Chapter 41
Falcon
After dealing with the asshole attendant and giving him a little extra cash since their policy was that a card must be on file, I asked if there was a vending machine. He directed me down the hall, around the corner from check-in. I stopped to piss since I saw a bathroom, then made my way to the vending machine. I figured a couple of drinks and candy bars would hold us over until we could order food. There was a laundry room nearby and the door was open, so I looked in. All the machines were going but I didn’t notice anyone, despite the TV blaring. I’d hoped to see some extra towels or pillows laying around, but they must have them stored somewhere else. I’d ask about some extras back at the front. Even nicer hotels didn’t have towels that covered half of me, and Daisy liked a second pillow. I pulled my head back out of the room and continued down the hallway to the vending area .
A storm had rolled in. Even though we were in the cage, I was glad to have stopped. We were up early, it was a long day, and I had a run in two days. I didn’t need to push through if I could help it, so we’d stay here for the night. Thankfully, we were only a few hours from home, so we didn’t have to rush in the morning. It was a nicer spot than we used for runs. I wouldn’t put Daisy up in a place like that unless I absolutely had to.
When several cracks of thunder and lightning hit, I got aggravated with the machine for being so slow and kept pressing the keys before giving it a few good bangs on the side. If I wasn’t getting hangry, I would have just waited, but a hit of sugar would do me some good after the day we had and with the storm, delivery would be a while.
I stopped back by the counter and collected our key card. So much for customer service; that little fucker was blaring music in his headphones but had left the envelope for check in on the counter.I gave up trying to get his attention for towels a pillow.
Drinks in hand and the envelope shoved into my back pocket, I walked through the first set of automatic doors and took in the rainfall. Hopefully she didn’t mind getting a little wet because there was no way to get her inside without it, even if we had an umbrella.
Tucking the drinks under my arm and shoving the candy bars in my pocket so I could quickly collect the bag, keys, and her from the truck, I sprinted through the next set of automatic doors. I’d parked at the other end of the building, since there weren’t any spaces right by the office and the only lights that worked were where I left Daisy. Only a few cars were in the lot, but when I made it past those that were blocking my line of sight on the truck, the drinks fell from my arm and a rush of every bad emotion one person could feel coursed through my veins.
Only pausing long enough to drop the drinks, my feet moved faster than my brain. I took in the scene in front of me through the heavy rain. I stopped at the truck and horror filled me. The windows were shattered, both doors were open, and Daisy was nowhere in sight.
Another rumble of thunder sounded, and a crack of lightning hit nearby. Then I noticed a body on the ground on the passenger side. It was a man in all black, from the ski mask over his face to the boots on his feet. Reaching down, I turned the figure over and his blood covered my hand. I pressed my fingers to his throat, and he had a pulse. A very faint one, but it was there.
Looking around, I saw a kid standing on the balcony. “Hey, did you see anything?”
The kid who was probably not even five shrugged. Searching the area, I saw nobody else. I reached under the seat and pulled out the tackle box. I didn’t fish, those supplies weren’t as obvious if you got pulled over. I grabbed the stringers used for large fish and strapped the asshole’s arms behind him, then found some loose rope and bound his ankles before lifting him into the truck and slamming the passenger door.
When I went around to the driver’s side, the .38 I’d left for her was lying on the ground, so I snatched it up before I climbed in. Pulling my phone out, I put it on speaker. Backing out of the space, Daisy’s phone flew off the dash; it wasn’t with her. Just as Keys answered, I yelled, “Fuck!”
“Falcon? What’s up?” Keys asked.
Looking over, I yanked the mask off the man slumped over in the seat next to me. His dark hair had probably been slicked back, but now it was a mess. No beard, olive complexion, thick neck. He was a heavy fucker, but not out of shape. Even if he wasn’t out of it for real, it didn’t matter. He’d be dead soon, either from his wounds or from my hands. “They took Daisy. Ping me with the address of the closest chapter to where I’m at.”
“Fuck, let me check her phone.”
“It won’t help. Her phone was left behind, so the tracker is with me. Just find me a place to take this guy. I need to get some answers before he bleeds out. I’m just outside Knoxville.”
“Sent. They’re in Bristol. Looks like you’re about an hour away. I’ll let Hawk know so he can get with Knox. Let me get on the traffic cams near you. Where were you?”
“Some hotel off the highway. I went to check in and they took her while I was inside. Fuck!” I shouted again as I slammed my hand on the dash.
“We’ll find her. I’ll be in touch when I get info.”
I ended the call, hit the address Keys sent, dropped the phone in my lap, and peeled out of the parking lot. My hand shook as I threaded it through my wet hair. How did this happen? I was gone not even five fucking minutes! How did I not hear shit?
Thunder pealed, then lightning slashed the sky, and the rain blew in sideways from the shattered windows. The hotel wasn’t a shithole and the breezeway between the two sets of automatic doors could have given an extra sound buffer. Add the fucking storm, all the goddamn noise at that place, and it all probably blended together. Me fighting with the vending machine didn’t help, either.
This had to be Tony’s doing, but why did they take her? Looking over, I wondered if this asshole next to me would make it an hour. Feeling around on his chest, I found a hole through his shirt. At least my woman didn’t go down without a fight. But this shouldn’t have happened at all. I should have taken her inside. Hell, I should have just driven the rest of the way home, but my greedy ass wanted to fuck her into the mattress before I went to sleep, so I decided to stop. Now she was being hauled back to that piece of shit with plans for who the fuck knows. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on him. I was going to go after him eventually, anyway, but he just made his destiny my priority.
Hopefully I wouldn’t be stopped since the clubhouse I was headed to was off the main highway. I shoved the unconscious man to the floorboard so he couldn’t be seen by any passersby, and just hoped my speed and having the windows down in the fucking storm weren’t enough to get me pulled over. I didn’t want to have to kill a cop tonight, but nothing was going to stop me from finding my woman.
The phone rang and it was Hawk. I pressed the accept call button and said, “Did you talk to Knox?” He was the President of the chapter out there. He had been down for Raven’s party, but so many people were there, nobody had any long conversations.
“They’re waiting for you. Keys said a black van pulled into the parking lot not long after you went inside. It happened fast. She was fighting like hell, but she was alive. ”
She was alive . Those words would haunt me for the rest of my life if anything happened to her. “Did he see where they headed?”
“He had them for a few but lost them. He’s pretty sure they’re going north. Was anyone tailing you? And you in a fucking tunnel? I can barely hear you.”
I was the one that noticed that kind of shit. Especially with her around. “My windows were smashed. I didn’t see shit. We’d been driving for a while without stopping. I would have noticed.” Wouldn’t I?
“You’re the most observant fucker I know, man. Maybe they had a relay? We’ll see if Keys can figure that out later, but for now, he’s trying to find where they’re going. If he can get a good visual on the tags, maybe we’ll know more.”
“It’s those fuckers from the club we found them at. Some shit happened to her mom a few weeks back. She said someone with a New York accent broke in and asked for Daisy, then put her in the hospital.”
“In that case, I’ll call Petrov. He was working on finding out more. If he knows there’s a direct threat, he’ll move faster.”
“Even if it’s not a direct threat to the club?”
“Fucking with our women is pretty direct. I’ve already ordered her cut, Falcon. Just waiting on you, brother.”
I clenched my jaw. If I was capable of tears, I probably would have shed some then. “Thanks, Prez. Was planning to talk when we got back, but shit hit the fan. ”
“We’re brothers first, man. And we all knew. We were just waiting on you to know, you stubborn fuck.”
Running my hand through my hair a few times, I said, “Guess I better find her fast so you can bust my chops.”
“We’ll find her. Let me call Petrov and I’ll be up soon.”
“No, I think you should stay there. Send Eagle and Rooster. I don’t know if they’ll try to get to Lacy or do anything else stupid. Something isn’t adding up. If this was those Jersey fuckers, they found us too easily.”
“Well, Knox said they have your back. I’ll call Petrov and keep you posted. If someone here has a hand in this, they’ll pay.”
We ended the call and I looked over because the man was moaning. It took him a minute of blinking and rolling his head to finally realize where he was. He mumbled, “Fuck,” a few times as he squirmed on the floorboard.
“I don’t know how bad that bullet wound is, so I wouldn’t be moving too much.” His breathing was labored and he grunted a few times as he tried to adjust on the floor. He wiggled into a sitting position and rested his head on the door but didn’t say anything.
“Man of few words. Me too, usually. I like that. But you may as well talk now and get it over with.”
“I’m not telling you shit,” he said with a thick accent.
Bingo. Jersey boy. “We’ll see. Hope you like rock.” I turned the music up to try to drown out the rain, wind, and my bad thoughts.
But as I drove the next hour to our Bristol chapter, visions of Daisy flew through my mind. I tried to hold onto all the good times, but bile rose in my throat as the bad ones kept breaking through. The fear she had in her eyes when I got her out of that place, her running through the woods, the times she broke down thinking I’d push her out on the street like she meant nothing. What would she think now that I let her get taken? Taken by the same fucking asshole that had held her hostage and whored her out. I promised to protect her. Would she ever trust me now?
Hawk called back and I spent the final stretch of the ride talking to him. “Petrov has a good lead on where Romano stays. He’ll keep eyes on ‘em ‘til you arrive.”
“And the van?”
“Looks like they’re headed north. Not far ahead of you. From what Keys found, there were four guys, but they’re down to three. He’s tracking them now.”
I stared down at the piece of shit in the floorboard. If Keys could track them, I didn’t need him, but I was close to the clubhouse now. I could drop him off for holding, just in case, and grab reinforcements. “I’m nearly at the clubhouse. How far is the van from there?”
Hawk mumbled something away from the phone. He must have been with Keys. “About half an hour. But they’re not flying anymore. Probably know where all the speed traps are.”
“I’m dropping off a package to the clubhouse. I need a couple guys, preferably one to drive my cage. If we hustle, we can catch up. They gotta stop eventually. ”
“I’ll let ‘em know. Be careful, man.”
Jersey boy had passed out again while Hawk and I talked. Or maybe he was dead. I wasn’t as worried about him dying, since Keys found the van. But all it took was some traffic cams to be out of order for him to lose them, so it would be good to have him alive. There was no guarantee they were taking her back to the club or wherever they had been held before, so the more info we had the better.
I pulled down the long driveway, not unlike ours. The rain had finally stopped, and I jumped out quickly to greet the guys waiting for me. They had lights scattered around like we did, so even though it was dark, I could make everyone out.
“I heard you got a special package for us to hold onto, brother,” one of the guys said with a Southern accent even thicker than mine. His blond hair was pulled into a low ponytail and he flashed a smile as he blew out a plume of smoke.
I walked around and opened the door, letting Jersey boy fall to the ground with a grunt. “We may need him alive. The van doesn’t have much of a lead, and I think we can catch up.”
Knox, the President, walked my way and looked me over. He had short, dark hair and was as tall as me and just as wide. Just like Hawk, he looked friendly, but you knew he was in charge. “We’ll hold ‘em. Linx said he’ll drive the cage and Pitty and Tiny will follow.”
Linx was one scary looking dude, even to me. He had black hair slicked back, and tattoos covering nearly every inch of him, including his face, but what really made him stand out were his eyes. They were completely black. “Are those contacts?”
“Naw, tattoo. I like ink.” His voice was gravelly and deep. Yep. I wanted this dude on my side. If you could get your eyes tattooed, there wasn’t anything you wouldn’t do. I’d never had anyone ask for that and I’m not sure I’d be comfortable doing it. That took a different kind of precision or you’d blind someone.
I was guessing Tiny was the giant, bald fucker that could crush me with his bare hands. Pitty must have been named after a Pitbull; he was short and stout, with a prominent brow, a perma-scowl, and a buzzed head.
The blond guy came and dragged Jersey boy away. Shit. These boys were either farm fed, or the mountain air grew them bigger.
Thankful for the help, I stuck my hand out to Knox and he shook it. “I appreciate this, brother.”
“Y’all better get going if you’re gonna catch up to them. You good?” he asked as he held up a shotgun.
“You know, that may not be a bad idea.” I grabbed the gun and started heading to my truck. Pitty and Tiny came over and, after a short discussion of what we’d do if we caught up with the van, Linx and I climbed into the cage. Pitty and Tiny mounted their Harleys.
Someone ran up and banged on the truck before we could start it up. “One second!” I looked over and a guy with short blond hair was putting gas in the tank. “Nothing like trying to have a high-speed chase and running out of fuel, ammirite boys?” he said loudly, followed by a cackle. He banged on the truck again before he took off toward one of the buildings. Linx started the engine and put the phone on the mount so he had an idea where he was going. Keys had set up a ping system so every few minutes, the route was updated. Thank fuck we had such a smart dude on our side.