Tate

by KJ Dahlen

  “I need you to find a face,” Tate cut him short as he stared at him.

  Harry let out a sad sigh as he nodded and went into the operations room.

  Tate and Jack followed.

  He sat and looked at the video they had cued up. “It’s a bit blurry but... he may have enough points?”

  “Points?” Jack asked.

  “Points on his jawline, nose cheeks...”

  Tate grunted impatiently, but said nothing. To him, the bottom line was what he needed and not anything else. He had been out of his mind as he’d sent out trailers all day and each came back with no trails. The man or men had just disappeared into thin air with his woman.

  Harry went to work as he plugged a USB in and tapped some keys, then brought out his own laptop and plugged the USB into that.

  The two men watched as Creed and Daniel joined them.

  Tate looked up at them and asked, “Who’s watching over the women?”

  Creed shrugged, “Silas and Cobra are still out there, along with Thor and Bear. They’re covered.”

  The screen was moving fast with images as it almost blurred many faces into one.

  “It will go through the penal system first,” Harry explained as he leaned back in his chair.

  “How in the hell did you get this? It looks CIA or something,” Creed finally spoke.

  Harry sniggered. “FBI actually and a friend got it for me.”

  “Well, I just fucking hope it works,” Tate growled.

  Finally, the images slowed and a face came together. The laptop pinged and the face was set.

  “This is your man.” Harry typed in some keys.

  The screen rolled up and the face appeared as a Mug shot.

  Tate stepped closer.

  Harry read his stats aloud, “Jared Racer. He served time for aggravated assault and manslaughter. He was released just over a year ago.” He looked over at his brother. “He was in the same prison you were in.”

  “Why would he take Nita?” Tate was perplexed as he began to pace again. “I never heard of the man.”

  Harry shrugged. “Let me do some looking. I have his name and his stats, down to his fingerprints. You will know everything there is to know within an hour, Dad.”

  Tate clenched his fists. “He’s had her for three hours already. If he hurts her...” He let out a breath. “He will be dead before he hits the ground.”

  Creed patted his dad on the back. “Come on, you need a drink.”

  “I don’t want...” He again, let out a heavy breath.

  “Dad, I promise we will get her back,” Jack finally spoke up. “We already lost her once, we aren’t going to lose her again, not like this.”

  “You cannot promise that son,” Tate grumbled as Creed led him out. “Call me ASAP, Harry!” he called back over his shoulder.

  Creed led him to the main room.

  It was almost empty as the men were out again looking for a trail. The women were in the kitchen making food to feed the guys. Everyone was on edge as this came as a surprise to them.

  Thor turned on the stool to look at Tate as he came in. “Prez. How ya holding up?”

  Tate did not reply.

  Creed shook his head then went around the bar and grabbed a bottle.

  “I ain’t getting lit,” Tate grumbled.

  “One shot won’t do that.” Creed tapped the whiskey into a shot glass and slid it over. “You need this to settle yourself down and think straight. We can’t do this if you’re half crazed. We need you thinking straight.”

  Tate caught it and said nothing as he tilted it back. The burn felt good, but it could not match the burn inside him. He slapped it down on the bar. “I just got her back. I thought I’d get a second chance at life.”

  Creed and Thor remained silent.

  “She just looked so dammed sweet standing there when she opened that door. I mean she was older but it was like time fell away...”

  Creed looked saddened. “Dad, she is not gone.”

  Tate felt rage again. “She ain’t here either. So what is she? She was dead to all of us for long fuckin eight damn years. I cannot... I can’t...”

  Thor sighed. “Tate, I’m sorry all this happened. But it won’t end like that.”

  “You can’t say that. But if it does...” He looked over at both men. “I will take them out when I do find them. Or him. And you Creed will run this club for me. You hear?”

  They stared at him.

  Creed stepped back around the bar. “Look old man. I spent seven long years plotting to avenge your death. To find your bones and...” His voice cracked. “...give you a proper burial. So, every damn night when those cages slammed shut, I buried you properly in my head. I could see your headstone and how nice the gravesite would be. In honor of you.” He pointed at his temple. “I did it for what was just and right as it was all I could do for you.” He stepped closer to his father. “So...” His voice rose. “I sure as HELL am not going to bury you for real! You got me?”

  Tate blinked his eyes at him.

  “You will do what is needed and you will return here and be our father, as well as our President! You and grandpa started this club, you guys built it from the ground up, I’ll be damned if I take it over because you did something stupid and got yourself killed because you made a fuckin mistake. You need to get your head on right and led us to find our mother and take out the bastard who thought he could something away from us. It’s time for you to be the man you raised us to be.”

  Tate looked like he’d gotten punched in the gut. “Wow.”

  Thor nodded. “Yeah, wow. You are one brave sonofabitch, there Creed.”

  Tate looked over at Thor then back at Creed. “God dammit! Am I proud!”

  Thor shook his head.

  Creed still looked worked up.

  Tate let out a breath and patted him on his very large arm. “Okay, son. I understand. I got it.”

  “Hey!” Jack called from the hallway. “Harry has him!”

  The men all rushed back to the Op’s room.

  Harry and Jack looked excited when they stepped in.

  Harry started right in, “It seems old Jared Racer offed his partner one night about a year ago. He’s on the run for that. Though the file I... well, procured shows that he might have been set up for it.”

  Tate read it quickly. “What does that have to do with—“

  “That is the question, so I looked deeper. He’s from Kansas but he did the crime of the assault in Texas and served time in Huntsville.”

  Thor gasped. “At the Walls Unit? The same prison as Bandit?”

  Harry nodded. “I was getting to that. They were in the same cell block.”

  “So this is Bandit’s fucking mess!” Tate yelled.

  “And that surprises who?” Cobra asked as he came in. “That man is a walking fuck up.”

  They all turned to look at him.

  He raised an envelope. “This was tacked onto the front fence.”

  Harry stared at it for a second then tapped the keys to pull up the screens. “I was too busy... I missed it god dammit!”

  Jack patted his arm. “Chill brother. It’s okay.”

  “No it isn’t. I should’ve been watching.” He rolled through the video feed as he leaned forward.

  Cobra handed the envelope to Tate.

  Tate took it and stared at it. He then ripped it open. He figured if it was something hideous, he’d better just face it, like ripping off a bandage. He stared at the polaroid. It was his Nita, her jaw bruised, her lip bloody and she looked dazed. “FUCK!”

  He then looked at the note.

  In your clubhouse is close to 10 million dollars. Bandit took it from me a year ago when he set me up for murder. We want it back. Make the trade and you will get her back. If not, she will be dead permanently this time.

  Tate dropped the note onto the floor as he felt like all the air had left his lungs and everything around him went black and white as he realized he had given away the
one thing that could have saved his woman. “We gave it all to the feds and the cartel. Fucking Christ!” he shouted. “Fuck the justice system, I want Bandit dead! DEAD!” Tate then punched out another wall with his good fist. “I want to rip his fucking heart out of his chest while its still beating and crush it in my hands.”

  Creed grabbed his dad’s shoulder and held onto it tight. “You need to fucking knock this shit off old man. Clear your fucking mind and think for a minute.” He snarled. “The money might still be here.”

  Tate turned to glare at his oldest son. “How do you figure that?”

  “Because Bandit isn’t dumb enough to leave that kind of cash in an open safe where anyone could help themselves to it.” Creed shook his head. “No, Bandit would be smarter than that when it came to his stolen money at least. We need you to think. Was there another place he could have stored the money until he could get the hell out of here? Is there another place he could hide that much money where no one else would find it? Where he could grab it in a hurry? In case thing went south fast. He must have made a plan B, he isn’t the type of guy that don’t plan ahead.”

  Tate just seemed to crumble.

  Creed was suddenly holding his father up. “Come on man, think. Mom’s life depends on it.”

  “Don’t you think I fuckin didn’t think of that boy?” Tate growled. “Hell, I told her I would keep her fuckin safe, that no one would ever hurt her again. All she had to do was trust me and she did. Now heaven help me even if I do get her back, she’ll never trust me to keep my word again.”

  Silas stood in the open doorway and shook his head. “Oh son, she knows you. This...” He motioned around the room. “This was so out of your control, it ain’t even funny. In fact, I’ll bet you ten to one she’s just waiting for you to find her and bring her home again. Your Nita is a lot like my Rosa was. She never let me think I was letting her down in any way, shape or form. If she got in trouble, she always told me all she had to do was wait on my coming for her. Your Nita is the same. She’s waiting for you to get your shit together and come for her. Don’t you think otherwise, or you’ll be doing both of you a disservice.” He walked over to his son and smacked him upside the head. “Now get your head out of your ass and put your thinking cap on boyo. Suck it up and find your woman.”

  Silas growled and went to walk out of the room. He turned back and glared at Tate as he shook his head. “Ya big dummy, she ain’t going anywhere without you. Don’t forget that for a minute.”

  Tate took his father’s words to heart. Then he pushed Creed away and a calm descended own on him. Taking a deep breath, he looked over at Harry. “Do you have any more information on Racer? Anything else we can use to track him down?” He ran his hands through his hair. “Shit, I’ll take anything you got at this moment.”

  Chapter Six

  Harry shook his head. “Sorry dad, I’ll keep searching.”

  “Wait a minute he said ‘we’ in the note, didn’t he?” Tate looked around at the men’s faces. “He said we want it back... that means he’s got another man with him. Maybe we can find the other man and get a bead on him.”

  Harry turned back to his computer and began typing in commands. He brought up the tape feed again and this time he widened the camera angles. He began searching for something, anything that would show if there had been a vehicle parked nearby. Racer would have needed one in order to escape the area. Then he found it, at the edge of the screen he saw what he needed. There was a blue truck sitting there waiting for Racer to return.

  “Bingo,” Harry whispered. “I got you, you lousy bastard. I got you.” Harry turned and found himself looking straight into Creed’s eyes. He tipped his head at the screen.

  Creed came over slowly. Looking down at the computer monitor, he saw what his brother found. Creed’s fingers curled into a fist and his eyes glazed over. “Run it down. Find that fucking truck and we find our mother.”

  Harry leaned over his keyboard again and began issuing commands again. Inch by fucking inch, he cleaned the picture and when he got to the point it was as clean as it could be he printed it. Looking carefully, he could make out the license plate. Harry wanted to shout Eureka but he still had work to do before he could tell the others.

  Tapping into the DMV, he tracked down the plates and found the truck belonged to someone right here in Killeen. Except it was reported stolen two days ago. Well, fuck!

  Harry got up and carried the print out to the main room. He went over to his dad and handed him the picture. “I found this but it was reported stolen two days ago.”

  Tate grabbed the photo and stared at it. It was a pickup truck, just a truck that could belong to anyone. Just a fucking piece of a much bigger puzzle. He looked up at his son. “Who does it belong to?”

  “Melvin Blank, but like I said it was reported stolen two days ago. It could be anywhere by now. Oh and I checked the security tapes for the time the note was left. A cycle but the rider was covered in black gear and a full helmet. You couldn’t see any part of him.”

  Tate nodded. “I saw him in Waco, where your mom was staying. He was there too.”

  Cobra joined them. When Tate looked at him, he commented softly, “You guys realize something here, don’t you?”

  “What would that be?” Tate wasn’t sure he was gonna like what he might be about to suggest.

  “That whether you find this guy’s money, he might not be willing to let her go,” Cobra spoke his words quietly.

  “What do you suggest we do?” Tate growled. “Just let her go?”

  “Fuck no, man.” Cobra shook his head. “You find him before he kills her. You take that mother fucker out for even thinking about touching your woman.” He turned away muttering, “Let her go... that would be foolish. Just plain crazy.” He turned back to Tate and pointed his finger at the other man, “You find them before they hurt her, you stupid fool. You don’t let another man take your wife, not without feeling the burn of your rage.”

  Harry stared at him. he knew the man’s past as well as Creed did. He’d lost his wife due to deceit and his own pride. Then she was killed by the man that had duped him and his MC. All while, his woman had been loyal. So, he had to live with that. Permanently. Harry looked over at his dad.

  There was fire in Tate’s eyes. Like he wanted to pound Cobra into the ground.

  But Harry knew better. His dad would pound the man who took Nita. He sighed. He’d barely got to even see her last night. See his own mother after all these years of missing her. He’d had to go to Tyler and shore up some important things. Was that the last he would see of his mom?

  Harry again, shook his head as Cobra’s words echoed in his mind....

  You find him before he kills her.

  An hour ago, he had returned and took the bag from Nita’s head and the gag. But he had placed his finger to his lips to shush her.

  Nita had leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a long while.

  Finally, she tipped her head up and tried to sit up straighter in the chair, though the bindings prevented any normal positon. She looked over at him sitting next to her.

  “So what do they call you then?” she asked quietly.

  Racer was snoring from the shadows now, so she must have thought it was safe to speak.

  He shrugged as he answered her question, “They call me Doubletap.”

  Nita frowned slightly. “Why?”

  He chuckled. “Well, I spent time in the joint and someone tried to earn his bones at my expense. I’d been there a while already and as there was nothing else to do, I worked out every day. I built my body up to what you see today. When that little pissant challenged me, he had something to prove, I didn’t. Everyone there respected me already. I proved with two hard taps that he wasn’t man enough to do it. Had that name ever since.”

  She took note of his strength. “I can see that.” She glanced over at the shadows again, where the snoring was coming from and whispered, “He’s going to kill me isn’t he? Even if my
husband turns the money over to him, I’ll never see my family again will— I?” Her words sounded broken. “I-I just found them again after eight years of being lost and now I’m lost to them forever.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Doubletap just stared at her. He should have put a stop to this as soon as he realized who she was. He hadn’t been in this to hurt anyone, he just wanted his money back to start over again. He knew fuck ups when he saw them. This Racer was one of those for sure. Too many of them in the joint to even count. Men who said later, “I didn’t know it was wrong... ‘I made a mistake and they gave me life.’

  He looked at the clock. Time was running out, he knew it and so did she. He got to his feet and walked toward Racer.

  The other man was sound asleep. Racer wasn’t as smart as he was vengeful and greedy.

  Yet, he had talked him into this stupid shit. And that made him just a stupid. He shook his head. Well, maybe a smart mistake will correct a stupid one this time. He could just take her and go but then he would become the hunted and Doubletap was tired of being in the wrong.

  There were just some things he wouldn’t do for money and this was one of them. Kill someone’s mom? Someone’s woman? He didn’t kill women, period. He hauled back his fist and then connected with Racer’s head. He gave him a second tap then backed off. When he knew the other man was out cold, he tied his hands to the bed and turned to Nita.

  Taking out a knife, he approached her.

  Nita shook her head while crying openly now. “Please no, please don’t hurt me.”

  Doubletap knelt in front of her. “Shh, please sweet lady don’t you worry. This won’t hurt a bit. Hush now, don’t fight it.” Then he began to cut the ropes that bound her to the chair.

  Her pale face then looked stunned as he kept cutting.

  “Come on we got places to do and people to see before daylight comes.” He held out his hand and when she took it, he helped her to his feet.

  “You’re letting me go?” she dared to hope.

  “Oh honey, I wish I could but I can’t, not yet. I will make sure you’re ok but I can’t let you go just yet.”

  Nita nodded as she whispered,” anything to get away from him.”