24. Blake
Blake
“Sir?”
I turn automatically at the title, realizing belatedly that it’s one of the SWAT members calling Tate.
I don’t know why they’re still here. There is nothing they can do in any official capacity, but Tate and his guys decided to stay even after the FBI agents bailed. The black and whites left fifteen minutes ago, following behind the prisoners that were en route to the hospital. I’m sure I’ll hear back from the FBI duo when they realize the prisoners had to have bullets pulled from them, but I trust Tate when he says he has it covered.
“What is it, Gunner?” Tate asks, looking up from the map he’s studying.
“Soon as we found out a false flight plan had been filed, I put out word to a few friends,” Gunner answers.
“And?” Tate says distractedly.
“And one of those friends just called, telling me that a plane matching the description has landed at a private airstrip outside of Vegas.” We all freeze and look at him for a moment before jumping to attention.
“Vegas? Fuck, I know what he’s planning.” Even though I’m relieved as fuck he hasn’t taken her out of the country, I’m pissed off as hell that I know exactly why he’s landed there.
“We need a chopper now,” I bark at Arlo, who picks up his phone. I know he’ll be calling Jackson. The guy owes us a favor. If he lets me use one of his choppers, we’ll be even.
“Shit. By the time we get there, it will be too late.” I grip my hair before kicking the side of the truck.
“What’s his play here? Why risk Vegas when he could be out of the country by now?” Tate questions.
“He wants her for a wife. He doesn’t give a shit that she doesn’t want him. I suspect he’ll be heading to one of the chapels, although fuck knows how he’s planning on getting her to agree. My woman is as stubborn as the day is long. If she’s smart, she’ll create a scene as soon as she’s in a crowded place.”
But as I say it, I know she won’t put others at risk, not even for her own safety.
“He could have something over her, something he’s using as a way of forcing her compliance,” Marcus adds.
“Her mother! Where the fuck is Callie’s actual mother? If Christian has her, he could easily make Callie bend to his orders. It won’t matter what kind of state their relationship is in. She won’t just stand by and let him hurt her if she can do something to stop it,” Kellen shouts, drawing all our attention.
I close my eyes in frustration. I should have fucking thought of that myself.
“O’Neil, Mathews, do me a favor and go see what you can find out about the mother. Take Kellen with you and call when you have something,” Tate tells two of his men.
Kellen looks at me for the okay, and when I nod, he leaves with the others.
“Vegas is not my jurisdiction. They have their own SWAT teams. Though we have been called in before as consultants while they set up the same kind of thing we have here for some of the rural areas. I have friends down there, but I can’t come in any official capacity unless invited.” He runs his hands through his hair, frustrated. “Fuck,” Tate grumbles, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“What?” I ask, worried he’s just thought of something else I’ve missed.
“You’re right about not getting there in time, but I know someone who could be. It means owing them a favor though.” He curses, punching the buttons and holding the phone to his ear.
“Hey, Raindrop, I need a favor.” I can’t hear what the person on the other end is saying but whatever it is has Tate rolling his eyes.
“Well, if you take a breath and give me a chance to speak, I’ll be able to tell you.” He pulls the phone away from his ear, and I catch the tail end of a woman calling him a dickless asshat before he shuts her up.
“A woman is in trouble, Reign, and we can’t get to her in time. Do you remember a guy named Baylor from back home?” He waits for a beat before continuing. “Yeah, well, we have reason to believe he’s kidnapped a woman and taken her to Vegas. I’m sure you can imagine how helpful the local PD has been.” He rolls his eyes as he listens to her.
“We don’t know much other than he’ll be heading to one of the thousands of chapels Vegas has to offer. I’ll text you the coordinates of where the plane landed. Maybe you can figure out from there the most likely place he would go.” Tate stops talking abruptly, his face losing the softness from before.
“One favor and it better be legal,” he snaps, listening to whoever has the phone now. “Fuck you, Bates. Put my sister back on.”
It’s quiet again for a moment as he waits. Finally, he relaxes and offers me a nod.
“Thanks, Raindrop, we’ll get there as soon as we can. Make sure when they find her that everyone knows to keep their hands to themselves. She’s been through enough, and her man here is looking for a reason to kill.” He listens for a moment more before mumbling, “I love you too,” and hanging up. Tate sighs. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. I can’t come officially, but I can take a personal day and visit my sister.”
“What—” I’m cut off when Arlo interrupts from behind me.
“Jackson says to tell you, you’re lucky his wife likes you and that they had a situation nearby that needed some attention. He has someone bringing two birds over. He should be here in ten. We need to move to the pasture out back where there is enough space for them to land.”
“Everything okay with Jackson?” Jackson is one of five guys who owns Dante’s, London’s premier nightclub, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what they do. Jackson and the guys have their fingers in so many pies. I’m surprised they manage to keep their shit straight or their wife happy. Maybe that’s why it takes five of them. I brush that thought away. Gracie is a sweetheart, and if they make her happy, who the fuck am I to judge?
“Yeah, they’re all good. Just looking at buying some property over here,” Arlo answers without hesitation.
“Thank fuck for that at least.” They had already had their share of bad luck. It’s about time they caught a break.
I turn back to Tate and watch him pack up his shit as he talks quietly to his guys. They listen to whatever he has to say before nodding and walking away, leaving just Tate and Gunner behind.
“All those contacts at your disposal and you have to call your sister?” I comment as we all make our way through the house to the pasture out back. “It’s not that I’m not grateful, but Christian won’t be alone, and I don’t want your sister getting caught up in the crossfire.”
Tate laughs at that, but I don’t find anything funny about it. Underestimating Christian is what got us to this point in the first place.
“Reign is safe, don’t you worry about that. She has the protection of a whole MC behind her,” he tells me, making me blink.
“What?” How does that work when Tate comes from a family of cops?
“You heard of the Kings of Carnage?”
I nod. Everyone’s heard of the Kings of Carnage. They have chapters all over the country. The mother chapter, in particular, has a brutal reputation of dealing with their own in the harshest ways possible.
“Tell me Callie will be safe and I’m not throwing her from the frying pan into the fire,” I bark at him.
“If there is one thing those guys won’t tolerate, it’s harm coming to women or children. I might not like their methods, but Callie won’t find herself anywhere safer until you get there.”
“And you trust these guys?” I question as I spot two choppers approaching.
“To keep her safe, yes,” he hedges. “Look, they love my sister and would kill anyone who so much as breathed on her. They might live by a set of rules I don’t always agree with, but with this, yes, I trust them completely.”
We don’t talk after that, the propeller blades whirling through the air making it too difficult to hear anything else.
I climb into the backseat of the chopper closest to me, letting Marcus take the front as Arlo and Felix climb in beside me. Once we are all strapped in and wearing headsets, we take off, watching as Tate and Gunner climb into the second chopper. I’m going to owe that man and his whole team a beer when this is over. I look down at the monstrosity of a house as it gets smaller the farther we climb, and say a quick prayer.
Part of me is terrified, imagining what Callie is going through at the hands of that sick fuck. The other part of me refuses to think about the what-ifs and focuses on what matters. Callie won’t give up, and I’ll be damned if I do either. I won’t stop until she’s home, back in my bed and my heart, where she belongs.
I let my pride hold me back before, my ignorance stopping me from telling Callie how much I love her. My reasoning, which seemed so sound at the time, now seems stupid and weak. I vow to myself here and now, when I finally get her back in my arms, I’m going to make her my wife and the mother of my children. I just pray to God I’m not too late.
Losing everyone I cared about left me a broken man, but I know losing Callie will destroy me.