Chapter 14 Wes
FOURTEEN
WES
The leather cut felt like a brand, as if I’d inked the laws and vows of the club onto every inch of my skin, so everyone could see that I had finally succumbed to the patch.
Even as I rode toward the Death Raiders club under the cover of darkness, I knew the colors and words sewn into this vest would define the next chapter of my life.
I only hoped Callie would understand and decide to keep me, regardless of doing the one thing she’d asked me not to.
If she was alive.
The thought sobered me and had me pushing the bike faster.
No one had told me where to go or confirmed who had done this, but I knew enough to realize this was a tactic from the Death Raiders.
They were the only other club that had been battling with the Stone Riders since I had started hanging around the clubhouse and began picking up on conversations.
It was how I knew where to drive. The location of the Death Raiders clubhouse was something the Stone Riders joked about frequently.
Down past Pyle, that old mill would go up in flames within seconds.
That was something Brooks would bellow when he was drunk.
I knew Pyle well enough to have an idea of where to go, which was proved correct as I pulled off a side road leading past the old mill.
I slowed my speed, coming to a chain-link fence, and there, about fifty feet down the length of it, were rows of parked bikes.
I continued until I saw five members patrolling, likely to keep them safe from sabotage.
I parked alongside theirs and dismounted.
“The fuck?” I heard Giles, one of the newer members yell, as he noticed me.
With a harsh rasp, Hamish limped over to me. “Oh no…no, no, no. What have you done, son?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Everyone knew what wearing this leather cut meant. You didn’t wear it unless you meant it for life.
“I need to know where she is.”
Hamish gave me a sympathetic look that was saturated with pity. It made anger twist my insides uncomfortably.
“Don’t fuckin’ look at me like that, just tell me.”
Hamish let out a resigned sigh, “They’re inside, talking to Dirk.”
I recognized that name as the president of the Death Raiders.
He was a sick man, from what I had heard, which was why Simon was at war with him so frequently.
The Stone Riders were careful of what sort of illegal activity they got into—so far it was just running alcohol and cigarettes—but they found out the Death Raiders had started trading harder shit, and there was even a rumor about a woman they had trafficked.
Simon wouldn’t stand for that shit close to his home, or his daughter.
It was another reason why my stomach was twisted into a tight knot, the fear of them doing something to her or taking her somewhere…I couldn’t even process the thought.
Hamish warned in a low tone. “You head in there, and it might make everything worse.” The other members were smoking, talking to each other while eyeing me nervously.
I hated that he might be right, and I could never live with myself if I did make things worse, but I had to get in there.
“There a back entrance to this place?”
Hamish tilted his head, but I already saw the light in his eyes, as if he’d had the same idea.
“Take me to it, and I’ll sneak in. You can go back to your post. I’ll deal with Simon.”
Hamish shook his head but pointed his finger past my face.
“Your bike will be too loud. Walk the perimeter, and after you pass an electrical grid, there will be a two-by-four with white paint on it. To the left there’s going to be a keypad, as if you can’t get in without using it, but it’s a decoy.
Squeeze past the fence and keep walking.
There will be a door at the bottom of the stairs directly to your left.
Knock four times. When it opens, you need to let them know that Hamish sent you. ”
How did he know how to get in? If he had this sort of access, I didn’t understand why they hadn’t led with this. Hamish must have read the question on my face because he let out a long exhale and slapped my back.
“There’s a kid your age in there, he’s the son of one of my friends. We kept our friendship quiet because of our different affiliations, but his son is a good kid. He’ll be the one to open the door and lead you to Callie.”
I shook my head, confused as fuck as to why this wasn’t being used to our benefit.
“Why didn’t you just tell Simon to do this to begin with?”
Hamish grabbed for a new cigarette and popped it in his mouth.
“Dirk did this to get Simon’s attention.
There’s a reason he wanted Callie here. I highly doubt he’s going to hurt her, but it all depends on what he wants from our club.
He’s going to barter, but regardless of what they agree on, I want her safe and out of their hands.
So go see if you can get our girl while they talk politics. ”
I didn’t wait to be told a second time. I walked the perimeter, keeping my face down and my eyes alert.
The cover of darkness helped, especially when I saw a few scouts walking the boundary, smoking.
I ducked and waited for them to pass before slowly making my way down the length of the fence.
When I approached the electrical grid, I paused, because the setup really did look like it was going to prevent me from entering.
There was a camera system, and even an electric fence, from the looks and sounds of it.
On cautious feet, I did as Hamish explained and bypassed the keypad, squeezing through the side fence. I kept going until I came upon the set of stairs he’d mentioned. There I found a rusty steel door at the bottom. Giving one last look around, I knocked four times.
Within seconds, someone was opening the heavy door with a bit of a struggle, as if it took effort to pull on it. My nerves jumped as my fingers itched to grab the gun tucked into the back of my jeans, but I trusted Hamish. He said someone on this side would be trustworthy.
Finally, the door was open, and an old timer poked his head out, slurring his speech. “What the hell you doin’ here?”
Fuck. He wasn’t supposed to be the one who answered.
I was about to come up with a lie when all the sudden I heard another voice, gaining the old man’s attention. Then a person my age replaced the old timer with a set of furrowed brows.
“The fuck are you?”
He had dark hair, almost black, and it fell over his forehead, nearly cutting into his pale blue eyes.
“Hamish sent me,” I said in a rush, my fingers loose at my sides. I watched his body language, seeing that he didn’t seem tense or like he was wired. As soon as I said the elder member’s name, his face relaxed and he moved to the side.
I walked in, keeping watch of where I placed my back.
The door shut behind me, and it took a second to adjust my eyes to the room. It was dim with a single flood light lit up from above.
“Monty, keep up your post, this one is with me.” The younger guy nodded in the old timer’s direction. He’d reclaimed his seat at a table, nearly falling from his chair. He must be the guard in some capacity, but he was completely trashed, and he looked like he was seconds from falling over.
The guy my age led me away from the storage room and toward a narrow hallway.
“If Hamish sent you, then you must be here for her.”
Exhilaration lit up my chest like a fucking Christmas tree. I resisted the urge to grab him so I could shake the information out of him.
Instead, I barely gave a silent nod.
He walked past another storage room, this one with wooden boxes. The kid glanced over his shoulder and said, “I’m Silas.”
“Wes,” I replied, following him further into the clubhouse. I gathered that this was part of the basement.
“Look, I can take you to her, but you’ll have to figure out how to get out of here on your own. They had her up there for a while, just for pictures and shit, but then they moved her down here. I know Simon is trying to negotiate terms, but I have a feeling it’s going to take a while.”
I was already about to lose it just from the idea of her being here, and what the fuck did he mean by pictures? Fuck.
“And what exactly have you been doing with her since she was brought down?”
We slowed at a small set of stairs leading to another landing just off the hallway. Silas turned and met my gaze.
“I have my own fuckin’ demons that come out to play, and it’s for that reason I’d never touch her.
She’s been kept safe, but I can’t promise how long that will last. Dirk wants something from Simon, something big, and none of us know what it is.
We just know that kidnapping his daughter is the boldest move he’s ever made against your club and without the leverage would have caused an all-out war. ”
My eyes kept flicking to the door behind Silas, and while I appreciated what he was saying, there was a fire roaring in my veins to get her and get the fuck out of here.
“If Dirk realizes you’ve taken his leverage, that war might just happen anyway. If it does, I hope you remember me. I’m not your enemy, and seeing as you’re new to the Stone Riders, I hope you’ll consider yourself someone I can count on if the time ever comes.”
I studied him, curious how he knew, but he only laughed and pulled keys from his pocket, unlocking the door.
“It’s your cut. It looks brand new—that, and we’ve heard of you.”
The door opened, and soft lighting flooded my vision.
I ignored Silas’s last comment and pushed into the room.
My eyes skipped over everything else in the room and landed on a long, L- shaped couch, where my girlfriend was tucked under a soft-looking blanket.
They sharpened on the woman sitting next to her.
She had dark hair and seemed a bit older than me, but the set of her jaw and harshness of her stare told me she wasn’t one to be trifled with. I was almost to Callie when the woman placed a protective hand on her back, glaring up at me.