Talon

by Savannah Rylan

  I closed the door behind me and sat down on my bouncy old bed. My laptop was open, and sheets of paper and drafts of my CV were spread around the bed. I sank into the mattress, gazing up at the ceiling in my dark bedroom.

  How many nights in my teenage years, had I laid just in this exact spot and wondered what kind of a kisser Glock was? If he’d fumble if he saw me naked or make love to me like a man. I knew the answer to that question now. No man before Glock had been so good with my body the way he was. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, I was still in love with him.

  The realization struck me at the same time as the thought that he had made it very clear to me that he wanted me gone from his life. He wanted me out of Long Beach.

  I knew that it had something to do with the fact that he didn’t want me to be in danger, but I couldn’t help wondering if it also had something to do with him not wanting me in his life anymore.

  What did I really know about Glock? If he was pushing me away, he obviously had good reason to. We had finally gotten everything out of our systems. All this pent up bodily fire and was he thinking that now he could finally move on? I didn’t know if I was capable of moving on.

  I gulped as I looked over at the blank dark screen on my laptop. I’d been working on my CV and job applications when Glock had come over to the house that morning. I’d heard his voice, and I pretended like I didn’t know who was at the door. I had heard him speaking to mom, and my heart had thudded wildly against my chest. As much as I tried to stay away, I couldn’t. He hadn’t even asked to see me.

  I had jobs to apply to. I could still hear Axel’s voice in my head, warning me that if I got involved with them once, I was going to have to work with them forever. How was I going to pull that off while working at a fancy law firm in San Francisco or Los Angeles or San Diego?

  I considered working on the case from far away. Perhaps if I could collect the testimony from the girls and then take it all back to San Francisco and work on filling it from there? Would the Bad Disciples or the Dragon Knights have a reach there? Wouldn’t I be safer if I worked on this case from somewhere else?

  But even the thought of leaving Long Beach now was making me sick. I sat up on my bed with a jerk and reached for the glass of water on my bedside table.

  My hands were shaking as I drank the water. Waves of desire for Glock were taking over my body, and they came out of nowhere. Every time I thought that I could stop thinking about him now, there he was again. His green eyes, his bulging biceps, the scent of his cologne, his throbbing cock in my hands. It was all too real, and it was all too soon!

  I jumped out of bed and started pacing my room. My mind started to drift from Glock to the girls in the warehouse. Glock was right. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but I was determined to do something about it. I meant it when I told him that I felt responsible for my neighborhood.

  I was a stupid teenager when I left home, thinking I would be safer in Northern California. But now I was an adult, and I had the means and the requisite skills to actually make a contribution. I wanted to work with The Bad Disciples to bring the Dragon Knights down, no matter what it took. Even if it meant extending my stay here and holding back on my job applications for later. Even if it meant making Glock hate me.

  Chapter 13

  Glock

  We were attending Church at the Rusty Pelican the next day, and thankfully, Axel hadn’t spoken to me about Sage yet.

  Over the past few days, when I should have been working towards gathering more information about the Dragon Knights; my mind and body had been occupied with Sage. I had gotten very little work done.

  “Another raid on their holding cells is not going to work,” Gunner was saying. Everyone at Church seemed to have a different opinion on how to deal with the Dragon Knights. We couldn’t agree on anything.

  “But that is all we can fucking do!” Tank growled, and Gunner shook his head.

  “Every time we have a shootout with them, all we are doing is rescuing the women. After that, things are back to usual again. They just start over!” Gunner thundered, and Axel held up his hand to make the men stop fighting.

  “Gunner is right, but so is Tank. The only thing we can hope for is that we raid them long and hard enough to tire them out. Drain them of their resources eventually,” Axel said, and Hunter squared his shoulders angrily.

  “It’s not working. Gunner is right. They seem to have a bottomless pit of resources,” Hunter grumbled.

  “And the more shootouts we’re involved in, the greater the chance is of our brothers being killed. Every time we’re involved in a battle with them, we’re risking our lives too,” Hunter said, and Axel glared at him, and then at Tank and Gunner.

  “So, you boys seem to think that we should pussy out of this?” Axel barked. Tank clenched his jaws and his fists.

  “No, that is not what we’re saying,” he replied, as firmly and respectfully as he could. I could see that tensions were running high. Everyone had seemingly reached boiling point by now, and things were only capable of spilling over from here.

  “So, what are you saying other than whining about the dangers of a raid?” Axel growled at them, and I decided it was time for me to step up. Opinions had escalated pretty quickly already.

  “We kill the DK president,” I said, and a sudden silence fell on the bar. Gunner, Tank, and Hunter who were staring at Axel all this while, who was, in turn, glaring back at them; all turned to look at me. Nobody had made this suggestion till now, but to me, this was the most logical solution.

  “What?” Axel growled, and I stuck my hands into the pockets of my jeans.

  “We kill Brick,” I said, repeating myself. I was aware of the gravity of suggesting a thing like that. Killing the Dragon Knights president was a dangerous suggestion. The president of an MC was usually the most protected. However, if the president was killed, it sent a direct message to the club. The operation for the Dragon Knights would fall apart, hopefully cause the rest of the club to fall apart with it.

  “He’s the root cause of this. We’ve given them enough chances, we’ve shot at them, killed a few of them, raided their holding cells, and they still continue to kidnap and torture women,” I continued, and Axel was glaring at me with a look of disbelief on his face.

  Even though my nickname in the MC was Glock. I had always been the least violent of all my brothers. I had always tried to avoid bloodshed when it could be avoided. The club started calling me Glock because I only used me glock when I meant business.

  “You think we should kill Brick?” Tank repeated, saying what was on everybody’s mind. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “What else is there left to do?” I asked, and Hunter stepped towards me with a wild look in his eyes, like he thought I’d gone mad.

  “And how do you think we’re going to do this?” he growled, and I glared back at him in defiance.

  “I can try and find out his daily routine, where his hiding places are, at what times he’s alone. We’ll have to do it when he isn’t completely surrounded by his assholes,” I said.

  “You don’t say,” Hunter replied sarcastically, glaring right into my eyes.

  Axel hadn’t said anything till then, but now he did when he realized that my brothers were rejecting my idea.

  “Glock is right,” he said, and my brothers whipped around to stare at him in shock.

  “This could be our only way out. You boys have been talking about how raids and shootouts aren’t working. So, this might. This has to. We need to cut off the head of this snake. The body wouldn’t know how to function without it,” Axel said, in a deep, thoughtful voice. Even though he agreed with my solution, he wasn’t entirely sure yet how this was going to work.

  “I know it won’t be easy, but this could be our only option to end this,” I said, looking at my brothers. They needed to trust me, and they needed to see that I wasn’t completely crazy.

  The truth was, that with Sage getting involved in this now I w
as desperate to find a way to completely destroy the Dragon Knights before they got to her. Which I knew they would if they found out about her involvement and the ridiculous plans she had for them.

  “You think that we can just kill Brick, and it’s going to be over? That there won’t be retaliation? That Axel’s life won’t be in danger? And ours and our women’s?” Tank was growling at me, and I looked back at him firmly. I knew he was right. The consequences of killing their president was probably going to cost us, with some of our lives.

  “Not if we give that redhead of Glock’s a shot, and help her put the rest of the motherfuckers in prison,” it was Axel’s voice, and when I turned to him, I couldn’t believe what he had actually said.

  Hearing Axel talk about prison, about something legal—none of us would have expected that to happen. But when I looked at him, I could see that he was completely serious about it, and I realized that I had made a huge mistake. I was trying to force Sage out of all this, and I was the one that pulled her straight in.

  Chapter 14

  Sage

  It had been two days, and I hadn’t heard from Glock. I knew he was angry with me for getting myself involved with his MC, but this kind of radio silence wasn’t what I expected.

  I knew I could go look for him at the Rusty Pelican, or I could have asked my mom to give me his home address, but I didn’t want to seem pushy. He had made it clear to me that he wanted me to stay away, and I decided that I would, at least until I heard from him or someone from the Bad Disciples.

  I was also hoping that Brooklyn or someone else from the warehouse might call me. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold back on applying for jobs, without knowing if the women wanted my help. I still wanted to do something for them. I could still see the horror in the eyes of the girls I’d spoken to who were captured by the Dragon Knights. I wanted to put those bastards away for good.

  I was in our living room, with the TV on in the background. My laptop was on my lap, while I was sitting on the couch, browsing through job applications and legal firms I would have liked to work with.

  It would have been so easy for me now to just send my resume off to more places. I knew I’d get called for interviews easily, and then I could leave Long Beach behind and continue on with my life. But something was making me stop. I just couldn’t find the strength to do it.

  Mom was cooking us dinner in the kitchen, and no matter how much I insisted that I help her, she refused. She wanted me to just relax and take it easy. It was heartwarming to see how happy she was to have me home again.

  My cell phone rang on the coffee table, and I reached for it. I looked down at the screen and saw an unknown number. My heart skipped a beat at the thought that it could be Glock. I answered with a shaky voice, wondering what he sounded like over the phone. Instead of Glock, it was a woman’s voice that I heard.

  “Hi, is this Sage?”

  “This is she, who am I speaking to?” my first thought was that it could be someone calling about one of my job applications from earlier.

  “Hi, Sage! This is Noelle, we met the other day at the warehouse,” she said, and I jumped off the couch. They were calling me! They hadn’t just chucked my business card into the trash the moment I left!

  “Noelle, hi! I’ve been waiting to hear back from you guys,” I said, running a hand through my long hair. The only reason why they were calling, could be because they had decided that they wanted my help.

  “Sage, is Glock with you?” Noelle sounded serious. She sounded like she was in a rush and needed to desperately get in touch with Glock.

  “Glock? No, he’s not. What’s going on?” I asked, and I heard Noelle breathe out a deep sigh.

  “I can’t get a hold of him or any of the other guys. We can’t understand why all their phones are switched off!” Noelle sounded anxious, and I was growing anxious with her.

  “What’s the matter? Why do you need to get a hold of him?” I asked, and I could hear voices in the background. She was talking to the other women.

  “One of the girls has escaped from the Dragon Knights’ holding cell,” Noelle came back to me to say, and I stopped stock-still in the living room. I pressed my cell phone to my ear. Another girl had escaped!

  “Oh, my God, where is she? Is she with you?” I asked.

  “No, she called us from someplace she’s hiding, but she’s very scared that they’ll find her,” Noelle continued, and I could hear my heart beating out of my chest.

  “Where is she hiding? Can someone go pick her up from there?” I asked.

  “That’s the reason why I’m trying to get in touch with one of them, nobody’s answering their phones. If they find her now, they’ll kill her. They don’t have any patience for their women trying to escape,” Noelle was on the verge of crying, I could hear it in her voice.

  “Okay, okay, can one of you go? Do you want me to go and pick her up?” I asked, and I heard Noelle speaking to the other women again.

  “Sage, will you be able to? None of us can leave now, but if you can, we’ll owe you one,” she said, and I was already running into the hallway to put on my shoes.

  “Of course, I’ll go, don’t worry about it. Just tell me where to go, does she know where she is?” I asked and slipped on my sneakers. Noelle gave me the address of a house on the edge of town and told me that it was an abandoned place where this girl had run to.

  “Thanks, Noelle, I’ll pick her up and bring her straight to you guys,” I said and ended the call.

  Mom had emerged out of the kitchen, holding up a spoon with pasta sauce dripping from it.

  “Sage? Where are you going, honey? Dinner is ready,” she sounded concerned. She had no idea what was going on in the past few days or the fact that I had visited the Bad Disciples.

  “I have to go out and meet some friends, mom. I’m so sorry, I totally forgot,” I said and slipped on a denim jacket over my t-shirt. I went over and pressed a quick kiss on mom’s cheek, and she watched me with an open mouth as I left the house.

  “Don’t wait up for me, mom! I’ll see you later, okay?” I called out to her, as I rushed down the steps of my porch towards my old pickup parked outside.

  ***

  It felt like I was driving at the speed of sound, that’s what it seemed at least to me. The reality was that my pickup was beaten up and wasn’t driving fast enough.

  I was just glad that Noelle had the presence of mind to get in touch with me. I didn’t even want to imagine what that poor girl was feeling right now. How afraid was she? Hiding out in an abandoned house, hoping that those monsters wouldn’t find her.

  I could still recall the wild animalistic rage in the eyes of the man who had assaulted me. He was capable of killing a woman. The more I thought about it as I drove, the more certain I was of my decision. This was exactly what I wanted to do. This was the whole reason I had decided to study law. I wanted to help those in need and put those that hurt people away in jail. I had faith in the law and the power it had over people.

  If I could just get to this girl in time and rescue her, it would mean that I could work on her case. I would just have to find a way of convincing the women to let me work with the other girls. I decided that I didn’t care what Glock thought.

  He was just overprotective and ridiculous by believing that I couldn’t survive in this world. I was willing to work with these women for however long it took to get the Dragon Knights behind bars. A year, two years…however many long it took. I didn’t want there to be another situation where monsters like them were wreaking havoc in my town.

  I drove as fast as I could to the address that Noelle had given me. I was on the outskirts of Long Beach now, and when I arrived on a dark, desolate road that was going to lead me to the house; I realized that there were no streetlights.

  I killed my car’s headlights too. I didn’t want to be caught driving to the house. There was a chance that the Dragon Knights were keeping an eye out, and I didn’t want to lead them straight t
o the girl and me.

  I could feel my chest heaving uncontrollably. I was panicking. I was alone, out here in the dark, driving along a narrow road with miles and miles of abandoned plots or rundown on either side. I had never done anything like this before. I didn’t know what to expect. I had spent all my life running away from having to be in a situation like this. And now I had willingly gotten myself into this.

  If I was afraid, I didn’t even want to imagine how afraid the poor girl was.

  I was driving slow, trying to keep my engine noise to a minimum and I stopped when I reached the house. Just like Noelle had said, this place was completely abandoned. The house was a derelict wooden shed sort of a thing with a wide plot of land surrounding it. A swing hung from a tree adjacent to the house, and it was creaking as it blew in the soft breeze.

  Nothing but the moonlight was guiding me, as I drove off the road and towards the house now. My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I was able to drive without the lights on, but I still couldn’t see inside the house. I could just see its decrepit shape. There was a deathly silence all around, as I came to a stop right outside its porch.

  I switched off the engine and slipped the key into the pocket of my jeans. The door of my pickup creaked when I stepped out of the truck, and my sneakers pressed down on the dusty dirt path.

  I was sure that the girl would have heard the car arrive and my door open. I was worried that she was now afraid that it was one of the Dragon Knights.

  I looked around, not a single sign of life. Not a single car or soul had passed down the road yet. I was all alone and somewhere inside the house, the girl was hiding.