CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Vee / Nessa
Watching my man walking around with a permanent smile on his face was so amazing. After days of frowns and tension he was excited and smiling.
Not only had we had the best night but today Rush was coming home.
I had cleaned his room this morning (not that it needed it) and strung the Welcome Home banner in his window. It was made to look like a stained glass window with the words and animals in it. I had it printed in anticipation of today.
Checking my watch yet again I realised it was almost eleven, the time Nina Bosman arranged with the Rutherfords that she would collect Rush. Quickly finishing up I ran downstairs, grabbed my bag and left the duplex after activating the alarm. I walked fast, almost jogging, to the back door of the clubhouse, letting myself in I made my way through to the common room.
Scanning the room I found my man sitting at a table with Kid, Blaze and Sly. They had mugs of coffee on the table in front of them. There were quite a few of the brothers, old ladies and several of the nicer club girls hanging out.
I went straight to my man, bent down and kissed his neck.
He looked up at me and smiled.
“Hey, baby, you done doing shit Rush will never even notice?” He teased.
Smacking his arm I pulled out a chair and sat down.
“I don’t care if he notices or not, I’ll notice and that’s good enough.”
Everyone laughed and he leant over and kissed me softly.
“Such a good girl.” He whispered against my mouth.
His phone ringing had us pulling away from each other.
“It’s Nina Bosman, she’s calling too early.” He said as he picked up from where it had been lying on the table.
Frowning he answered.
“Walker.”
As he listened his body stiffened and his face turned from frowning to furious. Shaking his head as he shoved his chair back and stood, all those at the table instantly reacted, standing as well.
“No, no, I refuse. You get those cops with you to check the house, I don’t give a fuck if they have to break in. I want my son found. The law is on my side this time, not theirs.” Spider spat out through gritted teeth.
He was quiet for a beat then shook his head.
“Forget it. I’m coming with my club and I will fucking search the house if those cops are too fucking useless to do it. No, Ms Bosman, I’m not listening to you or some cop. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
With that he ended the call and was about to hurl his phone at the wall when Kid grabbed it from him.
“Spider, tell me. What the fuck is going on?” He demanded.
“They’re gone, they fucking took my son and ran, Prez. The house is locked up tight and no one is answering the door. There are no cars in the garages. And the fucking cops won’t enter without a warrant. I’m getting on my bike now and I’ll break the fucking door down, don’t care if they arrest my ass but I will find my son.” He raged.
A piercing whistle stopped all conversations. Kid stood on his chair and looked over the room.
“The team I put together last night will ride with Spider and myself. The rest of you, our defence protocol is now in effect. I want the perimeter secured, patrols stepped up as planned. Our gates stay closed and won’t be opened for anyone other than the men returning. Let’s get shit moving, we have our brother’s son to find.”
The room quickly emptied, leaving the women and prospects behind.
Minutes later they stood in the common room putting on bulletproof vests under their t-shirts and kuttes. Every single one of them were armed.
My man’s eyes met mine and I saw the rage and anguish roiling in them. I instantly went to him, hugging him tight I just held him.
There was nothing to say. Except one thing.
“You be careful out there, baby.” I whispered.
He nodded then kissed me hard.
“Prez!”
Fish came running into the room, an open laptop in one hand, a phone in the other.
“There’s been a firebomb attack on our Head Office building. Security became suspicious of some fuckers loitering on the pavement and cleared the reception. There are some cuts and bruises but no serious injuries. The fire brigade is on site and so is Kat, it’s under control.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Kid ground
“That’s not all, Prez. There was a drive-by at the Maingarde Mansion, it looks like Dom’s old lady and kid were the targets but his security killed the fuckers. Blew their car to bits as they tried to get away.”
“It’s starting.” Spider snarled. “This is what we’ve been expecting. What we didn’t expect was that my son would be at the fucking centre of it.”
“We don’t know that, Spider. It might be a total coincidence that they ran on the same day as those Foundation fuckers decided to make a move against all of us.” Blaze tried to placate him.
Spider’s face said he didn’t believe it, he turned to me.
“Baby, go home, get your weapon then go to Kid and Noe’s unit. You’ll be safest with her than here or on your own. I’ll be back with Rush as soon as I find him. I’ll call when I have news. Stay safe for me, okay?” His eyes were alive with rage and fear.
“Okay, I’ll be with Noe and the girls, if they’re here, and we’ll wait to hear from you.”
His lips covered mine, he kissed me hard and with a hint of desperation.
And then they were gone.
The rumble of the bikes fading in the distance.
Orca took over and organised everyone in the common room. I left to do as my man asked me to do.
Wait for him with Noe.
Spider
There were several squad cars and pigs milling around outside the Rutherford house when they arrived. He noticed three blacked out SUV’s with the logo of the Child Protection Unit on the side as they pulled up and parked to the side of the road.
Spider saw Nina Bosman talking to a cop in a tactical suit and headed straight for them.
“Ms Bosman, have you found my son?” He called as he got closer.
The fucker turned with his hand on the weapon at his side. Spider ignored him, his eyes on the woman.
When she shook her head he looked up at the house.
“Have you checked inside?” He asked.
The big cop was the one who answered.
“Are you Mr Walker, the boy’s father?” He asked.
“I am.” Spider bit out. “Who are you?”
“I’m Commander Schoeman, I head up the Child Protection Unit in Cape Town.” He answered evenly. “Sir, I have to ask you to leave the scene. We will investigate and let you know what we find.”
Spider shook his head. “No. Yesterday I was granted full custody of my son because the Rutherfords are linked to the Fortunes gang and several other crime organisations. And before you tell me my club is the same let me cut you off. We’re a biker club but we’re not involved in crime.” He pointed at the house. “These people however, are. And now they have kidnapped my son, my twenty month old son. And you’re telling me to walk away and wait. Not going to happen.”
The cop opened his mouth to answer but he ignored him, focussing on Nina Bosman.
“Did you ask the judge for a search warrant? And has he issued warrants of arrest for the Rutherfords?”
She nodded. “I have, we’re waiting on them now. I’m so sorry this is happening, Mr Walker. I really didn’t expect them to do something so foolish.”
He gave a small shrug. “I don’t think any of us thought they would do something like this.”
The warrants arrived about fifteen minutes later and the Child Protection Unit instantly went into action.
Spider stood next to Kid and watched as they broke the front door down to gain entry into the property. He waited with a churning gut and racing heart.
It was when the paramedics who had been waiting along with them jerked the gurney from the ambulance along with the big bag of medical stuff and ran towards the house that his heart fell.
What the fuck had they found in the house?
Was it his boy?
It felt like they had been waiting a million years when the paramedics came out again. There was someone on the gurney, too big to be his boy. When they got closer he realised it was Josie Jeremiah, his boy’s nanny. There was blood all over her face and hair.
What the fuck was going on here?
“Mr Walker, do you know the victim?”
One of the local pigs asked, hands on his hips as if he was part of the CPU. He was a street cop and obviously wasn’t.
“I do. She’s Josie Jeremiah, my son’s nanny. The Rutherfords hired her to take care of him. I don’t know her very well, I think Ms Bosman might know more about her.”
There was suspicion in his fucking eyes but Spider ignored it. He turned back to the house and waited for the head of the CPU to come back out.
The moment he came through the door he stepped closer. The moment he saw the look on his face he knew the news wasn’t good, not good at all.
“Your son and the Rutherfords aren’t in the house, Mr Walker. There are signs of a struggle in your son’s bedroom where we found Ms Jeremiah. It looks like she tried to keep her attacker from taking your boy.” He paused, gritting his teeth before he continued. “Ms Jeremiah was severely beaten and raped. We suspect whoever attacked her wasn’t alone, we’ll know more once forensics gets here. I’m sorry, but at this time I don’t have more for you.” He seemed sincere and Spider nodded.
He understood the cop couldn’t give him more than the bare facts.
“Would you please keep me informed of any progress? Has Ms Jeremiah’s family been contacted? I hope you’re aware that she’s the youngest sister of Amos Fortuin, the head of the Fortunes gang. He’s going to be looking for blood to avenge his sister.”
The cop closed his eyes and groaned. “Fucking hell, this case was supposed to be easy. Accompany Ms Bosman, witness the handover and we’re done. I consider the abduction of your son the unit’s number one priority, Mr Walker. My advice is to let us do our jobs, there’s nothing you can do right now except wait. I’m sorry, but it would be best for you to return home. I’ll be in touch as soon as we know more.”
Kid clasped a hand over his shoulder, squeezing once. He knew what his Prez was saying. They had to back off and start their own search.
“I understand. We’ll leave but please be aware I’m not going to give up on my son. You know as a club we have contacts and I’ll be reaching out to them to try and find him.”
The cop nodded. “I know, Sir. As soon as we know more I will call.”
He looked at Spider for a beat almost as if he was making a decision. When he spoke again they realised he had decided to let them do their own thing.
“If you find anything all I ask is that you let me know, don’t deal with it yourselves. We need these animals off the streets and behind bars.”
With that he turned and walked back into the house.
“Not a bad guy, for a pig. Let’s get back to the clubhouse. We need to talk to Dom and his team. I suppose with the shit that went down outside the mansion this morning they missed this clusterfuck.” Kid murmured as they walked away.
The ride back to the clubhouse was fast but not over the speed limit, they didn’t need the fucking metro pigs in their business right now.
It was quiet at the clubhouse. Armed brothers patrolled the inside perimeter of the compound and the secondary gates closed behind them once they’re inside. They had learned from the attack on the Joburg Chapter and installed a second set of gates for when they were under threat. The walls around the compound had been heightened and reinforced as well.
Kid and Spider went straight to what Fish jokingly called his fish tank. He was busy working furiously and glanced up as they walked in.
“I’m busy looking into the cameras around the Rutherford house. They were down for about four hours earlier this morning, obviously taken down by those who took Rush. I’m looping out from a central point, going wide, hoping to pick up a suspicious looking vehicle. When I find it we’ll have an idea which way they were heading.”
“Have we heard from Dom?” Kid asked.
“No, Prez, I think things are a bit hectic over there with those bastards getting so close to his old lady and son. I looked over the footage and they hit them the moment her team drove her through the gates this morning. Her driver’s reaction was down to a split second, he reversed back inside and the gates slammed shut. Then the attackers’ car blew up, apparently for no reason. Rico made sure there was nothing to be seen when Dom had them taken out.”
“Okay, can you get Dom on the line for me?” Kid asked.
Fish nodded and started clicking and soon the screen against the wall came on, Dom and Gideon stood in front of the camera. Both were visibly pissed off.
“Dom, sorry to hear about the shit at your home this morning. I’m happy to hear Nika and your boy are okay. We however have a problem. I need your help. Can Rico take a look at the footage at the Rutherford house? The Rutherfords kidnapped Rush and ran, they left his nanny at the house, she was brutally raped and severely beaten.” Kid didn’t waste time getting to what he wanted.
“Jesus. One moment.” Dom turned and motioned to someone off camera.
The camera angle opened showing them a secure room where Rico sat working at a keyboard.
They waited silently, no one said a word because there was nothing to say.
“I’m fast forwarding the footage to get to the relevant part.” Rico said, his eyes on the screen in front of him.
The first hint that shit had hit the fan was the arrival of a big SUV at the Rutherford house that none of them recognised.
It was the people getting out of it that had Spider stiffening with shock.
Strange and Frankie September along with three of his gang members got out and walked up to the front door.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Spider whispered.
The men and Strange stood to the side, out of the direct sight of the door camera, as Frankie rang the bell. The moment the door started opening he violently shoved it open, catching whoever was on the other side by surprise.
Rico clicked again and the cameras inside the house took over.
Kristen and Robert Rutherford were herded into the lounge and told to sit down and shut up. Strange stood over them, a gun in her hand.
Frankie September and one of his men went upstairs and when the horrible screams came over the audio Spider covered his face with his hands and shuddered. He knew what was happening. Didn’t want to see it but had to know where his son was. The next moment the fucker who had gone upstairs with Frankie came running down, he had Rush clasped football style under his arm. His son was screaming with fright and the fucker laughed and pretended to drop him, making it worse.
In the lounge Kristen watched emotionlessly, her husband was the one who tried to get up but Strange forcibly shoved him back.
“You’re going to hurt him!” Robert shouted, there was fear in his eyes.
Strange glared at his baby boy. She sauntered over to where the bastard stood with him in his hands, holding him at arm’s length in front of him, while his boy wriggled and screamed in fright.
Strange stood in front of them, tipped her head to the side and stared down at his boy with a totally blank expression.
The next moment she reared back and slapped him on the side of his head, hard, so fucking hard that his baby’s head jerked to the side. Rush’s screams stopped instantly and he went slack in the man’s hands.
“What did you do? What the fuck did you do?” Rutherford shouted. “Do you have any idea whose son that is? He’s going to kill you for this, he’s going to kill all of us.”
Strange turned and laughed, she fucking laughed, her eyes glittering with evil mirth.
“He has to find us first.” She smirked.
Grabbing Rush she walked over to an open duffle and dropped him inside. She dropped him, like he was a pile of dirty washing. Then zipped it up.
She pointed at the fucker who had brought Rush to her. “Take that and put it in the car.”
Turning back to the Rutherfords she smiled. “You will be coming with us. Don’t give us any problems, you do and I will kill you. Understood?”
Before they could answer Frankie September came sauntering down the stairs, zipping up his pants. He had blood on his hands and face and there was some on his clothes as well.
He grinned at Strange and she rolled her eyes as if irritated with him.
“I’ve had my fun, let’s go.”
No one said a word, they just filed out of the house.
Spider watched as they drove away with his son in a duffle bag in the luggage compartment of the SUV.
He was in hell.
But he knew one thing for sure.
He was going to kill the whore for bringing danger to his son and for putting her hands on him.
She was going to suffer before she died.
Frankie September wasn’t going to live either, all of them were going to die. And they were going to suffer in the fires of hell before they took their last breaths.
Simon Kent
Simon looked at the woman on the screen knowing that what he was about to tell her was going to piss her off.
“Director, Dalia Mitchellson has gone rogue. She, along with elements of the Fortunes gang, kidnapped Robert and Kristen Rutherford along with the son of Griffin Walker. Walker is the Vice President of the Iron Dogz MC in Cape Town as well as the CFO of their businesses. The SAPS Child Protection Unit is involved in the search for the child.”
“Damn that girl” The Director swore softly as she played with the string of pearls around her neck.
“That is not all, Director. A video was dropped off at our hotel anonymously. It is absolutely damning. Mitchellson is on film physically abusing the baby and stuffing him in a duffle bag to transport him. She stood by and did nothing while a young girl, Josephine Jeremiah, was viciously beaten and brutally raped by one of her accomplices. The girl happens to be the youngest sister of Amos Fortuin, the leader of the Fortunes gang. My belief is that whoever sent us the video is holding ICI responsible for the atrocity. We have reason to believe it was sent to the authorities and Walker as well. If the authorities find her she will be prosecuted and sent to a South African prison, where I’m convinced she won’t be alive for long. If she’s found by the IDMC or the Fortunes gang before we do, she will die, and not a good death either.”
He didn’t sugar coat the facts, he gave it to her straight.
“She should never have been part of this operation. I warned you and your board that she’s unstable and not ready to be out in the field, none of you listened. Now we’re in a situation we have no control over and I fear it’s only going to get worse.”
“Why would you say that, Mr Kent?” The Director asked, still playing with her fucking pearls.
“The Foundation is making its first moves against those they deem to be competition. This morning there was an attempted drive-by shooting at the Maingarde Mansion. The target was Mrs Maingarde and her son. The attack was thwarted by the Maingarde’s security force.” He sat back in his chair pretending to be relaxed when he was anything but. His friends were in danger and one of his team was responsible for a big part of it.
“I find it concerning that Mr Walker’s son was kidnapped at almost the exact same time. My concern is that Mitchellson has joined forces with The Foundation to achieve her goal, which is to force Walker to exchange himself for his son. We can’t allow that to happen. We’ve been sent here to investigate and observe, it is time to change that directive. We need to clean our house and we need to do it fast. Before there are repercussions we can’t explain away.”
The Director looked at the two members of the board sitting on either side of her, both nodded.
“You have the go ahead. We would prefer Mitchellson to be brought back alive to stand trial but if it’s not possible you have full authority to sanction her. ICI can’t be seen to be colluding with criminal organisations when our directive is to investigate and prosecute criminals.”
The screen blanked and he wanted to swear at the stupidity of the pencil pushers. None of them had ever been in the field or had any understanding of how dangerous Dalia was. She won’t be standing trial, that wasn’t going to happen.
Shutting down his computer he slid it in the protective case then locked it in the safe. For what he was going to do next he needed it gone as he didn’t trust any of the technology he had been given.
Going out onto the balcony he checked to ensure he wouldn’t be seen, then extracted the phone.
“Yes.”
“I got the video and passed it on. She’s been sanctioned. Inform all involved and ensure they understand the directive. No mercy.”
“Got it. Will deliver message. Stay close, directions will follow soon.”
Shutting the phone down he returned it to the hidden alcove then walked back inside and straight to the alcohol.
He needed a shot, badly.
He needed it before he called in his team and started work on finding Dalia and taking care of the problem.
Downing the alcohol it burned going down, setting the glass down he drew out his phone and sent the text.
Calling in his team to start the hunt for one of their own.
A dangerous rogue agent.