Chapter 33
Eagle
Work had been a breeze with just a few small pieces for a group of friends. I took a couple and Blaze took a couple. Falcon had a larger piece already and Scar was off. Even with the simple workday, I was uneasy. Not only did I have to spend the evening with my favorite fucking person, but Lacy texted me that she had some friend coming to town. She had told me once that she didn’t hang with bikers before we saved her, but what kind of name was Shiv? And where had this Shiv person been that is magically showing up now?
Naturally, I immediately told Keys to keep tabs on her. He already had the tracker on her phone, and now on the car, but since I was going to be tied up, I needed eyes on her. I had plenty of questions, but I had to tread lightly. She was coming around; I could feel it. I trusted her, but I didn’t trust any blueblooded mother fucker that wasn’t part of DE around her. Hell, I would even keep a close eye on some of my brothers around her. She was mine. But having spent so much time surrounded by dudes with names like Shiv, I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. If I pushed too hard, she’d take it as not trusting her and only distance herself again.
“Hey, man,” Falcon said as I took a seat. I stopped at the clubhouse to grab a few things and a bite to eat before I got stuck with Butch for the rest of the night.
“Hey. Didn’t get to talk earlier. Anything worth reporting last night?” I asked as a bunny put a plate down in front of me.
He sipped his beer. “Nope. He didn’t leave his house. We swung by a few clubs near DD and nothing new, but the girls are all pretty nervous.”
“What girls?” Daisy said as she stood next to Falcon, draping her arm around his shoulders.
He kissed her hand, but then turned to look up at her. “Need a few minutes, Darlin’.”
She leaned down for a quick peck, then looked at me. “You hear from Lacy?”
“Yeah. Said she was hanging with a friend since I was unavailable.”
Daisy nodded. “Yeah, she texted me. I told her to swing by here if she could. She said she wasn’t sure her friend would fit in well,” she said with a shrug.
Yeah, because he’d be killed on sight by my brothers. “Tell her everyone is welcome here. I’d love to see her later if she’s still around.”
Daisy eyed me curiously. “Maybe. Anyway, I’m going to check on Mama Hen so you guys can talk.”
Once she was out of earshot, I glanced around to be sure nobody else was around. “This stake out shit sucks.”
“That it does, brother,” Hawk said as he took a seat. “But we gotta be smart. I doubt this guy is the main guy. We need to know more. Can’t get that by being sloppy and impatient.”
“Who is this guy?” I asked with a laugh. Hawk used to be the one to shoot first, ask questions later.
Hawk’s lips thinned. “Look, my Pops is gone because of this shit. But I’m not out to just get the low-level fucks that pulled the trigger. I want the one who ordered it. I want to have him here, on our grounds,” he said as he jammed his finger into the table, “so I can get my revenge and show everyone that we won’t let shit go. Anyone who crosses us will meet their destiny at our hands.”
We all nodded in agreement and I understood. This wasn’t just some rivals trying to move into our territory. A show of force didn’t do shit if we couldn’t get to the top player. I wanted to go kill this fucker more than anyone, but we’d be back to square one trying to find who was responsible for all of this.
More women started flitting around since it was the end of the week, so we ended our business talk and shot the shit for a while. Butch came in and joined us, but once he was done eating, Hawk suggested we take off.
“I need to speak to Keys. Meet you outside,” I told Butch as he got ready to head out.
He nodded and Hawk watched the exchange. I headed down the hall and footsteps were behind me. Sighing, I stopped and turned. “Yeah, Prez?”
Hawk grabbed my shoulder. “If you catch this fucker snatching a girl, you follow him. Let me know you got ‘em, then tail him. We’ll bring backup. Got it?”
“Got it, Prez. I wonder if he’s laying low because he knows we’re onto him?”
Hawk shrugged. “A girl went missing just a few days ago. I don’t think he knows, but if we don’t bust him soon, we’ll think of something. What do you need to talk to Keys about?”
“Lacy.” No sense in beating around the bush. He probably already knew. He’d been able to read me like a book for years.
“Alright, brother. But don’t be long. And be sure you got your head on straight before leaving.”
I lightly smacked his arm. “Once I do this, I will.”
Hawk headed back to the bar area, so I knocked on Keys’ door.
“Enter,” he said, so I opened the door and walked in.
He had monitors all over the place and each one had a different video going. One of the tattoo shop, even though it was closed, the bar was hopping with Red slinging drinks already, the strip club was getting packed, and the mechanic’s was empty. There were also monitors of traffic lights, and then two with maps that had colorful dots moving around.
“Hey, man,” Keys said as he turned in his chair toward me. “She left work late. Stopped to eat for a while. Now she’s heading to the airport. Looks like the flight got delayed.”
“Alright. Let me know where she stops and when she gets home, or here. Daisy mentioned having her drop by. Any movement on the Trans Am?”
“Not yet. I’ll ping you when he does.”
“Thanks. Heading out now. Not sure if I want him to make a move or not. If he doesn’t, we still don’t know shit. If he does, some poor girl will be in for the scare of her life.”
“If you’re out there, she may be scared, but at least she won’t be lost or dead, man.”
I nodded. If I could help it, no innocent women would be harmed. But it still bothered me that we had to follow if someone did get snatched. Keys was right, though. If this worked, we could save the girl and be a step closer to unraveling all this.
After wrapping up with Keys, I headed out to my Harley. Butch was already on his with his helmet on. “About fucking time.”
My jaw clenched. Instead of snapping back, I just smiled, grabbed my helmet, then straddled my bike. A few ladies jumped when we fired them up, and everyone cleared off as we headed out.
I led the way since I was VP. It was already dark out and once we got to the highway, the traffic had lightened up as much as traffic here ever did. We pulled off and headed toward the neighborhood of the Trans Am. We were waiting at a red light when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Looking down, my pulse sped up.
Keys : He’s on the move. Sending his location now.
I pressed the next message and it opened a map with a blinking dot. Even though I didn’t like using it, I shoved my phone into the holder so I could keep an eye on the dot and know where to go.
Motioning to Butch, I gave him the signal we had a target on the move. When the light changed, I pulled off into the next gas station to get a gauge on which way this fucker was going. After just a few minutes, we had an idea of his direction and knew of several clubs he could be going to.
Keys would have already told Hawk to be on standby, so I focused on following without being too close. It was still early, if he was picking off dancers. Most didn’t leave until one or two A.M. depending on the club.
After a bit of a ride, we pulled into Show-n-Tail. It was one of the older clubs with a mixed bag of dancers. As far as I knew, nobody had gone missing from this place. It wasn’t one of the ones that got recommended, but maybe that’s why he came. We’d been hitting up the nicer spots. It didn’t matter why he came here, what mattered is if he decided to take a dancer.
His car was already parked, so we pulled up on the other side of the lot to keep an eye on it. A few more cars came in, but nobody was coming back out. This was peak time for these clubs, so most people would be here for a while.
We sat quietly for a bit and I texted Hawk just to check in, then tucked my phone away, crossing my arms over my chest. Butch was texting or scrolling on his phone, so I stared at the door.
I was starting to think it was going to be a long fucking night, when my phone buzzed. Pulling it back out, I looked down and Keys asked if I could call him. My finger never hit that button so fast.
“Hey, I don’t know what’s up, but Lacy’s trackers were together. Now her phone is going one way, but her car is still in the same place.”
My mind started racing. “What do you mean? Like she parked at a bar and walked inside or something?”
“I wouldn’t need to talk for that. Seriously, you all have no respect for my intelligence. She’s moving fast. She’s in a vehicle. And her car’s parked on the highway. Looks like a ramp.”
“I’ll call you right back.” I hung up the phone and then sent her text. When I didn’t hear back after two minutes, I called. No answer.
I called Keys back. When he answered, I asked, “Can you see if her phone has a charge?”
“It’s charged, about ninety-five percent. Still on the move, away from her car. What do you want me to do?”
“Ping me with her phone tracker. And tell Falcon where she is, but not in front of Daisy. I don’t want to freak her out.”
“Should I send someone to take your place?”
Looking over at Butch, I said, “Hey, I gotta take off. You need someone to sit here with you?”
Butch sneered. “What the fuck? I’m not your little bitch and Hawk said you had to sit here, too.”
“Hey asshole, I outrank you, so you are my bitch if you want to get technical. Do you need a backup or not?”
“Where the fuck are you going?” Butch asked as he leaned up onto his handlebars.
“Don’t worry about it. You need help or not?”
“If you leave, I’m going with you. Since you’re my VP and all; gotta cover you, right?”
Rolling my eyes, I told Keys to have Rooster come if he was available, then ended the call. I put my helmet back on, shoved the phone back into the holder to watch her route, and fired up the hog, peeling out without looking back. Butch could stay, go, I didn’t care. I’d have to deal with him later–after answering to Hawk.
But something was wrong. Lacy was with some strange person none of us knew, she abandoned her car, and wouldn’t answer a text or call? Nope . She was always responsive and would have at least texted me back if she was busy with this friend .
I got back on the highway and flew toward the blinking dot. They were heading away from the city and turned off onto a smaller interstate highway. My brain sped as I tried to think of what was near where they were headed. There were a lot of working farms, fields, some processing plants...Where the fuck were they going?
As I closed in on the dot, my pulse thundered in my ears as I saw a symbol appear on the map. An airplane. There was a small airport out there for small engine planes, helicopters, and small private jets.
From what I remembered, it was barely operating. There were several larger, newer airports for the same kind of flights and that one was losing business. Which also meant fewer onlookers. She was picking up her friend from the Atlanta airport. Why the fuck were they headed to this one?
I wasn’t far behind them and a text came through on the screen. Before the pop-up went away, I saw “on the way brother” from Falcon.
There was no telling what I was about to drive up on. It may be nothing . Maybe this asshole she picked up had some wild plan to take her away on a private jet. But something in my gut said this was more than some random dude trying to woo my woman.
When I turned down the small side road that led to the old airport, I noticed the other headlight. Fucking Butch. He pulled up next to me, still letting me take the lead but not by much. We slowed as we approached. The airstrip itself was lit up, but much of the lot surrounding it was darker. Some lights were on, but some of the buildings seemed closed off and dark. The tower was lit up, though, so flights were probably coming and going.
We drove through the entrance and pulled off behind one of the dark buildings. After climbing off and putting our helmets away, I grabbed an extra clip from my saddlebag.
“You want to tell me why the fuck we left our target?” Butch asked as he tucked his pistol into his holster. He usually had one on under his cut and carried at the club. You never really saw it until he opened his cut.
“I think Lacy’s in trouble. I didn’t ask you to come.”
“Why do you think she’s in trouble?” he asked. No attitude or sarcasm this time.
“Tracker issues.” He knew all the club phones had trackers. He didn’t need to know there’s one in her car. That was between me, Keys, and Dad. “She’s not where she’s supposed to be.”
Butch smirked. “So you gonna kill her little boyfriend when you catch her, then?”
I took a quick step toward him, but stopped myself. “You know what, you’re not even worth it. And she’s not fuckin’ around. I know her. Now if you want to help, just cover me while I figure out if we need backup. Or hop on your bike and go home.”
“Forging our own destiny, right?” Butch asked as he started to walk.
“Destroying others,” I answered as I started to creep behind the buildings.
We took long strides as we crossed the large metal buildings, then slowed as we came to openings, trying to peek around.
“What are we looking for, Eagle?”
“Not sure. Not her car. She was supposed to be picking up a friend from the Atlanta airport.”
“So she left one airport and came to another?”
“That’s what doesn’t make sense.” We walked to the next building and came to the corner. “She probably didn’t even know this place existed. She’d never been to Georgia before we brought ‘em down, and until a couple weeks ago, hadn’t really left the clubhouse.”
“No wonder she left you.”
The urge to throttle him was hard to push down, but now wasn’t the time to break into a fist fight with this fucker. “Fuck off, Butch. You don’t know shit.”
“I know she deserves better than you.”
I wasn’t going to hit him–probably–but I was tired of his shit. Stepping closer to him, inches from his face, I asked, “Someone like you?”
“You want to go again, or you want to check out that SUV over there by a hangar?” he asked as he pointed around the building.
Looking around the corner, I saw it. A few men in suits were standing by a black SUV and the hangar door was open. “I need to see how many are inside. Do you see any other cars around?”
There had been a small parking lot near the building closest to the tower, but only three cars were there when we came in.
“Not that I noticed. And most of these buildings look locked up. Pretty late for a flight, though,” Butch said.
She had to be in that SUV. I looked at my phone and her dot was here for sure. Poking my head around the corner again, I pulled back quickly because the men by the SUV started walking.
I was about to look around the corner again when my phone buzzed.
Lacy : Eddie, if you see this help. I don’t know how much time I have. At some small airport off a small highway.
After the message came, she sent a message with her location.
Me : Are you in a black SUV?
Lacy : I don’t know how you know that but yes.
Me : Everything’s going to be ok. How many men are there?
Lacy : three were with us. I saw two more when we got here. Do you know them? Did you do this?
Me : I don’t know them. But I’m going to take care of this. Just stay calm.
When another message didn’t come, I looked around the corner again. One of the men walked back to the car. He opened the front passenger door, but I didn’t see her. He leaned in, grabbed something, then shut the door.
Fuck. “Okay, she’s in there with her friend. At least five guys. No idea what they’re doing or why.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but I like our odds. You’re practically a sniper, and I’m not a bad shot. Plus, I can probably take two of them without a weapon.”
He was most likely right, but I couldn’t help but say, “You sure do love yourself, don’t you?”
“Can’t help I’m a badass, Vice President.”
“Falcon’s on his way. He should be here soon. Those odds are better.”
“So we wait?”
I nodded. This place had a lot of dark spots and we hadn’t been around the perimeter. There was no way to know if there were others hanging around. There were already at least three employees here, and one of them could be in the hangar. “You want to go check around? We need to know how many other people could be here.”
“I’ll look around. Don’t get killed while I’m gone.”
The SUV was parked in front of the door. I didn’t see a way the plane that was parked inside could get out without them moving and the men were all talking inside, except the one near the SUV.
I went back the other direction to see if I could get a look at the tower or where the other employees may be. There were some windows on the side of the building close to the tower, but it was dark inside. Airport towers didn’t usually have just one person watching, even if they were smaller. If one accidentally passed out, someone else needed to be available to guide the traffic. Even though this was a smaller airport, it was between a military base and a huge airport.
The tower was too far away to see who was inside. Since a lot of the planes were privately owned, the guys hanging around could be whoever the fuck had Lacy and maybe a pilot. If you were a pilot for some shady men, you’d probably know how to shoot a gun, though.
There were no other vehicles around and nobody walking around anywhere, so I made my way back to the building where Butch and I parted ways. I heard a Harley in the distance and texted Falcon. If these guys didn’t hear us before, it would be a miracle. But they didn’t seem to be bothered. Or they assumed it was someone doing something similar to them.
Falcon made it to me before Butch got back. “What we got, brother?” he asked.
“Butch went to see if anyone else was around. The place seems pretty dead. That SUV over there has Lacy and her friend. Looks like five guys over there that we know of. One could be a pilot. Not really sure.”
“I went ahead and told Jackal to grab the box truck.”
Glancing around the corner again, I considered what could happen. Plus the fact Lacy had a friend. If either of them got injured when shit hit the fan, they may not be able to ride with one of us. “Good thinking. We may need it. Was he behind you?”
“Saw him on the way out; he should be here any minute.”
Butch finally came back. “This place is empty besides these guys and the cars by the front.”
“What’s the plan?” Falcon asked.
I was about to tell them what I thought we should do, but I heard something so I looked around the corner again. “Fuck.”