It’s filthy inside. I wade through the trash and debris of a kitchen into the living room. The flies have already found him. The man lying face down on the floor. There are syringes and used needles spread around the body. The dead guy has a band tied around his arm. His pallor is a gray/blue color. As I bend down to examine the man, I’d guess him to not have died more than an hour or two before.
Jade screams at the sight of the dead man and begins to outright sob.
“Please don’t make her see this,” I beg.
“Unfortunate turn of events,” is his only answer.
21.
Duke
“Sneak, step it up,” I growl to Sneak. I got a bad feeling. The closer we get to home, the worse it’s getting. Too bad I can’t put my finger on what’s troubling me, just got that unwavering prickly feeling on the back of my neck.
I call Hero again. “You at the compound?”
“Almost there,” he answers. “Something wrong?”
I laugh into the phone. “It’s all wrong, brother. We’re almost home, too. Brief you then.” Then I hang up.
Sneak grunts his reply and then picks up speed. He turns twenty minutes into fifteen. Some of those corners coming down from the mountain are too sharp to go as fast as we want to take them. Though when we finally reach the compound, my lieutenant stops short. The gate sits wide open. Wide open, with no guard that I can see.
“What the fuck?” Boss shouts. “Wasn’t Jimmy on the gate?”
Slowly, Sneak turns in and drives through the gate, parking and shutting off the engine. We exit quietly, unsure of what we’re walking into. Could be a fucking ambush for all we know. Guns drawn, we spread out.
I see a car I don’t recognize. A little red convertible. As I make my way over, I see the back of a cut with a prospect patch and a bare ass rise up then thrust back down.
You gotta be shitting me. “Jimmy.” I bellow. His head shoots up like a groundhog popping his head out of a hole in the ground. “You better not be fucking some bitch while you’re supposed to be guarding the gate.”
The brothers hear me and come running. “You left the gate open with Houdini still on the loose? My wife and kid are here,” Boss roars. He’s got a rage film covering his eyes, the man’s out for blood as he comes at Jimmy. It takes Blood and Sneak to hold him back.
My eyes inadvertently move past Boss, just a glance over his shoulder when I notice my truck missing from the carport next to my house.
“When did my truck leave, Jimmy?”
He hems and haws for a few seconds. Now I’m losing my patience fast.
“When Jimmy?” I repeat myself. And I fucking hate to repeat myself.
“I… I don’t know,” he finally responds, looking ten kinds of guilty.
Before I lose my shit all over him, I pull my phone from my pocket and hit Hero’s number one more time. “Prez,” he answers. First ring.
“You in my truck?”
“No.”
My hackles rise. “Doc with you?”
“No…” He draws out the o several beats. “She’s at home.”
My stomach drops. “Shit.” Then I take off running toward my home. “Drop your cut and get the fuck out.” I call over my shoulder toward Jimmy.
Boss rumbles, “Take your bitch and go. Somthin’ happens to one of our women or kids, you better fuckin’ get out the country ’cuz I’ll kill you myself.”
And then I realize Hero is still shouting in from the phone. “Prez? Prez?”
“Truck’s gone,” I reply, sharply. I’m barely aware of the wheezy engine from that crappy convertible leaving my compound in the background when my brothers join me. Including Hero who had to have booked it from the road. His tires squeal as he takes the corner onto club grounds. That’s dedication. That’s a man who’s earned his patch.
Inside, the brothers spread out, calling for Doc and Peaches, checking each room. I head to the coffee table where Doc left my laptop open. The screen is black, but I run my finger over the touchpad and it lights up.
To a confirmation page.
From a travel site.
I have to read the page twice before the words click. Ireland. Two tickets to Ireland.
My woman finally broke.
“Dammit.” I shout and bring my fists down onto the coffee table’s salvaged wood, swiping my arm across the top until the damn computer crashes to the floor. The brothers come running again. “She bought two tickets to Ireland. Departing from Nashville.”
Hero puts his hand to my shoulder. “Sorry. I should have been here. She never leaves the house anymore.”
“Not your fault.” I grind out. “You were off duty today. I should never have left her without a guard in place.”
“Need passports for that.” Blood. “Would those have been here or her place?”
“Her place.” That’s what I call to my brothers as I tear out of my house.
Men right on my heels, we head for our bikes. Way my heart beats a million beats a second, if I don’t get control of myself, I’m liable to lay my bike down. And that won’t help either of my girls.
We strike a menacing picture, engines rumbling. Nothing sounds like a Harley roaring down the road. It’s as unmistakable as it is beautiful. Five Harleys, all with men wearing Lords’ cuts, we inspire both fear and awe. Cars part for us, taking the shoulders as we pass them. Even the cross traffic at the intersection we come to waits their green light for us to pass.
Before long we’re turning down Doc’s street. The truck ain’t parked in the drive. Shit. Not what I wanted. We park there instead and head up to the front door. I knock. Door was shut but not latched and pushes open from the force of my knuckle.
“Doc?” I call out. “Caitlin? Honey, you here?” Nothing. Starting to panic again.
While the boys check the downstairs, I run up, taking the steps two at a time until I reach her bedroom. Her closet door’s open and inside the closet, an empty safe. That’s where she’d have kept her important papers like passports. I’m too fucking late.
Time to regroup. That’s it, I need time. I close my eyes, drop my chin and bring my hand to the back of my neck, holding on. Seems not just to my neck. Feels like my sanity needs holding, too.
After a couple deep breaths, I pull myself together.
Even though I know it’s pointless, I check out the other two bedrooms and the bathroom while up here just to make sure they ain’t hiding or something. Then Boss calls me from the base of the stairs.
“Duke, brother. Get down here. Something you need to hear.”
When I meet the brothers in the kitchen, Boss passes me a phone receiver. “She has a landline. Most have voicemail set up. So I checked it. Listen,” he orders, grinding his teeth so hard they might crack on him.
I will never in my life forget that voice. My gut clenches. “Hello Caitlin… or should I call you Dr. Brennan?” He sounds like that crazy Lecter guy from Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter with a Kentucky accent. “You should have stuck to doctoring. Club presidents make poor bedfellows. We’ll be in touch. Oh, and tell the Hollister whore I can’t wait to meet my nephew.”
Then the next voicemail starts up. “Caitlin, you can’t keep ignoring me.” Fucker has an Irish drawl. Didn’t Caitlin say her ex was Irish? Fuck him, he thinks he’s gonna come crawling back into my woman’s life. Those are my girls.
I throw the phone down with such force the face and number pad pop off when it hits the floor. “One more thing we don’t fucking need. Seems on top of the Houdini mess, Peaches’ father might be looking for her.” Palms to my eyes, I press down, trying to clear my head and think. Then I let out a resigned breath. “Don’t know where to go from here. Blood, you and me, let’s get on it. The rest ’a you, head back to the clubhouse. Keep ready to mobilize. Yeah?”
All the brothers save for Blood and me exit Doc’s house. But dammit, this ain’t her house anymore. Her house, her home is with me. When I get her back, a few things are gonna change. Firs
t being the address on her driver’s license.
Blood gets on his phone putting word out we’re looking for a woman with curly red hair and a small kid to match. He gives a description of my truck.
It hits me, I roll up on my bike she’s gonna hear me. And I can’t take the chance she won’t run. “Heading back to get the van. Pipes’re too loud.”
“I’ll call if I get something.” He’s still looking down at his phone.
“Lock up if you leave.”
I grow angrier and angrier the closer to the compound I get. What was in that woman’s head? Never mind. I know what was in her head. Hearing about that little girl has finally broken her. But she knows better than to leave. She knew I was on my way to her.
Not even realizing I’d ridden here, I roll to a stop in front of Peaches’ school. There’s police tape tapping off a large area and several cruisers block the parking lot. Their blue and red lights flash, but no sirens. In the distance, I see Tommy doing his thing.
When I get my hands on them, first thing I’m doing is kiss my Peaches, then kiss her mama. If Doc is lucky, if I’ve calmed down enough, I’ll be fucking her when I spank that ass. If not, I’m gonna bend her over my knee and throttle her for putting me through this. As it stands, there’s a whole lot of hurry up and wait going on. And if it’s two things she should already damn-well know about me, two things I absolutely despise, it’s to worry and wait.
Before long, I’m back at the compound to switch out my bike for the van. My old truck, although quieter than Harley pipes, still rumbles too loud to keep her from knowing I’ve shown.
My cell rings. I pull it thinking Blood has something for me, but the screen reads Doc calling.
Doc.
“Where are you?” I ask, no hello. No answer from her though. Well, not directly. I hear rustling, like something rustling over her receiver, but in the background I hear Caitlin. She’s crying. My Peaches is sobbing.
“Please get her out of here,” I hear Doc say to whoever has her.
“Shut up or I put a bullet in your brain right now. I need to think.”
“Keep the gun on me if you have to, just let me hold her.” And I assume he puts my girl down when I hear Doc. “Careful of the needles, baby. Look at Mama. Not the man, okay. You look only at me, Princess Jade.”
“Oh-k-kay,” Peaches sniffles her response.
Needles? A man? Could she mean a dead man? Like a dead man we left face down in a trailer off Rabbit Hole Road?
Un-fucking-believable.
I manage to shave ten minutes off the half hour drive. Turning down the bumpy, pocked driveway, passing the black walnuts and the thicket of trees where not that long ago, me and my brothers plotted our invasion, my truck sits alongside the trailer. Before I get too close, I pull off into the tree line and walk, well, silently jog the rest of the way.
“Shut up.” I hear him roar at my girl, still crying. “Outside, let’s go.” Then the front door opens and he pushes Doc out first, Peaches in her arms. He’s got a gun trained on my woman. I hide behind the corner of the trailer and watch.
Caitlin begins to beg. “Please, please let Jade go.” I see the silent tears run down her face.
He abruptly stops. Peaches clings to her mama’s legs. The fucker moves one hand to squeeze around my woman’s throat, not to choke her, but hard enough to show her who’s in charge. She wears her pain and fear all over her face.
Her glossy eyes catch my movement. Only those eyes turn to me. I bring my finger to my lips and mouth, “Shh…” but it’s unnecessary. She’s a smart woman.
Then he looks around, and I don’t know if he’s just paranoid or senses me, but he moves the gun to press against Doc’s temple, saying something. She gives him no response. She gives me the response though, through her eyes.
“…so now you have to die, Cait. And I’ll be taking my girl.”
“Why Aiden?” she whimpers. And although I can tell she’s scared, that little act is for his benefit. To keep him thinking he’s got the upper hand.
“Ah, Caitlin. Here’s the thing, I fell into a bit of a financial situation. My research grant fell through. Research takes money and I’m so close to…” He clenches his jaw and shakes his head to clear whatever’s swirling around in there. “I was so close to closing the deal with Cartland Pharmaceutical, but they won’t back me without the research. So I borrowed some money to fund the research. Only, guess what? The facts no longer add up. But I’ve run out of money once again, and cannot pay my debts.
“Now I have men trying to kill me unless I pay them back. I’m not ready to die, you see. So here we are. You out of the way, Jade comes back with me. I’ve already taken a hefty policy out on her. Got Rachelle hidden, locked away. I’ll get twice the payout when I lose my wife and daughter in the same unfortunate accident. Which means Caitlin, it’s time to say goodbye to Jade.”
It’s there on his face, he’s ready to pull the trigger, leaving me no choice. I step free from the side of the trailer and stand to my full hulking height, towering over the assclown. Now, gonna just have to wing it.
His head whips toward me, face snarled with madness, and he twists Doc around to use as a shield for his body. I keep my gun hidden for now so maybe he’ll push her away to take aim at me. It ain’t a great plan, but the way she’s positioned, I risk hitting her if I fire.
“’Fraid not,” I tell him calmly. “Those are my girls, and they ain’t going nowhere.”
The crazed bastard pulls the gun away from Doc to aim at me like I hoped, only he don’t push her or Peaches away. Shit. I take a step closer, letting the little cunt-wad know he don’t scare me. Slowly, calmly, I start moving forward again. Face set. He knows I mean business.
There’s a loud bang, and I see smoke drift up from the gun as my body jerks and pain radiates from my left shoulder. But I keep moving. Fucker thought I’d fall.
“My woman and my girl are coming home with me.”
Peaches turns her head. “Duke?” she begins to cry.
“I’m here, sweetheart.” And I hold her eyes with mine.
“Shut up.” Aiden yells.
“I don’t wanna go wiff him.”
“Not going anywhere, Peaches.”
“I said shut up.” Aiden calls again. There’s another two pops from the gun and I feel my body jerk again. Left side, below my ribs and right thigh. Pure adrenaline keeps me up and walking.
“Chief,” Doc gasps.
At the same time Jade shrieks, “No!”
Aidan cuffs my girl along the jaw. “I’m your dad, Jade. You listen to me. Shut up, now.”
“Duke,” she calls to me. “He says he’s my dad. I want you to be my daddy.”
“I am your dad, sweetheart. Forever.” Then I turn my gaze to Doc and nod once. She understands my wordless command and turns Jade’s face to press into her legs again. Caitlin holds her hands over both ’a Jade’s ears. It distracts that fool enough to take his eyes off me to look down at her.
I swallow hard, knowing I can’t be off even a millimeter and clear my throat so she knows it’s coming. Caitlin bends her neck. That’s when I whip the Glock from the back waistband of my jeans, flip the safety as I aim and fire.
One shot.
He crumples to the ground.
Dead.
Bullet hole between his brows.
My family is safe.
But then I hear Peaches cry, “Daddy.” What the fuck? Is she talking about that asshole I just killed?
She wrenches from her mama’s arms and runs to me, crying. “Daddy. My Duke daddy.”
Seeing her. Hearing those words. Words I’d prepared to go my whole life without hearing. My adrenaline must be crashing, and I drop to my knees as Peaches reaches out to me. Ass to heels, I start to sway. Don’t want my blood on my little girl, so I position her hands on my cheeks. She leans her forehead against mine and sobs.
22.
Caitlin
“Love you,” I hear him whisper as he sl
umps, then falls to the ground.
Jade begins to scream. “My daddy.”
I move her to drop down next to the unmoving form of the man I love more than almost anyone else in the world. The man who not only claimed me as his, but claimed my daughter, even when he didn’t have to. Taking bullets to protect her when her biological disappointment could think of nothing but hurting her.
Tears sting my eyes, but I can’t think of him like that right now. Years of training kick in as I gently but swiftly push Jade back completely out of the way and reach into my pocket for my cell. With no service up this part of the mountain, connecting with Duke drained my battery.
Crossing my fingers that he has it on him, I reach inside his cut for his cell phone. His battery is only at twenty-five percent, but it’s enough. I call 911 as I begin to assess the situation better, tearing at his shirt to not only get a better look at his injuries, but I use it to help staunch the blood flow while speaking to dispatch.
The sirens and flashing lights couldn’t have been more welcome. Once the paramedics were on site and I’d handed off custody, I was able to switch from physician to partner. And old lady to the Brimstone Lords’ president. Never had I been so happy to see police cruisers and ambulances come barreling down the bumpy, dirt drive where they immediately moved to action.
Guns drawn, the lawmen move about looking for more danger. “It was just him,” I tell them. Satisfied the situation is safe, I watch each man holster his gun then start taking in the scene. Tommy sends a man over to take my statement.
But before answering any questions from the officer, I dial Boss’s cell.
“Prez?” He answers. “Got a lead?”
I sniffle into the line. “This is Caity. He’s down, being transferred to Mercy as we speak. They’ll need to stabilize him, then transfer him out. He’ll need a level one trauma center. My guess Lexington or Nashville.”
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