Chapter 9 Ryker
RYKER
With every mile I put behind me, it made me sicker and sicker.
I drove my motorcycle faster. The wind wrapped around me angrily.
My nostrils flared. My hands white knuckled my bike bars.
Holy fuck, I’d actually left my daughter behind.
Had I not left my goddamn gun in the fucking alleyway; I’d have my daughter right now.
You’re the biggest piece of shit father to walk this damn planet.
I pulled into the parking lot of the clubhouse and found Bear standing from the porch.
He walked toward me, leaping over the railing of the damn place and striding for me.
Looked like he’d been put on watch. I parked my bike and hung my head, trying to catch my breath.
Trying to calm my racing heart. Trying to get a hold on my nerves.
Then, Bear’s hand came down against my back.
“You good, man?” he asked.
I shrugged off his touch. “Splendid.”
I got off my bike and made my way back into the clubhouse.
I burst through the door, knowing damn good and well I needed to update everyone.
My eyes locked with Diesel and I nodded silently, signaling to him that we needed to talk.
So, the guys ushered their women and children into their rooms—again—so we could figure out what the fuck we needed to do.
“What happened?” Diesel asked.
I waited until the last little curious kiddo was tugged down the hallway by their mother. I had a hard-enough time keeping up with who belonged to who. Let alone, keeping up with when it was appropriate to tell the club shit and when it wasn’t. But I knew I needed to tell them about this.
If anything, so Rock could start doing what he did best.
“I saw Ariel,” I said flatly.
Diesel’s face fell. “Excuse me?”
“Out on my ride, I saw her. Holding hands with a woman.”
“What did this woman look like?” Brewer asked.
“Short. Stout. Dark red hair. Bright green eyes,” I said.
“Where exactly did you see them?” Rock asked.
“I’m proud of you,” Diesel said.
The room fell silent as I stared at him.
“Thanks,” I said softly.
“Proud of him for what?” Toxin asked.
“Be observant,” Diesel said as he sighed. “The man doesn’t have his daughter even though he saw her. So, obviously, he didn’t engage. I’m proud of him for that, because there’s no telling who was lurking around this afternoon when he rolled up on them.”
“Yeah,” I said flatly.
“You did the right thing,” Bear said.
“Seriously,” Grave said.
“I left my daughter with some woman I don’t know after being kidnapped. So, forgive me if I don’t see things that way,” I spat.
“You would’ve needed back-up with a man like Lars, for sure. You saved her life by not engaging,” Diesel said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I murmured.
“So, we came up with a plan while you were gone,” Brewer said.
“Hit me with it,” I said.
“We’re going to plan the meeting, and while Diesel keeps Lars distracted, we’re going after your daughter,” he said.
“And now that you have an idea of who she’s with, it’s going to be much easier to pin down where they might be,” Rock said.
“You got any way to pull up cameras around where we were? Any way to try and identify who the hell this woman is?” I asked.
“Just give me the address and I’ll find cross-streets. Traffic cameras. Anything to help us out,” he said.
“I’ve got a picture of her. Does that work?”
Rock paused. “Fucking yes, it works. What kind of a picture?”
“A full-on face picture.”
No one asked me how I got it, though, and I was thankful for that. I didn’t want them to know I’d engaged this woman and my daughter while sitting down to lunch. To eat with them, of all things. I sent Rock the picture of her face to his cell phone, watching as a grin crawled across his face.
“This is a hell of a picture. Screw traffic cameras. I can run her through identification systems I’ve got loaded onto—”
“Yeah, yeah. Just—do it, please? My daughter’s with this woman, and I’ve got no clue if she’s dangerous or not,” I said.
He nodded and walked away from the guys, hunkering down at his laptop at the kitchen table.
I knew I was being curt. Being ungrateful.
But I couldn't help it. My damn daughter was out there, and I wasn’t sleeping.
Wasn’t eating. I didn’t have any energy left.
I didn’t have anything left in me to make this any better.
Or keep my spirits up. Or look on the bright side.
Or any number of bullshit sayings Diesel tried throwing at us during times like this.
I felt him staring at me, though.
Does he know I talked to them?
Probably. It was Diesel, after all. But I didn’t care.
The only thing I cared about was getting a hit on this woman and figuring out her entire life’s story.
How the fuck she got wrapped up into this shit.
How the hell I tracked her down. Where the fuck she lived.
Who she was born to. Where she worked. Everything.
I wanted to turn over every stone in her life until I had her completely profiled.
Then, Grave spoke up.
“This meeting with Lars could be a mistake.”
Every single guy groaned. Which told me he’d been on that argument against the plan since I’d left.
“I’m serious, if you assholes would simply listen to me,” he said.
“We know it might be a mistake. Any number of our plans might be a massive fucking mistake. But we’ve got kids involved here. Two of them that belong to us. Saint’s kid and Ryker’s. We do what’s necessary for them. Even if it means sacrificing ourselves,” Diesel said.
“We need a better plan than this, though. We need a time and place for the meeting, at least.”
“And we’ll get it. The fuck do you think we’re doing right now?”
“Being reckless and only thinking about family that’s popping up instead of the family we already have here.”
“And I seem to recall you being someone who sprung family on us a few years back, right?”
My eyes bounced between Diesel and Grave.
Two of the old guards going at it with one another.
I got his frustration. Bringing families and kids into the mix always made this go to shit.
Always made things complicated. And yeah, I could’ve told them about Ariel sooner.
Especially once all this bullshit popped off with Lars Norden and the gang.
But I really thought I’d been doing what was best for my little girl.
Strike one thousand and twenty-two for the father of the year.
“Once we figure out all the pieces we can behind the scenes, we’ll call Lars back. We’ll accept the meeting. And we’ll go from there,” Diesel said.
“Got a hit!” Rock exclaimed.
I tore away from the guys, leaping and lunging myself to the man sitting at the kitchen table.
I hunched over his shoulder, placing my hand on the edge of the back of the seat to dip down over his massive body.
His fat fingers typed away on the keyboard.
I saw her picture there, her face completely untouched.
Her auburn hair, cascading down past her shoulders and out of the picture.
Much longer than what I’d seen in person.
But that was the only thing that changed about her.
Those striking green eyes and those soft freckles were still there.
Still shining. Still illuminating her presence.
Even in a fucking picture.
“Shit,” Rock said flatly.
His voice ripped me from my trance. “What?”
“She’s a Petrov.”
“She’s a what now?” Diesel asked.
The guys gathered around us as Rock turned the laptop away from us. Away from me. Facing it toward the guys as the old guards peeked around at one another.
I rose up. “What?”
“Yeah, I’m with Ryker on this one,” Toxin said.
“That a name we should know?” Bear asked.
Diesel groaned. “Holy fuck, that’s Kaylynn Petrov.”
I paused. “You know her?”
“No. But we know her father. Dusan.”
“Dusan Petrov. Sounds like a cartoon character,” Saint said.
“Oh, he was a character all right,” Diesel said.
“‘Was?’ As in, he’s dead?” I asked.
“Yep. Been that way for a while now,” Brewer said.
I shrugged. “So, what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is her older brother. Alex,” Diesel said.
“Why’s that a big deal? I mean, he probably works for Lars or something, right?” I asked.
The old guards looked around at one another and I grew frustrated.
“Someone wanna spit it out for me so I know who my daughter’s with?” I asked.
Diesel sighed. “Alexander Petrov took over his father’s position as Lars Norden’s top human trafficker in his organization.”
“Did you just say, ‘human trafficking?’” I asked.
Brewer nodded. “When Dusan died, Alexander stepped up to the plate to take over his position. That man had been grooming his son for the slot ever since they were teenagers.”
“And how do you guys know all this?” Bear asked.
Diesel sighed. “Because at one point in time, Alex tried pledging our crew. Back when all of us old farts were nothing but pledges ourselves.”