Chapter 27 – Phoenix
PHOENIX
Iwas pacing the room, ready to tear my hair out, when Badger opened the door without knocking. “Need you out front. Diesel’s bringing a girl up from the gate. Said a car dropped off a hysterical girl demanding to talk to Phoenix Black.”
“What in the fresh hell?” I muttered. “This better be about Ink.”
When I got to the common room, Diesel was escorting a young woman through the front doors. She was covered in blood and bruises and looked like she was about to fall over.
“Can we help you?” I asked.
“Are you Phoenix Black?” she croaked.
“I am,” I said. “And you are?”
“Chloe,” she rasped. “I know where Ink is.” Then, before Diesel could catch her, she fell face-first onto the floor.
“Fuck!” I bellowed. “Is Patch or Gabby here? We need her awake and talking.” I realized I sounded like an asshole, being more concerned about the information she had rather than the girl herself, but I didn’t know her. Ink was one of mine.
Gabby came running into the common room. “What’s going on?”
“This girl knows where Ink is, but she collapsed before she could tell us.”
Gabby dropped to her knees beside the girl and rolled her onto her back.
“I’ll be right back,” she said and disappeared before I could stop her.
When she returned, she had something in her hand that she waved in front of the girl’s nose.
Her eyes shot open, and she tried to sit up.
“It’s okay,” Gabby soothed. “Don’t move just yet. ”
“What happened?” Chloe asked.
“You collapsed,” Gabby said. “Somebody get her some water.”
“You said you knew where Ink was,” I interrupted.
“He’s in the woods,” she said weakly. “Somewhere near Vinnie’s house.”
“I’m gonna need more than that,” I insisted.
The girl took a sip of her water and nodded. “I don’t know the address. His name is Vinnie Reynolds. It’s his house. We ran from there. Ink had to stop. He told me to keep going and find you.”
“Is that Ink’s blood?”
“No,” she said, and her face crumpled. “It’s Leon’s. I tried to help him, but I didn’t know what to do.”
“Diesel, you stay with her and Gabby. Gabby, you are not to be alone with her. Everyone else, get to church and start rounding up the guys that are out searching.”
“Did she say Reynolds? As in Ricky Reynolds?” Badger asked.
“Yes, she did,” I spat. “We’re going to find Ink first. Then, we’re going to have a chat with dear old dad before I slaughter his son.”
Badger nodded. “I’m good with that plan.”
“I should’ve fucking done it the first time, and we wouldn’t be dealing with any of this bullshit.”
“No, not this bullshit, but we would’ve been dealing with some kind of bullshit. Ricky’d have to do something if you killed his son to keep his reputation intact.”
“What am I looking for, Prez?” Byte asked as soon as I walked into church.
“We need an address for Vinnie Reynolds or Calvin Reynolds and a map of the surrounding area. The girl says she and Ink ran from the house, and he’s somewhere in the woods.”
Byte nodded and started typing. “Got it,” he said moments later. “There’s a gas station about a half a mile from the house. We can meet there and branch out.”
“That works. Are the dogs here?” I asked.
“Yep. I’ll grab a couple of shirts from Ink’s room for the dogs to use.”
I exhaled heavily and prayed they weren’t going to find Ink’s lifeless body lying alone in the woods.
The guys hadn’t been gone long enough to find Ink when my door was once again opened without someone knocking. “You’re needed out front,” Ranger said and kept walking without telling me anything else.
I didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t a well-dressed young man with a slightly crazed look in his eyes. Suddenly, I knew why Ranger didn’t stop at my door. He was on his way to get into position in case his skills were needed.
“Can we help you?” I asked cautiously.
“M-my name is Tripp. I brought Chloe here,” he said nervously.
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“Shit! I don’t know what I’m doing,” he blurted and fisted his hands in his hair. “Fuck!”
“You’re gonna get the fuck out of my clubhouse if you don’t start talking!” I yelled. “I don’t have time for this bullshit!”
Tripp’s eyes widened as his hands fell to his sides. He nodded and visibly swallowed. Then he slowly raised his hands in surrender. “Elsie Nelson set up the attack on Ariel today.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes. I have the text messages she sent to her sister from my phone, and I have Elsie in the trunk of my car.”
I nearly choked on my own spit. “Right now?” I coughed.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I figured it all out when I was driving Chloe here. I dropped her off and went back to get Elsie before she got wind of anything and took off.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, unsure of what to deal with first. “Okay, someone needs to get the girl out of his trunk. Is she restrained or sedated?”
“She’s restrained,” Tripp said. “Wrists and ankles. And I shoved a dirty sock in her mouth because she wouldn’t shut the fuck up.”
“How old is this girl?” I asked.
“Sixteen,” Tripp said. “I think.”
“Fucking hell. We can’t bring a bound and gagged minor in here.”
“Yes, you can,” Chloe said from the hallway where she was standing with Gabby and Diesel. “I’m an adult, and she’s my sister. I’ll take responsibility for her.”
“Diesel, get his keys. Then find Blaze and Raven. They’re around here somewhere. Have them get Elsie out of the trunk and put her in a cell downstairs. I’ll get to her after I talk to Tripp and Chloe.”
Instead of taking them to church or my office, I ushered them to a booth in the common room. I wanted them to feel comfortable so they would tell us as much as possible.
“Okay,” I said to Tripp. “What did you figure out?”
“Prez!” Byte shouted as he entered the common room.
“Excuse me. I’ll be right back,” I said and met Byte in the middle of the room.
He moved so I could see his laptop screen. “That’s Tripp Reynolds, Ricky’s youngest son. And the girl is Chloe Nelson, Elsie Nelson’s sister.”
“Knew about Chloe’s sibling. Did not know about Tripp’s. What the fuck?” I grumbled, thanking him and returning to the booth. “Sorry about that. Now, what did you figure out?”
“He figured out that my sister is the cunt behind everything,” Chloe said angrily.
“Explain,” I demanded. I was tired of the generalized statements. “In detail. Quickly.”
“Elsie used my phone to text Chloe’s phone to arrange the attack.
I found the deleted messages a couple of hours later.
Since nothing wild had happened, I drove to my brother’s house to see what they were up to.
On the way, I saw Chloe walking on the side of the road.
I picked her up, and she told me what happened.
I brought her here and went back to get Elsie. ”
“Who’s your brother?” I asked, though I already knew.
“Calvin Reynolds. Some people call him Vinnie,” Tripp said dejectedly. “I’m not like him.”
“You wouldn’t be sitting here helping us if you were,” I told him.
“My dad is going to kill me,” he admitted and looked down at his hands.
“I can handle your dad. Keep talking.”
“What else do you want to know?” he asked sincerely.
“Elsie Nelson has been missing for weeks. How did you know where to find her?”
Tripp shifted in his seat. “They lied to me. At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t know.”
“Relax, kid. I’ll know if you’re lying,” I said. I wouldn’t, but he didn’t know that.
“I heard my dad talking to one of his cop friends about them finding Elsie’s fingerprint at Ariel’s house after a reported break-in,” he said.
“Ha!” Ranger clapped his hands loudly. “Bet it was Coleman.”
Tripp nodded. “Coleman has worked for my dad for a long time. Dad was pissed when he got fired for trying to talk to Ariel again.”
“Elsie?” I reminded him.
“Right. When I heard them say that camping gear, clothes, and food had been stolen, I thought she might be camping somewhere near where Chloe and I used to hang out with friends. I knew she was hiding from my dad and brother. When Dad demanded to know what happened that night, Calvin and his friends blamed Elsie for everything since she’s the one who invited Ariel.
At the time, I thought that was bullshit.
Elsie didn’t know a group of bikers would come to Ariel’s rescue.
It seemed wrong. So, I found Elsie and brought her back to my house. She’s been staying with me.”
“My men weren’t there because of Ariel,” I told him. “They were there to get my daughter and granddaughter. Ariel just happened to be in the same room as Blaze and Raven, so my guys took her too.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “Elsie told me they blamed her so my dad wouldn’t find out it was actually Leon’s fault that Blaze and Raven were at the party.”
“How was it his fault?” I asked. Blaze and Raven had seen pictures of Leon Rhodes and insisted they didn’t know him.
“Their friend was dating one of Leon’s guys. She thought he was cheating, and they were there to catch him, or something like that.”
“Do you know any names?”
“The guy’s name is Jason, and their friend’s name is Payton Marshall.”
Ranger slapped his palm on the table. “Fuck it! Bring the pen and paper.”
“They should have that girl inside by now. Somebody get Blaze and Raven in here,” I ordered to the room. “I need a fucking drink. You kids want something?”
“I’ll take anything,” Chloe said desperately. “Thank you.”
“Fucking hell, you’re probably starving,” I said and got to my feet. “Food! We need food over here. And where is my wife? I need fucking help.” Too many things were happening at the same time, and the few brothers I had at the clubhouse were busy.
“Mom’s keeping Nora company, so you got me instead,” Ember said. “What can I do?”
“These kids have the information I need, but they need food, clean clothes, and probably a room for the night. Can you take care of that and anything else I’m overlooking?”
“Of course,” she said. “I’ll be right back with drinks and snacks. Then I’ll make you something to eat in the kitchen.”
“Hey, Dad,” Blaze said, entering the room with Raven by her side. “You wanted to see us?”
“This is Tripp Reynolds, Calvin’s younger brother. He was at the party, and he just told us you two were there to see if a guy named Jason was cheating on Payton.”
I watched as it came back to them at the same time.
“That’s right!” Blaze yelled.
“The bastard!” Raven shouted.
“Care to share?” I asked impatiently.
“We didn’t go because Payton thought Jason was cheating.
They weren’t even dating. She matched with him on an app, and they had been talking online.
He wanted to meet in person and invited her to the party.
When she said she wasn’t sure, he got pushy and made her uncomfortable.
We went to the party because we wanted to see what the big deal was,” Blaze explained.
“And Jason?” I asked.
“He gave us the drinks!” they said at the same time.
“That has been bugging the shit out of me,” Blaze said. “I couldn’t figure out how it happened.”
“But we opened the bottles,” Raven said as her forehead wrinkled. “He handed them to us, and we opened them.”
“Then you poured it into a blue cup,” Tripp said knowingly.
“Yes!” they said in unison.
Tripp’s lips curled in disgust as he nodded. “They use blue cups to hide whatever they use. They put it in the bottom of the cups before the party. That’s also how they know which girls are there for payments.”
“Payments? Did you fucking say payments?” I asked harshly.
Tripp flinched and moved back in his seat before nodding. “My brother and his friends sell drugs for my dad. Every so often, they have parties for clients who need help with debt. They call them Pay with Pussy parties.”
Ember returned as Tripp was talking and nearly dropped the tray of drinks and chips. She recovered and served the kids with a smile before she leaned close to me and whispered harshly, “If you don’t fucking kill them this time, I will.”
“I will,” I promised as my phone rang with Dice’s name on the screen. He started talking as soon as I accepted the call.
“Fuck!”