Tate

by KJ Dahlen

  They both made their way out of the dark basement.

  Creed, Daniel and Harry studied the photo again and again.

  Kimber joined then and got a look at the polaroid. She gasped and her hand went up to cover her mouth. She hadn’t seen this photo before and it shocked her. Tears welled in her eyes at the sight of the fear in her mother’s eyes but she refused to let them fall.

  Creed studied his little sister and gently took the photo from her hand. “You don’t need to see that baby girl.”

  Kimber looked up at his with anger in her eyes. She swiped the tears away and snarled at him, “Stop trying to protect me big brother. In case you can’t tell, I’m all grown up now.”

  Creed nodded. “I can see that.”

  “Then stop doing what you’re doing. Is that place where Mom is?” She motioned at the photo.

  “As far as we know,” Creed told her, then he noticed something in her eyes. “Why?”

  “Then let’s go get her.” She shrugged.

  Creed stiffened and glared at her. “We would if we knew where she was,” he grumbled as he shook his head at her foolishly simple statement. Just go get her...

  His brothers looked as confused as he felt.

  Kimber nodded. “She’s at the old stockyards... that warehouse that housed the chickens they’d raised.” She grabbed the photo out of his hand and pointed at something in the picture. “You can tell by the fans. That old place has been vacant for decades now, but it’s still standing.”

  Creed stared at her face and back at the picture. He gasped then pulled his sister close to him and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, baby girl! When we get her back here, you’re going to tell me how you know about that place.” He released her and stepped back.

  Harry stood still as he looked floored. “I couldn’t do anything with it. On the laptop...to find her?”

  Daniel laughed as he clapped him on the back. “Sometimes, it’s just good ole information. From someone’s lips.” He now hugged Kimber.

  Creed yelled for his dad, “Dad, let’s roll we know where she is!”

  Tate turned to his oldest son and glared at him. “Where? Where is she?”

  “The old stockyard. Kimber recognized the background.”

  Tate snapped his head over to his daughter and looked as stunned as they all had a minute ago. He then glared at her. “How in the hell do you know that place?”

  Creed slapped his dad on the shoulder and motioned toward the door. “You can yell at her later, let’s go get your wife.”

  Tate leaned over and kissed his girl. “Thank you, baby.” Then he turned and led the group to the front door and beyond.

  Kimber just stood there and stared at their backs.

  Silas came to stand next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. “You did good sweetheart.”

  “Then why do I have a feeling both my dad and my brothers want to spank me for misbehaving?” she asked him.

  Silas chuckled and hugged her close to him. “Because they don’t know what a wonderful woman you’ve become. They missed seeing the fact that you’re growing up. They might be too late to the party now though.” Shaking his head he told her, “This too, shall pass baby girl. They’ll see you as a grown woman soon enough. Just hold your temper when they come at you and you’ll be ok.”

  “Grandpa, they are bull headed men,” she said shaking her head.

  “Their blood is your blood girly. You need to stand up to them ever now and again. It’s good for your soul.” He chuckled and added, “It’s good for them too. They need to be reminded they aren’t in complete control all the time.” He peeked over his shoulder and found himself staring at the table where their women sat together. “Although, I think the boys are finding that out already.”

  “I love you old man. I hope you know that.” She smiled and hugged him.

  “Course you do honey, I’m a loveable kind of guy, don’t you know?” He winked at her and walked over to the bar. Pouring himself a drink, he downed the shot then poured another.

  Bear came over to her and wrapped his arm around her. “You ok sweetheart?”

  “I think so but my brother and my dad are going to ask how I knew the old stockyard.”

  Bear turned to her with a twinkle in his eye. “We did have a good time there didn’t we?”

  Kimber snuggled into him. “Oh yeah, we had a very good time there.”

  Cobra watched the young couple and for a moment, he was envious of them. They had what he wanted for a long time now.

  Creed, Tate, Harry and Daniel walked with the shadows up to the old stockyard building. There was no sign of the truck or any other vehicle so far. They searched for a way inside and finally found one. One by one, they went through the narrow opening and once inside, the stench hit them and Creed almost gagged.

  Years of old chicken droppings stunk up the vast area they found themselves in but the men pushed on. Searching the building room by room was taking time but they had to know one way or the other if she was here or not.

  After hard minutes of searching by flashlight in the depths of the old rotting building, they found the bike the rider used when he’d dropped off the note.

  For a moment, Tate felt some hope they would find her. When they came to the last room, they entered slowly. It was the basement room, dank and moldy smelling.

  Daylight was lighting up outside and reaching the room by this time, so they could see everything there. Tate noticed the chair first. Then he saw the rope binding on the floor. He almost crumbled to his knees. He walked over to the chair and bent down to pick up the cut ropes.

  “Umm, Dad... you might want to see this,” Harry informed him.

  Tate turned to look and they all saw the man tied to the bed frame. Tate got up and stomped his way over to the bed. Looking down, he saw the face of them who had been stalking his wife for the last week, the man who had snatched her from her own bed and...the man who was a dead man walking at the moment.

  “Wake him up,” he ordered his son.

  Harry splashed a bottle of water in the man’s face.

  Racer came too with a snarl. “You mother fucker, I’m gonna kill you!” Then Racer looked around at the men standing there and he frowned. “Who the hell are you guys?”

  “You should know who we are motherfucker. You took my woman a few hours ago, didn’t you fucker?” Tate growled. “Where the hell is she?”

  Racer peered beyond him and saw the vacant chair. “That little bastard. He took her out of here.”

  “But you took her first didn’t you?” Tate leaned over the man on the bed.

  “I’ll go back and get the truck.” Daniel volunteered.

  Tate was nearly breathing fire now as he replied, “Good, we’ll bring him back with us, so his screams don’t alert any nosey cops. We wouldn’t want the cops involved in MC business.”

  Racer sneered at them. “You aren’t gonna do shit to me. I know who’s got your woman. And, I’m the only one who knows where he might have taken her.”

  Tate nodded. “Oh, we aren’t going to kill you, not yet but you’ll be begging for death by the time we’re done with you.” Leaning closer, he whispered, “I promise you that much douchebag. I promise you that and a whole new world of pain like you’ve never fucking felt before.”

  They all made their way out of the old chicken stockyard.

  Daniel drove the truck back into the compound as his brothers followed on their bikes. His dad’s bike was loaded in the back and Tate was sitting there holding a weapon on the bastard also riding in the back of the truck. Jared Racer.

  When Daniel parked the truck, his brothers, mostly Creed hauled the tied up man over the edge of the well of the truck and dumped him on the ground.

  Jared grunted as he landed on his shoulder but otherwise, didn’t say anything.

  Creed grabbed him by his shoulders, not caring if he was hurting him or not. He forced Jared to walk inside the clubhouse.

  Chapter Seven
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br />   Jared struggled the whole way. He stumbled over the threshold and almost fell to his knees once he was inside. He raised his head to find about two dozen bikers standing around him.

  They stood there with their arms crossed over their chests and looked at him like he was dirt on the bottom of their shoes.

  He hated that look. He was better than that and he slowly got to his feet with a look that matched theirs. He met their eyes one by one and he was the first to look away. Then his eyes met a pair of dark eyes and he just stared at the woman as she was staring at him. He recognized her almost at once but she was looking like she wasn’t quite sure of who he was.

  Jared looked over at his jailers. “Let’s get this over with then.” He wanted out of this room before she remembered who he was.

  One of them pushed him forward and Jared swore under his breath. Keeping his head down, he walked the length of the room under the eyes of everyone standing there. He wasn’t worried about anyone in the room but he couldn’t afford for the woman he just spotted to remember him. Some MC’s wouldn’t appreciate his sideline.

  He’d almost made it too. Four steps away from the basement steps and she let out an anguished groan—he knew his game was up.

  The young woman cried out in misery as she crumpled to the floor. “You bastard, where is she? Where is my sister?”

  One of the men broke away from the brothers and went to her immediately. Kneeling down he took her in his arms and hugged her close. “What’s going on Annie?” he whispered in her ear. “What’s the matter?”

  Annie turned tear filled eyes to him. “Oh, Harry! That’s Terrance Wilder. That’s the man who took my sister.” She cried out.

  Harry snapped his head around and glared at Jared. “That’s the man?”

  Annie nodded. “I have a photo of him and Becky together just before she disappeared. That man is her Terrance Wilder.”

  Tate, the man Jared knew as Nita’s husband, walked over to her and gently asked, “Can you prove that? Do you still have the photo?”

  Annie nodded then reached in her back pocket for her phone. Tears fell freely as she scrolled through her photos. When she found the correct one, she brought it up and gave him the phone.

  Tate looked at the picture and studied it carefully. Then he turned and compared the photo with the man standing a few feet away from him.

  Jared knew what he would see...Terrance Wilder was indeed Jared Racer.

  “What exactly happened to your sister?” Tate asked.

  Annie shook her head. “That’s just it! I never knew what happened to her. She met this man about two months before she disappeared. She told me she met him and had quickly fallen in love with him. She was so happy. We spoke every day for a long time, then one day, she didn’t call. I didn’t think much about it because I figured she was busy. But when I didn’t hear from her for three days, I got concerned. I went around to her apartment and it was a mess. Broken glass and ripped furniture was all I found. That and blood everywhere. Becky was gone and no one had seen her in three days.”

  Jared lowered his head. God dammit. The woman needed to shut the hell up.

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked over at Harry and Tate. “I went through her things looking for something, anything that might tell me what happened and I found a letter she left for me. Since we were kids, we always left notes for each other in a secret place that only we knew about. I went there first and found the note she left for me. She said that Terrance was becoming weird and this time she feared for her safety. He had some very bad friends and she felt like they were eyeing her up like they might be judging her like they would a cut of meat. She said she was breaking up with him and that she might have to move soon just to get away from him.” She stared at Tate. “I know my sister. She never would be gone this long without calling me, unless she couldn’t. When I began looking for Terrance to get some answers, I couldn’t find him. No one knew who he was or where he came from. It was as if he just vanished into thin air.”

  “Then what did you do?” Tate asked.

  “I went to the police but they couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything to help. Becky was a grown woman and she could just take off if she wanted. I showed them the letter she left and all they did was shrug. I went to the FBI and Quint said he would look into it but he hasn’t come up with anything either. Seems like all his victims are never recovered.”

  “All his victims?” Tate repeated as his dark gaze moved over to Jared again.

  Harry wrapped her in his arms and held her while she cried. He looked at his dad then he looked over at Racer. “I have a feeling he knows where Becky is and what happened to her.”

  Tate reached out and patted Annie’s shoulder. “We’ll find out what we can. If he knows anything we’ll find out.”

  Harry glared at his father. “Good, because Annie will rip his heart out if she doesn’t find her sister soon. And I might hold him down while she does it. Some of the stuff we’ve found out about this guy...” He shook his head. “The money he’s looking for has a lot of blood on it. So much so that if you do find it, you might want to burn it.”

  “No doubt about that at all.” Tate turned again to look at the man in question.

  Jared stared right back at him. There was a definite defiance in his gaze and that look made Tate want to beat the ever lovin shit out of him. He turned back to Annie and asked, “Where did all this take place, In Beaumont?”

  Annie shook her head. “I lived in Port Arthur, Becky lived in Beaumont. We aren’t too far apart but just far enough to be able to breathe without the other one knowing.” She looked at Harry. “I moved to Beaumont to be closer in case she was found and that’s how I met Harry.

  Harry looked down at her and smiled. Then he chuckled. “That’s a story for another day.” He looked over at Racer and growled. “Right now, we got work to do.”

  Jared looked away. His past was catching up to him. Damn that Doubletap. God damn him!

  Tate nodded. “We’ll find out whatever he knows sweetheart.”

  Lola came over and wrapped her arm around Annie’s shoulder when both Harry and Tate went over to join the others. Moments later they closed the door to the basement after the last member went down the steps.

  Lola turned her around and led her to a table and helped her sit down. Silas set a shot of whiskey in front of her and waited until she downed the liquor. When she didn’t down it right away he told her gently, “One shot ain’t gonna hurt you woman.”

  Annie’s hands dropped down to her lap in a protective move and she shook her head. “I don’t need it. I’m good.”

  Lola’s eyebrow snapped up as she looked over at Kalinda and back to Annie. Then she smiled. Kalinda smiled as well. Then she looked down at her daughter and smiled again.

  Then Lola got up and went out to the kitchen, when she returned she carried three cups of good hot strong tea. Placing one in front of Annie, she put one in front of Kalinda and took one for herself too.

  Annie nodded her thanks and took the tea while Silas watched all three of them. Finally he asked, “Am I missing something here?”

  “Nope,” Lola popped the p in nope but smiled a secret kind of smile.

  Silas just shook his head and walked away muttering something about “women.”

  Tate pushed Racer into one of the cells with a hard push. Jared stumbled and fell to his knees. He turned his head and snarled at the man. “What the fuck was that for, you lousy bastard?”

  “You really need to ask fucker?” Tate replied. Seems you enjoy terrorizing women. You had no intention of returning my wife did you?” He lifted his foot and kicked he other man in the belly. “Were you planning on grabbing the money if we found it and skipping out, leaving her somewhere to rot, so that if she was ever found all the cops would find were her bones?”

  “Listen I don’t know what that bitch upstairs told you but it wasn’t true. I never saw her fucking sister.” Racer growled.

  �
��You’re a fucking liar but then I suspect you think we’ll believe anything you tell us but guess what, asshole? We don’t. She had evidence that places you with her sister. Now her sister is gone and we think you know exactly what happened to her.”

  “Fuck you.” Racer growled. “I’m not telling you assholes jack shit. And you can’t make me, so fuck off.”

  Tate leaned down close to his ear and whispered, “You know what? If we do find your money we’re gonna use it to light the fire under your bare feet and watch you burn. Ten million dollars and a couple bundles of kindling ought to make a pretty good fire huh?”

  Racer turned his head slightly to glare at him. “You wouldn’t?”

  “In a fuckin heartbeat boyo. In a fuckin heartbeat. You got about as long to live as I do to find my wife. If your partner has hurt her in anyway I’ll watch you both burn.” Tate assured her.

  Tate got to his feet and turned to his brothers. “Hang him from the ceiling but strip him first. Oh and gag the fucker, I don’t want the girls to hear him scream.”

  Racer fought to get free of the hands that grabbed him. “You can’t do this to me.”

  Tate snapped his head around to glare at the other man. “Watch us.”

  Doubletap stopped at another deserted location. Pulling the truck inside the old warehouse, he moved it out of the line of sight to make sure no one driving by would see it and alert the cops or worse yet, the MC. He shut down the engine and just sat there. Looking over at the woman in the passenger seat, he saw she was crying.

  “Look I’m sorry but I need you with me for a little while longer.”

  Nita stared out the window shield without looking at him. Silent tears ran down her face dripping onto her shirt, soaking the material. “I thought you were taking me back home.”

  He bent his head down on the steering wheel. “Nita, if I took you home I’d be walking into my own death. Your old man and sons would kill me where I stood. I need a little time to figure out my next move is all. We should be safe here for a while.”