Chapter 15 #2
By that time, Storm, Grit, Breaker, Celt and several other brothers who happened to be on the premises were geared up and ready to go. We headed out, while Thunder rounded up another team to back us up. We made short work of getting to the West End.
I didn’t need to think about it. I knew this was Bryce’s doing.
My mind was working overtime trying to figure out what Bryce’s game was.
I got word from Roderick that Bryce had signed off on the divorce paperwork this morning and had a paralegal drop it off at our attorney’s office.
Roderick filed it right away. That means the divorce was a done deal.
What possessed him to divorce her and then abduct her? None of this made any sense.
And how did we not know the asshole was back in the country? If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have left Tracey with two prospects, I’d have been there myself.
We pulled up and parked our bikes, intent upon canvassing the area.
Storm had heard from Hacker who’d managed to get access to a couple of security cameras in nearby parking lots.
The thing that made my blood boil was who he saw with Tracey.
He says Fred handed her over to Bryce and then took off on his bike. ”
“What do we know about Fred?” I asked angrily. “Who vouched for him?”
“He checked out,” Grit muttered.
“Well maybe you need to review your fucking vetting process,” I spat back.
“Okay, enough,” Storm cut in. “First things first, we get your woman back. Then we see how we messed up with Fred.”
I was pacing the parking lot when Storm got a call from our contact at the police department. He put it on speaker and Harvey’s voice came onto the line. “Mack told me you guys have a situation on your hands. What can I do to help?”
I spoke up, “We need everything you’ve got on Bryce Sterling.”
Storm chimed in, “Pull his license, registration if you can get it. If you can’t, start with a black Lexus SUV and the plates I texted you last month.
He has a second car, but I don’t know anything other than it looks like a collectible Bentley that he keeps garaged.
We need to know the second he passes a reader. ”
“I can do that,” Harvey responded without even a hint of judgment in his tone. He was a good friend of the club and had been for years. “Do you mind if I ask what this is about?”
“Sterling just signed divorce papers and then we caught him on a security camera abducting his ex-wife. He has a history of DV and a restraining order in place,” Storm explained. “Right now, we need to get to him before he does something batshit crazy to his ex.”
“Fucking hell, how do the Dark Slayers always end up with the really crazy ones?”
“Just lucky, I guess.”
“I’ll go ahead and make a report about this and put out an all-points bulletin. What’s her name?”
I spoke up again, “Tracey Sterling, she hasn’t gotten around to changing back to her maiden name yet.”
“Roger that. I’ll let you know when something turns up.”
Storm’s hand landed on my shoulder from behind and I twisted around enough to meet his eyes over my shoulder. “We need to break up and start canvassing now. We’re burning daylight here. If you get anything approaching meaningful information, send it to the group chat.”
Nodding, I felt all kinds of restless energy building in my body.
“Yeah, let’s get going.” When I started to walk off, he called out, “Don’t worry, Axel.
We’re gonna bring her home and then we’re gonna rethink my cousin’s very fine idea on how to handle this fucker.
Because men like him need to be taught a lesson. ”
I ran in the direction of that side parking lot at top speed.
All I could think of was what that evil asshole might be doing to punish her for leaving him.
At this very moment he could be beating her senseless.
I also wanted to beat Fred senseless when I got my hands on him.
Would Bryce have gone so far as to get a mole in our club to spy on me?
I wouldn’t put anything past the fucker.
For Fred’s own good I hoped it was more that he joined us legitimately, and just got greedy.
Anything else, and he was a dead man walking.
The sun was beating down on my shoulders, but I refused to leave any stone unturned.
I rushed to the side lot and walked every square inch of it.
I stood where the camera picked up Tracey because I needed to get the angles right in my head for when I watched the footage.
I wanted to stand where she stood and know what her line of sight entailed.
I saw Celt stalking the far end of the lot, inspecting every single thing he passed. We met in the middle of the lot. There was a piece of paper on the ground and Celt bent to pick it up between two fingers.
He held it out to me. “This belong to your old lady?”
I took it from him and responded, “Yeah, it’s her school supply list of all the things the girls need for school.” I quickly folded it and put it into my pocket.
“Axel,” Hacker said in my ear. “I finished analyzing that security footage. My preliminary report was spot on. Your old lady came through the doors with that new prospect, Fred. He’s walking a step ahead and isn’t forcing her to come with him.
He gestured like he was guiding her to the Land Rover.
Thirty seconds later, Bryce steps out of the gap between a minivan and that black Lexus SUV you said he drives.
I didn’t get a visual on the actual grab.
They moved out of frame to the left. I’m searching to see if there are any more cameras we can access. ”
“Can you tell what direction they went when they left the parking lot?”
“Westbound,” he answered.
Celt knew every inch of this town, he spoke up, “If they kept straight, they’d have hit the service road. I know there are warehouses out that way.”
My phone rang almost immediately. It was Harvey on a group call with the club officers. “I got a hit on your boy Bryce. He hit a reader two minutes ago heading west on County Road 14. I was able to tap into a traffic cam and there were two occupants in the vehicle.”
“Distance from the plaza?” Storm asked.
“He was about five miles,” he said. “If he hit that reader, he’s pointed towards the industrial park or the two-lane that hugs the river.”
Storm said, “I’m gonna have all available brothers converge on that industrial park. I’d bet my bottom dollar that’s where he’s taking her.”
Grit swore under his breath. “My guess is he either owns commercial property there and knows it’s isolated and empty most of the time or he scouted it out ahead of time. Either way, his ass is ours.”
“Harvey,” Storm said. “Can you get us a unit near the industrial park on the downlow. I don’t want multiple patrol cars with lights or sirens, because I don’t want to scare him off.”
“I’m five minutes out myself,” he answered. “I’m driving my personal vehicle today, a blue Jeep Cherokee.”
“Much appreciated,” Storm responded. “Best case scenario, we catch up with him before he makes it to that industrial park because once he gets inside that huge fucking area, it’ll take hours to find them.”
We jumped on our bikes and sped off in the direction of the industrial park. It felt good to have my club brothers at my back and to know I wasn’t in this all alone.
I should have been planning strategy for when I came face to face with Bryce but all I could think about was Tracey and how she got to this awful place in life.
No woman wants to end up in a bad relationship.
Tracey was a smart woman. If it could happen to her, it could happen to anyone.
I remembered how she was during our college days.
She had all the same dreams and aspirations that the rest of us had.
She wanted to become a dentist and give people beautiful smiles.
It seemed like such an attainable goal until Bryce drove a train through her life, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
The road to the industrial park was long, with multiple hairpin turns. I snaked through each one by hugging the inside of the road. At one point my need to get to her took over my better judgment and I slowly opened the throttle, picking up speed.
The radio crackled. Harvey again. “Black Lexus SUV just arrived at the industrial park,” he said. “I’m gonna try to follow him in as inconspicuously as possible.”
“We’re less than three minutes out,” I told him.
“Two minutes ahead if you hit the green light,” he said. “I can’t tail without making him nervous.” Storm added, “Don’t approach until we get there.”
“Roger that,” Harvey replied.
We pulled into the industrial park and found Harvey’s Cherokee. He stepped out to greet us, pointing to a warehouse in the distance. “I saw Sterling step out to meet a couple of men and they walked back into the building about five minutes ago.”
Storm asked, “Any idea who they were?”
“No, I wasn’t close enough to hear their conversation. If I had to guess, I’d say they were his muscle. They looked like private duty security, and they were wearing earpieces. It made me wonder who they were communicating with.”
I spoke up, “Probably whatever company they were from. There are several in the area. I know that because they’re direct competitors with our club’s security firm.”
We approached the building cautiously and surrounded it.
Harvey and Storm approached the front door with me at their heels.
I wanted first crack at my former friend because he’d crossed a line that should never have been crossed today.
Kidnapping Tracey was one in a long string of bad decisions, and I wasn’t gonna stop until he was behind bars or six feet under.