Chapter 23 Grave
GRAVE
I skidded my bike to a stop and ran up to the lodge.
The guys were all waiting for me, their eyes wide and their nostrils flaring.
Rock already had his computer equipment set up and Brewer was talking on the phone to one of his police contacts.
Knox was messaging someone on his phone.
Probably a customer he could trust to see if they’d seen or heard anything fishy going on in town tonight.
And Diesel’s eyes were narrowed onto me.
I couldn't speak. I knew they were waiting for me to, but I couldn't find my voice. I was petrified that they’d already killed Everly.
Dumped her body somewhere as an example of what happens.
The more we indulged this fucking crew, the more ruthless they became.
But I had to shake the thought away from my head.
There was a small chance they could use her for leverage, or force her to give another testimony to free her brother.
Which meant there was a chance she was alive until at least morning time.
“Grave,” Diesel said.
I whipped my gaze over to him as all the guys stopped working.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You made her vulnerable, that’s what happened,” I said.
“Come again?” Mick asked.
“That first fucking church meeting you forced me to be at. Not one day after we’d gotten to the fucking cabin!”
I charged at Diesel, my mind in a red blur of anger and fear as Knox stepped in front of me. He planted his hands onto my chest as Mick grabbed my arms, physically holding me back from assaulting our President. This was his fault. I wanted to ring his fucking neck for it, too.
“Stop,” Knox said into my ear. “Stop. Everly’s still alive and we have to find her.”
“If she’s dead,” I growled at Diesel, “you’re done. Do you hear me?”
Diesel’s eyes were narrowed with anger, but he wasn’t retaliating. Which was good for him, because I’d beat him to a bloody fucking pulp.
“What happened after church?” Mick asked.
“Let me the fuck go.”
“Will you calm down if I do?” he asked.
My nostrils were flaring as I shook the guys off me. Then, I turned towards Mick.
I wasn’t talking to Diesel tonight.
“I went back to the cabin and it was trashed. Windows were broken and the door was crashed in. Someone from The Black Saddles got Everly’s number and called her. Taunted her. Said me leaving was a mistake because they saw me leaving and backtracked my path to find her,” I said.
“Fucking hell,” Brewer said as he hung up the phone.
“What happened next?” Mick asked.
“Yeah. Talk to us. We get why you’re mad at Diesel, but your beef is with The Black Saddles,” Knox said.
“You don’t get to tell me who I get to be angry at!” I roared.
“Shut the fuck up and talk to us,” Rock said. “Because even if Everly’s still alive, she doesn't have long with that bunch.”
“Fine. Fine. They cornered her in that cabin. In the bathroom. They were taunting her and made her promise not to talk to anyone else about anything else,” I said.
“But they didn’t hurt her that time?” Knox asked.
“No. They scared her. But they didn’t take her. Busted all the windows. Knocked in the door. Went right up to the bathroom door and was talking to her, but didn’t take her.”
“Intimidating her into silence,” Diesel said. “Sounds like them.”
“You shut the fuck up,” I said.
“Grave. Talk to me,” Knox said. “Me and Mick. What happened after that?”
“That was when I made the decision that I needed to get Everly out of town. If they knew how to track that cabin when only Diesel and I knew where it was, then we needed more distance,” I said.
“And you made that decision without talking to any of us?” Knox asked.
“Last time I checked, I was the one in charge of her protection. Not us as a club,” I said. “So, I called Ditch. Paid him one thousand and a case of beer for a gun for her, two fake I.D.’s, and all the trimmings.”
“Which means you left her at the cabin by herself,” Diesel said.
I whipped around and faced him as my fists clenched at my sides.
“You know how Ditch is,” I said.
“You left her vulnerable and you’re pissed at yourself,” he said.
“Don’t you dare analyze me, Diesel I know how you work.”
“Grave, you made the best decision you could with what you were working with. You didn’t want to compromise a valuable contact but you wanted to get her out of town.”
“Stop it,” I said darkly.
“None of this is your fault.
“Shut the fuck up, Diesel!”
“She isn’t gone because of you.”
“Yes the fuck she is!” I roared.
I brought my hands to my face and slid them down as I stumbled back into a seat.
“I fucking left her with my damn gun after teaching her how to shoot thinking that would be enough. I was gone for forty minutes. That was all. And then came in and fucking took her with the damn gun I left behind!”
I put my head in my hands as the guys sat down around me.
“I need her cell phone number,” Rock said. “If it’s still on, I can pulse it and chart where she’s headed.”
I pulled out my phone and slid it across the table to him so he could get to work.
“You know if you would’ve told me about this, I would’ve helped,” Knox said.
“I think I know why he didn’t,” Brewer said.
I shot him a look that told him to keep his fucking mouth shut. But of course, in wonderful Brewer fashion, he didn’t.
“You think Diesel’s the rat,” Brewer said.
“What?” Diesel asked.
I groaned and lobbed my head back as my body sank into the chair.
“There’s a rat in our midst. I know that.
The rest of us know that. But you're reluctant to accept that fact, Diesel. And I find it hard to believe that someone in The Black Saddles could track me coming out of the woods and somehow reverse engineer with my bike tracks or some shit a path back to Everly. You and I were the only two that knew about that about that fucking cabin.”
My eyes fell heavily onto Diesel and I could tell he was pissed. I was pissed. We were all pissed. Brewer was on the edge of his seat and Rock was doing whatever the fuck he was doing on his computer to trace Everly. We were all falling apart and I had no idea what to do.
I felt suspended in midair, unable to make a move in either direction.
“We’ll address that bullshit accusation later,” Diesel said. “For now, we need to find Everly.”
“He’s right,” Mick said. “We can deal with the rat situation later, but finding Everly’s the priority right now. Her brother put Knox in jail by trying to frame him. He doesn’t get away with that. And the only way he doesn’t is with Everly’s testimony.”
“I think I can help with that,” Rock said. “Take a look.”
He turned his computer around and I stared at the screen with a blinking yellow line staring me in the face.
“What the fuck is this?” I asked.
“That line is Everly’s path,” Rock said.
“What?”
“I’m buzzing her phone. Literally calling it every thirty seconds. I let it ring just enough to ping where she is, then I cut the call and wait. This software is tracing her movements in real time. And I think I know where those assholes are headed with her.”
“Where?” I asked.
Rock pressed a button on his computer and a red dot popped up on the screen. I watched a window pop up and saw Everly’s number, then the word ‘ringing…’ started to blink. The call picked up, it ran for fifteen seconds, then the call cut and another part of the path popped up.
Closer to that red dot.
“Where is that?” I asked.
“That red dot is where The Black Saddles clubhouse is,” Rock said.
“Which means they’re not very smart,” Diesel said.
I looked over and watched as a somber mood poured over his face.
“There’s no way those assholes tracked me back to that cabin,” I said.
There were so many emotions running through Diesel’s eyes. Anger. Regret. Guilt. Sorrow. There was even a bit of responsibility that flashed through his eyes. But I didn’t have time to ask him about it. None of us had time to unpack what we’d just realized.
Mick was right.
Everly first. Rat second.
“Hold on,” Brewer said. “I’ve got a phone call. Hello?”
Then Knox’s phone went off as well and he slipped away from the table.
I looked back at the computer screen and the yellow line had stopped at the red dot. I saw that same window pop up with the word ‘ringing…’ that started to blink, then the call picked up.
But what I heard both settled my heart and set my soul on fire with anger.
“Grave. Please help.”
“Everly?” I asked.
I heard what sounded like the popping of a trunk before she started screaming.
“Everly! Can you hear me!?”
Then the call cut and a yellow dot appeared right above the red one.
“I’ve got my guy on the line saying they’re getting calls about a woman screaming,” Brewer said.
“I’ve got a customer on the line that says a beat-up car without a license plate was racing through his neighborhood a few minutes ago,” Knox said.
Then, my fucking phone rang out on the table.
We all looked at the phone in silence as the word ‘unknown’ popped up on the screen. I looked over at Diesel with a clenched jaw and he nodded at me to pick it up. I answered the call and pressed the speakerphone button, readying myself for whatever was on the other end of the line.
We stood there, surrounding my phone on the table as heavy breathing filled the room.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“We have Everly, you know,” the man said.
“I’m aware of that. Got anything else for me?”
“Just that she’s dead come morning time.”
“No, she won’t be. Because I’m coming after her,” I said.
“Trust me. We’re counting on it.”
Then the call hung up and my phone went silent.
“What the fuck was that!?” I exclaimed.
“They’re taunting you,” Diesel said. “Like Everly says they did her. That must be their M.O.”
“Fucking cowards,” Mick said.
“My guy keeps shooting me messages. Over twenty phone calls about a girl screaming bloody murder on the other side of town,” Brewer said.
“I’ve got another customer on the line that says guys in navy leather jackets are fucking patrolling their neighborhood,” Knox said.
“Where the hell does that customer live?” I asked.
“In the neighborhood a mile up the road from The Black Saddles lodge,” he said.
“They’re preparing for us. They’ll probably try to intercept us before we even get there,” Diesel said.
“I’m going after her,” I said. “And I’ll slaughter anyone who gets in my way.
“I’m with Grave,” Knox said.
“Me too,” Mick said.
“Got my guns full up,” Rock said.
“I can bring the van around and we can go in that so our bikes don’t make so much damn noise,” Brewer said.
We all turned to Diesel and watched for his reaction.
He’d been pretty silent and his eyes were staring out the window.
I knew that look. He was trying to put pieces in places that didn’t make sense.
His mind was running through all the plausible scenarios.
Trying to figure out if there was a way to get us out of all this shit without having to kill people in the process.
Diesel hated killing if it wasn’t necessary.
But when his gaze panned back to mine, I knew he’d come to the same conclusion I had.
“I’ll go get us some extra ammo. Brewer? Bring the fucking van around.”