by A. Lynn
It becomes apparent that Gunner has no plan to stop him either when he comes to stand next to me and asks, “You put someone on it?”
“I put Easy on it. Motherfucker and Reagan just got back from the doctor, so I am going to switch him out with Easy. I’m going to round up the brothers that are here and do a search of the compound. Church when we’re done?”
“Sounds good.”
I walk out into the bar and call out to the room, “Brothers!”
******
About an hour later, I am coming back into the clubhouse from searching outside and the shop building and see a frantic Reagan doing a search of her own. For what I have no idea, but the look on her face has dread gripping my heart.
“Baby? What’s wrong?” I ask when I’m within talking distance. Her teary eyes have me closing the distance between us quickly.
When she sees me her whole body sags and a sob escapes. “Jordan isn’t here, Kane!”
“What do you mean he isn’t here? I thought Skylar picked him up?”
“She did, but they aren’t here. Ashley at Apple Core said that she picked up at three.”
“Okay, I’m sure they just stopped somewhere. Have you called her?”
“Yes, Kane, I called her; I’m not dense! It went straight to voicemail all ten times. I also called your mother and she hadn’t seen or heard from her, either.”
“Did you try Killy?”
“I don’t know his number!”
“Calm down, baby, I’ll call him,” I say and dig out my phone. I call him four times without getting an answer before I start to lose my shit.
“No answer?” Reagan demands.
I shake my head and pull up Skylar’s contact and hit the call button before I take off towards the chapel with Reagan shadowing me. It rings twice before it connects.
“Skylar?”
“Wrong sibling, Brother.” My feet stop moving on their own, making Reagan slam into my back.
“Fuck, Kane! A little warning would have been nice,” Reagan snaps, but I’m not paying her any mind right now.
“Dec?”
“There you go! I’ve been waiting for you to call.”
“What are you doing, Dec? Why do you have Skylar’s phone?”
“NO!” Reagan screeches behind me, drawing all the brothers out of the chapel.
“Why do you think I have her phone? You’re not that slow on the uptake,” he mocks just before I hear Skylar screaming in the background. “I will fucking kill you if you do anything to hurt her!”
“Well, you should start planning then,” he laughs over another scream from Skylar, enjoying this too much. “You know, I thought you would be upset about Skylar, but you haven’t even asked after that little boy.”
Fuck! How did Jordan slip my mind? “You want to hurt me so fucking bad, come at me, Bro. I’m right fucking here.”
“I don’t think I will; this has been too much fun!”
“If you hurt Skylar or my son, there won’t be a rock left for you to hide under,” I threaten. Skylar is still screaming in the background and there is not a damn thing I can do about it. The blood-curdling screams that will haunt my dreams until I take my last breath. The only saving grace I have right now is that I don’t hear a tiny voice screaming and crying for me.
“I don’t know how much time they have left, Crow,” he spits. “I have no problem with taking either one of them out.”
“Dec—”
“Come find me,” he interrupts me and cuts the call.
“Church!” Gunner bellows.
I grab Reagan around the nape of her neck and bring her into my arms. “He has my baby?”
“I’ll get him back, I promise, but I need to make a plan with the brothers.”
“Kane,” she utters before sobs overtake her body.
I pull her in tighter and drop my face into her neck, letting a few tears of my own make tracks down her breast bone. “We’re wasting time, baby. I need to get in there.”
“I’m coming with you,” she informs me.
“I can’t have you with me right now, I need to know you’re safe while I go get our son back.”
She shakes her head and starts to speak when Ma rushes to where we stand. “I got her, Crow.”
I nod and pass Reagan off and head to the chapel, but before I head in I hear Reagan choke out between sobs, “He’s got my baby, Stella. And Skylar. Oh, my God! Kane… where’s Killy?!”
Fuck! Where is Killy? I rush into the chapel and shut the door behind me, taking as deep a breath as I can to calm myself enough to be rational. “Einstein, find Killy,” I order as I take my seat.
“What the fuck is going on, Crow,” Gunner demands.
I answer his question but I don’t take my eyes off of Pop. “He took Jordan and Skylar. We need to act quick, Dec said that he would kill them both. Skylar was screaming so loudly in the background… It sounded like they were torturing her.”
“What do we do now?” Shadow asks.
“Killy is at Wickenburg General—a gunshot wound,” Einstein informs us.
“Fuck! Hollywood and Doc, I want you to take up residence in the hospital—his room, the waiting room, I don’t give a fuck—but I want him protected, and the rest of us will go to the safe house in Tuscon.”
“Do you think that he knows Cash was here?” Moose asks.
“I don’t doubt it for a second, that’s why I’m going to go search the woods in Growler. He probably knows that we know about the safe houses in Chandler and Tuscon, and if I had to put money on him being anywhere, it would be in Growler.”
“But Cash said that he scouted the woods and didn’t find anything,” Pop says.
“That’s why I think he’s there. Every one of you know that Dec gets hard when he thinks he has outsmarted someone.”
“I think you might be right about that, Crow,” Gunner states. “So we will split up into two teams and hit both locations. Moose, Colt, Tex, Shadow, Bane, Smooth, Axle, go with Crow to Growler; Rhys, Creed, Horse, Mase, Ghost, Smoke, and I will take the safe house in Tuscon. I don’t think he would want to have an audience when he forces them around, so I think that the loft in Chandler isn’t an option. Any questions or concerns?” He only gets silence from around the room. “You all have your assignments—let’s get them done. We aren’t losing anymore of our family today.”
“We should probably leave the bikes here and take a couple of vehicles so we don’t alert anyone to our arrival,” Moose suggests.
“I think that might be the best choice, considering we don’t know what to expect when we get there. Sky and Jordan might not even be able to ride on the back of a bike,” Axle agrees.
“Yeah, okay. Park it where it won’t be obvious that it’s us,” Gunner advises. “Einstein, if you find anything that can be of use, text us.”
“You got it,” he answers without taking his attention away from his laptop.
******
A couple of hours later we are pulling the cargo van into a service station a mile or so from the burned-out clubhouse and parking behind the dumpsters. I open one of the side doors, about to jump out when Axle stops me.
“We need to have a plan of action before we go charging into a place that we aren’t aware of, looking for something that might not even be there.”
“What do you want to do?” I ask impatiently.
“I think we should split up. Tex, Shadow, and Bane, I want you to go along the street and come at it from the front while you, me, Colt, and Smooth enter the woods here. Meet in the middle, yeah?” Axle suggests. “Moose, I want you to stay with the van, we will call when we need you.”
“Fine,” he replies clearly pissed with his assignment.
Not having the time to give a fuck—seeing as a deranged asshole has my sister and my son—I start walking to the copse of trees that will lead us to the clubhouse when a phone ringing stops me.
“What do you got, Einstein?” Pause. “Do you know how far into the tree
s it is?” Another pause. “Thanks,” Axle says, ending the call.
“What did he find?” Pop asks.
“He found a permit for a bomb shelter that was put in on the east side of the property from the sixties. He’s sending the plans on the permit now.”
“But Cash said that he disappeared from behind the club,” Pop says, tilting his head. “He can’t be stupid enough to give us false information.”
“Either it’s a trap that he and Dec concocted together or Dec knew that he was following him and led him astray on purpose,” Axle agrees.
“Oh, it’s definitely a trap,” I state. “The only question is if Cash needs to be taken care of when we are done here.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let’s roll out, we’re wasting time,” Axle declares and turns to the trees with a fast and steady gait that has us to the east of the ruins in about ten minutes.
“You get the plans yet?” I question Axle.
“Yeah. It looks like we should be standing on it.”
My eyes shoot to the ground looking for anything that looks out of place. I take baby steps—heel to toe—until I am a few strides away from the clearing and back, then take a small step sideways and repeat. I have made this pattern at least a few dozen times and there is nothing to see. He’s here though, I can feel it, so where the fuck is he?
I’m on my way to where the others are searching when I hear a faint cry. I drop to my hands and knees, bringing my ear close to the ground, and hope that I hear the cry again. I feel shitty thinking that, knowing that my sister is hurt, but there is no other obvious solution here.
“You got something?” Axle asks coming in close and kneeling beside me.
“I swear I just heard a low cry, but I can’t be—there it is again!” I say a little too loudly, inadvertently summoning Pop to our side.
“Did you hear something?” He asks hopefully.
“Ye—”
“Over here,” Smooth calls out, standing off to the side inspecting a tree. “The door is in the tree.” The three of us get to our feet and rush to where he is standing, holding a blanket of Spanish Moss, revealing a door that is a little smaller than a standard door. Roughly the size of an attic or crawlspace. As soon as I get there—with a gun in hand—I pull the door open and rush down the stairs and start to take inventory of the space.
“I didn’t think you were ever going to get here,” Dec taunts.
“What the hell is your problem, Declan?” Pop demands. “I have stood behind you through all of the shit with Crow and Cleo and you pull this shit? To your sister?!”
“I didn’t want her, but she wouldn’t hand over the kid. I had to reevaluate and revise,” he shrugs. “Chains has been having a good time with her anyway, so I guess it was a win-win.” I take a step in his direction and he raises his gun aiming for my chest, but my steps don’t falter. If he wants to shoot me, he can, but this mother fucker has my son, my sister… there is no hope for him.
“Where are they?” I spit between gritted teeth.
He throws his thumb over his shoulder but gives his attention to Axle and laughs, “She’s a screamer, man. We even gagged her, but she wouldn’t shut the fuck up. Chains might have left you something.” But it’s not Axle who goes to Skylar, it’s Smooth.
“Tell me where my sister is, you piece of shit.”
“I expected you to run to my sister… guess you don’t really give a fuck about her, huh? She is going to be devastated when she finds out.”
“Fuck off,” Axle snarls. “All I want is my sister.”
“And where is my son?” I demand, ignoring the fucked up statement that just came out of Axle’s mouth.
“He’s with her, of course,” he says, looking at me like I’m fucking stupid.
“Why, Dec? What are you so fucking upset about that you had to go to these lengths?”
“The simple answer, it was all about the money, but I did enjoy sticking it to you, Crow. Fortune seems to favor the underhanded in situations like this.”
“Why? What the fuck did I do that warranted this?” I demand.
“Why not? You were always the golden boy, the one who could do no wrong—the prodigal son. Everything was always fucking about you! My club rockers couldn’t even be celebrated because you got promoted at the same fucking time—and then you passed me over for the second road captain position, giving it to fucking Mase. You all are a bunch of pussies, walking around here like you own the fucking place,” he laughs. “You don’t run shit around here. We do. It’s only a matter of time before we take all of you out.”
“I find it funny that you keep saying ‘we’ like we are going to let you walk out of here,” I throw in his face.
“Okay,” he mocks. “Not a fucking one of you is brave enough to do what needs to be done.”
“Is that why we all have our guns trained on you?” Axle growls, removing some of the distance that is separating them. “I’m only going to ask you this one more time, where the fuck is my sister?!”
“I’ll never tell!” He sing-songs with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Incidentally, Cash won’t be telling you either. He thought I was stupid, that I wouldn’t catch on to his fake acceptance. I don’t think they will ever find his body.”
Axle steps into his face and puts the gun to his head. “Stop, Axle. He’s mine.”
“I can’t let you do that, Crow,” Pop speaks up.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Pop?! He is dying tonight whether you—or anyone else—like it or not. You don’t get to stand in his face and take his side. Not this time, Pop, I won’t let you.”
“I just meant that it needs to be me; I brought him into this world and I will be the one to take him out of it.”
“You’re not going to shoot me, Pop. You’re the biggest puss—” he starts to say but is interrupted by the gunshot that catches him between the eyes.
I give my attention to Pop, not wanting to see the pool of blood that is circling his lifeless form. Tears are running down his face and the gun is shaking, but I can also see a resignation that is taking over his face.
“We need to get Skylar and Jordan and get the fuck out of here,” Axle says and goes in the same direction that Smooth did, and I am following close behind. When I step into the room, I see—who I think is—Chains laying on the ground with blood pooling around him. Dec killed him? Why?
Skylar is lying on a mattress that is on the floor with her arms bound to the wall above her. Jordan is in a similar position on the other side of the room, but Smooth has already unbound his hands. He is gagged but he isn’t naked—thank fuck. He sees me walk in the room and struggles to get away from Smooth as more tears run down his face.
Pop goes to Skylar and I rush over to him and pull him into my arms, planting kisses all over his head. “Daddy’s here, buddy. You’re safe. I need to take this tape off your face. I’ll do it quickly, but it is going to hurt. Can you be brave and close your eyes for me?” He nods and closes his eyes. I get a firm grip on a corner that isn’t laid flush with his skin and pull. Hard.
“AAAAAAH!” He screams and my heart breaks a little knowing that I caused him any extra pain. “Dat hutted, Daddy,” he cries before burying his face in my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I say as I look him over to see that he only has minor cuts and bruises. Relief washes over me until I get to my feet with little man and get a look at Sky. She looks like she has been through the wringer. The relation between the way she looks now and the way Reagan did after the attack; makes me want to go and empty the clip into his fucking face. “You got her, Pop?”
“Yeah, is little man okay?”
I nod and bring him in closer to me when he answers, “My’s wips huts but I’s is otay, Pop. Can we’s goes homes now?”
“Yeah, little man, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” I say trying to make him giggle, but it is a wasted effort.
“Axle,” Skylar moans painfully as she reaches an arm out to hi
m.
“Let’s roll, Moose should be here anytime,” he says, completely ignoring my sister—who is in pain and wanting comfort—before walking back out of the room.
“Mother fucker,” I hiss under my breath.
Chapter 18
Crow
Me: I got him, baby. We are heading home now.
My phone starts to ring instantly. “Baby.”
“Is he okay? Did that bastard hurt our boy?”
“Calm down, baby.”
“Do not tell me to calm down, Kane! You just had to rescue my baby from your fucking brother!”
“I know, but I have him now. I’ll take care of little man, you take care of Peanut.”
She sighs. “You’re right. I’ve been going out of my fucking mind here. Your mother only had like one more time to stand between me and the door before I put my fist into her face.”
“She was only doing what was right.”
“I know that, Kane, but that didn’t stop it from pissing me off,” she says, making me laugh a little. “Are you laughing at me?”
“No! I was just imagining Ma standing there let you pound on her,” I laugh a little harder.
“That would never happen… your mother tends to be a little terrifying,” she whispers, letting me know that Ma is close by. “Can I talk to him?”
I look down and see he has fallen asleep with a death grip on my middle. It makes me want to bring Dec back to life so I can kill that mother fucker myself. “He’s asleep, babe.”
“Is Skylar okay?”
“I don’t know yet, babe. She is refusing to go to the hospital. She said nothing was broken, but Doc will have a look at her when we get back.”
“Do we need to take J to the hospital?” She shrieks like she didn’t register that he might need it, too.
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Doc will take a look at him. He just has minor cuts and bruises. I think I did more damage to him when I removed the duct tape from his mouth. I pulled it quickly to minimize the pain but I may have removed a little of his skin. There wasn’t any blood, though,” I say to reassure myself. “It just looks like a little rash.”