33. 33
33
M alice went to the address the motor vehicle department had for the fucker, he didn’t ask how Gizmo, the tech guy Ghost had put him in touch with had gotten into the state database and he didn’t ask. He didn’t care as long as he found Bonnie, safe.
It was an apartment complex with several three-story buildings, all facing a central fenced courtyard. Malice didn’t think fuckface was stupid enough to bring Bonnie here, but he would hate to be wrong. He found the building the idiot lived in, checked the parking lot for the vehicle from the video, the one she’d been shoved into. Not that it wasn’t possibly the fucker had changed cars or just dumped the one from the video. Next Malice jumped over the wall and found the apartment.
He used one finger to cover the lens of the peep hole then knocked on the door. After waiting what felt like an eon, maybe thirty seconds, he knocked again, harder.
Still nothing. He didn’t even hear movement inside. He knocked one more time, this time hard enough to vibrate the door in the frame. There was no way anyone inside couldn’t hear him. Only then did he give up and leave. On his way back out to the truck he dialed Gizmo back.
“Home address is a bust. It’s a huge complex and I had to check it out, but if there’s anyone there, they’re not moving around.”
“I knew it was a complex, but the last time we talked, it was all I had. I found something else since. I think this one is a better shot. It didn’t show up in the initial search, as it’s still in his deceased father’s name. I’m not sure if he’s been too lazy to change the deed information or if he’s trying to hide it.” The sound of fingers hitting keys in the background told Malice the other man was on the computer, working even as he talked.
“Give it to me.” Malice didn’t care if the fucker was trying to hide it. He only cared if he’d taken Bonnie there.
“It’s rural, I’ll text you the coordinates. You can just touch them, and your maps program will give you directions.”
The phone in his hand buzzed as the text came in.
“Everything’s rural out here. I though you knew that.”
“I do but didn’t realize how rural it is until I pulled this place up on a map. Sat view shows what looks like a house and a couple of outbuildings. I’m also sending the coordinates to Ghost and Lurch. They’ll send someone out to help you look.”
“We don’t know she’s there.”
“We don’t,” Gizmo said, “but right now it’s our best lead. I don’t have anywhere else to look, not yet. You go check out this place and I’ll keep looking, just in case.”
“I’ll let you know what we find.” Malice disconnected the call, climbed into the truck, and pulled up the coordinates the tech guy had sent him, pulling up the directions before clipping the phone into the mount on the dash, starting the engine and hitting the road.
The map said it should have taken him twenty-seven minutes to reach his destination. Malice hit the brakes, stopped, and got out nineteen minutes after starting and when the little map said he had half a mile to go. He’d pulled up behind another truck, one he recognized as belonging to Steele. The men Lurch would have sent must have made it here first. That made sense. This place was closer to the ranch than to town.
He got out of the truck, checked to make sure his pistol was in the holster at the small of his back, then followed the road in at a swift jog. He needed to see if she was there as soon as possible. The ball of dread in his stomach growing with every step.
As he approached the house, he thought he could make out a house, then off to the side another large building, with something smaller in between. He wasn’t sure what either was. A little closer, the larger structure seemed to be a barn, but he wasn’t sure about the smaller one.
“Malice,” a hushed voice caught his attention.
Malice hated to take his eyes off the house, as if he was afraid, she would pop up for an instant and he would miss her, but he forced himself to turn and see who had spoken to him. Off to his right, he found Steele and Talon crouched low in a hollow, as if they were trying to keep from being seen from the main house.
Had they seen something at the house that he hadn’t seen yet? How long had they been here? He looked back toward the house then back at them.
“What’s going on?”
“There’s someone here. There’s one of those little SUV things parked behind the garage.”
Garage? Was that what was between the barn and the house? He didn’t take the time to ask.
“What’s it look like?” Was it maybe the car that had taken Bonnie?
Talon gave him a description and Malice had to force himself not to jump up and run toward the building when the description he gave matched the one from the video, at least as far as Malice could tell.
“Did you see her?”
Both men shook their heads.
“Did you see anyone?”
“No, but we haven’t been here long, and we didn’t want to miss you. We just scouted around, but we were careful not to be seen, just in case.”
Malice scanned the area. It was like much of the area around Gillette. Mostly flat plains like land. Malice had wondered why so much of the area around the main house on Tuck’s ranch had trees, and he’d asked. Tuck said his great grandparents, who had started the ranch, had missed the trees from where they’d come from, somewhere back east, he wasn’t sure exactly where, so they’d started planting trees. They’d made it part of the family’s traditions that for each holiday, wedding, birth, even birthday, they’d plant a tree. For the ones in the winter when it wouldn’t survive, they saved them up and planted them in the spring. It had been something he’d grown up with and still planned to continue, as it made for a nice green space, helped with the heat in the summer and the trees helped slow the blowing snow in the winter. Not to mention the privacy aspect when you had ranch hands, or an entire MC living on the ranch. That last had been said with a grin that Malice had returned at the time, but couldn’t force now. Now that he remembered it, he wished that whoever owned this place had done something similar. It would at least have given them cover as they approached the house.
“You have your phones?” Malice asked.
Steel and Talon both nodded.
“Put them on vibrate. We’re going to separate and get closer. We need to find out if she’s here, and if not, where she might be. Separate, if one is spotted, maybe the others can get closer while whoever is inside is distracted.”
“And let’s just hope they don’t shoot first and ask questions later,” Talon said.
“Or that they’re a crappy shot,” Steele contributed.
Malice ignored them both and continued. “Use texts to let the rest of us know if you find anything.” He looked back and forth between the two of them until they both nodded their understanding. “Talon, you take the barn. Steele you’ve got the house. I need to go check out that vehicle and make sure it’s the same one that took her. From there I’ll try to see if there are any tracks. Maybe there will be something there that will tell me if she’s here and where he might have stashed her.”
“Can you track?” Steele asked.
Malice shook his head. “No, but it doesn’t take a lot of tracking to tell if there’s one set of prints or two, not when there’s loose dust like this.” He kicked one foot in the dust beside the road.
Steele looked like he wanted to say more but Malice cut him off before he had a chance. “We’re wasting time. He could be hurting her even as we talk about stupid shit. Let’s get moving.” Malice didn’t wait to see if they moved, but started moving himself, hiking in a large circle so he could get to an angle where he could see the vehicle his prospective brother had told him about.
Every step seemed to take ten times longer than Malice knew it did. Sweat dripped down his back and he kept going, not caring. All that mattered was finding out if Bonnie was there and getting her out. He hoped she was safe, but every horror he’d ever seen or heard of happening to a woman was running on repeat through his mind as he spotted the vehicle.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” he muttered the words to himself as the car came into view. He couldn’t be certain, but he thought it was the car that fucker had taken her in. Malice closed the distance to the car, watching to see if anyone was around, and trying not to be seen.