Chapter 20
Jackie
I didn’t expect to throw that knife at Blur, but seeing the woman, Laura, dirty, with no shoes and chapped lips, made my blood boil. No one deserved this treatment, and as I got the other two girls each a glass of water, I looked around the trailer. There were toys tossed into a corner, and the smell of old garbage and something else unpleasant was faintly in the air. I looked at the three women who’d been held here.
“My name is Jackie. I know you’re Laura,” I said to the oldest of the three, “but who are you?”
The youngest-looking girl was the one to answer. “My name is Pattie, and this is my sister, Paula.” Her body was racked with tremors as she asked, “What’s going to happen to us?”
I took her hands and tried to reassure her. “We’re going to take you back home to your families,” I began, and Paula started crying harder as she pulled herself closer to her sister. “Can I ask where you were taken from?”
I could sense the thought of home for them was scary, but I needed to know what we were dealing with. I didn’t know if the police were going to be called, and I needed information to protect the club from blowback. Blur didn’t deserve to take anyone else from us.
“We were living with our mom and her boyfriend in Arkansas when that man took us. He said he was going to take us to our dad, but he . . . he brought us here and locked us in that room,” Pattie explained. She lowered her voice and added, “We don’t want to go back to our mom.”
“How old are you?” I asked them while Laura looked on.
She seemed to have fared better than Pattie and Paula, but not by much. I thought she would’ve had most of the answers, but I had to figure out what to do with them all.
“I’m nineteen, and Paula is almost eighteen.” She paused and said, “Our mother took us from our dad a few years ago, and we were running away to find him. That’s when . . . that man took us.”
“And Laura? How long have you been here?” I asked.
She cast her eyes down and whispered, “Two years. I . . . I came looking for my sister and stumbled upon that man and his partners. They locked me inside here, and I was only allowed out to help . . . with the girls.”
I took her hand into mine and spoke softly. “Do not let that man win. You did nothing wrong and only did what you had to do to survive.”
She didn’t seem sure, but now wasn’t the time to go over what she’d survived. I couldn’t imagine what she’d seen or experienced, and I wasn’t going to ask.
“Do you know where your sister is?”
“Montana, I think. She took off after the courts awarded custody of her kids to their father. That’s why I came here. I was worried about her, and I’m afraid he . . .”
Pulling out my phone, I opened the image I’d snapped from my computer and asked, “Is this your sister?” She looked and nodded as tears flooded her eyes. I hugged her as I whispered, “We’ll find her. I promise.”
There was a knock on the door, and all three women jumped from fear before they huddled together. I knew we were safe but would be cautious, just in case. Pulling the gun from my back, I checked the chamber for a round before I positioned myself between the girls and the door.
“Who is it?” I yelled, ready to defend these innocent girls.
“It’s me, darlin’,” Jagger said, and I pressed the safety on the gun and put it back into my waistband before I looked at the girls.
“It’s okay. That’s my ol’ man, and he won’t hurt you.”
They seemed to relax as I opened the door and looked out at him. He motioned his head to the side, and I looked back at the girls. “I’m going to be right outside. I swear, no one will come through this door unless it’s me.”
They nodded but stayed huddled together as I stepped out and closed the door behind me. Jagger helped me down the wobbly stairs and held my hand as we walked away from the trailer. He looked back at it and then at me as he spoke softly.
“What’s their deal?”
“Laura has been here for two years. She came looking for her sister and stumbled into Blur’s little operation. I . . . I don’t know what she’s been through, but I know it wasn’t good.” His face pinched, and I saw his fists clench as I continued. “Pattie and Paula are sisters, nineteen and seventeen respectively. Blur promised them a ride to their father’s but he brought them here. They were in Arkansas, but apparently, their mother had taken them from their father and they were trying to get back.”
“Do you think your father would be able to help?” Jagger asked, and I wasn’t sure how my father could before he explained. “If we can get the girls to not mention this, and we take them to your father, do you think he would say he found them hitchhiking and help them get back to their father?”
“I don’t know if he would do that. Why can’t we just call the police and let them know?”
He shook his head and looked around before he spoke. “We have three kidnapped girls, a soon-to-be dead man, and no explanation why we’re here. It could blow up for the entire club, and that would be really bad.” He took my hands and asked again, “Do you think your father will help us?”
“The only way for me to know is to ask, but if he isn’t willing, what are we going to do?”
I was genuinely worried about what we were going to do with the girls. They were traumatized from their ordeal, and I worried they wouldn’t be able to keep their stories straight. Then it would fall back on us, no matter what.
“I don’t have an answer to that, but I need you to call him, darlin’.”
I nodded, pulled my phone from my pocket, and dialed my dad’s number. Pressing the phone to my ear, I listened to the ringing before he answered.
“Hey, kiddo. Tell me how you’re doing today. Any news?”
“Dad, I need a favor,” I began.
For the next few minutes, I explained what we’d discovered, and when I finally asked for his help, I waited for his response, terrified he wasn’t going to assist us.
“Where do you need me to meet you?” he asked, and I exhaled the fear I’d been holding on to.
I nodded to Jagger, and he closed his eyes briefly before reopening them. Pointing to the side of the trailer, he walked away as I told my dad what I needed him to do. We planned to meet ten miles from Quincy’s Short Stop, on the edge of our tribe’s land, in four hours. It would be dark, and we would be able to move the girls without anyone seeing us. I knew Dad would take care of them and get them back to their father.
As for Laura, I wasn’t sure what we were going to do about her, but I would broach the subject with her when I went back inside. If she wanted to find her sister in Montana, then we would take her there. If she wanted to go someplace else, we would do that. Whatever she wanted, she would get.
I hung up with my dad after promising to let him know when we were on the move, then I stepped around the side of the trail. Blur was on his knees, his hands tied behind his back and the brothers surrounding him as he pleaded for his life.
“You don’t want to kill me,” Blur suggested, and Trent shook his head as he got face-to-face with the man who killed Nitro.
“I won’t lose one second of sleep over your death, and when you get to your next stop in the universe, make sure to watch your back. Pops will be looking for his revenge in the afterlife.”
Blur’s eyes got wide as Jagger reached down and yanked the blade from his flesh. Blood flowed down his chest, and he lowered his head and began to cry as Animal screwed a silencer onto his weapon.
Jagger turned and saw me, and he motioned for me to leave. He was protecting me from what they were about to do, and as I turned the corner and stepped up to the trailer, I heard a small pop and knew they were done with Blur.
There was no part of me that would shed a tear for that man, and if karma was truly a bitch, I hoped his afterlife would be painful.
The girls were wide-eyed when I walked back inside, and when I sat down with them, I saw Pattie and Paula now had on socks and shoes. Offering Laura a smile, I began to explain what was going to happen next.
“I need to speak with you about a few things, and I hope you’ll listen and understand.” They nodded, so I continued. “I’ve made arrangements with my father, who is an elder with our tribe, to pick up Pattie and Paula and take you to your father. But . . . you can’t speak of what happened here.”
“Why?” Pattie asked, and I pinched my lips as I thought of how to explain what’s going on.
It was Laura who interjected. “If you tell anyone what happened, then Jackie and the guys will be in trouble. And they don’t deserve that. Not after they saved us.”
“And you promise we won’t get into trouble if we don’t say anything?” Paula asked in a small voice.
“The men outside want nothing more than to make sure you’re safe, and if we all keep quiet, then no one will be aware of what transpired out here,” I returned.
“Won’t someone come looking for that man?” Pattie asked.
I shook my head. “Everyone who knew he was here is gone, and there won’t be anyone looking for you. You’ll be able to put this behind you and move on with your lives.”
I wasn’t saying that to Laura, and I believed she knew it. Her eyes cast down, and I could tell her pain was real, raw, and present. Pattie and Paula, it seemed, were spared the worst of Blur’s madness.
“We won’t say anything. We promise,” Pattie said, and Paula nodded in agreement.
I reached over and gave the girls a hug, whispering, “Thank you.” I looked at Laura and asked, “Have you decided where you want us to take you?”
She shook her head and admitted, “I know my nieces are safe with their father, but I believe that man . . .”
“Would you like to come back to Rapid City while we figure out what to do next? I can guarantee you’ll be safe with the Sinners Revenge until you decide,” I offered.
“Are you sure?” Laura asked. “I don’t want to be any more of a bother than I already am.”
I hugged her and whispered, “You’re safe with us until you’re ready to leave.”
A knock sounded into the room, and once again, I yelled, “Who is it?”
“It’s Roughstock,” he replied, and I stood from my seat on the crappy couch and opened the door. “We need to get moving if we’re going to meet your father.”
I looked at the girls, and together they stood, keeping their hands intertwined. Laura began to look around, so I suggested, “Pattie, Paula, this is Trent, and he’s married to my cousin. I want you to go with him so he can get you loaded into the truck, and Laura and I will be out in a minute.”
They weren’t sure, but I smiled and nodded. Walking to the front door, they looked down at Trent and back at me before they stepped down. He offered his hand to assist, and Animal stepped to the other side of them as they flanked the girls on their walk to the trucks.
Turning, I looked at Laura and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” she admitted, and I walked up to her.
“Is there anything you want to take with us?”
She nodded and walked down a small hallway and turned into one of the rooms. Returning quickly, she had a picture album in her arms, and she seemed content now.
“Is that everything?” She nodded, so I encouraged, “Let’s get out of here.”
Taking her hand into mine, I helped her down from the trailer as Jagger approached.
“Is there anything inside that needs to be removed?” he asked.
“We have everything,” I remarked.
“Roughstock and Animal will meet you at the trucks. We’ll be right there. Just need to drop something off inside really quick.” He raised his eyebrows, and I gave him a nod before looking at Laura.
“Are you ready?”
She gave the trailer one final look, straightened her spine, and began to leave without another glance. I looked just as we turned the corner around the trees at the driveway and saw Jagger and Phantom carrying something inside the trailer. I knew what it was, so I turned away and focused my attention on the girls.
After speaking with Pattie and Paula in the second truck and sending my dad a text that Animal and Phantom were dropping them off tonight, I helped Laura into the first truck. A large whoosh sounded before Jagger and Phantom walked back to the trucks. Phantom placed something wrapped in a black bag into the back of our truck, then Roughstock got into the truck and gave me a look before Jagger got behind the wheel and Phantom walked back to the other truck.
As we turned around in the snow and sand, I saw smoke coming from the trailer, and the farther away we got, the bigger the smoke plume grew. This area was so far from anything that if anyone did see the fire, it would be too late to do anything about it by the time they got here. And if I was right, Blur was inside, waiting to be discovered whenever someone came to investigate.
And if they didn’t, then the vermin could have what was left.