She nods her head. “Where am I? What state? Am I in America?”
“Yes, you’re in America. You’re in Maine.” I can’t fucking believe what the hell is happening right now. No wonder this girl is so damn scared, she doesn’t even know where she is.
“Maine, I’m from New Hampshire. That is where I started.” She catches my gaze one more time. “You can’t let them catch me. Please, just get me away from here. I can’t go back. I’d rather die than go back there.”
I kneeled down where she was sitting and she voluntarily reached out her hand to grab my arm. “Hush, I’m not going to let them get you. You’re safe with me.” I pull her into a hug.
And to think I came out here for some relaxation only to find a missing person. How fucking amazing is that shit.
She stayed in my arms for only a brief time before she pulled off.
“Thank you for helping me,” she whimpered.
“Let me get you something to wear. I don’t have much, just a few pairs of sweats,” I tell her and stand up to go to the back room.
“That’s just fine, I’ll take them if you have a spare.” She went back into her space against the wall.
I rushed into the backroom and took my satellite phone with me. I had to get some backup, if there were people here that were trying to steal her away, I don’t know if I am going to be able to fight them off by myself.
I dialed the clubhouse and Winnie picked up the phone.
“Djinn,” he answers.
“Yeah, who’s there?” I ask.
“Who the fuck is this?” he replies.
“Who the fuck do you think it is, the fucking easter bunny?”
“Wyatt?” he asks, clearly confused.
“You are wasting my fucking time, yes, Winnie, it’s Wyatt.” I bite down on the inside of my tongue. He didn’t do anything for me to be so short with him.
“Oh shit, My bad. Hold on.” I hear some ruffling and then Cody answers the phone. He must have had a busy night because I can still hear the sleep in his voice. It’s already past midday, there is no reason for him to still be sleeping.
“Yeah? What’s up, Wyatt?”
“I need you and the boys to come up to my cabin as fast as you fucking can.”
He lets out a loud yawn. “For what? If this is another fucking ploy to get us to commune with nature you can kick rocks with that shit.”
“Does it fucking sound like I want you to commune with fucking nature right now. Get the fuck on your bikes now!” I roar into the phone.
“Shit, okay, fuck, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know for sure, but Cody, bring a piece.”
“Shit . . . Weapons. Okay, we’ll be there as fast as we fucking can.” Cody hangs up the phone and I’m standing in my bedroom with my hand on the tightest pair of sweats that I own.
They will still be too fucking big for her.
When I came out, I expected to see Dela in the same spot on the floor. Instead, she was standing by my door with the poker I use for the fireplace.
“What the fuck? What is the fucking problem now?” I exclaimed.
“You called them to come get me. I heard you on the phone telling them to come for me. Fuck you, I won’t go back!” she screeched as she swung the heavy iron poker at me. I jumped out of the way just in time. The tip of it is very fucking sharp and if I let her, she could probably do some real fucking damage.
“No, I didn’t!” I retorted and made a lunge for the poker.
“Yes, you did! I heard you!” she screamed and swung for me again.
This time I managed to grab it while it was in the air and I pull it toward my body bringing her along with it. “Let it the fuck go! Let go,” I snarl at her as I fight this small woman for control of the makeshift weapon.
“No! No! Let me go!” She fights hard, in fact, I have a little trouble getting the poker away from her. For someone who is more than less than half of me both in height and in weight it’s fucking amazing how strong she is. She fights like a goddamn Pitbull.
I turn her in my grasp so her backside is against my front and I wrap her up using one of my arms, while my other hand holds the poker away from us.
“Hey! Dela, stop! Just stop and listen to me!” I argue with her.
“You can’t make me go back,” she says out of breath.
“I’m not making you go anywhere. I swear on my life that I’m not going to make you go anywhere.” I keep my voice as calm as I can and she settles a bit.
“Then who were you talking to?”
“I was talking to my brother. I’m the president of a motorcycle club located down in Patis. I told them all to come up here so that we can have some backup. If what you are saying is true and someone had you locked away for the past few years, I’m sure they are going to be around looking for you soon. I don’t want to take you out by myself in case he isn’t alone.”
“He’s not,” she says matter-of-factly.
“Fuck, how many of the bastards held you?”
“Well, there are at least fourteen acolytes that I know of. I’m sure there can be more.”
Shit! Did she just fucking say fourteen?
“Fourteen? How? I mean were you all in a truck or something?”
“They all live there.”
I didn’t understand. Maybe there was a trailer on the campground but I hadn’t seen one.
“A motorcycle club? Like a gang?” she asks, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“No, we aren’t a gang. It’s a brotherhood. Actually, the entire club is made up of most of my brothers only two aren’t actually blood-related. We just make sure that the people in town are safe and help out where we can.”
“Like vigilantes?”
I didn’t want to say yes to that but if you thought of the shit that we were doing now, I guess you could say we were like vigilantes. “Something like that.” I smile and when I feel her hand go limp where she was once holding on to the poker, I release her.
“You aren’t affiliated with Emerson at all? I find that so hard to believe,” she says.
“I have no idea who this Emerson person is but I’ll find out and the fucker will pay for what he’s done to you.”
“I don’t want vengeance. I just want my freedom.” She steps away from me and goes to sit back in her spot.
8
The sound of a pack of motorcycles vibrates through the air. The drive from Patis to Hastings is a little over ninety minutes. They made it here in a little over an hour.
I walk out the door so that they can see that I’m in good shape. I’m hoping that the sight of my whole club showing up is enough to scare whoever is waiting for Dela away. I hope.
Brendan is the first one to hop off his bike. “Wyatt. What’s going on?” He is panicked. He thought something was wrong with me. I don’t think he can lose someone again. Not after what happened with his girlfriend.
Spark and Cody are the next to pull in, followed by Winnie.
“I thought it was a fucking emergency, Wyatt?” Cody said as he looks at me and can see that I’m still in pristine shape.
“Shut the fuck up and get inside. Don’t make any sudden movements.” I let Dela know that there would be a few men coming into the cabin, just to prepare her. She seemed to be okay with it but I don’t want her to view them as a threat if they come in there all aggressively.
“Wyatt?” Spark puts his hand on his gun. The custom red grip sticking out of the holster by his ribs. He gestures toward it trying to figure out if it’s needed right now. He wants to know if they are walking into an ambush.
“No, not yet.”
Spark nods and covers up the gun.
“Just be cool, it’s complicated as fuck.” I shake my head and turn to walk into my cabin. I stand back so the rest of the boys can come in.
I was right to warn her.
The second that the bunch of them walked in she slammed herself against the wall. I watch her eyes jump across the room looking, prob
ably, for another weapon.
I jump to the head of the pack so she can focus in on me. “Hey, easy, these are my brothers. I told you about them. They aren’t going to hurt you either.”
“All of them are your brothers?” She looks over to Winnie who looks nothing like us.
“Well, that one is a stray, he showed up at our door and we couldn’t get him to go the fuck away.” I laugh, and Winnie sucks his teeth.
“Okay.” She relaxed a bit and I angled myself so that I could talk to the boys but still keep her in my line of sight.
“Boys, this is Dela, we ran into each other while I was picking up some traps.”
Cody takes a step closer. “Is that why she has your clothes on? I mean, I know you move fast but jeez, bro.” He chuckles, and I punch him hard enough in the gut before he can finish his first round of laughing.
“This shit look like a fucking joke to you, Cody? Be serious. This is club business. Either you get your fucking head out of your ass or you can get the fuck out,” I bark at him.
“My bad. Okay. Okay,” he wheezes out and struggles to stand up.
“Like I was saying, Dela here ran into me in the woods. She is hiding from someone. She says there are at least fourteen of them.” I raise an eyebrow at the boys and immediately, Spark and Winnie go for the windows to see if they can see anyone outside. I knew they would do whatever they needed to do to make sure that we were all safe.
“Can I talk to her?” Brendan asks me.
“Yeah, easy though,” I whisper the last part. Brendan can come across as incredibly intense sometimes. I don’t want him to scare her off.
He takes a few steps toward Dela and she keeps him in her sights. “How did all fourteen of them manage to get you in the woods? Were you on a hiking trip?”
“No, they live there.”
“Where?”
“At the compound. They all live there.”
Cody looks back over to me. “Is there a cabin up here that can house fourteen people? I was under the impression that all the cabins on this side were smaller.”
“I’ve never seen one.” I shrug, just as confused as he is.
“So, it was just you and the fourteen of them?”
“No, it was me, the other carriers, Emerson, the acolytes, the Mothers, and the servants,” Dela says, still making sure to keep her back to the wall but she is less agitated.
“Wait a minute, wait. How many people in total are in this cabin?” Spark asks from his place by the window.
“I don’t know the exact number. Fifty? Sixty? But the Mothers would never leave. They never leave.”
“Wait a minute. Wait a fucking minute. Are you trying to tell us there is a house out there in the woods with more than fifty people in it?” Winnie asks.
“Yes,” Dela grits out through a clenched jaw.
I know she said that she didn’t take any drugs but the shit that she is talking about sounds ridiculous. It’s just not possible.
“How come we’ve never seen any of them? I mean if there are so many people over there, surely we would have seen one of them by now,” Brendon speaks again.
“We’re not allowed out. Only to the river and under guard, a few carriers at a time. To gather herbs and to wash. I’m not even sure any of the other women would have tried to get your attention if you passed them by. They believe that they are right where they are supposed to be.”
“What happens if you leave?” Spark asks.
“I will be cleansed and made to atone. Penance.” Her head falls forward as if she is embarrassed.
“Cleansed like go back to the river?” Cody speaks now that he’s caught his breath.
“No, we are cleansed in pain. Emerson says it’s the only way to prove our worth to the great goddess Gaia.” Her face is blank but I can hear the emotion in her voice. This is heavy for her.
“Gaia? Cleansed in pain?” Brendan asks, still not understanding what the hell is going on.
“I wandered off farther than I should have in the compound two weeks ago, this was my penance.” She turns around and pulls the overly large shirt off her shoulders.
“What the fuck!” Spark is the first one of us to react.
Slash after slash of barely healed whip marks mark up her back.
“Oh fuck! We need to get you to the hospital.” Cody takes a step forward but I put a hand out to stop him.
“Dela,” I call out to her and she fixes her shirt and turns around to see me. “Who are these people? Are you hurt like this anywhere else? Why are they keeping you there? Why wouldn’t anyone else leave?” I bite my bottom lip between my teeth. I have to stop asking her questions or she’ll never have a chance to answer me.
“They believe they are servants of the goddess. They believe they are chosen. They will never leave.”
“Servants of the goddess?” Brendan asks.
“Yes, the great goddess Gaia. Emerson said he will be the one to father the savior.”
“Oh, what the fuck? That’s why they won’t fucking leave,” Cody says.
“Why?” Winnie asks.
“Because it’s a fucking cult. She’s part of a god damn cult,” Cody replies.
“I don’t want to be.” Dela comes to her own defense right away.
“It’s a cult?” I ask her, just wanting to get verification. If it is then this just became much fucking worse than I thought.
“Yes. It is.” She nods and looks at me. “When I first found Emerson, he was talking at a coffee shop over in Canada. He’s so smart, so charming, so perfect. I had just gotten out of a shitty relationship so when he told me he could give me the world, part of me thought this was Karma’s way of repaying me for all my suffering. I didn’t even think to question him when he asked me to move in with him, or when he started talking about the goddess Gaia. I mean, I have met loads of tree huggers and people who are all for a green environment.” She let out a sigh and wraps her arms around her midsection. “It took him three months to make sure that I was indeed a carrier as he calls us.”
“Who is us?” Brendan interjects.
“The women he chooses to bear his children. Luckily, he has never been successful with me but there were a few that he managed to get pregnant. He told us that none of those women had enough faith, the child was impure. He said he let the mother leave with the child after they gave birth. Part of me wished I could just get pregnant so he would let me go. At least they got to be free.”
“So they had children but never came back to the compound?” Spark asks.
“Yes.”
“How many times has Emerson been successful?” Cody asks.
The FBI agent in both of them pushing to the front. They are sniffing a lead.
“Seven the last time I counted. Though two are still there waiting to give birth.”
“Do you know what they look like?” Brendan asks.
“The women who were set free? Yes? Why do you know them?”
Brendan looks to me and I pull out one of the photos of the woman that was found missing. I fold it over so she can’t see the bottom half of her body. I had it in my wallet in case I ran into anyone in the area that would be able to tell me if they knew her.
“Is she one of the women?”
She looks at the picture and just from the way her face crumbles in sadness lets me know that she knows her.
“Is it?” Brendan asks a little more forcefully than he should have. I hit him slightly to get him to back off.
“Yes. What happened to the baby? Where is the baby?” she asks through her tears.
“I don’t know,” I reply.
“Well fuck, we can’t take out all those people, Wyatt. I think we need to get back to the clubhouse and figure out exactly what we are going to do about this,” Cody suggests as he makes his way to the door. His hand’s on his gun just in case he needs to pull and shoot.
Cody would never shoot as an aggressor but you better believe if it were to save himself or one of us Cody would shoot an
ything that moved.
They were right, there is nothing that we can do here. We aren’t prepared to handle an attack here in my small cabin. All we are are sitting ducks. “Yeah, I’m with that.” I turn to look at Dela. I promised her that I wouldn’t force her anywhere. I need to get her on board with this move.
“Dela, I don’t want to take you anywhere you don’t want to go but I can’t keep you safe here. We have a clubhouse a little bit away from here. We would be away from this place, it’s fortified so no one would be able to get in unless we wanted them to get in. I don’t want you to feel like you are stuck there. There is food and more clothes. You think you want to come with us?”
She stands up, her knees still a little weak. “Yes, I want to get out of here. I’ll come with you.”
The boys go out and jump on their bikes. I feel like an ass. I should have told them to bring one of the trucks. Now she would have to ride on the back of one of our bikes the entire trip. Not everyone took to motorcycles.
“You two stay in the middle of us. If they come for her, they will have to go through all of us.” Brendan put his helmet on and waited for me to get Dela situated.
“Are these safe?” She looks at the bike, a twinge of fear in her voice. I give her my jacket again.
“Yes, the bikes are as safe as any other vehicle on the street. It’s all about the operator,” I speak softly, trying to put her at ease.
“You’ve handled these bikes for a long time I’m assuming?” She hitches an eyebrow at me.
“Yes, ma’am.” I smile slightly at her.
“Okay then, I guess you better teach me how to ride.” She puts a hand out so that I can help her onto the bike.
How to ride, fuck I can teach her how to ride alright.
I close my eyes and shake the thoughts from my mind. The last thing she needs is for someone else to be objectifying her. Yes, she was probably one of the most beautiful women that I’ve ever seen in my life accompanied by the fact that she has been through hell and back and is still standing which makes her one of the strongest people I have ever met. I came up here to relax, try and reset my body and mind. The last time I had sex I hadn’t been able to finish, part of me already knows that if I were to lay with Dela I wouldn’t have that problem. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about that though. Not now. Not while she was still so fucking broken.
Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition Page 32
