She flung her leg over the seat of Beauty and the engine roared to life soon after. She felt the vibrations attempting to soothe her, but right now, even they weren’t working. Flashes of her childhood nightmare kept coming to her and she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to escape, but she needed to try. Those memories could break her and she wasn’t going to let that happen.
With a chin lift to the two men who were already on their bikes and waiting, she twisted her wrist slightly and the bike shot forward as if it had been waiting for the command and was impatient. Shady pulled out onto the road and gunned it. Beauty shot off like she was on a mission, one to save her rider—one she would not fail.
Chapter Nine
“What a motherfucker,” Harmony yelled when the girls had all finally gotten together for their meeting. It had been pushed back since the guys were in an uproar about the flash drive and trying to figure out how it got into the club girls' locker room. During hours, it was guarded, and when the club was closed, they had security cameras stationed right outside of the door; no one had come or gone from the room that didn’t belong. This of course meant they had someone on the inside who was helping the Diablos.
Of course the new chick was the first they looked at; however, there were also more than thirty other men or women who were also inside the locker room. Raven and Kink were working on the surveillance and background checks into everyone who went into the room. Even their brothers, they were checking bank accounts and cell phone calls of each person.
So far, the women in the room had passed and that is the only reason they were having the meeting, because they had more than one issue to discuss. Lola and Sahara were both on the agenda.
“Yeah well,” Shady sighed and looked at the women around the table. “Doesn’t matter because he is just trying to fuck with my head, and I know it. Not gonna happen, yeah it was a shock and shit seeing that fucking vid, but honest to God, it pissed me off more than anything after the shock wore off. I mean what sick fuck tapes abuse like that and keeps it for years.”
“Don’t,” Freedom said quietly and looked at her friend, “don’t minimize it.”
Shady looked at her in surprise and shook her head. “Seriously, I'm not. It is fucked up and shit, but I got my head on straight.”
She felt her friends stare at her intently, gauging if she was lying or not, she wasn’t. In the time it took to ride from the club to the compound she had thought about it. Then when she entered the clubhouse and the tension in the place was off the chart, she had gone directly to where they held church and walked in. After briefly listening to what the guys were doing, she left. They had her back, and she knew it. The game Dom was fucking playing was intended to draw her out, make her make a mistake. She was not going to do that. She would deal with all of the feeling shit later, for now she needed to focus.
Harmony seemed to see that Shady was telling the truth and she nodded briskly. “Let’s get this shit sorted.”
They started the discussion on leadership. After a bit of discussion, they voted. Shady was the President, Harmony was the Vice, Freedom was the Secretary, and Rain was the Treasurer. The rest of the women, Bob, Treat, and Nike were the Road Captains. Thus, the Warrior Bitches were in business. They adopted the same bylaws as the Ops, and they were moving onto the business at hand.
“Lola,” Shady said firmly. “The guys have a plan and are going to bring her in. It is going to be up to us to deal with her.”
Bob snorted, “Yeah, won’t be too hard, I am pretty sure that we all have the same thing in mind for that bitch.”
“Well, that may be, but we need to figure out how to get answers out of her,” Shady said.
“She will break,” Nike shrugged. “We just need to find her breaking point.”
“Harmony and Treat will be in charge of interrogation,” Shady said and then turned to the others. “We need to figure out what Sahara’s deal is as well. The guys say she is solid on her background check, but honestly, I am not sure.”
“Why?” Treat said curiously. “We get chicks coming in all the time looking for a job.”
“Yeah, but how often do the guys actually hire them. They vet those women pretty carefully, I can imagine that after what I did,” Freedom snorted. “I mean, especially with everything going on you know.”
“Yeah, but if the Diablos wanted someone in there they would be careful about their connections being traced. I think we need to check her out ourselves. One of us needs to befriend her and see if we can get some info,” Harmony said.
“Nike?” Shady said and the woman nodded.
“Yeah, I got it,” Nike said.
“We need to call the Devil Savages chicks and start to make nice,” Shady announced and the women looked at her surprised.
“Why?” Harmony laughed.
“Because the guys are going to do the same, we are all going to have to work together. Plus, they may have some other info about Lola that we don’t know,” Shady said reasonably.
“I will do it,” Bob announced and they all looked at her with a shocked expression. The woman wasn’t the girly friend type of person; she was a bit gruff and tended to piss other women off. Mostly because she was extremely honest and told it like it was.
“Uh,” Shady said slowly and Bob’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, if you think you can handle it. Rose is the head old lady, I will get her number.”
“I will invite them to the bar for a drink.” Bob smiled and Freedom laughed.
“Seriously, you are inviting them to the bar?”
“Fuck yeah,” Bob said. “Loosen their tongues a little.”
“Don’t get them drunk, I don’t want any phone calls,” Harmony warned.
They finished their meeting and then decided to hit the clubhouse and have a drink. When they walked into the main room, they were all surprised at how quiet it was.
“Where is everyone?” Shady said to Kink who was behind the bar.
“Church,” Kink said and motioned with his head. “The Savages are on a conference call. You want a beer?”
“Yep, and shots,” Shady said and they grabbed their bottles and went to the corner and waited for Kink to bring the shots.
Once he delivered them and left, Shady held up one of the small glasses, “To the Bitches.”
“Bitches!” the women yelled and Kink rolled his eyes.
*****
“So you know the area we are talking about?” Creed asked Tonto.
“Yeah, we have been watching it for the last few days. The house is three stories, with weak security. That chick is arrogant, doesn’t think anything will touch her. Fucking walked out and made a deal right in her front yard yesterday for guns. Exchanged crack for them,” Tonto laughed. “And the guys who are security are stoned like half the time from what I can see. We can scoop her up easily, don’t think they will miss her too much either. One of the guys seems to be in charge.”
“Using their own product?” Fork asked.
“Pretty sure they are stashing shipments in the basement. One of my guys took some pictures and they have a cutting room,” Tonto replied.
“They cooking too?” Creed asked.
If they were cooking meth, they would have to handle the situation differently, that shit was volatile. Also, if the people were tweaking there could be a problem.
“Smelled it,” Tonto said.
“Any sign of the big dog?” Fork asked.
“Nah, he is scarce, thought one day she was going to meet him, but she ended up driving in a fucking circle around town and back home. Not sure what the fuck that was about, they have cell phones, like a lot of disposables, can't track them for shit,” Tonto said. “Best time to hit is when they are delivering, they all separate and leave the chick with only a few guards. Don’t have their pattern down yet but we are working on it. One disturbing thing though, when my guy looked in the basement windows, there were a set of cages in the corner, like big enough for a fucking huge ass dog, don’t think they
are for animals though.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Poke said with an angry voice.
“One of the cages had a fucking mattress in it. Called a few friends on the border, they said increase chatter about a large shipment coming across with multiple products. Someone is paying big for the patrol to look the other way. Don’t like the sound of that.”
“They have any idea when?” Easy said.
“Soon, no dates yet,” Tonto replied. “But when I hear, you hear.”
“Grab Lola,” Creed said firmly. “We can see if she can firm up a date.”
“On it, I will let you know when we have her,” Tonto said.
“Cool, we will be in touch,” Creed said and hung up. “Sounds like those fuckers have something more planned than what we thought.”
“You think he is a coyote?” Easy said.
“No, I think they have something else going down. Sex trade,” Creed said.
The men in the room froze and you could almost feel the anger rolling through the room. They had heard rumors, even saw women in cages who were drugged and been there for a while when they rescued Free, but nothing so far had been concrete to link them to the trade. It had only been a suspicion.
“We get here, find the information, and get this shit settled. I am done with this shit,” Creed said.
The men nodded and they dispersed.
Creed leaned back in his chair and sighed. This was gonna get real and quick. It was time to make the call he had not wanted to make. In all the years he had been the leader of this MC, and all the fucking connections he made, only one man would wade into this shit without question but, the payback would be harsh. He also knew when he made this call there was no going back.
Thinking about Shady and the other girls, there was no question. He would do what he had to in order to protect his family. Fork already knew what he planned, and they agreed with the rest of the club it had to be done. Bringing in another club was dangerous, but raising this club from the dead was going to draw a lot of attention, but he needed their help, especially if they had to go across the border.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number he had memorized three years ago. It only rang once and Creed heard someone answer.
“Creed.”
“Drix, I need your help,” Creed said.
“On my way, we will be there in a few days,” Drix said and hung up.
Creed stood, then went out to the bar, he needed a fucking drink.
Chapter Ten
“He is a dead man,” Cajun said two days later when they were in the clubhouse drinking a beer. Slider and Shark were sitting with him and he was quickly losing his patience when it came to dealing with Dominic Reyes III, the guys hadn’t found him yet, although they had been staking out Lola’s little hideaway. So far, Reyes hadn’t made a presence and that was what they were waiting for. They wanted Lola but the bitch had been laying low.
“Dude, he was dead the first time he touched our girl, he just didn’t fuckin' know it,” Shark said glumly and stared into his beer.
“She is gonna crack,” Slider said slowly and Cajun looked at his friend and nodded. Shark burst out laughing and shook his head.
“Brother, you have it all wrong. I have seen her at her worst, and this is nowhere near as bad as that. When she first came into the club, you would have seriously thought she was a fucking prostitute. I swear, she was nowhere near the woman you are seeing here. She built herself, and yep she is fucked up, just like us all, but, man, you have got to stop treating her with kid gloves. That is not going to help her or you. She will not break because she is no longer that girl. Shady is one strong bitch, and yeah, we see a couple of cracks in her armor but trust me, she will not break.”
“Shark, you haven’t heard her nightmares,” Slider said. Every fuckin' night they were woke up with her screams, and every fucking night they had to talk her down.
“Shit, we all have fucking dreams and shit. It is her way of working that crap out.” Shark shrugged and Cajun looked at him.
“What, are we in fuckin' therapy, man, trying to get in touch with your feminine side and shit like that?” Slider groused.
Shark snorted, “Read it in one of those fucking girlie magazines the chicks leave around here all the time. One was in in the bathroom when I spent some time in there.”
Both men laughed and then nodded. “Yeah, I get that,” Cajun said. “But everyone has the end of their rope.”
Shark nodded and looked at Slider, “Yeah, Shay hit hers a while back. We all saw it but she wouldn’t let us help. Thought we were gonna lose her to the road for a while she was on her bike so much.”
Slider felt a chill run down his spine, he knew what his brother was saying, it was when him and Shady went their separate ways. Fuck, he should have listened to his instincts then but he hadn’t. One big mess he had to clean up, and thank God his best friend was there to help him.
Shark stood and tapped the table a few times to say goodbye and the two men sat silently and thought about what he said to them. Cajun was the first to speak.
“Need to talk to her, man, we gotta see where her head is at.”
Slider nodded and looked at his friend and grinned, “No better place than the road.”
The other man grinned and they grabbed their keys and went in search of Shady.
*****
Shady was in the gym; it was a state of the art workout room that Creed and Fork built when they designed the clubhouse. It was awesome, and most of the guys actually worked out there at least twice a week. The girls did as well, however, they had their own special little room in the back, it was padded and had not only poles for them to practice their routines, but also punching bags and other dummies they used to practice self-defense moves. These were installed after Freedom had been kidnapped by the Diablos and almost died.
Now the guys took their training with the girls seriously, at least three times a week Creed or Easy grabbed the girls, and showed them moves. Shady and Harmony had become sparring partners since they had been trained more.
She bounced on her feet and kicked the bag in front of her smoothly. She was taking out her aggression on the punching bag, it was simpler than kicking someone’s ass. That is what she wanted to do. All of the guys were busy, and she wasn’t ‘allowed’ to leave on her own, which pissed her the fuck off.
The plans for finding Lola and Dom were at a standstill. She wasn’t patient enough for the waiting game. Plus, Nike had not been able to crack Sahara who seemed to be on the up and up. But something was bothering her and she refused to let it go unless she had an answer.
Shady was deep in thought when she heard Slider yell, “Shay!”
She stopped and turned. Cajun and Slider were standing there holding onto her leathers and grinning. “Let’s ride.”
“Fuck yeah,” she grinned and went to change.
In no time, the three of them were on the road riding hard and fast. There was no one on the stretch of road the guys manipulated Shady into picking, the road led to a small town in the canyon. One road in and one road out, with a population of about 100. It didn’t matter, what did is that it held the best Mexican restaurant in the state.
“Just wait, Cajun, the drive is awesome and the food fucking phenomenal,” Shady laughed.
Slider and Cajun grinned at each other, they had planned this out down to the last detail so Shady couldn't say no when they arrived to the small town. They only hoped she wouldn’t be too pissed when she figured out what they had done. It was a tossup on how she would handle it.
They rode for two hours before they saw the edge of the small town. There were only six blocks to the town so saying they saw the edge meant they saw the whole fucking town.
Shady led the way to the Mexican Cantina and pulled her bike in smoothly. Both men smiled when they saw how relaxed she was after the long ride. This was what she needed, at least the ride was. Now the hard part, but the guys were ready.
&
nbsp; Once they got into the restaurant and were seated, Slider reached across the table and snagged her keys. Shady raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything else. When the waitress came and they ordered Margaritas, she grinned.
“So the plan is to get me out here, get me drunk, and what?”
Slider smiled. “We will see how it goes.”
“Right,” Shady said, shaking her head.
“Just want to see where your head is,” Cajun said seriously and she turned to him and frowned.
“My head?” she asked and then continued when he nodded, “My head is on straight. I know what we are doing and what needs to be done. Just trying to get to the end without getting dead.”
“That is not going to happen,” Slider said firmly.
“Listen, I get the shit that happened to me when I was young was wacked,” Shady started.
“Nightmares,” Cajun said quietly and Shady jerked.
“Yeah, I have them. Yeah they suck, but that is the way it is,” Shady said.
“No it's not, when we were together you never had a nightmare,” Slider said softly.
Shady looked at him and shook her head. “I did, I just didn’t tell you.”
“Babe, I can tell you that I know you didn’t have any bad dreams when we were together. I can say this because I would have woken if you so much as jerked in your sleep. Every single night I spent with you when we were done fucking you curled into me like a kitten,” Slider said softly.
Shady glared at him. “No, I do not cuddle.”
Slider laughed, “Yeah, babe, you do. Shit, you practically purred every damn night. And if I moved, you moved with me.”
“No I didn’t,” Shady snapped.
“Yes you did,” Slider laughed harder.
Shady leaned back and folded her arms and then pulled out her phone and pushed a number. Slider grinned and waited for it, he knew what she was going to do, and it was a ploy to piss him off and avoid the conversation, good play, but he wouldn’t let it happen.
Shady: Ops Warriors MC Page 8