulled me against him as a shield, and held something sharp and pointed to the side of my neck. “Thea’s not going anywhere,” he said.
A menacing roar rippled through the stable. I felt it through every nerve in my body. It reverberated along my skin and through my bones. All eyes turned to Cane.
Daniel pulled me closer, wrapped his arm around my waist, and pushed the pointed thing deeper into the side of my neck. Unable to stop myself given the pain, I cried out.
Cane stepped forward. His teeth bared in a snarl and his eyes teeming with rage.
“That’s close enough,” Daniel warned, his voice manic, and no longer the cold calm I was used to. He sniffed the side of my face and ran his tongue up my cheek. “You may have soiled her, but Thea’s always been mine.”
He motioned to
Cherrie and the brothers. “Into the other stall,” he said.
Caleb pulled Cherrie protectively behind him and moved through the gate. Bikes rumbled like thunder outside, and heckling voices shouted.
“You too,” Daniel said to Cane.
Fury sparked in Cane’s eyes as he stared down Daniel, but he slowly moved towards Cherrie’s stall.
Daniel walked me into the corridor and told me to lock them in. I didn’t move. My eyes never left Cane’s face. He’d come for me and now he was going to die. They all were. Daniel would never set them free. As soon as he left the stable, he would send a few of Tony’s men to gun them down.
It was all my fault.
I’d given up on caring what Daniel did to me, but I couldn’t let him hurt the others. My gaze drifted to Cherrie. Not again.
I mustered every shred of strength I could, and not caring if he speared me through the throat, stomped on Daniel’s foot and elbowed him in the ribs. I gasped at the sharp sting to my neck, but whatever Daniel held pulled away from me. It didn’t dig deeper. Daniel’s grip on me loosened. I flung myself to the dusty floor at his feet.
Cane sprang into action. He barreled toward Daniel, pinning him to the ground. He raised his fist and pummeled it into Daniel’s face just as he had Jacob’s. As soon as it was clear Daniel was dead, Cane stopped and pulled me into his arms.
Cherrie ran forward and checked Daniel’s pulse. “Just to be certain,” she said before smiling. “Fucker’s dead. Let’s get out of here.”
Cane lifted me into his arms again and carried me outside. I closed my eyes as we walked to the house. Not wanting to see a single part of it. But from the noises I heard, it was clear our problems were far from over.
I felt the vibrations from the bikes traveling up through Cane’s body and into my own and opened my eyes. We stood amongst over fifty bikers in the courtyard. All wore the same jacket with the skull, wings, and moon. Each emblazoned with the words, Forever Midnight.
Forever Midnight MC Collection: Books 1-3 Page 13
