Chapter 15 #2
“Son of a bitch. I take it since you’re bringing it up, it’s a serious debt?”
Gizmo nodded. “It’s not like the Devils have detailed accounting, at least not online where I could hack in and see what they’re doing, but from what I’m hearing, yes, it’s a serious debt, as in high six figures.”
Demon blinked. How in the fuck did someone get into that kind of debt with an MC that ran drugs, people, and pussy?
Demon didn’t think the guy was in debt for having people brought across the border to him, so that was out.
But in order to run up that kind of debt, either he was dealing, muling or using platinum plated pussy.
Demon didn’t know which was preferable because to him, it was all stupid.
“Okay, but I’m not sure why what her father is mixed up in matters here?” He hoped phrasing it like a question would get Gizmo to tell him what was going on.
“We all know that the Devil’s don’t just bring in drugs, but they’re coyotes too, bringing people across the border.”
Demon nodded, he’d known that, but he still didn’t see why Gizmo was so concerned about it.
“It seems that the Devils don’t just transport people into the country. Their human smuggling operation goes both ways.”
Demon’s stomach dropped. Was this going where he feared it was? He didn’t want to say it, because that was like summoning the worst thing he could think of into existence. He closed his eyes and forced himself to keep his breathing slow and steady.
“Tell me.”
Gizmo took a pull from the glass Puck had just brought, his eyes never leaving Demon. Demon couldn’t guess what he was thinking but the longer it took to get the information, the more he knew it was going to be bad and the worse it got in his mind.
“When I started looking into Randy, I had someone reach out, someone I hadn’t heard from in a long time.
Turns out this old friend is working on the Switchblade problem, and he’d seen Randy’s name before, and more than once.
That’s not here nor there right now, what matters is he saw the name in the few weeks, it seems he’s got a woman who’s become a problem and he’s willing to sell her to the Devils, who are an extension of Switchblade’s Diablos.
There was a description attached, along with the tidbit that the troublesome woman is Randy’s daughter. ”
Demon stood, his fists clenched at his sides.
His chair fell over backwards from his sudden movement, but he didn’t care.
His firecracker was in danger, not only from Jim Bob and the idiots he hung around with, but from the one man who should make sure she was always safe.
The one who should protect her above all things.
Knowing that Ronnie’s father would sell her to pay off his debts made him want to do more than rearrange a few teeth, it made him want to find a deep hole somewhere in the desert and make sure he was never heard from again.
He clenched his fists put his head down and paced the three steps from the table to the wall and back as he forced himself to take deep, slow breaths, and let them out just as slowly.
No matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn’t go racing off to protect her, not yet.
There were things he needed to know first. Then he’d go make sure she was safe.
He lost track of how long he paced, trying to keep from losing his mind knowing that Ronnie was in danger.
If they hadn’t yet taken her, they likely had a plan.
If it were Demon, he’d set it up so that when she went to take down Jim Bob, they would ambush her.
Making her come to them was way easier than tracking her down or breaking into her home to kidnap her. And would leave less evidence too.
He didn’t know how long he’d paced. He was vaguely aware of Puck coming and going, and when he was finally able to open his eyes without seeing red, he found that the other prospect had brought his food, along with fresh drinks for both him and Gizmo.
Going back to the table, he picked up the half full drink from before he’d asked about food and drained it.
“Give me a sec, then you can tell me the rest of it.” Demon didn’t wait for an answer but spun on his heel and headed for the head.
As he took a piss, images flashed through his head.
Women he’d encountered while he was overseas with the Marines.
Women who’d had no choice in what was done to them, both because they were in a country where women had little to no rights and those who didn’t know any different, because they’d been sold into the situation.
Not all of them had been mistreated. But the ones who hadn’t been treated well, those haunted him.
When he finished, he went to the sink to wash his hands and the same images flashed through his mind, only this time, every woman was Ronnie.
Every horror he’d seen was happening to his firecracker.
Demon left the water running as he pushed open the stall door, bent over and emptied his stomach.
At least it was all liquid and came up easy.
When his stomach stopped heaving, he went back the sink and washed his hands again, rinsing out his mouth and using a strip of paper towels to wash his face.
He stared at himself in the mirror and swore he would never let that happen to her.
He didn’t care if it cost him his colors, he couldn’t let her be sold into slavery like that.
He finished in the restroom then went out to find out the rest of what Gizmo had found, including Ronnie’s address.
He would eat, despite not being hungry, then he’d go watch her place and make sure she stayed safe.
Demon detoured to behind the bar, where he grabbed a bottle of water.
He cracked the seal and took a pull before he made it to the table.
“You okay?” Gizmo asked one brow lifted as he watched Demon sit down and pull the plate close.
Demon nodded as he picked up one of three chicken thighs and peeled the skin off.
“Yeah, no worries. Why?” He popped the skin into his mouth enjoying the burst of flavor while at the same time, his stomach rumbled, and ached. As if he wasn’t feeding it now.
“You look a little green. You ready for the rest of this or you want to eat first?”
Demon ignored the comment about his color. “Tell me.” He finished peeling the skin off the piece he’d picked up and took a bite. It was nice and hot but not too hot. He wouldn’t have cared if it was ice cold, it was food, and he needed the fuel in order to do what needed to be done.
Gizmo watched him for a moment, as if trying to decide if he should, then he started talking.
“I’m not getting a lot of details, at least not yet.
My source said there was an off-hand comment someone made that made him think that maybe this wasn’t the first time Darq had given them women to pay off his debts, but he didn’t know, he didn’t have any details.
I’m still looking into that. If there’s a history of women he knows disappearing.
More importantly, if you’ve been playing tonsil hockey with her, I take it you’re not good with letting this happen to her? ”
Demon didn’t answer. He kept eating and looked up at Gizmo, letting all the rage he felt that Ronnie’s father would set her up for something like that show in his eyes.
Gizmo nodded once, then continued. By the time Demon had finished eating, Gizmo had given him all the details.
“Just so you know, I already took this to Tuck and Sadist. You’re good with us to go cover her. I don’t know how well she’ll take to you playing bodyguard, or how much you’ll have to tell her to get her to agree to it, but that’s up to you, as long as you don’t blow our cover.”
Demon nodded as he stood. He picked up his dishes and carried them into the kitchen.
It only took a few minutes to take care of them, then he detoured up to his room to grab his truck keys and headed out.
It was early, only a little after four, but he didn’t know what time she got started so he wanted to be there when she left for the day.
Demon pulled up across the street from Ronnie’s condo and parked the truck.
He looked up and down the street, noticing that the street lights on either side of her place, as well as the one down the intersecting street, were out.
There was no way to tell right now if that was deliberate or merely a coincidence.
When it came to his woman’s safety, Demon didn’t believe in coincidences.
The lack of light would work both in and against his favor. It would keep anyone from seeing him sitting here in the cab of his truck, but it also made it more difficult for him to make out what was going on at her place, and it was only sixty feet away.
From here he could tell there were two cars in the car port, but he couldn’t get enough light to make out any details about them.
Since there were no lights on inside, he glanced around before getting out of the truck.
He knew enough to act like he belonged there as he approached Ronnie’s place and got a good look at the vehicles.
One was her SUV, the one she’d been in the first day and the same one he’d pinned her against and kissed the shit out of her last night.
The other was a late model sedan with out of state plates and the sticker for a rental company on the driver’s side window.
He moved into the shadows so he wouldn’t be seen from the street and scowled at the rental. Who was here and were they part of Ronnie’s father’s scheme to get rid of her? If so, why was she still here? Was she actually still here? Son of a bitch. Now he needed to make sure she was here and safe.
He checked his watch, 4:34 A.M. The neighbors would likely start coming out of their houses and moving around soon.
If he wanted to get this done with as little chance as possible about being seen, he had to do this now.
He glanced up and down the street, looking for movement that could be someone out and alert.
When he saw nothing, he went to the side of the house to the gate in the dog ear picket fence.
Not seeing a latch on this side, he reached over and got lucky when he found the latch only a few inches below the top of the gate.
As he let himself in, he made a mental note to secure that latch so no one else could do what he’d just done.
Or at least he would make it more difficult for anyone who shouldn’t be there, to get access.
He knew it was ironic that he was planning to remove the security gap that he had no hesitation using for his own end.
He didn’t care. What he cared about was making sure Ronnie was safe, not that he gave people with less than honorable intentions easy access to her.
There was a little more light in her backyard, but not much.
Before he moved, he checked the wall and eaves for lights, half hoping she would have motion detector lights mounted back here.
It wouldn’t help him, but it would make him feel better about this place.
As far as he could see, there were none.
That was another thing he’d fix, first chance he got.
He crept around the corner of the house, noticing that the fence went all the way around and there were no other gates, at least that he could see so far.
He glanced up, the sky was getting a little lighter.
The sun would be up soon, then he’d be more visible, but he’d also be able to see better.
He made his way across the yard, noticing she had a narrow porch that stretched the length of the house, with a pair of French doors leading out.
Demon scanned the yard, looking for hazards as he made his way across as well as anything that might be considered a gap in defense.
He didn’t like that French door, but he’d have to take a look and see how it was secured.
Too many people didn’t know how to lock them to make it harder for someone to break in through them.
He’d reached the far corner of the house from the gate where he’d entered the yard when a light turned on in one of the windows.
He froze, waiting to see what would happen next.
Would she look out and find him? Was it even her in there?
Was it whoever was in the rental car instead of her?
He waited, hoping to get just a glimpse to be sure she was still there.
Then he’d go across the street and wait for her to leave.
He planned on tailing her all day, just in case today was the day the Devils decided to capture her.
He stayed silent as the minutes ticked by. Lights turned on in another room. This one wasn’t covered with blinds. He could see small, lacy curtains at the top and assumed that was the kitchen. A moment later a head appeared.
Demon blinked and clenched his fists but remained still. That wasn’t Ronnie. It was a man. She’d told him she wasn’t seeing anyone. Had she lied to him? Was it some off again, on again thing that he just happened to be in town?
He wanted to burst in there, demand to know who he was and what in the fuck he was doing spending the night at Ronnie’s, but he held still.
He still didn’t know if she was here. Just because things seemed okay, and her truck was out front, didn’t mean much.
Not until he saw her and could see for himself that she was okay.
A couple of minutes later Ronnie’s face appeared in front of the window. Some of the tension he’d been ignoring drained from him. She looked good, and not like she was in any duress or being forced to do anything. Now that he knew she was there, he could figure out how best to approach this.