Dakota

by Ami Van

  “Stop. Stop that shit or stay your ass here,” Maddox growls at him.

  Tucker and the rest join them fifteen minutes later. Tricia was covered up and wearing what looked like clothes that were too big for her.

  “Sheriff Warren woke up Balton’s sheriff and gave him a heads up. They’re on the same page,” Tucker says. “The sheriff has an address. He can’t stop us from following him out there. We try to stay by the book. CPS will be there to assist so try not to engage until we get Bianca and Minx out.”

  “But CPS will only remove Bianca,” he states the obvious. “They’re not gonna do shit for Minx.”

  “We’ll get her back, Dakota.” Tucker looked confident enough to be convincing.

  CHAPTER 26

  Minx

  She didn’t know what was going on but she was falling in and out of sleep. Bianca was completely passed out by now. At least Diaz didn’t separate them. For the time being.

  They’d driven for so long and with her head so clouded, she wasn’t sure in which direction or how far before they’d pulled into the warehouse. Her questioning Diaz where they were only earned her a slap to the face, scaring Bianca even more. Staying silent was the better option. She didn’t want Bianca to see what these assholes could do to her.

  She can hear the sound of rustling and hurried footsteps just outside the door of the small room they were in. The room had a bed and a dresser with a small lamp on top. She was almost inclined to wake Bee up to ask if this was her new room but decided against it at the last second.

  And where is Tricia? She hadn’t seen or even heard her name mentioned this whole time. Oh god. Did something happen to her?

  The door opens, waking her from sleep again. She wasn’t even sure how she kept falling in and out of sleep.

  “Let’s go,” Travis barks at her.

  She reaches for Bianca.

  “No!” Travis tells her. “Just you,” he says with a menacing grin that made her cringe.

  She looks down at Bianca, sleeping soundly on the bed, and tucks the covers over her before she stands up on wobbly legs. She must have not been moving fast enough because Travis yanks her through the doorway as soon as she was within reach and closes the door behind her. She hears the sound of a lock latching.

  He shoves her towards the center of the spacious and dark warehouse where there were standing lamps. The lights all hovering over...a cage...and a dirty mattress.

  No. NO! Not again. Please...not again.

  “Since I have to wait out this shitstorm, you’re going to entertain me...first,” Diaz says.

  She takes a step back, right in to Travis who continues to shove her forward.

  “No!” she screams. “No!” She turns around and tries to hit Travis. Tries to push him out of the way.

  “That’s it, Minx,” Diaz says. “The cameras love a fight.”

  Her head swings around. Cameras? Her eyes scan the space and she spots the two cameras. One at each corner of the bed and cage.

  “Give her something to take the edge off,” Diaz tells one of his other men. She wasn’t even sure how many were even present.

  “NO! Let me go!” she screams, stepping back into Travis again.

  He holds her by the arms and kicks down on her legs until she was on her knees. He pulls her head back by the hair with one hand, his other hand was wrapped tightly around her throat, tilting her chin upward.

  She sees another guy approaching with a sickening sneer before he pulls his hand out of his pocket.

  “Open her up,” he says.

  Travis was pulling on her hair so hard she couldn’t help but to part her lips to let out her scream. The guy shoves pills into her mouth and Travis immediately slams her jaw shut.

  “Swallow it or Bianca’s gonna get double what he gave you,” Travis tells her.

  She complies and then he let’s go of her hair, shoving her head forward before he pulls her back onto her feet.

  “Give her something to wash it down with boys,” Diaz commands.

  She was shaking her head. Uselessly. Travis had her nose pinched and pulling down her lower jaw as the other guy pours whiskey down her throat. Too much of it spills down her chin so he keeps pouring until she swallows two gulps.

  “We’re going to have so much fucking fun,” the guy says once he stops pouring. “Literally.”

  Travis shoves her forward towards the bed, ripping the back of her shirt at the same time. Her arms instinctively fold upward to try and catch the shirt from falling from her body. The alcohol is kicking in already. Two gulps of the stuff on an empty stomach on top of whatever they gave her would do that.

  She was stumbling, falling but a set of arms catches her. She looks up and sees Travis holding her up and can feel his fingers fumbling with her bra before he rips it. The snap echoing in her head.

  “NO!” she manages to say though she was intending for a scream.

  He shoves her on the bed where she brings her legs up, kicking as hard as she could at the two. It only made them laugh at her attempt. The two grab her legs. One each and they were already pulling off her leggings.

  “Please,” her voice comes out a weak whisper. “Stop! Please.”

  “Brings back memories doesn’t it. My dick’s hard just thinking about it,” Diaz says from somewhere. He sounded so far away but she knew he was close.

  She was right.

  As soon as her leggings were off, they drop her legs and Diaz was on top of her, straddling her legs. His hands were traveling up and down her body before they clutch her breasts together and presses his face in between.

  “I’ve always loved your fucking tits, Minx. After all this time, your skin’s still flawless,” he says to her once he lifts his head up and hovers his face over hers.

  She spits in face and the impact of his backhand was almost immediate. It didn’t hurt though, the ringing in her ear drowned out every other noise. Her head was spinning and hurting and foggy. She could barely form one thought.

  But she can hear the sound of him unbuckling his belt. She knew that sound. No matter how much therapy Maddox put her through, she wouldn’t be forgetting the specific sound of his belt swishing through the hooks of his pants.

  He stands over her. His silhouette a blur. The sound of the belt whipping through the air and then it hitting against her flesh adds to the ringing in her ears. But she didn’t feel the sting this time. Just an itch if she could even call it that.

  The belt swooshes through the air more times than her foggy mind can count before he’s straddling over her again. Her eyes were drooping closed. He grabs her by the hair and shakes her head violently.

  “You gotta stay awake, Minx. If you don’t let me come down your throat, Bianca will have to finish what you start.”

  She weakly shakes her head, silently saying a prayer. She didn’t even know that many prayers even when her mind was clear and focused.

  Then...there was a loud pounding on a door somewhere. An answer to her prayer.

  “Help me,” she tries to scream to whoever it was. Again...it comes out a whisper.

  But whoever it was, had Diaz off of her...for the moment, at least.

  CHAPTER 27

  Dakota

  Sheriff Sutton’s, Balton County sheriff, knock on the warehouse door was pissing him off. It had no sense of urgency whatsoever. They should be using a fucking battering ram or his foot to knock down the fucking door.

  “We have to do this by the book,” Tucker warns him.

  He was perched on his bike in between Tucker and Maddox. They were lined up across the street, waiting per Sheriff Warren’s request. Tricia was sitting in the backseat of the sheriff’s car, her eyes trained on the other sheriff and the two CPS agents tapping on the door. Atticus, Kyle, and Kris had gone around back with two more deputies.

  “Domingo Diaz!” Sheriff Sutton yells out. “We know you’re inside! We have an Order of Removal here. Open up!”

  A Reaper opens the door. They were too far fo
r him to hear what’s said but the CPS agents hand the order over to the guy. A second later, the sheriff nods back to Sheriff Warren before he turns around and enters the building, the two agents following behind him.

  “Is it me or was that too easy?” Maddox asks.

  Maddox spoke too soon.

  The sound of multiple semi-automatic weapons was heard before the door slams shut and then fully automatic weapons were being sprayed out from the warehouse, taking down the two deputies that were in front by their squad cars.

  “FUCK!” Tucker says, getting off his bike simultaneously as he and Maddox.

  Tucker rushes over to Sheriff Warren who was stepping out of his car, weapon drawn.

  “Tricia, stay down!” the sheriff yells into the backseat. “We need to reach one of the deputies and get on their radio for backup.

  “We’re not waiting!” Tucker says. “If my kid’s in there, who knows what the fuck they have in mind!”

  “Dakota! Maddox!” Tucker was yelling.

  He and Maddox were already making their way to the warehouse. He reaches the door just as Tucker reaches them. He nods at Maddox letting him know that he was about to kick the door down. Both Maddox and Tucker nod and were ready. His foot pops open that door, swinging it wide. Maddox and Tucker both sticking low and firing inside for cover.

  Shots were heard but they sound like they were at the back of the building so he shoves Tucker out of the way and quickly enters first, immediately shoving Tucker behind the black van after. He covers for Maddox to enter. Sheriff Warren right behind them.

  A quick glance in, he sees Reapers in their own cut for once, gathering towards the back of the building. There was no kid in sight but his heart stopped beating when he sees Minx, naked in a kennel surrounded by lights and cameras.

  “There’s a locked door,” the sheriff says, pointing.

  “If that’s where Bianca is, don’t let them get back into that room!” Tucker growls. He was moving to the other side of the van and then steps over behind the Escalade.

  “I have to go for Minx,” Maddox tells them.

  “I’ll cover you,” the sheriff says.

  Gunfire was heard. He sees the handful of Reapers backing up which means the men at the back must be firing in. A barrage of firing was returned from the inside out. And when he sees half of them stopping to reload, he and Tucker aim and fire at the same time. The sounds of surprise and moaning follows.

  He turns around and sees Maddox and the sheriff a mere couple of feet away from Minx. They were both crouched behind only a few stacked crates and tubs.

  A glance through the van’s back window sees only three Reapers left standing.

  “Drop your weapons!” Sheriff Warren yells. “You’re not getting out of here through us, Diaz!”

  “Fuck you!” Diaz yells back.

  Two shots were heard before another Reaper drops to the ground, screaming and holding on to his knee.

  He looks through the van’s back window again before taking a step into the clearing. The bullet from his Desert Eagle aimed right at Travis’s chest. Tucker was next to him, his aim at Diaz’s head. Neither of them would be missing even from this distance.

  He sees Atticus, Kyle, Kris, and another Balton County sheriff’s deputy stepping in through the back door, their weapons trained on Diaz as well before the deputy begins kicking weapons away and cuffing the ones on the ground.

  Maddox was already running and taking his shirt off to cover Minx. The sheriff covering him the whole time.

  “Tucker. Just like you to be working with pigs,” Diaz says, throwing his handgun to the ground before spitting in front of him.

  “Fuck you. You don’t fucking get to judge me,” Tucker growls at him. “You took my kid. You took my sister and you took my old lady and hid behind them like the pussy that you are.”

  “Actually...they’re the pussies. Pussies that I fucked over and over again. I mean...look at your sister over there in her dog kennel. Fit for a bitch. Too bad the kid was too young but I had her practice calling me daddy for eight years already,” Diaz goads.

  He takes a step forward but Tucker holds him back, handing his gun over.

  As much as he wanted to kill Diaz with his bare hands, Tucker needed this more. He takes the gun and Tucker was on Diaz immediately. Going fist to fist, toe to toe. Atticus and Kyle comes up behind them just as a deputy detains Travis.

  “Go get Minx,” Atticus tells him. He didn’t have to repeat himself.

  He was over and at Minx’s side. She was barely conscious. Red welts criss crossed her bare thighs where Maddox’s shirt didn’t cover.

  “Bianca,” she whispers, her eyes fluttering.

  “I’ll go get her,” Maddox says. “She’ll recognize me.”

  Maddox hands her over before he gets up and heads for the door.

  “Mercy. Baby, come on. Wake up,” he says, lightly tapping her already red cheeks.

  He notices that she was heavily sweating. Panting for breath for a few seconds before holding her breath altogether. He opens one of her eyelids and then the other. Fully dilated. Shit. He didn’t even get a chance to tell the sheriff next to him that they must have given her something. Her body was starting to convulse in his arms.

  “Oh fuck, oh fuck,” he says.

  “She’s seizing,” the sheriff says. “Put her down and to the side.”

  Sheriff Warren was yelling at the other deputy and telling him to secure the scene. They can hear other squad cars pulling up and more men were running inside. Maddox and a little dark-haired girl were standing in front of him. Maddox must have seen what was going on because he picks up the little wide-eyed girl and runs her outside of the warehouse.

  “It’ll be quicker to take her to the hospital than to wait for the ambulance,” one of the sheriff’s deputy says to him before he points to the doorway.

  He was up and running with Minx in his arms.

  CHAPTER 28

  Dakota

  “How are they?” Tucker asks when he rushes into the Emergency Room with Atticus and Kyle.

  “They’re still checking Bianca out. Tricia’s with her and social services. We saw the two agents being brought in too,” Maddox answers.

  “No word on Minx yet,” he says from his seat. “They gave her so much shit, she was OD’ing,” he tells Tucker.

  “FUCK!” Tucker says, throwing his hands through his hair before kicking a nearby trash can.

  “Shit took forever with the sheriff’s department,” Kyle mumbles before stalking to a seat.

  “Did you kill him?” he asks Tucker.

  “No,” Tucker answers. “I fucking should have. But I’ll make sure he gets his reckoning every single fucking day he rots in prison.”

  “Good,” he says. Death would have been too easy for the shit bag.

  Tucker stands closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “The sheriff let me see the video. They didn’t, Dakota. That shit was hard to watch, but they didn’t, brother. We got there in time for her for once.”

  He looks up at Tucker. Eye to eye to make sure he wasn’t lying. He takes a deep breath after. Thank God.

  The sound of the double door swinging open had him on his feet. A little girl runs past him and right at Maddox, her arms hugging the guy around the neck.

  “Maddox!” the little girl yells.

  Tricia calls over to her. “Bianca, there’s someone here to see you.”

  He watches the little girl turn around, her hand holding on to Maddox’s as she walks toward Tucker.

  Tucker kneels down to be at her level. He can see all the emotions running through his friend’s eyes.

  “Hi,” Tucker says.

  “You’re him,” Bianca says. “You’re Tucker, aren’t you?” she asks.

  “I am,” Tucker answers back.

  “Minx told me you’d come for me one day. She always told me so,” Bianca says.

  “I’m sorry it took so long,” Tucker chokes out. “I promise I’ll m
ake it up to you.”

  The sound of Tricia’s quiet sob breaks through the moment of silence. Tucker meeting his daughter for the first time had to be high up there on the list of best memories since he’d patched in with the Knights of Havoc.

  Bianca traces her fingers over her father’s cut and then over his patch badge. “President sounds like a big deal,” she says.

  “Not really,” Tucker tells her. “Anyone can get one.”

  “I don’t see anyone else here with one, so...” Bianca smirks and shrugs her shoulders.

  The grin on Tucker’s face spoke volumes.

  “I know you’re my real dad. But Minx says not to call you that right away. You have to prospect first,” Bianca says.

  Tricia sighs loudly. He can hear Atticus who was trying to hold in his laugh.

  “Figures Minx would make it hard,” Tucker says. “So, what do I have to do?”

  “Well,” Bianca says. She begins zipping the back of her teddy bear and pulling out a piece of paper that had been folded and unfolded way too many times. She hands it to Tucker and he watches his friend begin the task of carefully unfolding it. “That’s a list of things I wanted for each birthday and Christmas that you’ve missed. You can start there. After that, Minx, mama and me will have to decide at church what comes next.”

  Mercy. She was an amazing woman.

  “When I have a kid or two, Minx is babysitting,” Kyle says with a huge smile.

  “You and me both,” Atticus says.

  “I can get started on this list,” Tucker says to his daughter. “I’m ready to prospect. However long it takes.”

  “Can I hug you? Just to see how big your shoulders really are?” Bianca asks. This little girl was too much like Minx already.

  “Only if I can hug you back,” Tucker tells her.

  “Oh, HELL yeah!” Bianca replies with a grin so much like Tucker’s.

  “BIANCA!” her mother scolds her.

  Father and daughter stood there in each other’s arms. He’d never seen Tucker shed a tear before. But the few that he was seeing now are definitely worthy. He’d never hold it against the man.