Kade had pulled on his pants without flashing her, pity, or putting on underwear and was now standing next to his Prez. He had wondered the same thing last night. That was what they had been doing on the computer while she ate. Looking for a stash or safe house. There was no way her apartment was it. She had sold the house a couple months past, between that and Mayhem’s life insurance policy, she had a tidy sum but lived frugally. Tech had told them the gear was good but could not be all of it. Not if she was what he thought she was.
Her degrees in computer science and programming were not being utilized in a normal day to day job, yet she kept a growing account they found in an offshore bank she had made no attempt at hiding since it was in such a way as to not be touchable. At Mayhem’s death she had been working to finish her master’s in cyber security. She was not working anywhere but had not touched the money she had from the policy or house sale. Hell, she had paid off the house with five figures remaining on its mortgage a year before the explosion for her dad.
And she was Mayhem’s daughter. Her grandfather had been Kodiak. Mayhem was an explosives expert and Kodiak a marine sniper. Between the two of them, she should have a top notch education and stockpile. The education had been proven in her door rig as well as her attempt on Kade’s life, even if neither had been fulfilled.
Zora flipped back the blankets and climbed out of the bed. She stretched and walked to the bathroom. “Could one of you get me a cup of coffee? Black.”
The two men looked to each other as the dogs followed her to the other room. Her tank had ridden up when she arched like a cat. The scar on back was so similar to those they carried. She had been stabbed, recently from the bright pink color of the healing flesh. Mayhem had said nothing to anyone of her being hurt.
Coming out of the bathroom wrapped in a large towel after a shower, Zora found she was alone. She had hoped to tease them a little more. Oh, well. She reached for the trash bag of her belongings. It was untied. Someone had of course gone through it. She pulled out a pair of white jeggings and an off the shoulder sweater in teal. Digging down to the bottom, she pulled out a pair of tall boots covered in buckles. With a flip of her hair, she walked from the room. With no one on guard, she presumed she was allowed to leave it, as if it would have stopped her. Coffee was her mission, and no one would keep her from that morning liquid black gold.
She went down to the main floor and headed for the garage as the people in the dining room stopped and stared at her when she came down the steps with her dogs. They needed to go out anyways. Best to avoid the stares of people that thought her nothing but a killer, or at least an attempted one.
She ignored the blaring music and the sounds of men and tools as she walked out to the parking area out back. The gates were closed, like that would keep her in if she wanted out. She waved her hand and the dogs trotted around her into the lot. Someone else would clean up the mess too if she could not take the dogs out properly.
Hernandez came yelling out of the garage bay next to her as Skipper cocked his leg on a bike tire. The flash of teeth had the man stopping in his tracks. He turned to Zora with a glare. “Hose that shit off and you better find a shovel. I don’t want piles around here to step in.”
Zora just arched her pierced brow at him. She had taken time with her make-up this morning and the sight of her had him stopping his rant. She knew she looked good. It threw people off. The tiny cutie could not be dangerous in any way. She enjoyed being underestimated. “I did not ask to be here, I’m not a guest or one of the whores who hang here. You clean it.”
Her two tone whistle called the dogs after her back into the clubhouse.
Lyndsie watched as Zora walked back in from the kitchen doorway. The men and women that lived here were all having breakfast before going about their day and whatever it was they had to do. The normal volume was subdued as Zora walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. “Want something to eat?”
Zora shrugged. She was not in the mood to play nice, even to Lyndsie before her coffee. Her home had been relocated against her will and she was pissed at the questioning that had awaken her after only five hours sleep. “Do you know where my dog food is?”
Lyndsie waved her hand to the corner of the room. She watched as Zora measured the food into the bowls that had been in the bag, placing them on the tile floor. “Jeść.” Eat.
“I remember Kodiak. He taught me to swear in Polish.” Lyndsie watched Zora as the dogs ate, scooting their bowls around trying to get every piece. When a bowl got stuck under the long table in the middle of the kitchen, Zora toed it out.
Zora smiled. Her coffee kicking in with the brain power she needed. She knew Lyndsie was trying to make her feel comfortable here, even after last night’s activities. If she was going to be here any amount of time, she needed an ally. She pushed the anger at Sawyer and Kade away. “I could speak better Polish than English when I was little. My kindergarten teacher kept calling meetings because of it.”
Lyndsie smiled into her mug. “Did he teach you to swear?”
Zora chuckled. “One of the reasons they had so many parent/teacher conferences.”
Lyndsie set her coffee down on the counter behind her and made a quick breakfast burrito from the warming table set up for Zora. The girl was too small. If she was going to survive these men, she would have to bulk up for sure. “Do you know why he was called Kodiak?”
Zora shook her head but took the rolled up food. Taking a bite, she groaned as all the flavors of sausage, egg, cheese, hash browns and salsa hit her tongue.
Lyndsie smirked as Zora focused on the food in her hands. She started making a second burrito since that one was disappearing quickly. “Well, his name was Teodor, right?”
Zora nodded with a mouth full of food.
“Well, Teodor is Polish for Theodore. Theodore can be shortened to Teddy. Well, a six foot plus, nearly three hundred pound ex-marine sniper that rides a Harley can’t be called Teddy Bear. So, he became Kodiak. Your middle name is for him.”
Zora took the second offered breakfast roll. The dogs were finished with their meal and were now begging hers. “He was just a teddy bear though.”
Lyndsie started breaking down the steam table of breakfast, she motioned with the bowl of eggs at the dogs and Zora nodded they could have it. The girl spoke so quietly that she almost did not hear her. “They both were.”
Lyndsie gave Zora a moment as she had all the leftovers separated into the dogs’ bowls and was watching them eat. One was laying down, taking his time. One was walking around the bowl in circles, even though the bowl was stationary. The other would take a bite, look up at her, and she swore he smiled. She changed the subject because she heard the sadness in Zora’s voice. “Who is who?”
Zora tossed her last bite to the dog at her feet. He was mostly black with a white blaze and feet. “This is Rico.”
She nodded to the black with a white chest patch laying down to eat. “That is Skipper.”
Nodding her chin at the black and white equal color amount patched dog smiling at Lyndsie while he ate. “That is Private.”
Lyndsie returned the smile of the dog looking at her. “He loved those penguins. Bought the whole set for the kids here.”
Zora walked out of the kitchen with her dogs. She did not want to talk about her dad with Lyndsie. She still was standing on the evidence she had that Kade tampered with Mayhem’s supplies resulting in his death. She had the proof. Now she just needed to get close to the man, with a weapon in her hand.
Tech was coming out of the room across from the meeting room as Zora was standing looking around the now deserted dining hall, wondering what to do with herself. “Zora. I was coming to get you. Sawyer wants the proof you say you have.”
Zora rolled her eyes but followed him. What else did she have to do? She was a prisoner here, even if she had not tried to walk out, she knew she would have been stopped. The room they went into was an obvious office - slash - emergency room. On the short wall
was a gurney type table with glass fronted cabinets full of medical supplies. An IV stand and several monitors on a rolling cart sat in a corner. Scrub sink and sterilizer in the other. A large high grade light on a swivel arm hung over the table.
A wall of glass separated it from the four desks and rest of the office equipment in the remainder of the room. Tech was walking to what looked like a solid wall until he reached for a book on the shelf in front of him and swung open a door and revealed a set of stairs that went down.
Ahhh, the infamous basement.
~Chapter Five~
Zora found herself going down the cement steps first, dogs clattering along around them. Tech had caught her eyeing the gun on his hip and now walked with his hand on pistol. She was smirking as she exited the cement tunnel. The smile left as she took in the whole space.
The square footage of the whole building had to be huge. She had done a quick door count on each floor as she came down this morning and there were fourteen rooms on the third floor where she had slept, another twelve on the floor with the living area and then the whole ground floor with a garage, industrial kitchen and ginormous dining hall. Add in the chapel and the office. The place had to be around twenty thousand square feet!
And here she stood on the basement level. The rooms down here did not have solid walls except for one. Super heavy gauge wire made the walls of what looked to be a food and supply room, an ops technical support room with her towers and monitors on a cart setting outside it, a supply and weaponry room and to her left a full size sparring ring and gym.
The only room she could not see in had cinderblock walls, tucked into a far corner, and she was sure it was one she did not want to see the inside of at any time. The room she had been sure she would end up in when she was caught. A room that could muffle the interrogation or disposal of a captive.
The dogs, having followed her down, spread out to sniff around and greet the people on this level. They were acting like normal, happy, friendly pets. All it would take was one word from her for it to change. Her father had never left her without protection.
Tech, hand still on the butt of his gun, walked towards the cage filled with monitors and computer equipment. She shook her head at him. Currently, no plan of action was spooling around in her brain. It was just the training to notice all avenues of exit, people in the room, and at hand any easily obtainable weapons. “You’re safe for the moment.”
Tech looked over his shoulder and squinted his eyes at her. He nodded after a few seconds of inspection and took his hand down. “So, I left your computer alone last night. Figured if I touched it, knowing you, it might explode.”
Zora arched her eyebrow at him and then shrugged her shoulder at him. He was not far from the truth. “There are smart men in this world it would seem.”
Tech looked over her shoulder at a huff of a snort. Glancing back, Zora saw Sawyer and Kade standing behind in matching posture of arms crossed over chests, legs spread. Both were sporting the same big .45 pistols on their hips like Tech. No one unarmed here it seemed or was it just because she was here? Turning back to Tech, she stepped into the cage and the table her laptop was opened on. There were numerous cords lying next to it, but none were hooked up. Guess he did not want a virus to eat its way through his workstation. She did not blame him, this set up was sweet.
She pulled up the ergonomically designed chair that must have been Tech’s chair, foregoing the metal folding one he had set next to it for her. Like she was going to watch him use her computer.
Tech made a noise in his throat as if to start to tell her to stop when she started hooking up the cords he had laying out. Zora looked back at him around the high back of the chair. “What? Afraid I might infect something?”
Tech grabbed the chair he had set out for her and moved it to the left and plopped down beside her, straddling it backwards. “Something like that. Who knows what you might have on that thing?”
Zora left her smirk in place as she powered on, keyed a command without an on screen prompt, and then pressed her thumb to a scanner that popped out of a compartment that looked like a CD drive on the side. No password here, that was just a trap. Tech made a hmm noise as the laptop screens appeared on the large television mounted in front of them.
Kade looked to Sawyer who was looking at him with raised eyebrows. Tech was right. Kade turned back to the screen where Zora’s laptop was copied onto. “You’re a hacker.”
Zora breathed out a laugh. She was pulling up the file they obviously wanted to see. No sense in checking anything else and giving them a free tour. “I prefer application software system specialized programmer.”
Tech barked out a laugh at her. “You’re a hacker, baby. Just admit it.”
Kade gave a low growl at the word baby. Tech glanced at him over his shoulder. Sawyer was looking at him as well. He ignored them.
Zora keyed up the video footage. Without turning around, she explained what they were looking at. “So, the main footage feed was cut but Dad had had me put in a secondary system after…”
The men all looked at each other and then back to Zora. But she did not complete her sentence. Instead the video started playing.
A night vision feed labeled the day of the explosion, but at just after two in the morning, showed a big guy, bald with ear gauges working on the lock on the outside of the barn that held Mayhem’s supplies in. The guy had on a Horde cut, tactical pants and boots. A dark hoodie was on under the cut. It could have been anyone except only a few of the members kept shaved heads and no one but Kade had gauges to go with it.
“Fuck, that looks like me.” Kade rubbed his head as they watched the guy get in the small side door. It was a simple lock as Mayhem had not wanted to draw attention to what was really inside. The real security was protecting the second entrance.
Zora did not turn around to acknowledge his statement. She just clicked on another thumbnail of security feed and brought up two interior cameras on a now split screen.
The man walked right to the beam that held the hidden retina scanner. The cover panel looked like a seam where two beams were connected and was well hidden. The beep of access being granted played over the speakers in the room. The floor in front of the man clicked open. He reached down and grasped it with his fingers and the hiss of the hydraulic hinges as it lifted came through.
Zora looked at the men around her as she pulled up the interior bunker cameras. They were all watching with hard faces the screen in front of her. She noticed that Tech had left off keeping his gun away from her reach as he sat next to her waiting to see what happened next.
The man walked into the frame and right to the set up that was on the middle of the work bench. As these cameras were hidden, they did not have the good angles the main system had so they could not see what he did or his face as his back was to them. But it only took a few minutes for him to finish whatever it was he did, recover the build Mayhem was working on with its drape and leave.
Sawyer had his arms back crossed over his chest as Zora swiveled the chair to face him. “No shots of his face?”
Zora shook her head. “He kept his face down in the main bunker, barn and outside. The cameras in the shop were under shelving so as not to be noticed. But how many bald Horde members have gauges in their ears?”
Zora swirled back around and began unhooking the computer and snapped it shut. She was not going to leave it here for Tech to mess with. And then she saw her chance when Tech stood and began tucking the cords into hooks on the wire panel that held the triple screens on this wall. She grabbed his gun and turned with it.
Kade found himself looking down the barrel of a gun for the second time in twenty-four hours. “Fuck. Zora, not again.”
This forty-five was double the size the one they took off her as she carried something that fit her hands in a more compact model. But she was holding it steady, pointed at Kade’s chest. She had already flipped off the safety and had her finger in the trigger guard. “You wanted the pr
oof. There it is. You killed my dad.”
Sawyer was looking up at the ceiling, a muscle ticking in his jaw. The timing could be Kade, but he knew his best friend would never do anything of that sort. Not to a man that was a mentor to so many in club. “I’ve already told you, Kade did not kill your dad. I don’t know who you have on camera, but that is not Kade.”
Zora saw Tech move a tick towards her. “Don’t think about it, geek boy. Move over there.”
Now they were drawing a crowd. Men that been working out or whatever else there was to do down here, were standing in the hall outside the cage. Her dogs slipped among the forest of legs and were now sitting or standing around her.
Kade growled and rubbed his head again. It was his tell for when he was frustrated. He kept his hands away from the pistol strapped to his thigh, he did not want to give Zora a reason to pull the trigger. “I loved your dad. These last few months have been hard on us all without him to talk to. Hell, Ghost hid those penguin movies he bought the kids.”
“Thirteen weeks. He has been gone thirteen weeks. And you, none of you, get to talk about how hard him not being here is. I have no one now. Mom died when I first started high school. Grandda died when I was in my second year of college. You took the last person to care for me away.” Zora felt a tear roll down her cheek. Her finger tensed on the trigger.
Sawyer took a small step towards her when her intent became more true. “You’re right. We have no right. But you’re wrong about two things. You’re not alone. You have the club. And Kade did not kill Mayhem. I don’t know how many times you have to be told that until it sinks in. No one here would harm another brother. You should know that; your father and grandfather would have taught you that even if you weren’t allowed around us.”
Lyndsie pushed her way into the cage around the wall of muscle that tried to hold her back. “Honey, please put the gun down. Listen to them.”
Zora gave a small shake of her head. “No. Only four people had access to that room. Three of them are right here. The fourth, one of them killed.”
Kade Page 3