Chapter 19
Haze
W e get thrown a curveball when we’re approaching Anna’s hometown. The phone we’re tracking doesn’t go into Oak Ridge. Instead, it skirts around the city and heads out into the surrounding sparsely populated countryside. I’m perplexed but not terribly surprised. Why try to imprison her at their home in the city with hundreds of ears within screaming distance? No, they’ll want to take her somewhere quiet and secluded, where no one can hear her scream.
I don’t know why, but I have the worst feeling about this situation. A little voice in the back of my mind whispers that I do know. It’s because she needs to be dead for the stepbrother to collect on the insurance policy. We don’t exactly know that one is in play, but I believe Smoke and Serena were barking up the right tree when they speculated that money was involved. Whether it’s her father’s inheritance or his insurance policy, my gut tells me they’re going to need a dead body in order to claim that money.
Something hardens in my chest. I’ll burn in the fiery pits of hell before I let them take her precious life. The more I turn the situation over in my mind, the more I realize both her stepbrother and her ex-fiancé can’t be allowed to live. They are the kind of scum that don’t know when to stop. She was out of their hair, but they had to come to Las Salinas and drag her back into their shit.
My hand automatically goes back to adjust the gun tucked at the small of my back. I have a holster back there, so I don’t feel the cold metal against my skin, my back up piece is in my ankle holster. I know Siege wanted to get the local cops involved, but guys like that don’t play nicely. I’m going to take those two idiots out.
***
Somehow, Venom beat us to the rendezvous site. When we pull in, he’s already putting a drone in the air. Custom-building drones is kind of his hobby. He’s even managed to make it into a full-time job as of late, it’s surprising how many fucking influencers want drone footage of them doing their stupid shit.
I jump off my bike and rush up to him. “Nice drone. Quiet too.”
“Yeah, it’s a stealth model,” he says. Once it’s in the air, he sits down before a boxy console with a twenty-inch monitor.
“Let’s have a look around and see if we can find out where these fuckers are hiding,” he says with determination in his voice.
“Hurry, brother. They could be doing anything to her.”
“I am. Calm down, Haze. The phone we were tracking was traveling at fifty-five miles an hour. It only stopped ten minutes ago. I’ll be on them before they have a chance to do anything too awful.”
I opened my mouth to object, but a gloved hand lands on my shoulder. It’s my brother, Vapor. “Let the man work,” he says gently.
Before I can respond, Ven says excitedly, “I think I found them!”
Looking over his shoulder at the screen, I frown. “There’s nothing on the screen but trees.”
He reaches over and flips a switch, enlarging the image. That’s when multiple things draw my attention at once. One of which being a wooden cabin.
Tracker says in an awed voice, “What the hell is all that?”
Siege responds dryly, “That’s their little secret hideout.”
Rigs is the more pragmatic one in our group, “Look closer, there’s also a structure that’s been covered to blend in with the surroundings. Now if it was me, I’d want to do my dirty work outside of my home. In somewhere easy to clean up—or throw away afterwards, like a tent.”
All eyes turn to Rigs, and it hits home that in the past he’s been the one to do the MC’s dirty work, so maybe he’s got insight.
“Right, before we storm the cabin, we get infra-red visuals on the tent as well,” Siege says.
I point to the several dots in the trees. “What about those lights.”
Siege answers, “Security cameras.”
Venom states almost gleefully, “That’s not all. About thirty feet behind the structure is a river and he’s got a boat tethered there.”
Rigs mutters, “Stupid fucker. There isn’t even a dock there.”
I speculate, “I guess it’s plan B, in case he needs to make a clean getaway.”
Tank walks up and pumps the biggest shotgun I’ve ever seen. “That won’t be happening once I blow a few holes in the hull.”
“Not until I give the word, first priority, check out the covered structure,” our president says.
“On it, boss,” Talon adds as he grabs the infra-red goggles from his kit. Since settling down, the brother is less devil-may-care than he used to be—dude ran into a potentially booby-trapped house a while back—but he’s still laser-focused.
Everyone has shown up and they all gather around us. Siege speaks, “We already have a plan in place. Surround the tent and the cabin. Don’t show yourselves until I give the word. Meanwhile, Tank is going to take care of the boat while Rider, Rigs, and I take out those cameras. Once they’re blind, I’ll give the go ahead.”
Rigs chimes in, “Remember, try not to kill them all this time. It’d be nice to interrogate the stepbrother in order to find out what’s driving this whole abduction.”
I pull out my gun. “Aim for the knees. Got it.”
Rigs flicks me on the shoulder. “You’re not fooling anyone Haze. Everyone knows you want to kill that fucker.”
My favorite club brother is not wrong about that.
When everyone starts to walk off, Ven calls my name.
I come back and we look at the screen, Talon has managed to send visuals to him, and he’s checking it against the image from his drone. Four human forms are outlined. He zeroes in on the back of the tent. “Your woman is sitting alone in the back by herself, well I’m assuming it’s her, the other forms are moving around. Not to throw a monkey wrench into the plan, but you might be able to cut the tent open and grab her before the shooting starts.”
I give his shoulder a squeeze. “Thanks, Ven. I owe you one, brother.”
He grins at me. “I’ll remember that. Expect me to call that favor in when you least expect it.”
I give him a grateful smile and jump to my feet. I want to be in place for when Siege gives the go ahead. Along the way, I shove my gun into the front of my waistband where I can get to it easily and pull out my biggest hunting knife. It’s ten inches long. If Venom’s hunch is correct, then this fucker will be invaluable.
***
It takes the better part of twenty minutes to get into place and for my club brothers to take out the cameras. Once I get the all-clear I start to move into position. I can hear voices as I creep closer to the back of the tent, and I put my ear to the camouflage netting covered canvas.
Someone says in a guff voice, “Our deal was that she washes up on shore within twenty-four hours. Is that still the plan?”
A younger and less masculine voice replies, “Yeah, that’s still the plan. If you meet the deadline, you get the ten grand bonus.”
“She’s a good-lookin’ woman, worth more than you’re paying me to eliminate her. Maybe we could work out a new deal. Instead of washing up on the riverbank, she disappears. I can sell her off to someone internationally. I guarantee she’ll never turn up in the US again.”
I was all but ready to make my move then but calmed myself down.
The other voice speaks, “No, fucking way. I need a dead body. If I don’t have one, the State of California makes you wait five years to declare a person dead. I can’t wait five fucking years to collect on the insurance policy my old man left for her. She’s the primary and my mother and I are the secondary. My mother is dead. That leaves me, and I want my damned money now, not later. Got it?”
“Give me a few days with her and you can keep the ten grand bonus. It’s been a long time since I’ve blown off steam with a beautiful woman,” The older man says.
By this point my blood is boiling, but yet another voice joins in. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. We could take turns. I wouldn’t mind a last go at her for old time’s sake.”
The guy who by process of elimination is clearly Anna’s stepbrother, speaks up in an exasperated voice. “Jesus fucking Christ, both of you are out of your freaking minds. The plan is, she washes up on the riverbank wearing a swimsuit and they assume she drowned while swimming or white-water rafting. Her washing up freshly raped, bruised, cut up or whatever in the fuck you two have in mind, means the cops will see her death as foul play. Then they’ll insist upon opening a damned investigation that can drag on for months or years. Fuck no, to all that. What part of I want my damn inheritance money now, do the two of you not understand?”
I’ve heard enough, I run my hand across the canvas until I feel Anna’s warm body.
“Anna,” I whisper, figuring the three stooges are jabbering too loudly to hear. I feel her tense, “Hold still, darlin’, I’m comin’ to get you.”
Then I jab my knife through the thick fabric and drag it all the way to the ground. Quick as I can manage, I drop the knife and pull out my gun before stepping through the opening, grabbing my surprised woman, and pointing my gun at the three assholes who are still trying to decide the most expeditious way to fucking kill her.
“How about we don’t do any of that shit and I kill you instead. I point my gun at the one who looks like he might be her stepbrother and pull the trigger. It was a clean headshot taken before any of them had a chance to react. The man behind the table dives to the side and comes back up with a weapon.
Damn it! I should have taken him out first, but it was hard to know who was the most dangerous.
I shove Anna out of the gap in the tent and aim my gun. Suddenly we hear a shotgun discharging in the distance, though it sounds more like an explosion. The younger man is frozen in place, but the older one doesn’t even twitch and has his gun trained on me, just like I have mine on him.
“I think that was my club brother, destroying your boat. So much for making a clean getaway—”
My words are cut off as he pulls the trigger, hitting me center mass.
Before I fall, I take aim and fire, but the force of his bullet knocks me back on my ass, making me regret that I hadn’t shot first and gloated later. Still, he’s lying there bleeding out, and I’m alive to fight another day, so it all worked out okay.
Though the other man legged it as soon as the shooting started. I hope one of my club brothers is tracking him down.
Anna is on me within seconds. “Oh my god, are you okay?”
I run my hand over my chest and feel the bullet embedded in my armored vest. “Yeah, but you don’t have body armor, so stay behind me. I’ll get you out of here and circle back around for the bastard that got away once you’re safe.”
She couldn’t keep her hands off me. “Alright, as long as you’re okay, I am as well.”
I begin running with her because all hell has broken loose, it sounds like my club brothers are on the third man’s tail.
I mutter, “Sorry I had to shoot your brother right in front of you that way.”
“You didn’t,” she responds flatly. “That was my ex, Trevor. My brother is the coward who ran.”
“Shit. It doesn’t matter. He needed to be dead too.”
We stop to catch our breath near a tree, with gunshots still sounding off in the background.
She huffs out an exasperated breath. “So that’s your plan, shoot them all and let God sort them out.”
“My plan is I do what I need to do.”
I look around and see the spot Ven is perched on about ten yards away. A nice vantage point up a small embankment. “I’m gonna take you somewhere safe,” I tell Anna.
It didn’t take but a few minutes for us to reach Ven. When we come jogging up, his head is tilted to the side as he watches everyone scrambling around down below. Without glancing up, he murmurs, “Good kill shot, brother.”
“Thanks.” Pulling Anna tight to my side, I explain, “I’m gonna leave Anna with you and get back to the fight. Is that alright?”
He jerks his chin towards the screen. “No need. It’s all over but the crying.”
Just as he said that it got eerily quiet. I come up behind him and look at the screen. My club brothers have two men lying on the ground. One is surrounded by a lot of blood, suggesting if he isn’t already dead, then he’ll be meeting his maker very soon.
“Two men? There were only three in the tent,” I say in confusion.
Ven lifts his head to gaze up at me. “There was another man with the boat, when Tank took it out, he appeared. Fucker had been in the river wearing a wetsuit which is why I didn’t see him. What the fuck he was doing down there, I have no idea.”
I did, if they were planning on making it look like a boating accident, they probably needed to make it look real. Having an accomplice drown her and pull her under to make sure she had injuries consistent with being dragged by the current, made sense.
My club brother continues, “One survivor out of four isn’t bad odds for a shootout like this one.”
I run my hand up Anna’s back soothingly as she clings to me. “That’s true. Any idea which one survived?”
Ven shakes his head. “Not a clue. When things got hectic, I couldn’t tell who’s who, not that I was sure in the first place.”
“I know what you mean. We’d best get down there and figure out what’s going on.”
He starts to get up, but I push him back down. “Not you, brother. I meant Anna and myself. You’re our eyes in the sky, the only person who can give us a heads up if the cops show up or if these fuckers have any more accomplices.”
He frowns. “Yeah, that’s me, the brother who never gets to see any fuckin’ action.”
“Yet, you are an invaluable member of the Savage Legion team,” I remind him.
“I don’t need you to stroke my fucking ego. Get a move on before we end up in a fight.”
I grin at his disgruntled response and guide Anna back down the path. On the off-chance that her stepbrother was the one who survived, maybe she could get him to co-operate, so we didn’t have to start cutting bits off the sad fucker.
The minute Siege catches sight of me, he stalks towards me with that ten-inch hunting knife I threw down in his hand. I have to admit, he looks absolutely furious.
Pointing the knife in my face, he states angrily, “You were supposed to follow the plan, not do your own thing. Was there some part of my direct orders you were unclear on?”
Anna is squeezing my arm and trying to pull me away. I reach over and pat her hand.
“You didn’t follow the plan when your old lady was in danger,” I reply trying to sound worlds more reasonable than I feel in this moment.
He frowns at me and slams my hunting knife flat against my chest. “From now on, do I say, not as I do, or there’s gonna be hell to pay.”
“Yes, prez,” I reply, pleased that he’s not going to skin me with my own damn knife.