Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Ihope you’re planning on making an honest woman out of her,” Mother said almost the same instant the front door closed behind Elle.
“I’m not saying the option is off the table permanently, but it’s not happening right away. But that’s between her and I and no one else.” Hex wasn’t going to get into this discussion, or debate with Mother about this.
“But what will people think?”
“What will people think if days or even a few weeks after she walks out of one wedding she marries me, then, in very short order, she’s visibly pregnant? People are going to talk. She and I don’t give a shit about that.”
“Language!” Mother said.
“Shit’s nothing, Mother. I have way more I could say that’s worse.”
She started to protest, but he held up one hand, stopping her.
“I hold it back when I’m around you, out of respect, and I’ll continue to do so, but at the same time, try considering that a once in a while slip isn’t the end of the world.”
Mother narrowed her eyes at him, and they sat in silent stand off for several seconds before she took in a lot of air, held it and then seemed to relax.
“You’re right.”
Hex remained silent, but lifted one brow, silently asking what she thought he was right about.
“About all of it.” Mother rolled her eyes as if Hex was pushing past what she wanted to admit.
“I can admit that it wouldn’t look good for Elizabeth to walk away from one wedding, then turn around and marry someone else.
” She shook her head. “I don’t know how to keep them from talking about her and the baby, but maybe you’re right. ”
Hex stared at Mother for a moment. Never in a million years would he have expected her to give in so easily, much less admit he might be right.
He blinked and turned his head, listening for anything out of place. Elle should have been back already. Was she having trouble getting into the pickup?
“Elle should be back by now,” he said, standing. He’d go check on her, just in case she fell, he told himself. He went to the door, opened it, and looked out. He could see the truck but not Elle.
“Elle?” he said, hoping she was just out of sight for some reason and would pop up saying here I am.
The rev of an engine and the screech of brakes drew his attention to the road. Something wasn’t right. He headed for the truck, determined to make sure she wasn’t there, but at the same time he pulled his phone from the pocket of his cut and dialed Cypher.
“Hey, I was about to call you,” the club hacker said in way of answering his phone.
“Unless it’s to say you’ve got a live image of Elle on your screen, I don’t care. Pull up the cameras at Mother’s and see if you can figure out what happened to her. Should be front door but check them all if you have to. She left to go to the truck about five minutes ago.”
“On it, give me a couple minutes.”
“I don’t know where she is, I don’t have a couple minutes.”
“Working on it, boss.”
“Work faster.”
Hex made it to the truck, walked all the way around it and saw nothing. He looked in the window and saw the ultrasound picture she’d been coming for was still sitting on the folded seat between passenger and driver. She’d never even made it to the truck.
“Got her.” Cypher’s voice seemed to come from a long way away. “Give me just a couple more…” he spoke slowly.
While he looked, Hex shook his head and forced his mind back to the present. He didn’t have time to zone out or panic, he had to find Elle and get her back, before whoever took her could hurt her.
“Son of a bitch,” Cypher’s voice came across the line.
“What?” Hex’s stomach churned and his fingertips tingled as he clutched the phone, waiting for what the hacker could tell him.
“It was Anderson.” The sound of Cypher’s hands flying over the keyboard came across the line.
“He hit her from behind and knocked her out, then he carried her off screen. I’ve found other cameras that show he put her in a car and left.
I haven’t been able to identify the car yet, but I’m working on it.
” The line fell silent except for the clicking of the keyboard.
“I’m pulling up her cell info now. Because you had me find her before, it makes it easier and faster this time.
” The keyboard clicked several times, then Cypher spoke again.
“Got her. She’s on the 65, headed for the 10. ”
Hex froze for a moment, staring at Mother, who stood at the top of the steps, watching him with concern.
“Is everything okay?”
“No. I’ve got to go, Mother. Someone took Elle and I’ve got to get her.”
“Go. Let me know when you’ve got her and you’re both safe.”
Hex didn’t say anything, just nodded as he hustled back around the truck and got in,.
wishing for a moment that he was on his bike instead of the truck.
He could weave in and out of traffic and reach her faster if he was, but not knowing if she would be awake by then, the truck would be better when he got to her.
“I just let Wrath know we’ve got a problem. He took Cyclone, Shadow and several others and they’re pulling out now,” Cypher said, his voice coming through the speakers in the truck now.
“They’re too far away,” Hex said pulling his truck out on to the street, glad there wasn’t much traffic, at least here.
His chest ached and he looked around, trying to spot anything that might slow him down or stop him.
He couldn’t do either, not if he was to get to Elle before Anderson did something stupid.
“Something else stupid. Taking her was stupid to begin with.” Cypher’s voice over the speakers let him know he hadn’t just been thinking that, but he’d said it.
“Wrath and the others will get to you as soon as they can, I’ve got Mud in here with me, he’s looking for more info on Anderson and he’s in touch with Wrath, so we can relay instructions or locations to him. ”
Hex didn’t say anything. He was focused on to the 65, and getting on headed the right direction, while not running over any of the idiots that couldn’t figure out that he was twice their size and running over them would just be a bump in his day.
He didn’t need that bump, or the delay it would cause, right now. Knowing that it would only leave Elle in that fuckwit’s hands longer was one of the few things that kept him in control.
“Have Mud tell Wrath that whatever we do we have to get Elle out of there, and we have to be careful with her. She’s pregnant.”
“Hot damn, Boss! You work fast,” Cypher said, then the line went silent again, before Hex could rip him a new one.
Besides, he didn’t want to split his attention enough to do that, not now. He could always beat the shit out of the hacker later for being disrespectful to Hex’s woman. Hex dodged traffic as he pushed the truck as fast as he dared.
“Where are they?” he asked, knowing that even if Cypher had him muted, he could hear him.
“Almost to the 10. I’ll let you know which way they go or any time anything changes,” Cypher’s voice was back, along with the clicking of his keyboard.
Hex glanced at the signs over the highway, they were two to three miles ahead of him.
“Any clue what he’s driving?”
“He’s got a three-year-old Lexus ES 350 registered in his name. Original color was silver. That could have been the car I saw in the video, but the camera quality there wasn’t great. I can’t identify the car from it. Hang on.” The line went silent again.
Hex drummed on the steering wheel as he continued to weave through traffic, hoping Cypher would get back to him soon, the interchange was only a couple of miles away and he needed to know which way to go.
“East. She’s headed east on the ten.” Cypher’s voice came back. “I had Mud hack into the Lexus. He’s trying to get the GPS on Anderson’s car to see if that’s the car he’s in.
“Thanks.” Hex steered the truck into the left lanes and clenched his fists around the wheel when he had to slow down and take the ramp at the same speed as everyone around him. as soon as the ramp merged with the 10, he hit the gas again.
“You’re down to about a mile behind them.
Wrath and the others are only a few miles away.
Catch up with them but just keep them in sight until the others get there.
It will be safer to have the bikes surround the car and get him to pull off or follow him wherever he’s going and then move in once he’s stopped the car.
Hex wanted to tell him to shut the fuck up and that he’d do whatever he wanted to.
He would get Elle out of there and make sure she was safe, but the Warrior’s tech sergeant was right.
And this wasn’t about teaching Anderson a lesson or making him pay for what he did, there would be time for those later.
Today was about making sure Elle was safe.
If the worst happened and she lost the baby, it would hurt but not as bad as it would for him to lose her.
He’d known about the baby, loved the idea of it for a couple of weeks.
He’d loved Elle for years. Losing her would devastate him. He didn’t even bother to deny it.
“You said a silver Mercedes?” Hex asked, his eyes checking every car he could see.
“No. Lexus. ES 360.”
“I work on Harleys and domestics, I’m not sure what that is.”
“Four door sedan. You’re getting close. You should see it soon.”
Hex didn’t respond as his gaze went from car to car. The first thing his mind registered on each car was color. If it wasn’t silver, he moved on. When he spotted a silver car, if he could see them he checked how many doors, if he was directly behind it, he looked for that distinctive circle L logo.
“I think I’ve got them,” he said finally. “Do you have his plate so I can be sure?”
Hex’s heart seemed to jump in his chest with every digit Cypher gave him. Each one matched. Before they got to the fifth digit, Hex was certain it was the right car. But he only saw one head.
“That shitty camara that you couldn’t get the car make from, could you tell where he put her?”
Cypher fell silent for a few seconds. Probably no more than three or four seconds but it felt like an hour to Hex.