Chapter 2
COURTNEY
I was exhausted the following morning when I went to work.
After spending most of the night searching every inch of Sabrina’s room and our shared space, I only managed to get about three hours of sleep.
Getting up and ready for a day at the bank was rough, but I didn’t call out sick because I needed to be there to put my new plan into motion.
By the end of my shift, I was a bundle of nerves. The opportunity to look up the information that I needed hadn’t come all day long. But with my coworkers focused on reconciling their drawers, I was finally able to run a quick search on the account I was looking for—Hounds of Hellfire MC.
When I crawled into bed to try to get a little sleep at two thirty in the morning, I thought I was doomed because I hadn’t found a single clue as to where Sabrina might’ve gone.
The only things she had left behind in her room were uniforms from all the jobs where she’d been fired or quit.
I even dug through the pockets, desperate to find the smallest hint of her whereabouts. But there was nothing.
It wasn’t until I was half-asleep that it hit me…I’d heard her whispering on her phone a couple of days before she left. Something about the Hounds, which I had thought was an odd term for her to use since she wasn’t a fan of dogs. Or cats. Or any kind of pet, really.
It had been the middle of the night, and I was half-asleep while getting up to use the bathroom, so I had just shrugged it off as misunderstanding what she had said. But thinking back on that night, she’d been acting weirder than usual. So I pulled out my laptop and did a little internet sleuthing.
I was surprised to find there was a motorcycle club a few towns over called the Hounds of Hellfire, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were somehow involved in her disappearance.
After more digging online, I found no bad stuff about the club.
No news reports about trouble they caused or members getting arrested, like what you’d see with motorcycle clubs on television shows.
They owned a lot of stuff in Riverstone, including some business names that I recognized from work.
Bluesky was a regional bank, and most locals kept accounts with us. That was also apparently true of the Hounds of Hellfire MC.
Without any other leads, I figured a quick check of the bank’s system couldn’t hurt as long as I didn’t get caught. I hoped I’d find an address listed on an account that wasn’t public. Maybe a place where they’d hide a person…or at least some paperwork to help me find Sabrina.
It was a long shot, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And I was stunned to discover that my bet paid off.
There was an account with an address on one of the old county roads owned by the same LLC listed on the bar I’d read about last night, The Open Road.
I’d never been out that way, but if the area was anything like the county roads surrounding my town, it would be the perfect place to hide stuff from prying eyes.
I was just about to jot down the address when the teller directly to my left said, “Hey, Courtney.”
My head jerked up, and I glanced over at Susie. “Yes?”
“Can you take my shift next Saturday?”
I barely stopped my shoulders from slumping in relief since I had thought she was going to ask me what I was doing. Forcing an apologetic smile, I shook my head. “Sorry, but I already have plans that day.”
I didn’t really, but it seemed like a better answer than I wasn’t sure if I’d even be around to work after tomorrow. If I didn’t figure out where Sabrina was, I might be in the hospital. Or worse.
“Darn,” she sighed.
“Maybe Paul can cover for you,” I suggested, jerking my head toward the teller on the other side of her.
When she turned to ask him, I quickly wrote down the address and clocked out. My guilty conscience got the better of me, and I felt like everyone was staring at me as I said my goodbyes.
On my drive home, I was careful to drive exactly the speed limit. I didn’t even have anything incriminating on me, but with how jittery I was feeling, I didn’t want to get pulled over.
Parking in my assigned spot, I scanned the lot for any sign of the guys who’d forced their way into my apartment yesterday. When I didn’t see anyone, I headed into the building.
I didn’t feel any safer inside my apartment, so I let out a soft shriek when my cell rang.
Glancing at the screen, I saw my brother’s name.
I always answered when he called but was sorely tempted to send him to voicemail.
Arlen took his big brother duties seriously, and I knew I couldn’t avoid him for long.
His Navy SEAL team was due to deploy overseas soon, so he’d want an update on how things were going for me before he left.
I briefly considered telling him about what was going on, but I didn’t want to stress him out right before he went into a potentially dangerous situation.
Not until after I checked out that address first, at least. If I didn’t turn up anything on Sabrina, then I’d think about calling Arlen to ask for help before my forty-eight hours were up.
“Hey, big bro. How’re you doing?” I asked, infusing my voice with an enthusiasm I didn’t feel.
I should’ve known it wouldn’t work because Arlen was too observant for my own good. “What’s wrong?”
“Just a long day at work. Sometimes people can be such jerks.”
Both statements were true, they just weren’t the whole story.
“You need me to come teach ’em a lesson the next time I’m on leave?”
I wasn’t surprised by his offer since he’d always been protective of me, and it had only amped up when our parents passed away in a car crash shortly after I graduated from high school.
I gave him the same answer I’d done each time he’d said something similar.
“I’ll let you know if it comes down to needing that. ”
“You better.”
“Enough about me. Anything new going on with you that you can actually tell me about? Like maybe you met my future sister-in-law?” I asked, knowing that questions about his love life—or lack thereof—would sidetrack him from grilling me about what was going on with me.
“Like I have time to worry about dating,” he growled.
“All I’m hearing are excuses,” I chided. “Especially when so many of the guys on your team are happily married.”
With how demanding their job was, the divorce rates for Navy SEALs tended to be really high.
But a lot of the men my brother worked with had defied the odds, which gave me hope for whenever he found the special woman who made him fall head over heels in love for the first time.
Not that I blamed him for holding out for the right one.
Our parents had set a high bar for relationships since they hadn’t hidden from us how deeply in love they’d been with each other.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, changing the topic to mundane stuff.
We chatted for about five more minutes before he had to go. “Love you, sis.”
“Love you, too,” I choked out, barely resisting the urge to blurt out everything that was going on.
Instead, I hung up and waited until after sunset to drive to the warehouse located on the south side of Riverstone. I’d never broken into anywhere before, but I assumed that doing it in broad daylight upped the odds of getting caught.
When it was finally dark out, I dressed in all black and headed out to my car.
Then I carefully drove to the address I’d pulled off the bank’s computer and hoped like heck that I wasn’t going to their compound because then I’d have zero chance of sneaking in.
Or at least I assumed I would, based on the little I knew about motorcycle clubs.
All of which I’d learned from television shows or the online research I’d done over the past few hours.
I drove past the address, peering out my passenger side window and heaving a deep sigh of relief when I didn’t spot a single car or person anywhere. There was a guard shack, but no lights were on inside.
The gate was closed, so I took advantage of the lack of traffic to slowly circle the property until I found a spot where I could pull my car next to the fence.
I hopped out and climbed onto the hood, then crawled up to the roof, which gave me just enough of a boost to make it over the top rail.
After landing on the other side, I ran as fast as I could toward the large building, glad for just enough moonlight to see where I was going.
When I reached the back door, I leaned against the hard surface, gasping for breath.
I tried the handle and found it locked. I jiggled it a few times with a groan before pounding my head against the door.
Patting my pocket, I was grateful that my brother had drilled into my head to always carry a multi-tool pocket knife.
Between that, my flashlight, and a handy video online that I streamed on my phone, I was able to pick the lock using the scissors.
All I had to do was flip the handle down so it lined up with one of the blades.
Then I inserted it into the keyhole, jiggling up and down while pressing toward the opening.
Eventually, I was able to turn the tool to the right, unlocking the door.
“Holy crap, I can’t believe that worked,” I breathed as I yanked the scissors out of the lock, closing it before tucking it back in my pocket, along with my phone.
Quickly opening the door, I crept inside and slammed it shut behind me.
The huge place was eerily silent, but I shook off my unease and took several steps forward.
There were lots of tall metal shelves with bins and boxes, but nothing that looked out of the ordinary.
As I swept the beam of light in a circle, I spotted an office about a hundred feet to my right.
I raced in that direction, only stopping as I passed a door that had a maintenance sign on it. Some instinct told me to peek inside, and Arlen had taught me to always listen to my gut. Looking inside, I found a bunch of cleaning supplies. But more importantly, there was an electrical panel.
I wasn’t sure what kind of alarm system the Hounds of Hellfire had on this warehouse, but turning off the power sounded like a good idea.
Once that was done, I went to the office, relieved to find this door unlocked. Letting myself inside, I gaped at the long row of filing cabinets lining one of the walls.
“Darn it,” I groaned.
This would take longer than I thought, but leaving now wasn’t an option. Propping my flashlight in my armpit, I got to work on going through the files and searching for Sabrina’s name on any of the paperwork. I was about halfway through them when my flashlight suddenly turned off.
I shook it a few times, but nothing happened. “You have to be kidding me.”
I didn’t think to bring extra batteries, so I tucked the useless thing into my back pocket and stalked toward the nearest window. Yanking open the blinds, I glanced back at the filing cabinet to see if there was enough moonlight for me to see what I was doing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t.
It was also too dark for me to make it back to the door I used to get into the warehouse, so I opened the window since it was the closest way out of the building.
Then I remembered having the lighter Arlen told me to always carry.
My brother never would’ve guessed his instructions would come in handy while I was breaking and entering, and I hoped to never need to tell him.
Determined to find a way out of this predicament, I lit the flame and continued searching.
The improvisation slowed my pace, but it worked…
until I moved the lighter too close to the stack of papers I was reading and one of them caught on fire.
Before I could put it out, the flame quickly jumped to the nearest row of folders.
“Crap, crap, crap,” I chanted, frantically searching the office for a fire extinguisher.
I had passed a couple as I crept through the warehouse in search of the office, but I hadn’t expected to need them, so I hadn’t paid much attention to their location.
Instead of finding something to help get me out of a bad situation, I’d only made matters worse, literally setting my life on fire.