Cowboy Chapter 17
My afternoon at Hook & Reel passed extra slowly.
It wasn’t because there was no work to do.
Customers came and went from the office.
While our receptionist handled tasks such as bookings and payments, Wolverine and I addressed the more in-depth questions people had.
Sometimes, it was the best areas to fish for specific types of fish.
At other times, they may ask about the equipment they should bring or the routes we’d suggest.
When we weren’t answering questions, we worked on repairing the various charter boats and rebuilding engines. I hadn’t only learned how to ride bulls and horses growing up. As a farmer, Dad repaired his own machinery and built his fences, barn, and so on. Today, I was handling a boat repair.
I spoke to Wolverine about wanting to head out early and why.
He had no problem with it. He told me to keep an eye on my woman and try not to let her overexert herself.
I thanked him, then finished my tasks for the day.
It was three-thirty when I finished off and headed out.
Before leaving, I sent Sari a text to let her know I was on my way.
I didn’t wait for her reply. God knew what she was in the middle of.
She didn’t answer her phone if she was involved in a critical matter.
I headed south toward the address on my GPS.
It was on the northern end of Daytona Beach.
That would take me an hour without traffic, so it would likely be an hour and a half.
It was in a rural area, which wasn’t surprising, given that they were making a house call.
I let myself enjoy the ride. It was close to five o’clock, and the light was fading when I pulled up to the property.
The property in the waning light was unkempt.
The grass was tall, and the house had a sad, worn appearance.
There was no light coming from inside it.
However, behind the house, a short distance away, was a barn.
Outside of it, I saw Saranya’s work truck and what I assumed was Owen’s, since I had recalled it from the clinic.
I rode past the house and parked next to her vehicle.
As I turned off my bike and swung off, it clicked what didn’t seem right.
There was no light showing through the cracks in the barn.
Instantly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I took out my gun and edged toward the main door.
There was a window off to the side. Not wanting to march inside into darkness where anyone lying in wait would have the advantage, I crouched and made my way around the side of the barn to the back.
In the back, I found what I hoped to see—a second entrance.
Easing it open far enough to allow myself to slither in, I remained low.
The barn was almost pitch black. The interior smelled of rotten hay, dirt, and other fetid things.
What the hell was going on here? I debated using the small flashlight I carried, but I was afraid to draw attention to myself.
Suddenly, off to the left, I heard rustling, then thumping and a muffled groan. Fearing it was Saranya, I took out my flashlight, turned it on, and aimed it that way. There was a pair of booted feet pushing against the dirty floor. I hurried forward.
Clearing the wooden manger, I found Owen.
He was gagged and bound, lying on his back.
His eyes widened when I stood over him, then changed to relief when I took the light out of his eyes.
Swiftly, I took off his gag, then slipped my knife free of my belt.
I placed the light on the ground next to us.
“What happened? Where’s Anya? Jordan?”
“That son of a bitch set us up. He was waiting for us. We walked in, and he lured us back here. The last thing I remember is a blow to the back of my head,” he muttered hoarsely.
“Who set you up?”
Both bindings were cut by the time I asked.
“I think it was Jordan. He was the only one we heard in here. However, it’s possible that someone else was there and he was taken with Sari. Is his truck outside?”
Swearing, I came to my feet. Digging my cell phone out of my cut, I found the number I needed and called. It took three long rings before it was answered.
“Hey, Cowboy, what can I do for you?” Diablo asked.
“Pres, Saranya has been taken. I need help.”
Diablo cursed and then barked, “Tell me what happened?”
It took effort to stay on task and explain to him what I knew. As I did, I sent him the text containing the address. By the time I was finished, I was shaking. The reality was setting in. She was missing. Jordan may or may not be responsible. I had to find her.
“Christ, Diablo, we’ve got to find her. I can’t lose her,” I croaked.
The thought running through my mind was that if I lost her for good, I wouldn’t be as strong as Diablo had been. I’d never survive without my wildling.
“Stay calm. I know you want to run out and start searching, but it’s better to stay there and let me gather the guys and have Micro work on this. Does her vet tech need medical help?”
Glancing over at Owen, who was on his feet, standing anxiously next to me, I saw him shake his head.
“He’s shaking his head no.”
“Good. But just in case, I’m bringing Wolverine with us. I need you two to search the area for anything that might lead us to where they went. Do not leave, Cowboy. I can’t stress that enough. Running off without a plan will delay our efforts to find her. We’re coming.”
“Hurry,” was all I could say.
“We will,” he replied briefly, then the line went dead.
???
I don’t know how I managed to stay there despite Diablo’s order.
I almost broke and went off on my own a dozen times.
While we waited, Owen and I searched. He had bigger flashlights in his truck.
We used those to go through the barn, the house, and the surrounding area.
It was clear when we were in the house that this place hadn’t been lived in for ages.
There were a few broken, forgotten pieces of furniture, no food, and no clothing.
It didn’t appear that anyone had been squatting there.
The sound of engines drawing near had us standing in front of the house.
If it were anyone other than my club, I’d shoot the bastards.
My chest tightness eased a fraction when several bikes and an SUV pulled in.
It was ours. Diablo, Butcher, Crash, Thunder, Judge, Turbo, and Lucky swung off the bikes.
Out of the SUV came Wolverine. The rest of our brothers were probably at the compound, waiting for word on what they should do.
Additionally, there was no way the other women and children would be left without backup. Micro would be on his computers.
I was hooked behind the neck by Diablo, and brought into his chest for a manly hug. He whispered in my ear, “We’ll find her. And when we do, whoever did this will pay, in fucking blood. No one messes with the Horsemen and walks free, not for a move like this.”
I squeezed his shoulder and nodded. My voice was too choked up to speak. When he let go, we faced the others. Wolverine was talking to Owen. The rest watched our president and me.
“Did you find anything?” Butcher asked.
“Not a goddamn thing. This place has been abandoned for a long time. I don’t know who owns it,” I answered.
“We do. Micro ran the title search on it first and sent the information while we were en route. It isn’t Jordan Neely.
Micro asked some of the other clubs’ techs to assist. There are no cameras out here, but that won’t stop them.
He’s tearing Jordan Neely’s life apart. We can’t rule out entirely that it wasn’t someone else, but the fact that his truck isn’t here and the other two are suggests he’s our suspect,” Crash replied.
“Owen, we haven’t met, but I’m Diablo, Cowboy’s club president. Did you recall anything after he called me?”
“No, I wish I had. All I remember is after entering, Jordan called out to Sari and me to come further back in the barn. We were wondering what kind of case he had. Sari was ahead of me. The next thing I knew, I felt a crushing pain explode in the back of my head, and I blacked out.”
“I can attest to the knot on the back of his head. I’m not sure if he’s got a concussion or not. To be safe, he should be checked over,” Wolverine tacked on.
“I’m not important. Sari is. We’ve got to find her,” Owen protested.
“Listen, if anything happens to you, when we find her, she’s taking it out of all our hides. Let Wolverine take you to be checked out,” Butcher told him.
There was some arguing, but in the end, we won out.
Wolverine promised to return once he got Owen to the nearest hospital.
I knew on the way, he’d stress to Owen how vital it was to let the club handle finding Saranya and not to mention it to the medical staff, the police, or anyone else.
Wolverine vowed to return as soon as he dropped him off and got him checked in.
After watching them pull away, I turned back to my brothers. “What next?”