by Freya Barker
Running back to the waiting room, I fill Honon in when I catch Ouray’s glance. He must’ve seen something in my face because he comes right over.
“Honon, go with him,” he snaps when I explain the situation. “I gotta stay here, Luna is on her way here with Kaga’s boys. Fucking find her and call me right away.”
Honon follows me out the door and to my truck, already on the phone with the clubhouse before I pull away.
“Brick is leaving, heading toward her place as well. He’ll keep an eye out on the road.”
I hand my phone to him.
“Sophia’s number is last dialed on my phone. Keep trying her.”
I’m breaking every speed limit but the moment we hit the route she would’ve taken I slow down and keep my eyes peeled for any sign of her Jeep.
“Dark green Jeep Cherokee. Older model,” I share with Honon, who is scrutinizing his side of the road.
There’s nothing along US160, and once we hit the turnoff going up the mountain we have to slow down even further. There are no lights here other than my high beams.
“Either her battery’s out of juice or she doesn’t have the phone on her.”
Honon drops my phone in the center console just as I see something up ahead.
“What’s that?”
I hit the gas but never take my eyes off the vehicle parked on the shoulder up ahead. Honon leans forward over the dashboard, squinting.
“That’s it. Jeep. Looks empty,” he confirms.
Maybe there was a problem with the Jeep and she and Ravi walked back to the house. It’s not that far. But the next moment that hopeful thought vanishes when Honon yells.
“Stop. Something on the road.”
He’s out of the truck before I can put it in park on the opposite shoulder, the high beams hitting the front of the Jeep. He crouches down, picking something up off the road and holds it up.
I grab my cell and hit redial as I get out, hearing the phone in Honon’s hand start ringing.
“Screen is cracked,” he says.
Makes no sense.
I walk over to the Jeep, holding my breath for fear of what I’ll see, but there’s nothing other than her wallet in one of the cupholders between the front seats. Both doors are closed, but when I try the driver’s side, I find it unlocked. The keys are dangling from the ignition.
She’d never voluntarily leave her keys, wallet, and her phone behind, but still I have to make sure. I start jogging back to the truck.
“Stay here!” I call at Honon. “Gotta check the house.”
I keep my eyes focused on the side of the road all the way up to the driveway, hoping against hope to catch a glimpse. The outside light is on but the house itself is dark.
They’re not here. I can feel it in my gut, but I still need to make sure.
Van is at the door when I walk in and find the alarm still set to away. I quickly disarm it and with the dog on my heels check every room in the house, confirming what I already know. Instead of leaving him behind, I clip the dog’s leash on and load him in the back seat.
By the time I get back, Brick’s truck is parked next to the Jeep, but there’s no sign of Honon, and flashing lights are heading toward us on the other side of the road.
Brick’s face is pale when I get out of the truck and I imagine mine is not much better.
“We’ll find them,” he says, but he’s not half as convincing as he tries to be.
Panic running like ice through my veins is making it hard to breathe.
“Someone took them. Should’a told her to stay put. Would’ve been safer.” I feel myself become lightheaded and bend over, my hands on my knees.
Brick’s large paw clamps on the back of my neck.
“We’re gonna rip this fucking town apart until we have them,” he growls by my ear, as I hear the crunch of footsteps approaching. “Not gonna lose anyone else, brother. Not gonna happen.”
“She’s pregnant,” I croak.
“Say what?”
I lift my head and focus my eyes on him.
“Fee…she’s pregnant.”
Sophia
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I wake up to a mantra of whispered apologies, but I can’t see a thing.
It’s dark and cramped, smelling like fuel, dirty clothes, and urine. I try to reach out my hand but my wrists are tied behind my back. My head is pounding.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Mandy?”
I feel movement at my back like someone rolled into me.
“Oh thank God. I thought you were dead.”
“Where are we? What’s going on?”
“You’ve gotta keep your voice down,” she whispers behind me. “We’re in the trunk. He may be able to hear us.”
“In whose trunk?”
“I don’t know. I never saw his face. I’m so sorry, he had a gun on me, I had no choice.”
It’s really hard to try and fit the pieces together when you find yourself tied up in the trunk of a car, after getting knocked out. At least that’s what I assume happened.
It all went so fast. One minute I was leaning over Mandy, the next I was out. I vaguely remember Mandy saying she was sorry then too. I have no concept of time or place, and I try hard to get a grasp as thoughts spin through my mind, but one I zoom in on.
Ravi.
“Did you see what happened to the boy?” I ask her urgently.
“Shhh,” she hushes me. “I got a glimpse of him heading for the woods when you were being dragged to the car.”
I squeeze my eyes closed against the sudden burning, praying Ravi got away.
Suddenly I feel the car swerve, rolling us into each other before it seems to straighten out again. I’m starting to feel evidence of being treated roughly all over my body, as we appear to be going over some rough terrain.
I’m on high alert when the vehicle starts slowing down.
“Mandy. There’s two of us, one of him, right?”
“I think so.”
“Two of us, one of him. We should be able to take him, together.”
“You’re crazy.”
I’ve been called worse, but there’s no way in hell I’m just going to let myself be taken without putting up a fight. I have so much to fight for.
“Roll on your back.”
“I can’t, my hands are tied behind me. It hurts.”
“You have to. It’s not that bad.”
I feel her shift beside me as the car comes to a stop and I hear a door slam.
“Quickly, pull up your knees and when the trunk starts to open, kick out as hard as you can,” I hiss at her. “We can do this.”
I’ve barely got the last word out when I hear a click and see a crack of light on Mandy’s side open.
“Now!” I yell, no longer caring if he can hear us as I kick up as hard as I can.
CHAPTER 25
Sophia
“GODDAMMIT, SONOVABITCH!”
The trunk is wide open and I scramble to get my legs under me, but Mandy is in my way. I can only lift up my body so far before I’m wedged behind her.
I yell at her, “Get out!”
Before she has a chance to move, the long barrel of a rifle slides over the edge of the trunk toward my face.
“Wouldn’t suggest it.”
The deceptively calm voice sends a chill down my spine. I’ve heard it before. Mandy has too, and she whimpers beside me.
“Get the blonde one out.”
Fuck. There’s two of them. One must’ve been waiting.
A man I don’t recognize, with blood streaming from a cut under his chin, leans in and grabs Mandy by the hair, yanking her upright before she’s hauled out by her arms. She screams and I hear a thud, followed by silence.
I’m afraid to move, the black barrel inches from my face.
“Now this one.”
The same guy reaches for me and I don’t fight him. Not when that rifle is still pointed at me. He’s none too gentle when he
unceremoniously tosses me on the ground beside Mandy, who seems too still.
“She’s not dead,” the familiar voice shares. “Not yet anyway.”
I slowly turn my head and look up. He’s backlit so it takes a minute before his features come into focus.
“You.”
He grins, looking pleased I remember his ugly mug. Only difference is he’s not wearing his ball cap with the Clover Produce logo now.
“Me. You’re the only two who’ve seen my face and can connect me to the deliveries.” He waves the barrel at me. “Knew where to find you the whole time, but I had to find that bitch first. Luckily, her sister isn’t the smartest. Blabbed on social media…”
While he talks, I do a quick scan of my surroundings. I’m pretty sure we’re not in Durango, judging by the desert-like surroundings. I have no idea how long we’d been driving before I woke up, but I’m pretty sure we’re nowhere near the mountains.
This place looks like an old industrial park. The sparse buildings are old, run-down, most of the windows broken and others boarded up. Over time they’ve taken on the color of the dry sand around them.
“…made for a good distraction at the restaurant.” He barks out a laugh. “Tweaker cut the wrong bitch, but it sure played into our hands.”
“Restaurant? What happened at the restaurant?”
He leans down, grabs my upper arm, and roughly hauls me to my feet, almost dislocating my shoulder in the process.
“You pissed off a dealer.” He laughs again as he starts pulling me toward a two-story building that looks like it may have been an old garage. “Stabbed the bitch right in the back. The idiot thought it was you. Watched the whole thing on camera and I knew this could be our chance. Sure enough, not five minutes later that piece of shit Tse gets in his truck and leaves you alone. Like I said, we’ve had eyes on you.”
I almost trip when he tugs me into the dark building. I was scared before, but now I’m terrified. He talks about we instead of me. He’s been watching the restaurant? My house?
A quick glance behind me shows the second guy, the one with the cut on his chin, heading this way with Mandy tossed over his shoulder.
So many bits and pieces of information are bouncing around my head, not helping the persistent throbbing.
“What do you want with us?” He ignores me, half dragging me up a stairway when I lose my footing. “Who are you?” I persist, but there’s no answer.
He shoves me into a room and I stumble, hitting carpeted floor, and scramble back until I feel a wall behind me. A few moments later, Mandy is literally tossed into the room with me. The door closes and I hear the sound of a lock turning. Then I hear two sets of footsteps go down the stairs, the low rumble of some words exchanged, and finally it’s silent.
They’ve left.
The first thing I do is test the strength of the binding around my wrists. I think it’s a zip tie. It cuts into my skin when I try to pull on it. Then I crawl over to Mandy and lean close to see if she’s still breathing. I let out a sigh of relief when I feel her chest move and sit back, resting my head against the wall beside her.
I close my eyes and let the seriousness of the situation sink in. We’re in deep shit and I wish I knew what they planned to do. Or maybe it’s better I don’t.
I replay the driver’s words in my head, even the parts I pushed to the background. Like the part where someone got stabbed in the parking lot of the restaurant. I’m sure that was the urgent call that had Tse rush out the door.
Tweaker cut the wrong bitch.
That was supposed to have been me. The only person I know who even remotely looks like me is Lea. A sob breaks free.
Oh my God. She has kids.
The driver had laughed coldheartedly when he mentioned her. It’s suddenly crystal clear he intends to kill us. The only thing I don’t get is why he hasn’t already. That would’ve been easier. Why go through the trouble of kidnapping us?
Something else is nagging at me. I could’ve sworn he mentioned Tse by name. In fact, he called him that piece of shit, Tse. Sounds like something you’d say about someone you know and don’t like.
How?
I have no idea what time it is. I wonder if Tse already knows I’m missing. If he does, he must be out of his mind. I know he’ll be looking, but I can’t just sit here and hope he’ll find me.
It’s not just about me anymore; I have a tiny, brand-new life I’m responsible for.
And Mandy, I’m worried she hasn’t come to yet. I have no way to know how badly she’s hurt, but I’m definitely not helping her by sitting idle on the floor.
Time to get moving.
My eyes have had a chance to adjust to the dark room and I can make out a few more details. A window that looks to be blacked out, except for a tiny sliver near the bottom of the frame. Drawn by the small strip of light, I get to my feet and shuffle in that direction.
Bending over I try to peek through but the slit is too narrow to see anything. It looks like tape. I have to turn my back so I can reach it and start feeling for something I can grab on to. I pick and scratch at the slick surface until I manage to loosen an edge, pinch it between my thumb and index finger, and pull.
I stop when I hear a soft moan.
“Mandy?”
I wait but it’s dead silent again. Doubling my efforts I yank at the piece of tape, managing to pull a little more up. Noticing more light in the room, I turn and see I’ve widened the gap. Now when I bend down I can see outside. Thank God this isn’t one of the boarded-up windows.
There are no lights but the moon is still out, providing enough to see the two men out front. One looks to be smoking, the red ember glowing. The other guy has his back to me and I notice a large emblem on the back of his vest.
As I’m watching, the smoker turns his head and appears to look right at me. I scramble back from the window, my heart racing in my chest, waiting for footsteps to come running up the stairs. When none come, and my panic subsides, I realize it’s not likely he would’ve been able to see me. The exposed patch of glass is no more than a couple of inches.
With better light in the room, I start looking for something I could use. Anything, a piece of metal, a sliver of glass, something heavy, but other than dirt and a few scraps of paper, the room is empty.
Dejected, I sit down on the floor beside Mandy, my back against the wall. Frustrated tears roll down my face and, exhausted; I eventually drift off.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been out when I wake up to the sound of rumbling engines outside and I rush to the window. I have to blink against the morning light before I can see a group of four or five bikers pull off the road and head this way.
Oh my God.
Tears start blurring my vision.
Tse.
Tse
“You’ve gotta eat something.”
Lisa sets a plate with bacon and eggs in front of me, along with a mug of hot coffee.
It’s been over seven hours since we found the Jeep.
It didn’t take long for some of my brothers to show, and after that the cops and the feds. We spent most of that time searching the woods, knocking on doors, calling in favors, anything to try and get a sense of direction. Some kind of clue where to start looking.
The only thing we found was a small piece of fabric stuck on what looked to be a wild gooseberry bush. Same green color as the T-shirt Ravi was wearing. I tried taking Van, hoping maybe he’d pick up a scent, but he did little else than growl. Either because of the number of people, or the thick tension in the air, but the dog clearly felt threatened so I put him back in the truck.
The general consensus seemed to be Ravi witnessed something, managed to take off, and is hopefully hiding. But if Sophia had been out there with him, I’m positive she would’ve tried to go back for her vehicle, or at least her phone. No, someone took her. I could feel it in my gut.
Brick finally got me to agree to wait for morning light to go back out there—just a few of us—and tr
y again with the dog.
I look out the window and notice the sky is lighting up a bit. Waiting and doing nothing has been hell. My imagination has had a chance to work overtime, thinking of Sophia, who has her, what’s being done to her. Maybe I should eat a little because I can’t fucking wait to go out there and do something.
Seven fucking hours.
“Just talked to Trunk.” I’m just taking a swig of my coffee when Ouray walks into the kitchen. He’s been holed up in his office, making phone calls, since we got here. “Lea is stable. They’ve inflated her collapsed lung, repaired the nicked artery, and stitched up the cut on her cheek and her forearm. She’s expected to make a full recovery.”
“Bless her heart.”
This from Lisa, who was waiting anxiously when we got back to the clubhouse earlier. No one seems to have gotten a lick of sleep, other than the boys in the bunkhouse. I guess Trunk must’ve gone to the hospital to take Luna’s place when she got called to the scene up on the mountain.
I’m grateful Lea’s gonna be okay, don’t get me wrong, but my fucking woman is still out there under God knows what circumstances. That is, if she’s still alive.
“I talked to the Moab Reds, Mesa Riders, and the Amontinados. Had to call in a few markers, but they’re keeping an eye open and an ear to the ground.”
They’re all clubs we were at some point affiliated with, sharing a thriving drug trade in the region back in the nineties. Arrow’s Edge got out, but the others still have at least a partial interest in that business and might have an idea who we’re dealing with.
“Anything from Luna?” I ask between bites, forcibly swallowing the food down.
I haven’t really kept track of what the cops and the FBI were doing, but there were still some cars at the scene when Honon drove us here.
“Yeah, she’s on her way to the clubhouse. I was gonna let her tell you herself.”
I shake my head. “Give it to me now, because in five minutes I’ll be gone. Ravi is out there somewhere and he saw something. He’s our best bet. I’ve gotta find him.”
“Fair enough. They figured someone must’a been watching Sophia’s place. She’s not a stupid woman, so she would have to have had a good reason to pull over. That takes planning.” Lisa hands Ouray a coffee and he takes a sip. “Found a wireless trail camera up in a tree across from the driveway. They could see anyone coming and going.”