Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
FREAK
At last, I arrive at the clubhouse. Dum/Dee opens the gate, and my wheels spin gravel as I race inside, hit the brakes, and jump out of the truck, not even bothering to turn off the engine.
I burst into the clubroom. There are two people inside – the other identical prospect minding the bar, and fucking Trixie.
I stalk toward the club girl. For some insane reason I blame Ace’s disappearance on her, even though it was me who ignored her warnings.
My blind rage overcomes me and she’s the closest target.
Reaching her, I grab and shake her hard enough to make her teeth rattle.
In a cold voice, I bark, “Where’s everyone?
” The fear hits me that maybe deciding I’d be too volatile to accompany them, they already headed out, and I’m too late.
I realise with my hand around her neck, she’s finding it hard to answer.
When I throw her from me in disgust, she doesn’t quake or quiver.
Instead, she brushes herself off, haughtily meets my eyes, and states calmly, “Bullseye called everyone into church when they knew you were close. They’re in there waiting on you. ”
“And how did they know I was fuckin’ close? You put a tracker on me as well?” I start to pat down my pockets.
Her eyes roll. “Pippa was tracking your phone. Are you going to assault her, too?”
I suddenly realise two things. First, I should have known either Pippa or Genie would be keeping tabs on me, and their method of doing it. And secondly, that I’d erratically parked in front of all their bikes. There’s no way they could have headed out.
“Get fuckin’ lost, Trixie.” I push past her.
My violent greeting of her hadn’t fazed her. My abrupt dismissal certainly has. Even in my hurry, out of the side of my eye, I can’t help but notice it looks like all the air’s gone out of her. She visibly shrinks as she turns away.
Wasting no more time on the club girl, I hurry to our meeting room. As I push the door open, I see, as she’d said, everyone seated and waiting for me. There had been a buzz of conversation as I’d entered. Now that all stops without Bullseye having to even pick up the gavel.
Prez jerks his head toward my empty seat. I all but collapse into it. He then eyes me carefully, sympathy seeping from every pore.
“Freak…”
I don’t want to hear platitudes. “Let’s just get on with it. Where’s Ace?”
Genie answers – as Pippa is only an old lady, despite her skills, she isn’t allowed in church.
“His tracker stopped at a location outside of Tucson, about halfway along the I-10 heading east. An equal distance between the city and the New Mexico border. A few miles west of Wilcox.” He fiddles on his laptop, and suddenly Google Earth appears on the screen, which has already been pulled down against the wall.
He draws a ring around a structure. “It looks like a warehouse, a mile or so off the freeway.”
That’s only an hour away. “Then let’s go.” I start to stand.
“Sit the fuck down, Freak.” Prez uses the voice, even I, in my hyped-up state, obey. “Bigfoot’s already got his guys on the road. It’s a four-hour journey for them. I’ve agreed we’ll rendezvous with them at midnight, just outside Wilcox.”
Midnight is three hours away. “That might be too fuckin’ late,” I object. “Who knows what Ace is going through?”
“Enough!” Tempest barks, obviously firmly in his role as sergeant-at-arms. “Freak, you believe we’d leave your son high and dry a moment longer than we need to?
Well, you’re just going to have to have another think about that.
Each of us…” he waves his hand around the table.
“Will do anything it takes to get that boy back.”
“He’s ours,” Saint growls. “But we’re going to do this smart. We get one chance, Freak.”
Bullseye nods sagely. “We make the wrong move, what d’you think’s going to happen to him?
You might not want to consider it, but if they see us coming, they’ll kill him.
You get that, Freak? Without information, going in heavy-handed and hot-headed could result in you never seeing your son again.
” He pauses, giving me time for that to sink in.
His stark words cause the fight to go out of me.
When he sees me deflate, he continues, “At the moment, we’re going in blind.
We know they were on a recruitment drive, but we have no idea how many of them there are, or where they’re likely to be keeping Ace.
The best-case scenario is for us to get hold of their numbers and where they’re holding him.
Then, instead of rushing in all guns blazing, we can make a direct strike where it will have the most effect. ”
I can see the sense in what he’s saying. If it wasn’t my son involved, it could have been my suggestion. But under the circumstances, it seems too lame. “And how the fuck do you propose we’re going to find their numbers and Ace’s location?”
Unfazed, Prez sits back in his chair, his arms stretched out in front of him, hands linked together on the table.
“Two options, either or both are on the table. One, we use our resources. Pippa’s tracking down the architectural plans so we can study them and send up a drone.
Won’t give all the answers, but it will show entrances and exits, and how heavily they’re guarded. ”
He’s right, it would be of limited help. “What’s option two?”
With his eyes steady on me, he doesn’t draw it out. “Option two is that we send in a Trojan Horse.”
Drones, I can get on board with. But the other? “You want one of us to go in there undercover?” I glance around the table, wondering if I’m the only one who doesn’t get what the fuck he’s talking about.
“Not one of us,” he retorts sharply. “After the info they got from Griz and Doc, reckon they know about each and every one of us, down to our fuckin’ shoe size.”
It must be the ten-hour drive I’ve just undertaken, but I’m really not picking up what he’s putting down. “So if not one of us…” I come up with the answer. My lips curve as I wonder whether it could actually work. “Dee or Dum? They weren’t around when Griz was, or even when Doc…”
“No,” Prez states firmly. “And for this, we need a volunteer. One who knows all the risks and accepts them. And one who has the assets to get under their radar.”
I rack my brains, but I can’t come up with any names. I raise a brow toward Prez.
But it’s Saint who answers. “That volunteer came up with the idea themselves. Freak, we’ve been going backward and forward on this, but can’t think of anything that would most improve our chances of rescuing Ace without putting him in danger.
” I don’t have a clue who this volunteer is, unless it’s one of the New Mexico chapter.
As I give him a gimme gesture, he continues, “Trixie’s offered to go in.
It makes sense.” Leaning forward, he clasps his hands on the table, while any retort is stuck in my mouth.
He ignores that my jaw has dropped open and offers the justification.
“As you know, Freak, when we interrogated Griz, he spilled everything about their current members, but we didn’t ask him about anyone else affiliated with the club.
We don’t know if they’ve got whores, or hangarounds, but it seems a likely bet. ”
I raise my eyes to him. Yeah, I played a major role in the interrogation of the MDMC plant who had prospected with us.
Their full member, Skunk, Griz as we knew him, came to us as a plant.
After we’d milked all the information out of him, he met with the ending any good traitor should.
Saint’s right. We had only asked about the members.
The VP continues, “We’re working on the assumption that he, too, only fed back about the people sat around this table, and that who our whores are wouldn’t have been something he’d shared with the MDMC.”
I agree, as a conjecture it’s sound, but it’s not firm information.
But what I can’t get my head around is why the fuck is a club girl offering herself as a sacrificial lamb?
Walking into the MDMC? There’s nothing I can immediately think of that could carry more danger, and the odds have to be stacked against her walking back out.
She’s willing to take such a risk to get my son back?
Fucking volunteered? While I’d been blind to it for literally years, I’ve recently had my blinkers taken off.
Ace himself had pointed out how much she’s been doing for him.
She must have developed quite the soft spot for my son.
Even so, her offer is going above and beyond.
Any one of us would make sure our wills were up to date before attempting the ploy she intends to make.
Inwardly, I grimace. I hadn’t even thanked her for enabling us to know his location.
What had I done instead? I’d shaken and throttled her, then all but told her to fuck off.
The conversation has continued around me. With a start, I take in what they’re discussing, entering in the middle of Prez’s comment.
“… yeah, you’re right. They might not bother getting their dicks wet, just chuck her into some hole with all the other bodies they’re going to traffic. She might not be in the flush of youth, but she’s still a good-looking broad.”
Fuck it. That makes me feel worse. “She know that?”
“She knows the risks, yeah.” Prez shifts uncomfortably. “I’m not happy with this, Freak. We don’t use women to fight our wars, but honestly, we’ve been going through it over and over, and we can’t come up with anything else that gives us, and Ace, a better chance.”
“Why would she even offer?” I wonder aloud.
Saint answers. “If it hadn’t been for the Kings, Freak, she’d have been dead five years back. Kings saved her, and she thinks she owes us a debt. One she doesn’t believe she’s ever repaid.”
“She has, with her snatch.”
I growl at Rat. Now I choose to admit it, even I can see she offers the club more than that.