18. Digger
18
DIGGER
Don’t need to panic, asshole. Deep breath. I push the small door open and step out onto the clubhouse's roof, checking my quiet spot as a last resort.
Rae wasn't in her room. She wasn't in the kitchen or the garage. No sign of her in the hall of fame or anywhere in the yard. I swept the common area twice and finished up in Tyke's office before I assailed her phone with unanswered calls and ran the halls again, ending up here.
Where the fuck is she? Gaze darting over the yard below, I snap my eyes left and frown. Fuck. How did I not notice that the first time? The steel roofing groans under my hurried steps. I launch downstairs two at a time and land in the living area with a resounding thud that turns heads.
“Where’s Jamie?”
“Over here, Dig.” Minion’s girl rises from a sofa behind the fireplace and steps into view. “What d’you need?”
"Who's using the truck? Do you know?" If it isn't her getting supplies for the run, somebody's got it.
And money’s on it being my misplaced woman.
“Didn’t realize it was gone." She glances at Harvey. "Do you know?"
He shakes his head. “Why?” He pushes out of his seat and moves toward me. “What’s happening?”
“Seen Rae?”
“Not since she stormed out of the old man’s office, but that was, like, an hour ago.”
Motherfucker. I know they watch me as I spin, ripping my phone from my pocket while I walk. Know Harvey tails me as I head through the hallway, punching through the device until I reach the number I need. His keen gray gaze fixes on me as I set the phone down on the counter, connect the call to the speaker, and help myself to the arsenal.
Sure enough, there’s an empty hook where the truck keys should be.
“Y’ello.” The call connects, snapping me back to the task at hand.
“Ty. It’s Digger, man.”
“Oh, hey.” One of the notorious crew who run by the name of the Butcher Boys. He's our contact when it comes to anything digital. “I spoke to Turnip earlier this morning, man. He not fill you in? I've got no updates on her whereabouts. Whoever took Tyke's daughter knows where the cameras are in that town, and with it being so predominantly rural, there are fuck all private caches I can tap into. I've got no leads on their direction after leaving that farm."
"I ain't calling about Maddie," I say, eyeing Harvey as he settles against the doorframe, arms folded over his chest. "Got another issue, brother, and it's time-sensitive."
“Sure. But you know rush jobs don’t come for free, right?”
"I'll pay you whatever the fuck you want." Saving for a rainy day was always the plan and today? It's pouring. "I need you to track our truck. It left the yard within the last hour."
Tapping comes through the line, echoed by the clicks as I load the clip in my hand.
“Sure. So, I’ve got it passing the first intersection, but it doesn’t go any further than that.” More tapping. "Gimme a second. There's a house down the road I came across in my search for Maddie…"
“Can you tell who’s inside?”
Harvey steps into the room, and Jamie slides in to take his vacated spot. I shouldn't do this in front of the kids, but then again, when's too soon for them to learn? If anything happens to their fathers or me on this ride next week, they’ll want to know who to call for help.
"So, there are two women. The driver is an older lady with blonde wavy hair and a blue shirt, and the other is younger, with dark hair and a printed T-shirt. They're both wearing leather over their shirts, so I'm guessing they're your girls."
“Sweetie,” Jamie whispers, brow pinched. “Maybe they shot out to do errands?”
“Rae won’t answer her phone.” Or can’t. I don’t want to entertain the second option.
“She was mad at you guys when she stormed off,” Harvey points out. “Maybe she ain’t answerin’ because she doesn’t want to talk to you yet?”
Maybe. But logic says that when somebody calls your phone repeatedly, one after the other, six times in a row, they need to get in touch. People generally don't ignore calls like that.
"I got something else," Ty interjects from the open call. "They turned on Ashfield Road. It's the last I can give you, though. They're off the radar after that, and I don't get them at the tail end of the road. They've stopped somewhere in between."
Only one property I know of out that way. “Yeah, that’s good. Thanks, Ty.”
“I’ll send you a link to pay. Hope you find who you’re after.”
He disconnects, and I punch the button to send the phone to sleep.
“What you gonna do?” Harvey breaks the silence, focusing on the weapons I have laid out, ready for use.
“Go find out why the fuck she won’t answer her phone.” He could be right. Maybe Sweetie did take her somewhere to get her head straight. The only place I’m familiar with off Ashfield Road is the house she once shared with Buzz.
As far as I know, she hasn’t been back there in years, but I never heard anything about her selling the property.
“You want company?”
I look over his shoulder and lift my chin at Jamie. “Wanna go for a ride?”
The grin devours her face in a split second. “Hell yeah.”
Minion will kick my ass for allowing her on a bike, but the girl knows how to ride, and she’ll be useful if Rae is indeed reluctant to talk to me. “Pack this,” I say, sliding a loaded Ruger across the counter toward her.
“I’m coming too.” Harvey retrieves his piece from the cabinet and checks the clip.
Not so many years ago, brothers would walk these halls with their weapons holstered to their side. In our grandfather’s time, it wasn't unheard of for a man to keep a rifle slung over his back as he rode the streets. It was part show of power and part protection from the enemies Method would make in every dark and dusty corner of the state.
But Tyke put a stop to that.
Right after two brothers got into a brawl in the middle of the clubhouse, and one discharged two shots into the leg of the other.
In front of his young children.
Gun safety is paramount, and while these kids have known how to handle a weapon from a young age, they know that the damn things only come out when we mean business, which is why Harvey packs his pocket with a second clip and passes extra bullets to Jamie.
"Are you sure about this?" he asks, glancing at the girl while she's occupied. "She gets hurt…"
“And I’ll deal with it.” If Minion wanted her out of the business, he wouldn’t have had her driving the truck to a fucking pick-up the other night. He wouldn’t have taught her self-defense, how to protect herself, and where to go should shit turn south.
He wants his girl safe, but he wants her eyes open, too.
Besides, I don’t have much choice when all the officers are otherwise occupied in what fast becomes the great Easter egg hunt of fucking Red River.
“I’m not expectin’ to find much,” I tell them both as I head for the door, jamming the gun in the back of my waistband. “But it pays to be prepared, especially with the shit goin’ down right now.”
Knowing Rae is with Sweetie is some comfort, but the fact that she's radio silent still doesn't sit well. The older woman could no doubt protect her if she wanted to, but it's not her job.
It’s mine.
And Tyke’s.
Speaking of which… I duck back and retrieve the damn phone I’d left on the counter in my haste and punch out a message to Tyke as I stride toward the garage.
Rae's gone off-site. In the truck with Sweetie. Heading out to meet up with them.
“Do I get to take the witch’s broom?” Jamie asks, jogging to catch up with me.
I huff a laugh. "Fuck no. Not after what happened last time someone used it." Maybe Tyke's right. Perhaps it is cursed. "You can use the Monster."
“But that’s Rigs’ spare bike.” Her eyes go wide as we cross into the yard.
“I know. But if things turn bad, I want you to get the fuck out of there, not nanna your way down the road on a fucking cruiser.”
"You think things are going to be that dangerous?" She scoffs. "Rae's with Sweetie. Worst you can expect is a verbal dressing down from her and maybe a hand across the face from Rae if you get too cocky."
If only it were that simple. “Maybe.”
But I know one thing these kids don’t.
One thing that has my heart rate sitting higher than it needs to be.
Sweetie’s old man, Buzz, was Fox’s best friend before the club threw our brother’s ass to the curb. And who was she fucking on the side before she got tied to Buzz?
Ten points for guessing right.
Fox.