Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
ZERO
The reason Battle’s crew hadn’t been at the clubhouse was because they were all searching for Battle’s little sister.
After Prez agreed to help, we got the full story.
She’d been at their clubhouse that was minimally manned with most of Battle’s crew out here causing trouble for ours.
The clubhouse was attacked by an enemy of Battle’s, the girl snatched during the chaos.
After several hours without a hint of where she’d gone, Battle had set aside his pride to come to us.
With Wraith, Mojave, and even the prospect Rick, who was a PI, we had the kind of experience he needed to find her.
We hit the road en masse. Battle’s territory was outside the city, far enough away from ours to make finding his sister more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.
Most of the crew was sent south. We were close to the border, and Battle said the guys who took her dabbled in human trafficking.
If they managed to cross the border with her, it’d be nearly impossible to find her again.
We wanted to prevent them from getting near it.
Thanks to Wraith, all our helmets had bluetooth, so we could all check in and keep Prez updated.
He was mission control, working not only with us, but with Hernandez and Gillespie to see if they had any information.
We couldn’t ask them to join in the search, not with the shit Battle got up to regularly.
Landing him behind bars while searching for his sister wouldn’t make him inclined to keep his promise to get the hell out of our town, but when Prez explained a teen was missing, they both agreed to check in with nearby precincts to see if there was any chatter they could share about her whereabouts.
My phone rang and I answered it, eyes locked on my surroundings for any hint of another crew. “Yeah?”
“Where are you?” Prez asked.
Pulling off to the side of the road, I answered, “On highway 146. No signs of anything yet.”
“Hold on. Wraith has some information for you.”
He must’ve handed off the phone because the VP’s voice came over the line. “Zero? How far south are you on 146?”
“Dunno, man. There aren’t any mile markers I can see. I’ve been driving for like an hour, though.”
There was tapping on his end, like he was typing something, then he spoke again. “You should be coming up on a town soon. We think it’s a possible location they’re holding her. Hang tight. We don’t want you going there alone. One of Battle’s guys shouldn’t be far behind you.”
Yeah, no shit. We were all given the same instruction. No approaching places alone. If we had suspicions, we called it in and waited for backup from one of the Hellfire Riders. They were the ones who carried weapons. We weren’t going into gunfights unarmed.
I wasn’t happy about working with the same guys who threatened Jasper, but I put up with it, riding alongside the guy after he pulled up beside me.
The town Wraith directed us to looked mostly abandoned, half the streetlights off or broken.
The only place with any vehicles out front was a shady looking motel with half the neon letters flickering.
Two trucks and at least four bikes as far as I could tell.
We passed it, heading to the edge of town and out of sight behind a house that was more scraps than walls.
After shutting off the engine, the Hellfire Rider reached into his jacket, pulling out a pistol and offering it to me.
“No.” I put my hands up, leaning away from him. “I’ve got two kids at home. I’m not getting put away for murder.”
Surprisingly, he didn't argue with me. Just tucked the weapon away with a shrug. “You should stay here then. If this is who we think it is, then you’ll just be a soft target in the way.”
He threw his leg over his bike, preparing to go on foot to the motel to confront whoever was there. I stopped him with a hand outstretched, giving him a look. “Are you fucking nuts? I counted four bikes and two trucks. That’s a minimum of six people, maybe more.”
“I can handle it,” he argued with a scowl.
“Maybe you can, but can she?” I snapped back. “If they’ve got the girl here, you showing up guns blazing would only put her at risk.”
He threw his hands into the air, frustrated. “So what, then? We just sit here? With them doing god knows what with her? She’s sixteen and fuckin’ gorgeous, man. I wouldn’t be surprised if they passed her around. I can’t just sit here.”
Another lone engine cut through the air, coming from the east instead of the north like I had.
I shot a text to Prez for an update, and got one back letting me know Mojave had arrived.
Stepping closer to the road, I put my hand up in greeting, stepping back as he pulled up alongside the two of us.
Shutting off his engine, he looked between the two of us with suspicious eyes.
“Did you find her?”
“Not yet.” I shook my head. “There’s a bunch of bikes and trucks in front of the motel though.”
He nodded, slipping off his helmet and resting it on the handles. “I’ll do recon. Stay here.”
The Hellfire Rider shot me an incredulous look as Mojave walked away. “Why the hell didn’t you stop him?”
Rolling my eyes, I drawled, “He’s prior special forces. He knows how to get in and out unseen. You have that kind of experience?”
That shut him up quick. He still glowered at me, but his phone rang a minute later and the call kept him distracted for a little while at least.
After what happened with Rooster, part of me wanted to chase after Mojave.
I knew it wasn’t the same situation, Mojave was more than qualified to do recon on his own, but it still bothered me.
I didn’t want to be the brother who let two of his crew get hurt because he was too much of a coward to follow them.
The Hellfire Rider hung up, moving to stand behind me at the corner of the dilapidated house, peeking around it like I was.
“Battle’s on his way. It’s lookin’ more and more like this is the spot.
Two of your guys managed to track the bikes that left the clubhouse using street cameras or whatever.
” He shot me a scowl. “How the hell did a clean crew end up with two hackers?”
I snorted. “Not hackers. One’s a tech genius, the other is a PI. All above board.” I frowned at the dark road, the flickering streetlight casting shadows on the empty town. Where the hell was Mojave?
“Shouldn’t your guy be back already?” the Hellfire rider said accusingly. “Thought he was only doing recon.”
I shot him a dirty look, but before I could respond that not all of us were trigger happy like they were, a snap of a twig behind us made me jump and spin around.
The Hellfire Rider pulled out his pistol in a rush, just as jumpy as I felt, but before he could do anything stupid like shoot, I grabbed his arm to stop him.
“Wait. That’s Mojave.”
My crewmate slipped through the shadows, and he didn't come alone. A disheveled girl clung to his arm, feet bare and eyes wide with fear.
“Kim!” the Hellfire Rider hissed, shoving his weapon away as he hurried to grab her. The relief on her face to see someone familiar was obvious and she released Mojave to go to him once she knew it was safe.
Shooting a stunned look at Mojave, I whispered, “Dude, what the hell? You were only supposed to do recon. We aren’t supposed to go in alone.”
Mojave shrugged, unconcerned. “She was alone in a room with the window open. I cut the screen and she got out on her own.”
Well, that wasn’t what I expected. It did put us at risk, though.
“We need to get out of here. Once they realize she’s missing, they’ll scour the area. We can’t be here when they do,” I insisted.
Mojave didn’t argue, heading for his bike, but the Hellfire Rider shook his head.
“I’m not going anywhere until those assholes are handled.
” He pushed the girl toward me, jabbing a finger at my bike.
“Go with the Dirty Devils. Those goody goodies won’t lay a hand on you. They’ll take you to your brother.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but I wasn’t about to stand around while they bitched at each other.
Every second we waited was a second too long in my opinion.
I threw my leg over my bike, pulling a spare helmet I had in my saddle bags out and tossing it at Battle’s guy.
He plopped it on her head and physically moved her, ignoring her hissing arguments about him staying behind alone being idiotic.
I agreed with her, but I could tell by the look on his face, he wasn’t going to back down.
Mojave’s head tipped like he was listening to something. “More Hellfires will be here in a few minutes. We need to go.”
The girl swung around, glaring at him. “Yeah, right. You’re just lying to get me on the bike.”
Mojave didn’t even blink. “I don’t care if you get on the bike or not. We did our job. Got you out safe. Your brother has to keep his end of the deal now. Let’s go, Zero.”
His voice was so cold and matter-of-fact, it was a little creepy. Like he didn’t have any emotions or give a shit at all if the girl lived or died. Dude seriously needed to be around people more. He was forgetting how to interact with people.
With some shoving, Battle’s guy got the girl on the back of my bike. She was still pissed about it, but I didn't give her a chance to argue, firing up my engine and following Mojave back the way he came. With miles to go, I used the bluetooth feature to call Prez back.
“Yeah?”
“We’ve got her. We’re on our way home.”