Chapter Ten
Riley moaned as she rolled over and held her throbbing arm.
Tears stung her eyes as she thought of Tara and hoped she escaped.
The dark room added to her misery. The light turned on from outside the door, alerting her to when someone planned to enter.
She desperately needed to pee and wondered if they planned to kill her.
The light flickered on, and Kenny entered the room. Riley scanned the area, hoping to find something. She only noticed a bucket in the corner of the room. At least she could relieve her bladder after he left.
“Do you want to talk now? Little girl, you have no idea who you’re dealing with. I told you to get close to him and find out about the money. Did you honestly believe I worried about ten grand?” he asked as he circled her.
“I don’t know the man. How did you expect me to know how much money he has? He works as a ranch hand.” she said, defending herself.
“Oh, he’s worth a lot more. What do you say about us striking up a deal?” Kenny hunched down and moved the hair away from her face. “Maybe we can come to a compromise. After all, I let your sister go.”
“You didn’t let her go. She got away. There’s a big difference,” Riley spat.
Kenny gripped her hair tighter as Bernice called out from the other side of the door. “Kenny, what are you doing?” she whined. “She’s worthless. We need to figure out how to get Garrett’s money.”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” he yelled. “Pack your bags. We’re leaving as soon as I’m done here.”
“Let me in,” she begged, scratching at the door.
The woman sounded utterly pathetic. Riley rolled her eyes as Kenny rose and opened the door. “What the hell do you want?”
Bernice walked up to Riley and kicked her hard in the thigh. “That’s for screwing things up. If you did what we wanted, Kenny wouldn’t have to keep you here, and we’d have our money.”
Riley sucked in a breath as her leg throbbed to a different beat than her arm.
“Listen, bitch,” she seethed. “I don’t know the man. You said to find out where he kept the money. I told you the bank’s name and gave you the ten grand he gave me. If you don’t remember, he hit me with his truck, and I still gave you the money.”
“We told you to get close to him,” Bernice screeched. “Did he say if he invested it?”
“I didn’t ask him because he hit me, we outran a tornado, and he gave me compensation. You said you kept my sister here because she scratched a bike. The funds will pay for it. There’s no reason for you to keep me here,” Riley shouted, earning another kick to her thigh.
“He probably gave you more. Did you hide it?” Bernice accused her as she wedged herself between Riley and Kenny.
“If he did, I wouldn’t tell you. I’ll need it for my medical bills. You broke my arm,” Riley sneered.
Kenny reared back and kicked her hard and then stomped on the lower part of her leg. “You’ll give me whatever you have,” he ordered.
Riley whimpered as she curled into a ball. Nausea rose in her throat as she cried out in unbearable pain. It felt like he shattered the bone into tiny pieces.
“Where’s the rest of the money?” Kenny roared.
“Fuck you,” she shouted. A hard slap across the face made her head roll. Darkness descended in the corners of her eyes, as the pain radiated from her head to her toes.
“Maybe you need a little more time in here. I’ll tell Stitch you asked for him. He’s on a run for me and when he returns, I’m sure he’ll be happy to check on you.”
Riley didn’t respond. Her body screamed in agony, and she wished they’d get it over with and kill her.
Maybe if she made them angry enough, they’d finish the job.
Tara got away, and when Riley didn’t show up at the bus station in Corpus Christie, Tara would know she didn’t make it.
Death was the only thing able to keep them apart.
“Come on, Kenny. You promised to take me shopping,” Bernice said, tugging on his arm. “She’s not going anywhere. Let the boys have her. They’re complaining about the other women.”
“I’ll be back. You’ve got about two hours before Stitch comes back to tell me what I want to know. If I find out you’re hiding anything, I’ll comb this town from top to bottom. When I find your little sister, I’ll give her to the men.”
Riley babbled incoherently as worry filled her. She didn’t have anything but the money she gave Tara. Hopefully, by now, she boarded the bus and escaped from this small town.
Her mom didn’t want them to live a hard life on a ranch. She insisted they go to school. Riley loved the outdoors. She loved riding horses and wrangling cows. Tara, on the other hand, hated ranch life. She wanted to go to college. Mom left each of them a sum of money and a note.
Riley still recalled opening the envelope and reading her mother’s last piece of advice.
Riley,
You were born to this land. As a baby, the only way I calmed you down was letting you run barefoot in the grass and pet your pony.
You’ve always ridden into the wind while Tara waits for it.
Never lose your spirit and watch out for each other.
I’m counting on you to care for the family.
Your father’s a good man, but a bit of a dreamer.
I know you’ll make the right choices. I’ll try to guide you along the way. I’ll always be in your heart.
Remember: A good fence should be pig-tight, horse-high, and bull-strong. Do a good job and no shortcuts.
Love,
Mom
Riley whimpered and cried as she moved her leg.
Tears flowed from her cheeks as she scooted to the bucket.
Her need to vomit overtook her urge to pee.
She rolled back on the floor, still holding her arm to her chest. She imagined what her mom might say now.
Riley smiled as she conjured her mom’s tough voice.
“Riley Marie, if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.”
The problem was, she didn’t have anyone to give her a hand out.
Jameson walked in and sat at the bar. He wore a leather jacket and scanned the room as Matthew used facial recognition to identify the men playing pool or sipping drinks.
“The man to your left is Samuel Clemmons, AKA Roadrunner. He runs drugs with a bigger biker affiliate in Dallas. They must be spreading their territory. He spent time in Three Rivers for drug possession. Tell him you recognize him from there and worked with Jade,” Matthew said in his ear.
Jameson cocked his head as he picked up his beer. “Roadrunner? Is that you?” he asked, surprised.
“Who wants to know?” the man bristled as his eye narrowed toward Jameson.
“I spent some time in Three Rivers working with Jade. The name’s Jameson, like the whiskey,” he said smoothly while he sipped his beer. “I recently got out and came in to celebrate. The damn parole officer seems to know every bar between here and Dallas. I decided to take a detour.”
Roadrunner chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve enjoyed a couple of them. Wait until they leave the house, then leave them a special present. They’ll back off once they know you can get to them at any time.”
“Good to know. I can’t say I enjoyed my first stint there. I’m damn sure not going back over a bottle of beer,” Jameson said, motioning for the bartender for another round. “What’s your poison?”
“I’ll take a beer,” Roadrunner said as he sat beside Jameson. “What’s Jade up to these days?”
“He got shanked three days ago, and he’s spending time in the medical ward,” Matthew told him through the coms.
Jameson leaned back against the bar, surveying the place. “The asshole got himself shanked a few days ago.”
“Man, that sucks. Do they think he’ll make it?” Roadrunner asked as he accepted the cold bottle.
“He’ll live,” Matthew informed Jameson.
“The fucker has nine lives,” Jameson said, chuckling and taking a long swig. “Hey, you wouldn’t know where I can get a hit, do you? I’m jumping out of my skin.”
“I don’t have anything here. Let me make a call first,” Roadrunner said as he moved from the stool and went outside.
“Shit, boys, Roadrunner’s not as stupid as we thought. He’s calling for confirmation,” Jameson said under his breath.
“We got it covered,” Julio said, sounding calm.
Garrett wanted to nab the jerk and make him take him to Riley, but he admired the way the team worked together.
He hated bikers, most likely due to his mother’s last boyfriend, Kenny.
Logically, he knew there were good ones, but Kenny epitomized the lowest of scum.
“He’s coming back in,” Matthew said, giving Jameson a heads-up.
“You checked out. Do you have a bike here?” Roadrunner asked, leaning against the bar.
“All right, Garrett, let’s see what you got. Wait until Jameson walks past—” Julio instructed when Garrett interrupted.
“I’m not a damn idiot. I’ve worked a few ops in my time,” he growled as he slunk behind the building, waiting for Jameson to lead the man out. He held a tranquilizer in his hand, and the man would never know what hit him.
Jameson sauntered toward the area and passed Garrett, who slid out of his hiding place and jabbed the man in the neck.
Roadrunner let out a feral cry as he leaped for Jameson’s throat. Jameson jabbed him with his fist, hitting the man in the face, but the biker kept coming.
“Shit,” Garrett said as Roadrunner grabbed Jameson by the neck, choking him against the wall of the building. He wrapped his arm around Roadrunner’s neck and squeezed. The man refused to go down.
“What the hell did you have in that shot? Saline?” Jameson hissed as he coughed.
“There’s enough tranquilizer to knock down a bull,” Julio said, disbelieving what he saw.
Roadrunner thrashed around and slammed Garrett against the building, causing him to grunt.
“Come on, asshole, get this son-of a-bitch off me,” Garrett said as the man slammed him against the building harder.
Jameson swung his fist, sending one of the man’s teeth flying. Roadrunner smiled as blood ran down his chin.
“What the hell,” Jameson exclaimed as he reared back and hit the man again while Garrett increased the pressure on the man’s neck.
Roadrunner slowed and began to weave as Garrett tightened his hold. The man fell to his knees and finally dropped to the ground. Jameson held his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.
“How long do you think he’ll stay out?” Garrett asked, breathing hard.
“Shit, if I know. It’s supposed to knock him out immediately. Help me get him in the bushes,” Jameson said as he grabbed a leg. “We gotta get him hidden before someone else comes out.”
“You’ll need his jacket to get into the compound,” Garrett reminded him.
“Yeah, great. Thanks for the reminder. It’s bad enough the man tried to choke me, now I get to wear his smelly freakin’ jacket,” Jameson snarked.
“My back has brick imprints on it while you yanked your wiener. Didn’t they teach you anything in the military?” Garrett said, grinning.
“Keep it up, asshole. You realize I’m headed into the lion’s den to get your woman. Maybe she’ll develop a hero complex and dump your ass. Besides, you look like a freaking grizzly,” Jameson harassed him.
“You got it. I’m mean, have a memory like a vault, and I can hunt anything down,” Garrett bragged.
“We know you don’t know how to get your asses moving,” Julio interrupted their razzing. “Matthew’s moving to the site. He has Tara and Rachel with him. She’ll see if she can recognize the building where they kept her.”
“Leaving now, boss,” Jameson said, getting on Roadrunner’s bike. “Don’t worry, I’ll find her.”
“I’m counting on it,” Garrett said as he headed to his truck. He lagged behind and turned off before the building came into sight. Getting out of his truck, he jogged toward the area Julio instructed him to breach once Jameson gave them the heads-up.
Jameson’s words stung. Riley wasn’t his woman, but her blonde hair and startling blue eyes appealed to him.
Jealousy ate at him at the thought of Riley liking Jameson.
If the dude took a shower, cut his hair, and trimmed his beard, he probably wasn’t ugly.
Did Riley go for his type? He shook his thoughts away as he drew closer to the buildings.
The security appeared lacking, which ran in their favor.
Hopefully, they found Riley before any harm came to her.
Bikers didn’t need a cause to hurt a woman.
They took what they wanted, but they wouldn’t be taking Riley.