Chapter 19
Lynch
The hours that followed Sophie’s kidnapping were brutal.
Jagger was a fucking mess, and even though we all tried, nothing any of us said would console him.
I got it.
I would’ve been the same way if someone had taken Rae, and we didn’t have the kind of time under our belts that Jagger and Sophie had.
He’d tried to hold it together, but the mere thought of something happening to his woman had him spinning out of control.
“I can’t stand much more of this! We gotta do something. ”
“Menace and Shotgun are working on it,” Viper assured him. “It’s gonna take some time to check the footage from all those security cameras.”
“But that’s just it. We’re running out of time!” Jagger argued. “Sophie is out there with God knows who, and no telling what the fuck they’re doing to her.”
“Thinking like that isn’t helping anyone.” Viper stepped over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “You gotta keep a level head, son. It’s the only way we’ll get Sophie back.”
“And if this was Rebecca?” Jagger snapped. “Would you be able to keep a level head?”
Brothers rarely ever tangled words with Viper.
Be it out of respect, genuine fear, or both, it simply wasn’t done, so it wasn’t a surprise when the entire room fell silent.
All eyes immediately turned to Viper as we waited for his response.
His voice remained calm and steady as he replied, “I would trust my brothers to bring her back to me—because when the heat is on, they’ve always come through, and I trust that they’ll do it again with Sophie. You gotta believe the same.”
It took a moment for Viper’s words to sink in, but eventually, Jagger took a breath and nodded. “You’re right, Prez. You’re absolutely right.”
“It’s okay, son. We’ll get your girl back. You’ll see.”
“I certainly hope so.”
The guys began talking amongst themselves, discussing their opinions on what needed to be done for Sophie’s safe return. I was trying to make sense of it all when I turned to Jagger and asked, “You got anybody that might have an issue with you?”
“An issue with me?” Jagger looked at me with a surprised expression. “You seriously think this shit has something to do with me?”
“Yeah. I mean, when you think about it, It’s a real possibility,” I answered. “You worked the late shift the night of the explosion, then Kordarius and his buddies broke into your place—no one else’s, and now this thing is happening with Sophie—who is your ol’ lady.”
“What about Lisa and the girls? They ain’t got shit to do with me.”
“They work at the club. A hit on them is a hit on us.”
“He makes a good point.” Viper turned to Jagger. “Maybe there’s someone out there looking to settle the score.”
“Yeah, but I can’t think of anyone who’d be stupid enough to try and do something about it—especially something like this.”
“What about Sophie?”
“What about her?”
Jagger’s fuse was already short, so I was hesitant to ask, “She works with folks who have anger issues. There any chance this has something to do with her?”
“I don’t fucking know.” He dropped his head into his hand, then let out a slow, frustrated breath. “I don’t know anything anymore.”
We were grasping at straws when Menace walked into the conference room with Shotgun. Viper immediately asked, “Did you find something?”
“I’ve been trying to track Collins’ phone for hours and haven’t been able to get a damn thing, but I checked just now, and it worked.”
“You got a location on him?”
“I do.” He glanced over at Jagger. “It shows he’s over at Jagger’s place.”
“What the fuck?”
Without waiting for further information, Jagger charged towards the door. When we realized he was leaving, Viper shouted, “Whoa, hold up, brother! You’re not going there alone.”
“I’ll go with him.”
As soon as I started for the door, Hawk added, “I’m going, too.”
“Not without me.”
Shotgun followed Hawk and me out to the parking lot with Jagger.
We mounted our bikes, whipped out of the parking lot, and raced towards his place.
The four of us pulled up to the house, parked, and charged towards the front steps.
The house was positioned on a slight hill, and there were shrubs leading up the path, making it difficult see ahead of us as we followed Jagger towards the front door.
I expected him to head straight inside, but just as he was about to reach the front door, he stopped dead in his tracks. The blood drained from Jagger’s face as he stared down at the ground and shouted, “Motherfucker!”
I had no idea what had him so shaken until Hawk, Shotgun, and I came up next to him and saw Collins—the prospect he’d put on Sophie—on the ground with his back propped up against the front door. The earth shifted beneath my feet when I noticed the bullet wound in the center of his forehead.
They’d killed him in cold blood and left him sitting on Jagger’s front steps like a fucking puppet with a note pinned to his chest:
IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR GIRL AGAIN, COME ALONE.
Next to the note was an odd-shaped coin.
I leaned in for a closer look. When I saw the bullet hole in the coin’s center, I asked, “Isn’t that the quarter you were looking for?”
“Yeah, it’s the one.”
“But how the fuck did it end up here?”
“They must’ve taken it the night of the break-in.”
Jagger leaned down and grabbed the note from Collins’ chest, then stared at it while grumbling curses. I was still stunned that our prospect was dead and struggling to figure out why. “This whole thing was your old cellmate, Tully?”
“Apparently so.”
I had to give it to him. Tully was smart. He knew the coin was all he needed to get Jagger back to the prison, but I had no idea why he’d gone to all this trouble. “I thought you two were tight.”
“I thought so, too, but clearly, I was wrong.” Rage marked Jagger’s face as he growled, “I’m gonna fucking kill him. I’m gonna fucking kill him with my bare hands.”
The words had just left Jagger’s mouth when he whipped around and started for his bike. He hadn’t gotten far when Shotgun ordered, “Don’t even think about it!”
Jagger stopped and roared, “You saw the fucking note!”
“I saw what it said, but you’re not going anywhere until we run it through Viper.”
Without any further argument, Shotgun pulled out his phone and called Viper. He put the call on speaker so we could listen while he filled him in on everything that had gone down. As soon as he was done, Viper asked, “Jagger... you got any idea why he did all this?”
“No, Prez. I don’t have a fucking clue, but I sure as hell want to find out.”
“You and me both.” Viper paused, then ordered, “Get back to the clubhouse, and then we’ll discuss our next move.”
“What about Collins?”
“I’ll send a couple of prospects over to get him.”
“Understood.”
I followed the others to our bikes, and as we backed out of the driveway, I glanced at the house.
It didn’t feel right to leave Collins sitting there, but we didn’t have a choice.
We needed to get back to our brothers. Besides, I knew it wouldn’t be long before the prospects came to collect him, and once they had him back at the clubhouse, arrangements would be made to give Collins the kind of burial he deserved.
By the time we returned, Viper and Menace had already worked out a plan for Jagger to visit Tully at the prison and were setting up a wire for him. He walked over to Menace with a scowl and asked, “What the fuck is all this?”
“It’s a wire.”
“I see that. Why the hell are—”
“You’re too fucking keyed up to think straight.” Menace fastened the tiny camera and mic to his shirt. “We’ll use it to communicate back and forth, and it’ll help make sure nothing gets past us.”
“How the hell am I supposed to get through the fucking guards with this shit?”
“It’s not big enough to set off the metal detector. Besides, our contact will be meeting you at the front gate.” Viper went on to explain, “I had Tully put in solitary. I didn’t want him pulling anything until you could get there.”
“Good.”
“When Reynolds brings him out, it’s vital that you keep a level head. It’s the only way you’ll get Sophie back.” Viper placed his hand on Jagger’s shoulder and looked him dead in the eye. “You got me?”
“Yeah, Prez, I got ya.”
Viper and Menace went over everything with Jagger one last time, then he and Axel headed to the prison. Axel wouldn’t go into the prison with him, but he’d keep an eye out for anything suspicious and make sure Jagger got inside without any issues.
It would take them about an hour to get to the prison and line up with Reynolds, so Menace used the time to set up his laptop and speakers in the conference room. We all gathered around the table and waited.
And waited some more.
It felt like an eternity before we finally heard Jagger’s voice come across the mic. “I’m here. Reynolds is taking me to Tully now.”
“Good.” Menace tried to reassure him. “We’re all right here with ya, listening in.”
“It’s gonna be hard not to jump his ass the second I see him.”
“I get that, but you’re gonna—”
Before Menace could finish his thought, Jagger came across the mic, “He’s bringing him in.”
“Breathe, brother,” Menace whispered. “Breathe.”