“Well,” Coco said slowly. “So, when you all told me that Max will be taking care of me for a while, that’s what you were talking about”?”
Casey nodded, “Yep, at least that’s who we are assuming is taking care of shit. Fling hasn’t told us anything about it yet, so right now, we’re just guessing.”
“Fling is the leader?” Coco said.
“Another lesson,” Casey said. “So they have a President who is Fling. A Vice President who is Ridge, and Lead Enforcers, Tank and Boomer, Road Captain who is Tally, then Max, he is the Sergeant at Arms. All of them are the leadership, but honestly, all the members of the club are equal. They do the shit they need to do. Oh, and a Prospect, which apparently they’re going to be taking more of, they’re like pledges.”
Anya shook her head. “How do you keep it all straight?”
Georgie responded. “Trust me, you’ll get it. Now, they have a compound in San Diego. It’s huge, and they are building it. The whole club moved there from LA. And right next door is another club; in fact, there is an area where you can walk from one club to another. They are the Ops Warriors. My sister is with that club, and um, well, she has two men who claimed her.”
“Oh shit, no way!” Coco said rubbing her hands. “Can I join them?”
Anya rolled her eyes and said, “Shut it.”
“Anyway, their women have a club as well. They are called the Lady Riders, and their President is Shady, who is a bad ass bitch, like the ultimate bad ass bitch, in a sweet, quirky way,” Casey said.
“Wow, I so wanna check this out,” Coco said honestly.
Anya laughed. “Okay, well if I screw up, just make sure you tell me before I do it too bad. I mean, I seriously do not want to go in on a bad note.”
Georgie laughed. “No way, Sunny is Fling’s old lady, and trust me, you will love her. And here is the thing, they accept you for what you are, bar none, no one judges you, they accept you.”
“Sold!” Coco said and slammed her hand down on the table.
The women laughed and then Maci came over and put her new Barbie on the table and said, “Casey said all of the people have road names. I want one.”
“Huh?” Anya said, and Georgie nodded.
“The nicknames, everyone has them. Like Fling, Torch, Boomer.”
“How do you get them?” Maci demanded.
Georgie bent down and said, “Your daddy will give you it.”
She turned and looked at Anya and said, “Can we go find him?”
“Right,” a voice said from behind them, and Anya froze and looked over her shoulder and saw a man she hadn’t seen in a long time, holding a gun, and pointing it at them. “I was going to say the exact same thing. Though I wasn’t expecting these other two. I think, though, after hearing your little explanation, I believe this will work out nicely.”
“First Sergeant McGee? What on earth?” Anya whispered, and Coco grabbed her arm.
“You just couldn’t stay gone, could you?” he said and shook the gun. “Come on, we have something important to do.”
They all stood, and Anya put Maci behind her as they went with the man who was supposed to have been protecting her.
Chapter Fifteen
Torch got to the room and went in, taking the pulse of the room by just looking at his brothers. They looked relaxed, not what he would have expected considering when he left them Loki had called first dibs on torturing the young man who looked like Titan, but it looked like they were gonna start serving tea at any moment.
“The fuck?” Torch muttered, and Fling stood and walked to him.
“He is Titan’s son,” he said quietly.
Torch reared back and said, “What?”
“No shit researched him, found out who his mom was, she was a woman from another club. Gave him up for adoption, probably the best thing she could have done considering the club. Anyway, he went into the system, foster home bouncing, and joined the Army. Moved up and is working for the Justice Department now,” Fling whispered.
“Fuck,” Torch said still stunned. “Does he know who his father was?”
Fling shook his head. “Nope, haven’t gotten that far. He’s asking questions about why he’s here, and the shit that went down with Loki. So far, we don’t know who gave the orders about Anya, but his boss is squeaky clean, claims that wasn’t the directive they were supposed to get. Everything is fucking messed up. I called the General, and he is sorting out the clusterfuck but said it will take time. We have the asshole leaking documents we need to deal with, and now this shit. Not sure what exactly is going on in Washington, but thinking they are having some serious issues. For now, we deal with what we know. Need to find out where the hell the hacker is, and who the fuck gave the order for Anya, maybe by then shit will be sorted, maybe not. But that’s all we got, and so that’s what we will do.”
Torch leaned back and looked around. The guys were all staring at them, which meant they had spoken before. Bjorn was sitting in the chair still tied up but no longer looking pissed, he looked like he was just waiting. “Is all this shit connected?”
Fling shook his head. “Fuck feels like we won the lottery for fucked up situations. Right now, no, but that could change.”
“Okay, so we need to get the compound beefed up. We bring Anya, Coco, and Maci we could have issues, so they need to be covered,” Torch said, and Fling nodded.
“Already made that call.”
“Okay, then what am I doing here other than a briefing.”
Fling looked over his shoulder and then back and said, “We need to tell him.”
Torch nodded and said, “Right, let’s do this.”
Fling turned and motioned with his head to Loki who sighed and grabbed his knife and flipped it out. Bjorn just stared at him waiting, and Loki rolled his eyes and then cut the rope that was around him. It fell off, and Bjorn looked at them and moved his arms, shaking them out and then he stood and did the same with his leg. He walked a few steps, looking to see if any of the men in the room were going to tackle him. When no one moved, he went back to the chair and sat down.
“Okay, now what?” Bjorn said.
“Says in your file your call name was ‘Ironside’?” Fling said.
Bjorn nodded and said, “Yep, I guess my mother had an obsession for Vikings, the guys in my unit thought it was funny until I kicked the shit out of them.”
Fling sat down and then leaned his forearms on his thighs, and he looked at the young man. “Gonna give this to you straight. Your father’s name was Tommy ‘Titan’ Ryme, he was the President of the Furies before he was killed, and he was also my brother-in-law, which makes my wife your aunt and me your uncle.”
Bjorn looked at him and then looked at the others around the room waiting for them to laugh and tell him they were fucking with him, but when it didn’t happen, Bjorn shook his head. “Impossible.”
Fling sat back. “Come again?”
“Impossible,” Bjorn said.
“Why is that?” Fling asked.
Bjorn paused and then said, “‘Cause when I looked into it when I was younger, they said my father was in the military. That is why I joined.”
“Who said?” Fling asked, frowning.
Bjorn shrugged and said, “Don’t know, the number that was listed on the adoption shit. They told me my mom died, and my dad was unknown, other than the military.”
Fling shook her head, pulled out his wallet, and then opened it and pulled out a picture. They all knew the one it was, it was of Titan and Sunny, right before he died. He handed it to Bjorn who looked at it and then looked up. Bjorn could have been the man standing in the picture. “I don’t know…”
Fling held up his hand, and he said, “I get this is coming fast, all this shit swirling and everything. But, son, I am not fucking with you, Titan was our brother, he died because a fucking asshole killed him, my son, Devon, and Birdie, Titan’s old lady. I would not fuck about this, my woman, Sunshine, Titan was her only family left, they loved
each other deep. She is going to be shocked, but thrilled, family is everything to her.”
Bjorn looked at him but said nothing. Everyone else in the room was silent as well, they were just waiting. Fling got impatient and leaned forward, and was ready to speak when someone pounded on the door. Boomer jumped up and went to answer it. When he opened the door, Torch’s blood froze. Maci was with someone who was obviously a crewmember, and she was crying.
“Sorry, I found this little girl calling for her daddy, I assume she belongs…” he started.
Maci screamed, “Daddy, help, a bad man has Mommy.”
Boomer reached out and grabbed the little girl and handed her off to Torch as he got there. “Shhh, baby, calm down, talk to me,” Torch muttered.
Maci cried harder, but she looked up and said, “Mommy…” she cried. “And Coco, and Casey, and Georgie were playing, and a stranger came with a gun and told us we had to go with him, but when we gots to the door to the room, Coco pushed me forward and told me to run find you, Daddy.”
Boomer looked at the crewmen and said, “Who else is on the ship?”
The crewmen looked scared, and he said, “I don’t know; the captain is the one who knows that.”
“I got the captain, find out where they found Maci and everyone get there,” Fling yelled, and they were in motion.
Torch ran to their room, the guys were following, and Tally stopped and held out his arms. “Go, I got her.”
“You loaded?” Torch said, and Tally nodded.
“Yep, not opening the door unless it’s you.”
Torch looked at his daughter who looked terrified now. “Baby, I need you to be a big girl and go with Uncle Tally.”
“I wanna go with you,” she cried, and Torch felt the tug on his heart, and he kissed her cheek.
“Sweetheart, I am gonna go get Mommy so we can have dinner okay,” Torch said.
Maci nodded and then looked at Tally and finally held out her arms and fell into his. Torch stared at them as they went into the room and he heard the door lock. Fuck, he thought and then moved quickly following the others who were already ahead.
“How could you?” Anya yelled and tried to pull away from the man she trusted. After Coco had shoved Maci out of the way, McGee had gone ballistic. When he lifted his gun, Anya had thrown herself on his arm, which allowed him to get ahold of her hair, which he was now holding tight, and she was yelling, “She is a baby you fucking dickhead.”
“Shut up!” he yelled and then pointed the gun at the other girls and said, “Get in the room, now, or I will kill you all right now, then go after the little girl.”
They all filed onto the upstairs deck, and Anya was holding the hand that was wrapped in her hair, trying to prevent him from pulling it anymore. It fucking hurt enough as it was. “Let her go!” Coco screamed, and Casey pulled her friend back when it looked like she was going to jump him too.
“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled loudly. The women all stopped and glared at him. Anya continued to hold his forearms and was bent over. “Now sit your asses over there and hope like hell I don’t kill you.”
The three women moved and sat down on the bench he had pointed to, then he pulled Anya with him as he moved across the deck. She whimpered but would not cry out anymore. Max would come, he claimed her, was all she kept thinking.
“You know, when our men find you,” Georgie said calmly and with a serious tone, “they are gonna kill you.”
McGee laughed and said, “They are going to be dead as well, so no worries there.”
He pulled Anya to where there was a duffle bag, and he said, “Open it.” Anya sucked in a breath, and he yanked her hair and yelled at her again, “I fucking said open it.”
She let go of his arms and unzipped the bag. When she saw what was inside, her eyes widened, and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Pull it out,” he snapped, and she shook her head.
“No, what if it goes off,” she whispered, not taking her eyes off the bomb that was in the bag. She didn’t know shit about bombs, but she saw the words C-4, and she also saw the timer, she wasn’t an idiot.
“I said grab it!” he screamed and yanked her hair. “One more time I have to repeat myself, I will throw you over right now.”
“You brought a bomb on a boat?” Casey said in a shocked voice. “How in the hell did you…”
McGee laughed and said, “Did you really think you could kidnap a Justice Department man, and not get caught? Just so you know, standard issue trackers are worn in their shoes. All I had to do was follow, slip the captain some cash, and come aboard. Do you think you are the only ones who have the clout to get on a boat without providing documents? When this ship goes up, they will not even know I was aboard. And they won’t know about you, so there will be no investigation. Clean and simple.”
“Does he know?” Anya yelled and jerked her head. “Max, does he know you’re behind this?”
McGee barked out a laugh. “Hell no, that boy is dumber than I thought. He didn’t even fucking question it when I said you were gone. Just stormed out of there and went to lick his wounds.”
She didn’t believe that for a second, she knew he had looked for her because he loved her. “Bullshit,” she snapped, and he pulled her hair.
“No more talking, your little brat probably was found by now. Get the fucking bomb out of the bag now, or I kill you and your girls, then blow up the ship anyway,” he ordered, and she sucked in a breath and then did what he said. “Now put it on the table.” The First Shirt let go of her hair and allowed her to stand. She did so slowly, making sure not to jostle the bomb at all. “Go sit with them,” he said and pushed her. Anya fell into Coco who caught her and wrapped her arms around her.
Georgie and Casey grabbed her arms and helped her sit down in the middle of all of them. Shit, they were in the middle of the ocean, with a man with a bomb. This was so not fucking okay. Then they watched as the First Shirt set the timer on the bomb. Georgie muttered, “Why in the hell do people keep trying to kill us?”
McGee finished setting the bomb while holding the gun on the girls. There was pounding, and all the girls looked and sucked in a breath as the men flew through the door. The First Shirt looked at his watch and then smiled. “Don’t move!” he said and held up the bomb and pointed the gun at Anya’s head. The men froze.
Torch yelled, “WHAT IN THE FUCK?”
The First Shirt chuckled and then said, “We have three minutes, so no time to explain. Now, I am going to…”
That was all he got out before Bjorn ‘Ironside’ Falcon moved from behind, and pointed a gun at the back of his head and said, “Don’t move you motherfucker.”
“OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Georgie said and jumped up, grabbed the bomb out of his hands, and pulled the wires. Everyone jumped.
“Whoa!” Boomer bellowed, and Georgie looked at her man.
“Do not yell at me, I swear to God, you said we would have a nice relaxing ride on a boat to chill and hang out. What the fuck, Boomer? Guns, bombs, this is not relaxing. This is the opposite of relaxing, and dammit, there aren’t fucking drinks with umbrellas in them. I am done, done I say. I’m calling Kink,” Georgie growled out.
“Aww, come on, babe, if you call him your mother will come back out, you know that,” Boomer said.
Anya shook her head and felt Torch kneel before her and say, “Baby, you okay?”
She looked at him and then shook her head and said, “I am kinda freaked out but don’t want to cry like a baby in front of the biker chicks. Can Coco take me downstairs and let me cry quietly, so you won’t give me the nickname crybaby, or something like that?”
Coco leaned over and whispered, “Please don’t call me that either, but I’m not sure I can actually stand and walk, so maybe you should get someone to carry us.”
Casey leaned over and smiled and said, “You’ll get used to it. Come on, I’ll help you all downstairs while our men take out the trash.”
“Thank you, sir, I really appreciate it,”
Fling said to the captain who nodded.
“We will be back in an hour, make sure it’s done by then,” the captain replied.
Fling laughed and said, “Yep, no problem.” He walked back out onto the deck and said, “We have an hour.”
Torch turned and nodded and then looked over the edge of the ship and said, “Not a problem, they’re already circling.”
“Boy, I can’t say your idea sucked. Not sure I would have thought of it,” Tally said and slapped Bjorn in the back, and he shrugged.
“Heard a squid tell me they did this all the time when they were bored. Plus, it makes it easier since there is no body.”
“True,” Torch said and walked to where his old leader was already tied and hung on a hook above the water. “Now you fucking prick, why don’t you tell us who in the fuck you were involved with.”
The older man sneered and said, “You think I’m going to tell you something because you’re gonna kill me?”
“Fuck no,” Torch said. “I think you are a fucking prick who is gonna tell us what we want to know, and I will shoot you before you hit the water where those sharks are circling.”
“I am not afraid to die,” the Shirt said and Torch laughed.
“Probably not, but you are a pussy,” Torch said and then nodded, and Boomer raised his gun and shot him in the leg. The First Shirt didn’t scream, but he did cry. What he didn’t do, was for the forty minutes before they dropped him in the ocean to be dinner to the sharks below, was keep his shit quiet.
So, when Fling made the phone call to Washington later that night, he gave them the information about the Senator and his son. The credit went to Bjorn Falcon, who shockingly intercepted an email from the Senator and the First Shirt before he even came out to the coast, and knew he needed to save Anya and her daughter before he reported it.
Epilogue
They all climbed onto the yacht, and Loki frowned and looked around before he said, “Why the hell didn’t we ask for a boat like this to pick us up sooner?”
Scorched (Furies MC Book 3) Page 11