Wizard (Hounds of Hellfire MC #4)

Chapter 11

11

WIZARD

T hea and I had both been worn out by the time I was done with her last night. We fell into an exhausted sleep, but it didn’t last long for me. My eyes popped open when the sun was breaking over the horizon. The events of the day before flooded my mind and burned in my gut all over again.

I laid there for a bit, just holding my woman and reveling in the feel of her gentle curves pressed against my body.

But eventually, my mind was too restless to stay in bed. I carefully shifted Thea off me and quietly grabbed clothes before I went into the bathroom to shower. When I emerged, she was still fast asleep, so I left her a note, directing her to find me in my office.

I made a pit stop in the kitchen for a bagel, then got settled in front of my army of technology.

King hadn’t had any luck pinpointing the ink and printer yet, so the only thing I could think of was to scan footage from security cameras all over the town where I was confident the stalker either lived or worked. Or both.

I also had a program going through all the footage from the cameras that had an angle on any of the flower shops. Mainly, I was hoping to find a familiar face at multiple places like the flower shops, a post office, the library, bookstores, etc.

With the delivery yesterday, I had a little something new to work with. The nursery he’d used was only a few minutes from the center of the town I was fixated on. I added the camera footage in and around the shop to my program. Then I went through it manually as I’d done with the other shops. Sometimes, the human eye caught things a computer dismissed and vice versa. I wasn’t taking any chances with Thea’s life.

At two o’clock, a man rode a Vespa into the store’s parking lot.

A Vespa? What kind of grown man rides a fucking scooter?

But something was familiar about the vehicle. It was silver and had every standard feature that all Vespa’s left the factory with. It was completely unmemorable.

Maybe that was what made it stick out to me. I didn’t know a single person who hadn’t customized their cars before or after they came off the lot. Motorcycles, bikes, scooters, skateboards…basically anything you could travel on. Even if it was something as simple as a single enhanced feature.

However, when I pulled up the specs for the most basic Vespa, it matched this one to a T.

I paused the footage and quickly pushed my chair in front of another computer and added the information for the scooter into my program.

Suddenly, it started spitting information at me. Not only was the Vespa on cameras at each of the flower shops but it was also seen all over town. Unfortunately, the license plate was obscured just enough to keep a camera from seeing it clearly but not so much that you’d get pulled over.

While the program continued to search for a common person near or on the vehicle, I went back to the footage from the most recent shop. The rider appeared to be a man with brown hair and a somewhat muscular build, of average height and with no distinguishable marks from the back. He kept his head down and turned away from the camera, as though he’d studied the location to find the best way to avoid them.

He went inside and came back out twenty minutes later. To my irritation, he had no overtly distinguishable marks from the front either. Even his clothes were plain and unremarkable.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, tired from lack of sleep and frustration. When I focused back on the screen, the man's head was just turning down as if he’d looked up for a split second.

Did we finally catch a fucking break?

Putting the video in reverse, I let it play at a speed slower than a snail’s pace.

A few frames later, I froze the screen, staring straight into the face of the man who I was certain had to be Thea’s stalker.

Thirty minutes later, I had a full dossier on Mark Johnson—a.k.a. Mark Xavier, his stage name as an audiobook narrator who’d recorded a good portion of Thea’s books. Including an FBI file. Turned out, he’d applied for the bureau but hadn’t passed the psych eval.

He also had a sealed juvie record. Or the file was sealed until I got ahold of it. And several undisclosed settlements for cases where charges had been brought up on him for voyeurism, stalking, breaking a restraining order, and similar.

No wonder he could only make a living as a narrator. He didn’t interact with almost anyone in person.

It was just after nine, so I sent a text to King, then printed several copies of an abridged dossier. He replied to meet in his office in half an hour. Both King and Blaze had homes built on the compound, so they were able to get to the clubhouse for a meeting in minutes. However, while a lot of the patches lived on-site, plenty of them had their own homes and would take a little longer. Echo and Violet would live the farthest away once they moved into their house. Still, it was less than twenty minutes, but getting out the door took them a while, so King’s set time allowed all the key players in this operation to get here. Two minutes before our scheduled meeting, I gathered up the files and my computer, then headed to the prez’s office.

King, Blaze, Echo, and Kevlar were already there when I arrived. Ash and Ace owned homes a few minutes away, but Ash walked in less than a minute after me, and Ace was hot on his heels.

When everyone was seated around the conference table, I passed a folder to each person. “Got an ID,” I announced. I waited while they scanned the information and predictably, I heard several curses.

“How is this motherfucker still roaming free?” Kevlar barked.

King leaned back in his chair and shoved the file away. “He won’t be for long.”

There were several murmured agreements, and satisfaction roared through me. I’d been confident that my brothers would be on my side about this pathetic asshole, but I’d needed to hear the confirmation.

My cell vibrated in my pocket, and I checked my watch to see that Thea had texted me.

Thea

Good morning! I’m headed downstairs. Should I still meet you in your office?

Me

Good morning, baby. Sorry, but I ended up in a meeting. If you want to wait in my office, I should be less than an hour.

Thea

Sure! I’ll get some writing done. I have all kinds of new inspirations…

I laughed and waved off everyone’s curious looks.

Me

Happy to be of service anytime.

She sent back a laughing emoji, then one blowing a kiss.

So fucking cute.

Her mention of the night before reminded me that I’d been fucking her bare, and while it was unlikely, she could already be knocked up. I’d noticed that she could go down a rabbit hole like I did when I was working and often forgot to eat.

Me

Stop in the kitchen and eat some breakfast.

Thea

Well, aren’t you bossy this morning?

I grinned as I typed my response.

Me

You like it when I’m bossy, growly, and possessive.

Three dots jumped on the screen, then disappeared, and showed up again before a text came through.

Thea

I’m trying to come up with an argument. Hold please.

This time, I couldn't contain my huge burst of laughter. Even in the shitty situation we were in, she brought light into my life.

Me

Doesn’t matter. I’ll prove it to you later.

Thea

Promises, promises.

I sent a winky face—something I was sure I’d never done before in my life—before tucking my phone back into my pocket.

“We have your attention again?” Blaze asked.

“If that had been Courtney?”

Blaze shrugged. “Touché.”

We spent the next hour running through possible scenarios, then settled on two and decided to put both balls in motion to see which one moved along the fastest.