Chapter 1 Two Months Later #3
Without another word and no backward glance, I walked out.
Sitting in my car two minutes later, I stared at the steering wheel, trying to come up with my next step.
As I ran through the options, I knew I had only one.
I hated to do it. There would be a ton of questions I’d have to answer.
While they’d be awkward, I’d do it. It might be the only way for me to discover where she went.
With my resolve in place, I started my car and headed to Dark Patriot headquarters.
I’d talk to the techs who dug up data for us.
I knew it was personal, not work-related, but I’d ask the owners if they had a problem with it.
If they did, I’d have to come up with another idea.
Maybe ask if Everly or her old man, Smoke, in Dublin Falls, where Cassia lived, would do it. I’d pay them for their time.
When I arrived, I didn’t waste time getting my ass up to the top floor.
Margie was seated at her desk outside the owners’ offices.
She and Abigail were the gatekeepers to them, and they both took their jobs seriously.
Her smile made me grin back, though I didn’t have anything to smile about.
Margie could always put me in a better mood.
“Hello, Heath. It’s good to have you back. I heard that Justin was rescued, too. How is he?”
“He’s recovering in the hospital. The doctors think he should be well enough to get out in a week. Once he’s sprung, he’ll spend time in Dublin Falls with his brother, Voodoo, and his cousin, Blade, to finish recovering there with family.”
“I’m happy that he’ll make a full recovery and get time with his family, and that you weren’t hurt. How may I help you?”
“Are any of the bosses available for a couple of minutes? I need to ask them for a favor.”
“Let me check. Have a seat, and I’ll see what I can do,” Margie said sweetly.
She could be a tiger when necessary, and no one got past her.
If someone were stupid enough to try to push past her, she’d call Chuck, her husband.
He was the Patriots’ armorer. He was a former Army veteran who took no shit off anyone.
And someone messing with his wife was one way to have him tear your head off.
She murmured on the phone for a couple of minutes before she hung up and gestured me forward. As I stood at her desk, she nodded.
“Undertaker is between tasks and meetings right now. He said to come back to his office. You know the way.”
“Yes, I do. Thank you, Margie. You’re a lifesaver.”
She blushed when I blew her a kiss.
I didn’t waste time getting to Undertaker’s office.
It was a surprise to see him behind his desk.
He tended to spend as little time as possible there because he was more of a hands-on kind of guy.
And after his years undercover in an outlaw motorcycle club, he was even less comfortable cooped up inside.
Checking him out as he waved me inside, I wanted to grin.
While the other three bosses wore business-appropriate clothing when at the office, Undertaker rarely did.
He wore his standard biker wear and made no apology for it.
It wasn’t like his dressing up would dim his dangerousness.
Sean, Gabe, and Griff could mask theirs.
Undertaker didn’t even attempt it. I closed the door behind me automatically before approaching his desk.
“Take a load off. You look terrible,” he said gruffly.
I sank into a chair.
“Thanks for seeing me. I won’t take much of your time,” I assured him.
“I don’t give a fuck how long it takes. What’s wrong?”
Now that I was here, I fumbled to organize my thoughts before I asked. I took too long. Undertaker stood and came around to my side of the desk. He leaned on the corner of his desk, crossed his arms and ankles, and waited. Those eyes of his drilled into me.
“You can tell me anything, Heath. I thought you knew that,” he stated.
“I do. I’m trying to think where to start to explain how I fucked things up,” I admitted.
“Just tell me. In whatever order the words come out. I can figure it out,” he assured me.
And just like that, the words tumbled out of me.
How Danae and I met. The secret relationship we’d had for four months.
The plan was to introduce her to everyone, but then the call came in about Justin.
How she had moved, and I had no idea where she was.
Undertaker blew out a loud breath when I finished.
“Christ, talk about screwing the pooch. Damn, Heath, I wish you’d opened your mouth that day before you left to find Justin.”
“Tell me about it. I fucked up. I had thought for a moment about saying something, but I knew there’d be a bunch of questions, and time was ticking for Justin.
I left, figuring I’d be gone no more than a week.
I’d told her something like this could happen.
It wasn’t as if she had no idea it wasn’t a possibility,” I weakly defended myself.
Undertaker shook his head. “Man, you may have done that, but women can only go so long before doubts begin to hit them. That’s especially true if they’ve been burned by a guy in the past. Has someone done that to your Danae?”
I thought about what he said before I admitted, “We haven’t gotten into past relationships much. We wanted to live in the here and now, not dredge up history. I see now that was stupid. Just like not telling you guys about her or not having ways to contact her family and friends.”
“Did you give her the names and numbers for us?”
I shook my head.
“Okay, you told her that your disappearance was a possibility, so she knew about your work. Why didn’t she call here and ask?”
My heart sank further. “I never told her the name of the company. She knew the outline of the type of work we do, but not the name,” I confessed softly.
He gave me an incredulous stare as he shook his head. “God, no wonder she fucking moved. Her man leaves their bed, telling her that he’ll be back soon. Then, poof, she sees and hears nothing from you for two months. She thought you fucked her over and moved on.”
“I get that, but she never bothered to call or even send me a text asking where I was or what I was doing,” I argued.
“Why the hell would she? She was no doubt clinging to what remained of her pride and trying to protect her broken heart. Okay, enough debating what you did or didn’t do. The issue at hand is that you want to find her. I assume it’s because you still want to be with her.”
“I fucking love her! I want to marry her. I can’t just shrug and say, ‘Oh well, I guess I’ll find someone else.
’ There is no one else for me. I’ve got to find her and do everything in my power to get her to forgive me.
I can’t live without her.” As I spoke, my voice rose in volume so that by the time I paused, I was half shouting.
Not a good idea with Undertaker. The smirk on his face took me aback.
“Why are you laughing at me?” I snapped.
“That’s what I needed to hear. You clearly love her and will do whatever you can to make up for it and win her back.
Good. So, let me guess, since you struck out at her old apartment complex, you want to see if someone in our tech support can find where she’s living. ” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yeah, that’s why I asked to see one of you.
I know they’re busy, and it’s using company resources.
I’m willing to pay for their time. If that’s not feasible, then I’ll see if Everly or Smoke in Dublin Falls can help me.
I’d go with someone else if I knew they were trustworthy, but I tend to trust only our own or the clubs we know. ”
“Smart to limit your trust, and you don’t have to go to Dublin Falls.
You’re ours. We take care of our friends and people.
We’ll see who can do it. And don’t talk about payment.
That’s insulting. And we’re partly to blame for this whole fiasco for not allowing you even a moment to make a call.
No one knew you were involved with someone, and your family issue is known to the inner circle.
Honestly, we didn’t know you had anyone to call,” Undertaker admitted.
“I get it. I don’t blame you. I should’ve spoken up instead of assuming I’d be back in a few days. I know how things can become FUBAR, Fucked Up Beyond All Reason, more than most. Thank you.”
Nodding, Undertaker came fully to his feet. He pointed to the door. “Let’s go see who can help us.”
A couple of minutes later, we found ourselves in the giant hive that served as the Dark Patriots’ tech support center.
Some employees worked remotely, but several came in every day to this bustling center.
They conducted research, followed leads, monitored missions, checked security feeds from numerous locations, and more.
Everyone appeared to be busy. I wondered who we should approach.
Undertaker decided that for us. I was surprised when he zeroed in on Makayla.
She was added to the team a little over four years ago.
What I needed done was way beneath her. Makayla was one of those people the team went to when they needed to find something hidden deep or required getting into an impenetrable system.
Well, it was impenetrable in other people’s minds.
She was close to the level of Smoke and Everly.
She glanced up when our shadows fell over her. She gave us a small smile.
“Hello. What can I do for you?” she asked.
“Good morning,” I replied.
“Morning, Makayla. We wondered if you had time to help out Heath here. It’s not strictly business-related, at least not entirely. Are you in the middle of something time-sensitive?” Undertaker asked.
“I have room if it’s not something that’ll take hours a day, or if it does, then you don’t need it ASAP.”
Undertaker glanced over at me and waved his hand. I checked that no one was watching or nearby. Even though they weren’t, I lowered my voice.
“I need you to find someone. I have a name, last known address, and date of birth. I need to know where she moved to, and I’d like it as soon as I can get it.”
As I told her this, I briefly considered trying to find Danae at work rather than take up Makayla’s time.
Shit, I hadn’t thought of the clinic. As soon as the idea popped into my head, I dismissed it.
If I showed up at her job and caused a disturbance, Danae would never forgive me.
It would be my last resort if Makayla struck out.
“That shouldn’t take long, unless she had professional help to disappear,” she replied.
“No, I don’t believe she has the ability to do that,” I said.
“Okay, then hit me with the vital stats,” Makayla said cheerfully.
It took me no more than a minute to give her what I knew. She jotted it on a tablet next to her hand.
“I’ll let you know when I have an address. No worries, I’ll find her.”
I had a bloodhound on my woman’s trail. After thanking her, Undertaker and I left her to work. Out in the hallway, I thanked him again. He squeezed my shoulder.
“We’ll find her. And if you need us to speak to her so she knows it wasn’t a blow off, let me know. Until you say otherwise, I won’t tell the others about this.”
“Thanks. I appreciate this more than you know.”
He waved my thanks away, and we proceeded down the hallway. We fell into talking about Justin and how he was doing. It was good to focus on something else for a little bit.