Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Stormy
I roll over, and Atlas wraps his arm tighter around me.
I look down at my smart watch and realize it’s already after four in the morning.
I don’t have much more time. I kiss him softly, and he murmurs my name in his sleep before rolling to his back.
He pulls me in close with one arm while his other settles on his abs.
In the darkness, I memorize everything about him and this moment.
He’s perfect.
If my life were different—if Andrus weren’t after me—I’d stay right here. I’d help Maisy get away if she wanted, but I’d stay with Atlas. I’d wear his patch and be with my family.
Carefully, I slide from the bed before I give up and stay.
The emotions hit me as I walk to the computer. I’m dressed in one of his T-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts I found in the drawer. He stayed asleep the whole time I rummaged through his clothes.
Standing in front of his computer, I press a key, and the lock screen appears.
I don’t know his password, so I glance around for a pen and paper.
I find them and notice notes detailing his search for me.
He’s meticulous. I also find the keys to the truck.
I forgot he dropped them as he was carrying me to the bedroom.
Hiding from him is going to be hard for two reasons. One, I don’t want to hide. And two, he’s good.
My note is quick and to the point. I tell him I’ll never forget him. That I must leave because my buyer is still looking for me and threatened my family. I ask him to tell my family I love them and that I hope to see them again someday.
I hesitate for only a moment when I reach the end. Then I sign it, Love, Stormy.
Gurgi has been waiting patiently for me. As I slip out of the room, I worry about running into someone, but then I realize Gurgi is my best excuse.
I round the corner into the common area and almost jump out of my skin when Maisy appears out of nowhere.
“Come on. We have to hurry. I just ran into one of the guys. Poseidon, I think.”
“Shit.”
We hustle for the door, and as we exit, someone yells, but we don’t stop. I load Gurgi into the truck and jump into the driver’s seat. Maisy buckles in as we jolt out of the parking lot, kicking up gravel and rocks. I see a man running after us before heading for a motorcycle.
I race through the side streets, trying to shake him. I reach the freeway and head south. He’s still behind me. I jump off, nearly getting hit by a semi, but it’s what I needed to do. I start heading west.
“I don’t see him. Don’t go any further south. I can’t go.” Maisy’s voice quivers.
I glance at her before entering the GPS, avoiding highways and sticking to back roads where we can avoid cameras.
“First, see if Fury can line up another vehicle for us. Then you can tell me what’s going on with you.”
When she doesn’t respond right away, I turn to see silent tears running down her face. She gasps as if she’s struggling to breathe.
“I’ve been in love with Brock since the first moment I saw him. I was only fourteen. He was already over thirty. I knew it was wrong, but he was so nice to me. He had come home for his grandmother’s funeral. We’d just moved into the same gated community where his family lived.”
She pauses and takes another deep breath. “He was in a black suit, and I was so awkward. I hated my life. I wanted out. The only time he came near me that time was at the wake after the funeral. He cornered me in the pantry.”
Her voice goes wistful, distant. “I wanted him to kiss me. I looked up at him, and he just stared for a moment. Then he leaned down. Instead of kissing my lips, he kissed my forehead and thanked me for helping.”
A sob breaks from her. “I was broken. My life was not my own already, and he’d basically told me I was not his type then and there.
But he didn’t stop. Brock came home off and on for the next couple of years.
I heard his brother say once that he had never been home as much as he was then.
At eighteen he left, went to college, joined the military, and then worked away from the family. ”
Her sobs continue as a memory hits her hard. I reach across the center console and take her hand. Gurgi leans forward, resting his head on her shoulder.
“The last time I saw him before last night was my sixteenth birthday. He kissed me on the forehead and then again before leaning down to whisper in my ear. I still remember his warm breath against the shell of my ear. He said, ‘Be a good girl, Snow, and someday a man will love you the way you need.’ It broke my heart.”
She sniffles. “Two months later, my life went completely sideways, and I ran. I never saw him again until now.”
“Didn’t he say he set someone to protect you?”
She scoffs. “Sure, he did.”
“Are you going to be okay?” I squeeze her hand.
She turns to look at me, and I slow down a bit so I can see her better in the budding light of day.
“I slept with him,” she says. “I gave him the one thing I’ve protected for years. Since the moment he told me a man would love me like I needed.”
I decide to share with her too. “I slept with Atlas. It felt so right, and I didn’t have any problems or episodes with him.”
She squeezes my hand. “Maybe you’re getting better.”
“Why did you run away?” It’s been the one thing I’ve always wanted to know.
“I was tired of being beaten every day. My stepbrother was going to rape me next with his best friend. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Oh, dear God. Your parents didn’t stop it?”
“How could they? My mother wouldn’t do anything because it would mean giving up her fat bank account and spa days. My stepdad didn’t care. He was too focused on his law firm.”
“Fuck.”
“You can say that again.”
We keep driving until we cross the border into Arkansas. We spend the night in a motel after ditching the truck for another large one. The gas is going to suck, but with Gurgi, we can’t downsize to a sedan.
Titan
My arm slides across the sheets, and I feel the coolness. I jolt awake as my bedroom door is busted open. Only a few people can break into my space, but that doesn’t stop me from jumping up with a gun aimed at Cronus.
“What the fuck?”
“They ran. Both of them. Your girl must have talked Maisy into leaving me.”
I consider his words and think about all the hugging they did the night before.
“Doubt it. They had it planned before we even headed in here. How did they get past the guards?”
“Maisy told Poseidon she was looking for food for the dog when he asked her what she was up to. He didn’t think anything of it when Poison came out with that beast.”
“Fuck,” I exclaim as I drop my gun.
“Get dressed and start searching for them. Poseidon followed them for a bit, but he lost them on the freeway.”
“Okay.”
I get dressed and start running facial recognition software, using her new facial structure from a picture I grabbed off one of our cameras. I didn’t get any shots of her when she was in my bed. I wish I had.
When that doesn’t turn up any results, I start running the license plate.
I find the truck crossing into Arkansas before I lose it.
I track it down again. It’s now parked in a sales lot.
I contact the owner, and he says a woman showed up to drop it off for sale.
She didn’t purchase a truck from him, but he does have a name and an account where he transferred the money.
I finally have my hacker, and now I’m going to get him. He never fell for my trap, and I know why.
Opening a chat, I send a message to the hacker most of us learned from. He’s been around about ten years longer than me. I remember learning some of his techniques.
Me
What do you know about Maisy and Stormy?
I don’t play around. I get straight to the point.
FuryBC
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Titan.
Me
Let’s not play games. I need to get my girl back.
FuryBC
Sorry. Can’t help you.
He closes the chat, and I slam my hands down. I need something to prove to him that I know he’s helping the girls, or a way to get him to help me. Storming out of the room, I find Cronus in his office.
“Ready to go question that prick?” I ask him.
He grins wide and stands up. Today he looks like the founder and sitting president of this chapter of the Drago Defiance Motorcycle Club.
Like me, he’s in heavy boots, a T-shirt, jeans, and his cut.
With Hermes, we head out to our bikes and take the short ride deep into the woods behind our clubhouse, where the Hole is located.
From the outside, it looks like a garage, a place to store extra bikes and other equipment.
But looks are deceiving. There are three bay doors that appear to be glass, but when you get close, you can’t see inside, though whoever is inside can see out.
The glass is not only one-way, it’s bulletproof.
The first bay opens, and we pull our bikes in. Thanatos, with his close-cropped reddish-blond hair and kind eyes, is deceiving. He fits his name. He’ll torture people until they flatline, then bring them back to do it again. He’s evil, and it’s a good thing he works for us.
“Bought time you all got out from between your girls’ thighs to come down here and question these fuckers.”
Cronus has Thanatos pressed against the wall, his elbow digging into Thanatos’s throat. But the crazy motherfucker just smirks until Cronus pulls away.
“That important, I see.”
“Yeah, fucker. That important,” Cronus growls, and we move as a group toward the heavy metal door.
Thanatos enters the code into the panel and then uses the optical scanner to verify it’s him. The loud clank of heavy locks sliding against metal through the quiet, and the door pops open.
The stench of urine and copper permeates the air as a blast of cool air hits my skin.
We descend the metal flight of stairs to the floor below.
The door clicks closed behind us, and just like every time, I feel like I’m in a tomb down here.
This is the first time I’m not concerned about my conscious.
I don’t care if this sends me to hell. Stormy is too important to me.
From the looks of the three bodies, Thanatos has already started having fun.
All three hang by the shackles from the ceiling.
Javier isn’t just sporting the broken arm he got from Cronus; it appears his legs are cut up.
Thanatos really likes his knives. The man I shot has dried blood dripping down his leg with more knife wounds marring his skin.
The third guy came here unscathed but isn’t that way now.
He looks nearly dead except for the slow rise of his chest.
I need answers to my questions immediately, so I head to the table and grab the metal baseball bat. It’s not my usual tool, but I’m not going to wait. I walk up and swing the bat hard at Diego’s knee. It cracks, the metal vibrating in my hand. I don’t feel any remorse as he screams and bellows.
“Tell me why the Curator wants them,” I demand.
“I’ve been trying to get him to talk all night.” Thanatos chuckles. “Never thought about brute force, though.”
“He has a buyer for the little virgin. They want her untouched. I don’t know who it is.”
“Is it the senator?” I rear back and aim for his other knee, but he begs me to stop.
“No, no, wait. Don’t hurt me anymore. I’ll tell you what you want. We just told him we would sell her to him. A better offer came in when I posted a picture. Someone Andrus wants to impress. A bigwig in DC. Something about him being due her because he purchased her before, but she escaped.”
I stop and turn to Cronus. He shakes his head. He’s not telling me something.
“Who?” I pull back, ready to smash the other leg.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me, but he’s like in line near the president.”
I pause and turn to Cronus, who is already up and out of the room. The one thing we made sure of was that no signals could work down here.
He’s racing up the stairs, and I turn back to Diego, who is mumbling something.
“She’s not the important one. It’s the crazy bitch that Ahriman wants back.” His voice fades as he loses consciousness. His words hit me.
“Water, now,” I bark, and Thanatos walks to the wall and kicks on the hose. He sprays Diego, who wakes sputtering. “What do you mean he wants her back?”
He coughs, and I poke him in the stomach with the bat.
“Tell me,” I demand, and his head rolls before he stares at me.
“She blew up his yacht.” He falls into unconsciousness again, and I drop the bat as I rush up the stairs.
I bypass Cronus and run for the shower, where I clean myself up, washing away the bits of blood splatter before heading out. I can’t focus on anyone except getting back to my files and confirming what he just said.
By the time I find the information I need, it’s late into the night, but I know how I can get Fury to help me. I open the chat again, knowing he’s a few hours behind us.
Me
They’re in danger. The trafficker who owned mine knows she’s alive and is after her and M.
I don’t use their real names, just in case.
FuryBC
Fuck. I’ll get a message to them if I can. I don’t know where they’re headed, but when I do, I’ll reach out.
Again, he closes out and leaves me hanging. So, he knows it’s them, and he has been the one helping them. I figure it has something to do more with Maisy than Stormy, but I can’t search his background to find out without alerting him to the fact.
I need to find out what Cronus figured out, and I need to tell him what I found out.