Chapter 7 #2
“The club needs to vanish,” Red warned. “Everyone who can get out of the city should. The cartel will come after them too.”
“We’re dealing with it,” Craig said.
“And why the fuck is CDR involved in this shady bullshit?”
Craig sighed. “Not my decision, brother. I wouldn’t have gone near this, nor would Quinn. But it’s above our paygrade. I’m a Biker Daddy Bodyguard. The only thing I care about is keeping Kit alive. He needs us. The rest of it is in Dominic’s hands, including Tony.”
Red gave a curt nod. That was all he was interested in too. The wolf patch he’d been so proud to wear was coming off his jacket. The club was dead to him. “I’m going to check on Kit.”
“You keep your hands off my brother. He’s not for you,” Tony snapped. “Do you hear me?”
Red got in Tony’s space, almost nose-to-nose with him. He saw Tony’s eyes widen, and realized he wasn’t used to being challenged like this. Red knew he could be intimidating when he was angry. Good. He needed Tony to know their friendship was over.
“You forfeited your rights to tell me what to do. Kit is no longer your concern. Anything that happens between me and Kit is down to us, not you. Do you hear me?”
Tension crackled between them. Red waiting, expecting Tony to take a swing at him. He’d always been known for his volatile temper. Red knew Craig would have his back, but he could put Tony on the floor. The man wasn’t used to fighting.
Thump!
Tony looked up, distracted by the sudden noise, as if someone was running across the roof.
“Either Santa’s arrived early or Kit has decided to run away,” Craig drawled.
Red huffed out a breath.
“From the shouting, I’m guessing it’s not Santa.”
They all heard Jace yelling for Red from the top of the stairs.
“This conversation isn’t over,” Tony snarled.
Red didn’t look back as he bolted out of the kitchen. Tony wasn’t his concern.
“Red! Where the fuck are you?” Jace bellowed. The man had an impressive set of lungs.
“Here. I’m here. Where’s Kit.”
Red took the stairs three at a time until he reached Jace who led him into Kit’s bedroom and pointed to the bathroom. How the heck had he gotten it open? Red swore he’d taken all the keys for the windows.
“He climbed through the bathroom window. I followed him out but he’d already gone.”
“That was you on the roof?”
Jace grimaced. “Yeah. When I realized it was too quiet and he didn’t answer, I broke into the bathroom and squeezed out to see if I could find him. I’m not built like your boy. I nearly got stuck.”
“Have you notified Padraig?”
“Yes, the team are searching for him in the grounds now.”
“Dammit, what are you playing at, Kit?” Red muttered under his breath. “Did he say anything to you?”
Jace shook his head. “He just mentioned about needing the bathroom and locked the door before I could say anything.”
Red looked at the narrow window. “I ain’t getting through there.” He was too broad—everywhere—to squeeze out onto the roof.
“Right? I nearly lost any chance to become a dad again trying to get through there. My wife would not be happy.”
If Red hadn’t been so worried for Kit, he would have found that funny. As it was, he barely cracked a smile.
“I’m going to put that boy across my lap—” Red stopped, realizing he wasn’t talking to another Daddy, but Jace just nodded his agreement. He’d been around the Biker Daddy Bodyguards too long to turn a hair at something like a spanking.
Red backtracked into the bedroom and flung open the window which was larger.
He climbed out onto a small balcony and edged along to the bathroom window.
If no one had heard Kit on the roof, maybe he didn’t go across it.
Maybe he went down. Red looked at the window, then over the edge to the ground below.
Unless Kit had turned into a spider monkey, there was no way he’d climbed down the side of the club house.
It wasn’t a huge drop but there was nothing to hang onto.
Then Red turned his head and looked along the building.
There was a fire escape and stairs on the far end of the wall.
All Kit had to do was navigate along the roof and he had his escape.
He was lithe and muscled. It wouldn’t have been hard for him.
Red pointed to the stairs to Jace who pulled a face.
“You’re going to expect me to follow him, aren’t you?”
“You’re half my size and half my age,” Red said, somewhat exaggerating, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t built for climbing across rooftops. “I’ll meet you at the bottom.”
He ignored Jace’s grumbling as he ran down the stairs, meeting Craig and Tony in the hall. Craig was clearly talking to the team in the grounds.
“Have you found him?” Tony demanded.
“No. I think he went down the fire escape.”
Tony nodded. “That sounds like him. He used to take that route when he was a teenager and didn’t want to do his homework.”
“Where did he go? Is there someone he would run to?”
Tony shook his head. “I can’t think of anyone.”
Craig joined them, his expression grim. “Tony, I’ve got to move you—now.”
“I’m not leaving when you’ve lost my brother.”
That stung but he had a point. Kit had vanished and they didn’t have a clue where he was.
“I’m sorry, Tony. It has to be now.” Craig looked at Red. “Intel says the cartel are on their way. You have to find him and soon. I can’t keep the team here much longer.”
Red gave a grim nod. His protection detail wasn’t there to face off with psychotic killers.
“Pull everyone else back. Leave Jace and Padraig with me. If Kit has done a runner, at least he’s not on the grounds.”
Craig looked at Tony. “Let’s go.”
“But—”
“No, times up. We’re going now.”
Red eyed Craig with growing respect. He’d always considered him to be Quinn Ryder’s sidekick, the friendlier, softer, junior partner. But this man was one that wasn’t going to be ignored.
As Craig herded him to the door, Tony said, “Red, the old pond. There’s a shack. We used to have BBQ there.”
Red’s eyes widened. “I know it.”
He grabbed his jacket, and on impulse, collected Kit’s on the hook by the door. The boy had been wearing a thin top. Unless there had been something in the bathroom to wear, he had to be frozen.
He didn’t have time to pack for Kit now. They would have to buy new clothes for him when they were well away from here.
If they got away.