Retribution (Anthem River)

Chapter 25

Chapter

Twenty-Five

K ade came awake slowly, his head fucking hurt and it felt like something had crawled into his mouth and died years ago, and his chest hurt like he’d been kicked in the ribs several times. He gave himself a few minutes to let the dizziness pass, but when he tried to move his arms nothing happened. Panic flooded his system until he forced himself to take deep breaths, he hoped to fucking hell he wasn’t having another heart attack, Ram would fucking kill him for sure. His man had been complaining lately that Kade was scaring years off his life that he’d had plans for and he thought it was hilarious. He could literally hear his man pout as he grumbled and it just warmed Kade’s heart. He fucking loved Ram so much, and most of the time he felt an almost overwhelming urge to just sink his teeth into Ram because he was so happy. He tried to move his arms again and realized they were tied to a chair. He paused to take notice of his situation. Why was he tied to a chair? Was this another thing Ram wanted him to experience? It didn’t hurt or anything but he didn’t really think it was his cup of tea.

“Well look who’s awake.”

Kade’s jaw clenched as he heard Devin’s voice and it all rushed back to him. “Where the fuck is my dog?” he demanded.

Devin scoffed. “Probably roadkill at this point.”

Kade kept his face blank as his heart broke, Valk hadn’t deserved that, and as soon as he got out of this he was going to beat the absolute shit out of Devin. He closed his eyes and took several long and deep breaths ignoring everything the man was saying to him.

“Hey Kade, you ready for the party?” Torres asked, knocking on Kade’s office door. His brows furrowed when he got no response. Kade probably got lost in work again. He opened the door and choked on what he was about to say, Kade’s office was a wreck, some glass and blood was on the floor and he prayed to God Kade just knocked something over and cut himself. “Kade!” he barked as he hit the silent panic alarm to alert the others. He pulled his Glock from its holster and silently moved into the room, checking his blind spots and behind furniture.

“What’s going on?” Doc demanded breathlessly as he came to a sliding stop with the others behind him. “Oh, my God. Kade!” Doc rushed forward frantically looking for his friend. “Call Ram, now!” he barked as he fell to his knees.

“Why?” Torres asked confused until Doc shoved a chair out of the way and they all got a good look at Valk who was laying in a puddle of blood.

“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry, baby,” Doc said softly, as Valk screamed when he put pressure on his wounded leg. “Looks like a GSW to the left hind leg.”

Torres’ hands shook as he called Ram.

“Torres.” Ram’s deep voice made him feel all the more guilty.

“Ram we have a problem,” he blurted.

“Hold on. Saint come turn this to video I’ve got flour all over my hands.” Ram handed his phone off to his nephew while he cleaned his hands and everyone crowded around as Saint put them on video call. “What’s wrong?”

Torres swallowed hard. “Kade’s missing.”

“What? He was just there,” Saint said, confused.

Torres turned the camera towards the ransacked office. “He’s gone, we’re still trying to figure out what happened but Ram we need you now. Valk’s been shot.”

Ram tried to process all that was being said while he focused on the scene behind Torres. Doc was frantically pressing down on Valk’s leg as he tried to calm the big boy down. “I’m on my way.” He rushed to his truck and floored it down the driveway. He knew he’d broken every fucking traffic law known to man to make that twenty minute drive into a five minute one but he didn’t really give a shit. He grabbed his go bag and rushed inside. Forgoing the elevator he took three steps at a time and made it to Kade’s office in record time. He rushed over to Valk who tried desperately to lick his hand. “Move,” he told Doc gently, had he been any rougher he feared the man would break down, he already looked too close to the edge. He switched places with Doc and started to hand him IV’s and needles. “This is the painkiller, start it.” He’d give the man a job to do to get his mind off things.

“Go watch the cameras,” Scorpion told Torres as he stayed close to Doc in case he needed anything.

Torres gave a sharp nod and left.

Once the meds kicked in and Valk relaxed a bit more Ram turned towards his leg. The bullet seemed to be a through and through but judging by the entrance and exit wounds it looked like it went straight through the stifle, which meant he would likely lose the leg. “I need to get him to my work.”

“Got it.” Doc jumped up. “Let me grab a blanket so we can roll him on it.” He came back a few minutes later with a large blanket that Scorpion helped him lay out. It took all three of them to move Valk’s limp body to the blanket and to carry him to Ram’s truck. Ram slammed the door and whirled on the others. “I’ll take care of Valk, you find him.”

Doc nodded. “We will.”

Ram nodded and turned away and took off towards his work. He called ahead so they could prep a room for him to operate. He hauled Valk’s body onto the rolling cart and took off, his tech taking care of getting him fully sedated and shaved down while Ram cleaned up. Scrubbing down and putting on the scrubs was something he didn’t even have to think about doing anymore, it came naturally to him. When he entered the room he saw the sadness in Kat’s eyes and his heart dropped. “What?”

“The bones are completely shattered, I don’t think we’ll be able to save the leg, and even if we could it would just leave him with a lot of pain.” She showed him the x-rays and he hated to admit it but she was right. All the bones from his patella to his hock were broken and several pieces of bone were just floating around. Ram sighed deeply. “Let’s amputate the leg, but I want to do everything I can to save him.”

Kat nodded and the others rushed to follow orders.

Once he was done he sat on the floor next to Valk’s open cage, he was covered in all types of fluids, hungry and sweaty but he didn’t know what else to do. Valk was the closest thing he had to Kade right now and he was afraid he’d break down completely without him. His boy, his precious fucking boy… missing? None of it made any sense, he’d dropped Kade off a couple of hours before. He closed his eyes to stem the flow of tears, now was not the time.

“He’s right there.”

Ram opened his eyes when he saw Kat gesturing towards someone. He stayed seated as Doc approached him, judging by the look in the man’s eyes they hadn’t found his boy yet.

“How is he?” Doc asked quietly, nodding in Valk’s direction.

“Had to amputate the leg, but he’ll make a full recovery. Once the incisions heal up I’ll see about getting him a prosthetic leg, it will help him as he gets older and help keep down the problems he could have with his other legs due to overcompensation.” He didn’t move as Doc sat down next to him. “Where is he?”

“We don’t know yet. From the video, Devin came in with a few other people. Kade was able to fight off two until one of them shot Valk, he tried to get to Valk and was hit on the back of the head. We tried to find Devin’s wife to see if she knew where he was and her apartment has been ransacked. We believe she was taken as well, and when we looked at the security footage from the ATM across the street we saw three men grab her and drag her to a car.”

Ram closed his eyes as a wave of grief hit him, what the hell was going on? Was Kade even still alive? Could he have survived another blow to the head? Where the fuck was he? Ram jerked up. “Wait, he has a thing on his arm that uses location services. Can you track him from that?”

Doc pursed his lips. “Maybe, can you give me the information.”

Ram fumbled for his phone. “Yeah, it’s kind of like those Dexcom things but this was a prototype for the military that he was testing for a guy he used to work with.” He hadn’t even thought about it, it was a small patch like thing that was placed somewhere on the skin and was able to transmit the person’s vitals and pinpoint their exact location. The patch was clear and blended in with the skin very well so unless you were looking for it you wouldn’t find it. “It is just in the beginning stages so if they scanned him for anything they may have found it but maybe it’ll help,” he said almost desperately as he pulled up the app on his phone and handed it over to Doc.

Doc nodded and took a picture before he stood. “I’ll run it over to Cowboy and see what he can find out and I’ll let you know.”

Ram grabbed Doc’s arm before he could leave. “If you find him you tell me, you’re not going to get him back without me.”

Doc nodded once and was off.

Ram leaned back against the cage and gently rubbed Valk’s ears. The big baby was still out of it doped up on painkillers and antibiotics, and he would normally leave a dog alone to recover but he needed to be next to him, he needed that comfort. It was a few hours later before Doc came back to get him. “We think we’ve found where he is but we don’t know for sure yet.”

Ram got up, his body stiff and sore from sitting on the floor for so long. “How are you going to find out?”

“Cowboy. There’s a security system where we think he is, he’s going to hack into it.” Doc told him as they walked out of the room. Ram made sure he would be called immediately if Valk’s status changed and he quickly changed back into his street clothes before joining Doc in his truck.

Kade’s office had turned into a war zone. Papers and cups littered his desk as all the guys hovered around Cowboy who was sitting at the desk staring at a computer screen.

“Saint is already en route to the address, he’s on stand by if we need him.” Cowboy assured Ram when he walked in.

Ram could only nod, if he tried to speak he had no idea what would come out of his mouth. He was happy to see that Kade had all his brothers ready to do some damage.

“Have you found him yet?” Levi demanded worriedly as he jerkily wheeled himself into the room with Bram behind him helping to steer. He rolled right up next to Cowboy and settled in to look at the screen.

“I think so but I’m having trouble breaking through this fire wall,” Cowboy muttered.

Levi’s brow’s furrowed. “Did you try a Trojan horse?”

Cowboy shrugged. “I’ve thought about it but I’m not sure what to even use to try and get their attention.”

“Do we have any idea what they’re after?” Levi asked, looking around.

The others shook their heads. Ram spoke up.

“You said Devin was there when he was taken, yes?”

Torres nodded. “Yes, he was. I can show you the video.”

Ram noticed Torres’ voice was hesitant which meant the man did not want to show him the video. His gut churned just imagining it. He wouldn’t be able to just sit and watch his boy get hurt knowing damn well he’d done nothing to protect him. It would kill him. He shook his head. “Devin wanted the money Kade’s grandmother left him when she died. According to Kade, me and Saint are the beneficiaries to everything he has. Devin had made a joke about if Kade died he’d get the money because he was the beneficiary, but Kade just told him he wouldn’t and that he’d changed things. That’s why Devin took him, but how can Kade just change things quickly?”

Levi’s brows furrowed as he thought. “If Devin already had the papers drawn up he could try and force Kade to sign them, then all he would have to do would be to get them signed and notarized and he could get access. If the lawyer was able to do it without Kade, some can’t.”

“I’ll call Kade’s lawyer to have him start doing damage control so if anything happens Devin won’t get it,” Cowboy piped up.

“I don’t see Kade signing it over willingly,” Torres stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

“He will if he thinks it will save me or Valk,” Ram told him. “Who knows what Devin is telling him. If for one second Kade thought losing everything would save me or Valk he’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Doc nodded in agreement. “He’s very protective of the things he has.”

Ram stared at him blankly. “Can you blame him?”

Doc grimaced and shook his head.

“I’ve set the Trojan horse,” Levi exclaimed, sliding the laptop back over to Cowboy.

“Now what?” Ram asked, and judging by the look on Levi’s face he wasn’t going to like the answer.

“We wait,” Levi said softly. “We’ll still try other things to pinpoint his location but we’re close.”

Ram’s jaw clenched and he almost flinched when his brother’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“Why don’t we go and talk?” Bram urged Ram out of the office and into the cool air of the day. Fresh air always seemed to make things better.

Ram breathed in deeply and closed his eyes. If he didn’t get his shit together now he’d be useless in the plan to save his boy. He swallowed hard, he didn’t know how to explain what he was feeling. It was like everything was duller now, nothing really seemed to make it all the way to his brain; words, colors, sights, smells. It was like all his senses were cut off and he was just praying it was his body’s way of trying to cope, instead of a premonition about his boy’s life ending.

Bram didn’t even bother trying to say anything, he could tell his brother wasn’t really with him, and in reality what was there to say. It wasn’t like his words would magically make his brother feel better. He knew if anything happened to Sanem and someone tried to offer him empty platitudes he’d lose his ever loving shit. All he could really offer his brother right now was his presence. On some basic primal and spiritual level he could feel what his brother was going through, but for him the sensations were dulled and it made his heart break to know the amount of pain Ram was in and to be able to do nothing to try and help ease it. His brother had always been the one to lose things, while all he seemed to do was gain them. How could a loving God do this to such a loving man? A good fucking man. How could men like their father be content in this life while people who were better suffered? He knew the old saying ‘God gave his toughest battles to his strongest warriors’ but when the fuck had his brother ever signed up for that shit? When would it get to the point that his brother would be lost to him? Would he lose his other half to an early grave? Sanem had always respected his decision to not be a part of a communion or to attend, but if he prayed would it save his brother some heartache? He would take it all if only he could. So for the first time in years that’s exactly what he did. He prayed, and he prayed fucking hard.

As the hours passed the angrier Ram became, he was going to fucking kill Devin. He hated to say it but he was going to go biblical on his ass and then ask his mother to haunt him in the afterlife for all of the shit he’d ever done to Kade, and to Valk as well. He’d taken to pacing the length of Kade’s office as he waited on any fucking sign. His whole body ached and he was exhausted having not slept since the morning Kade had gone missing. He couldn’t even remember how long it had been, it felt like an eternity in hell. He finally broke down and asked Bram to go check on Valk; he didn't want him to be alone too long.

“We’re in!” Levi yelled. Doc and the others moved in closer.

“What did you do?” Doc asked.

Levi shrugged. “Had Kade’s lawyer draw up fake papers to email to Devin, he just opened the link. I needed him to open it so I could take control of the entire security system for the place.”

The place he was talking about seemed to be an abandoned mill that was so dilapidated Ram was honestly worried the place would collapse before they were able to get to Kade.

“Genius,” Doc muttered. “That idiot wouldn’t be able to resist opening it.”

Levi snickered. “I know right, Kade definitely upgraded.” He grinned at Ram.

Ram grunted in response.

“It’s loading now,” Levi warned.

They all leaned forward on bated breath, crowding around him to see the computer screen.

Ram thought he’d lose his mind when Kade popped up on the security footage. He was naked, tied to a chair by his wrists and ankles. Blood was caked to his hair and face, it had dried as it had pooled down his body leaving dark red and black all over his skin. He tried to breathe but Kade had been missing for two days and he was ready to pass out. He couldn’t tell if Kade was awake, his head was hung low but the jerky movements of his chest let him know he was alive. “Saint.”

“Not yet, we need to wait for the guy. You know that’s what Kade would want.” Saint’s voice came in through the static on the other computer.

“I don’t give a shit what he would want right now, he’s been missing for over forty eight hours he doesn’t get the choice anymor-” His words cut off as two men entered the room with Kade. Kade’s head lolled to the side, and the men ignored him as they stood guard. Ram’s heart was beating so fast he almost missed the other two men entering.

“Well hello there, lover.” Devin smirked. He really enjoyed seeing Kade tied up and helpless, it made all the suffering through his tough guy act worth it.

Ram wanted to throw up. It was like he was watching a really bad horror movie. He could hear a woman's weak screams from the other room and he could only pray she was too drugged out to feel everything.

Kade grunted. “I really have died and gone to hell.” He winced. “Ram’s gonna be pissed.” His Daddy was gonna be really pissed, he just hoped he wasn’t pissed at him. He’d tried to fight them off, the second he had heard Valk’s pain filled yelp he hadn’t been able to focus on anything else.

“Don’t worry I took care of him.” Devin sneered. “He’s a great fuck.”

Kade froze for a split second, panic almost taking over. If Devin had fucking touched him he’d kill him slowly. No one touched his fucking Daddy but him. Devin would pay for even uttering the words out loud. “Yeah he is, and hot as fuck with all those tattoos on his chest.”

Devin hummed in agreement and Kade almost sagged in relief. Ram didn’t have any tattoos on his chest, he was lying. Ram only had two tattoos from what he’d heard and he knew exactly where they were on his arms.

“Let’s move this along.” The man who entered with Devin snapped. His voice accented and deeper than Devin’s nasally whine.

“Right.” Devin pulled some papers out of the lapel of his blazer. “You’re going to sign everything you own over to me,” he told Kade, dropping the supplies in Kade’s lap before he moved behind him to untie one of his hands, but paused when Kade laughed.

Kade laughed harder. A full on belly laugh as he tried to come to terms with how shitty his life was at the moment. “I can’t. I already signed everything over to Ram, so if you actually hurt him you’re shit out of luck,” he growled. He wasn’t lying either, after his cardiac arrest he’d updated his will. If anything happened to him Ram and Saint would get everything and he’d included a letter made for Ram. He hoped the man would never have to read it, just thinking about it made him want to tear up. If something happened to him he wanted Ram to move on and live. Find another boy to love and be happy.

“Fuck this.” The man in charge snapped and before he knew it Kade felt a sharp pain in his neck making him hiss and jerk his head back. It was a dumb idea really, the man had just injected him with something and he jerked, could have ended everything right there.

“Saint!” Doc barked over the comms, his team was in position and they were ready to take these fuckers down. It was hard as fuck to sit here and watch it’ll go down. Saint and the others were lucky the comms didn’t pick up any of this shit.

“What did you give him?” Devin asked, curiously.

Doc grabbed Ram’s arm as they bolted out to get to Kade

“A little something to help, we give it to the women to make them more willing, we can’t be bruising the merchandise. You can do anything to him now, and he’ll beg for it.” The man stepped back, and ordered his men to leave before following them.

Kade could understand already, need was pounding through him, the desire coursing through him made it hard to think, he needed relief. He groaned, his traitorous dick was hard and ready to go, and he had no idea what the fuck was going on.

“Saint!” Scorpion snarled, if he didn’t say go soon he was going without him.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Devin said smugly, reaching down to grab Kade’s dick and squeezing hard, making the man flinch and gasp before he thrust into the rough touch.

Kade’s dick pulsed angrily. He couldn’t do this, his body was for Ram only and this wasn’t his fucking Daddy. Ram! He fought desperately to get away, doing everything he could to dislodge Devin’s hand on him. Daddy please don’t let him hurt me , his mind screamed.

“Let’s see you say no to me now,” Devin chuckled.

“Batty,” he slurred. He knew the hands touching him were wrong, but he couldn’t help the bolt of need that hit him.

“Saint you let this happen to Kade and he’ll never forgive you, neither will I,” Torres thundered.

“You and me, we're gonna have some fun, then we’ll see how your man will react, see if he’ll take you back after you’re used up.” Devin grinned.

From all the thrashing he was doing to try and get free Kade was able to free one of his legs. “Well I’m HIV positive so have fun with that.” He grunted, throwing his leg over the back of Devins neck driving his face into his other knee. The crunch he heard was so satisfying.

“Now!” Saint barked.

All hell broke loose. Kade could hear shouting and gun fire heading towards him. He tried not to panic as he threw himself backwards, the wooden chair collapsing under his weight when he hit the ground. A sharp pain in his ass made him hiss. When he landed he had trouble drawing in air his, arms were still behind him, grunting through the pain he pulled them back out and laid back on the floor to try and catch his breath. He didn’t know how much time had passed as his body was wracked with lust and pain. Suddenly a bunch of hands grabbed at him. Panic tore through him red and hot. He screamed as he fought them off.

Ram shouldered through the men as he reached for Kade. “Move,” he barked, grabbing the back of Doc’s tactical vest and tossing the man backwards making him yelp in surprise.

“Let him through,” Torres ordered, and they all moved back.

He tossed a blanket over Kade, he was still fighting but Ram could see him tiring quickly. “A?kim.”

Kade froze, his breath sawing in and out as he tried to focus. Strong hands gripped the back of his neck, and yanked him forward. He gasped and struggled until the scent of pine, musk, and Ram hit him. “Ram.”

“Shh, baby I got you.” He wrapped the blanket tight around Kade who moaned, cut his hands free, and stood. He had to get him out of here. “Keep him, I want a word with him.” He gestured to Devin who was out cold on the floor. “Where’s Maria?”

“Next room, probably dead. She was payment for them to capture me. They gave her the same stuff but I couldn’t get to her,” Kade said thickly as he swayed.

Ram easily swung him up into his arms. “Doc, will you meet us in the RV?”

“Yes, of course.” The man nodded, taking a deep breath. Doc rushed out, so glad he had asked Scorpion to get their RV ready for them to escape. It was basically a giant humvee that had been modified to live off grid.

He moved quickly, he desperately wanted to be alone with Kade but he wanted to make sure he was okay first. He easily got him into the RV’s suite. “Can you stand?”

Kade grunted using the wall to lean against as Ram set him on his feet.

“Let me get another blanket to lay on the bed.” Ram pulled one from the tiny makeshift closet and laid it out, but when he turned back to Kade, he had a tight hold on his dick. The angry flesh was an alarming shade of purple and all the veins were prominent making it look almost scary. Kade’s face was a mask of pain as he squeezed tighter. “I’ve got you, baby,” he said as he moved closer.

“Hurts,” Kade whined.

Ram grabbed him and that was all it took. Kade roared as he shot spurt after spurt into Ram’s hands. It went on so long he feared it would damage something. Ram caught him as Kade’s legs buckled, laying him out on the bed and covering him as he went to clean up before Doc arrived. He could already see Kade starting to harden again and was at a loss on what to do.

“I have an antidote for what they gave him, it will take a bit to kick in though,” Doc said as he entered with Scorpion following close behind. He gently injected Kade with it and set about mending the other wounds he could see. “Definitely some broken ribs,” he said when Kade screamed in agony when he pressed down. “Scorp can you hand me the portable x-ray machine in my bag please? I know he won’t want to go to the hospital so this will tell me if they’re clean breaks.”

“Can I take something for the pain?” Kade asked through gritted teeth.

Doc looked up shocked. Kade hated taking drugs.

Ram chuckled, gently caressing Kade’s hair. “You’re only asking because I’m standing right here aren’t you?”

“Yep.” Kade grinned.

Ram snorted. “Can you wait until he checks you and I get all the blood off you or do you need it now?”

“I can wait,” he mumbled.

“Other than some bruises and cuts nothing else seems to be broken.” He hovered the x-ray machine over Kade’s whole body. “The ribs are clean breaks, still gonna hurt like a bitch though. Let me check your head. Can you open your eyes?”

Kade had kept his eyes closed the whole time to try and keep the world from spinning, but judging from the curses something was wrong. “What?” He had to close them, it hurt too much to try and keep them open.

“Pupils are different sizes, you’ve got a concussion so no hardcore pain meds. He’ll need to be woken up every couple hours, or at least monitored.”

Ram nodded. “It’s not like I’m going to be able to sleep anyway so I’ll do it.” Once Doc walked him through the supplies he left, leaving him and Kade alone. “Kade baby you ready for a shower?”

“Yes, Daddy,” he said softly. “I’m all gross.”

Ram smiled as he gently helped him up. “It’s okay baby, I’ll get you clean again.” He helped him sit on the toilet while he got the shower started but winced when Kade hissed. “Easy baby, those are going to hurt for a while.”

Kade frowned. “My ass hurts, not my ribs.”

Shock slammed into Ram, they hadn’t seen anything but had he been raped before they’d been able to get video? “Fuck, Kade did…”

“No.” Kade cut him off. “I think I hit something when I dove to the floor.”

“Let me see.”

Kade could feel his cheeks heat with embarrassment. “It’s okay.”

“Why? Cause you’re HIV positive,” Ram said, teasingly.

Kade’s head reared up. “No, I’m not but that was Devin’s biggest fear…” Warm lips cut him off.

“I know baby, I’m teasing you.” Ram chuckled.

Kade sagged in relief.

“Come on, let me see,” he urged, turning Kade around. “Don’t bend over but widen your stance… yes, just like that, good boy.” He rewarded him with a gentle nibble on one plump cheek as he knelt behind him. He waited until Kade was steady before parting his cheeks. He hissed. “Damn baby.”

“How bad?” Kade tried to focus but Ram’s warm breath on his most private place made him want to crawl out of his skin. He was still feeling the effects of whatever they gave him and while he had more control now he still wanted Ram almost desperately.

“There's about a millimeter thick splinter at the base of your hole.”

“I got fucked by a chair,” Kade sputtered, absolutely disgusted.

Ram snorted at Kade’s bewildered tone. “It’s not funny.”

“Are you kidding me that’s fucking hilarious,” Kade said through a chuckle. “Missed getting fucked by the ex, but didn’t see the chair coming.”

Ram snorted again. “Stay there and let me get it out.” He got the tweezers and some iodine, and numbing cream. “Alright hold still.” He waited for the area to numb up before taking his time extracting the sliver of wood that was hurting his man. “Jesus, gonna have a nice little puncture for a bit,” he mumbled as he set the piece about the length of the first knuckle of his thumb on the counter before he checked to see if there was any more. “Alright baby all done, let’s get you in the shower.”

“You coming?” Kade asked around a yawn, he just wanted to sleep for a week.

“Yeah baby, I’m right behind you.” Ram quickly stripped as he watched Kade sigh happily under the water.