13. Tempest
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
tempest
I'm sorry.
Those are the last words I hear before the line goes dead. I hit redial before the phone is even down from my ear. It rings, but there’s no answer. I dial again, and again, straight to ringing, then nothing, no voicemail, nothing. I already know what she did.
Evan had a gun to Jinx's head. Lilah watched her sister die, and she couldn't stand there and let it happen to another person. There was never a chance she'd stay on that fire escape.
I'm so furious with her, fuck, I'm furious with myself, because of course she went down. This is Lilah, and Evan knew that.
I open the throttle as I dial Ghost; he answers on the second ring.
"They have her." I keep my voice level because losing it while riding my bike at speed doesn't help anyone.
“Evan Calloway took her from the alley behind the building. He had a second guy with him, holding a gun to Jinx’s head. She went down to get Jinx out."
He’s already moving, I can hear him barking orders to someone. "Where are you?"
"Four minutes out."
"Savage never checked in." Ghost's voice drops, worry and anger lacing his words. "I tried him thirty seconds ago."
Shit. "Something happened before he got there."
"Yeah. But we’ve no idea what the fuck’s happened. I've got everyone coming."
"Tell Rogue to pull everything, now."
"Already have." Ghost's voice is thick with emotion. "Don't do anything stupid when you get there."
"Find her," I urge. I can’t fucking lose her. I won’t.
"We will."
"Ghost."
"I know."
"Find her now."
I hear him barking orders before the call ends.
Four minutes. I'm four fucking minutes away. I push the bike harder.
Her voice won't leave my head. I'm sorry. Then nothing, I should've stayed. Fuck, I should've stayed.
I take the corner too fast but as the apartment building comes into view, there’s a fire engine out front, people on the pavement, and there’s smoke drifting from one of the upper windows.
I turn into the street and see Jinx at the mouth of the alley. I'm off my bike before I've properly killed the engine. He's sitting against the wall, blood running down the side of his face, one hand pressed to his temple.
His eyes find mine and something in his expression makes my stomach drop. "Where is she?"
Jinx tries to get to his feet.
"Where the fuck is Lilah?" I growl, my anger coming to the forefront.
"They took her."
I already know that, I fucking heard it. Still, hearing him say it does something to me. I look past him into the alley: empty. The fire escape hangs above us, there’s no Lilah, no SUV. Nothing.
"How long?"
"Couple minutes. Maybe less."
Fuck. I was four fucking minutes away.
"Which direction?"
"Out the alley, took a right. Black SUV."
I pull out my phone. "Rogue, where are you?"
"Two minutes."
"Black SUV. Left the alley less than five minutes ago. I want every fucking camera between here and—"
"I've got it. Already pulling traffic feeds,” he tells me and I hang up.
"Tempest."
Jinx's voice stops me, and I turn to look at him. "She came down because of me." My jaw locks at his words. "They had a gun on me. She wouldn't come down until they threatened to shoot me."
Of course she fucking didn't, because of what happened to Lucy. He knew. That sick fuck knew exactly what would get her off that fire escape.
Jinx looks wrecked. "I'm sorry, brother."
"Don't."
"I should've—"
"Don't."
He shuts his mouth, and I look away, my eyes landing on the fire escape. That's when I see something beneath it: black screen with a pink case.
My heart stops. I cross the alley and crouch—her phone. There's a crack through the corner of the screen, but it's hers. I know because I watched her hold the fucking thing across the breakfast table less than an hour ago.
She dropped it, she knew I was coming and she left it for me. Even while they were taking her, she was fucking thinking.
The rumble of bikes hits the street behind me; there’s a fuck of a lot more than one. I close my hand around her phone and stand.
Rogue gets there first, Venom is right behind him, another engine follows seconds later. Ghost isn't here yet. Fine. I don't need Ghost yet, I need cameras, I need roads, I need a direction, and I need to know where the fuck Evan Calloway took my woman.
Rogue takes one look at my face. "How long?"
"Less than ten minutes. Black SUV. They took a right out of the alley."
His laptop bag is already coming off his shoulder. "I'm on it."
"Find her."
"I'm going to."
I step closer. "Rogue." His eyes meet mine. "Find her now."
Rogue doesn't answer me. He drops his bag onto the hood of the nearest car and pulls out his laptop. Good, I don't need promises, I need him working. "Exact time they left?" Rogue questions.
I look at Jinx.
"Five, six minutes," he says. "Maybe seven."
Rogue's fingers move over the keyboard. "Black SUV?"
"Yeah."
"Plate?"
Jinx shakes his head. "Didn't see it."
"Direction?"
"Right out of the alley."
Rogue nods and keeps typing. I look down at Lilah's phone in my hand. The screen lights when I touch it and there's a bar running across the top; numbers that are still moving. It’s recording.
"Rogue." He looks up, and I hold the phone out. "She was recording."
He takes it from me and looks at the screen and then his eyes flick to mine. "She started this before they took her?"
"Looks like it."
"Good girl."
My jaw locks; yeah, that's my girl.
Rogue connects his headphones and starts listening from the beginning while keeping one eye on his laptop. I turn back to Jinx.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
"I was coming up to relieve you."
My eyes narrow. "You?"
"Yeah."
"Savage was coming."
Jinx frowns. "What?"
"Savage was supposed to be here."
"I got a message from Savage telling me to take over."
Everything inside me goes still. "What message?"
Jinx reaches for his pocket before stopping. "Phone's gone."
"Who took it?"
"Same fuckers who jumped me."
Rogue pulls one side of the headphones away from his ear. "When did you get the message?"
"Maybe twenty minutes ago."
"From Savage's number?"
"Yeah."
Rogue's expression changes. "Fuck."
The sound of bikes reaches the street. I turn and see Ghost coming around the corner first, and Savage is behind him.
The second I see Savage, I know; he looks fucking furious. They pull in beside the curb, and Ghost is off his bike almost immediately. His gaze goes from me, to Jinx, to the fire escape. "Where is she?"
"Gone."
His jaw tightens. "How?"
"They used Jinx to get her down."
Ghost looks at Jinx. He pushes himself straighter against the wall. "They had a gun to my head."
"How the fuck did you end up here?" Savage demands.
Jinx looks at him. "You sent me."
Savage goes completely still. "The fuck I did."
"You messaged me, told me to relieve Tempest."
"No."
Rogue closes his laptop halfway. "What happened to you, Savage?"
"I was halfway here when I got a call from Venom."
Venom, standing a few feet behind me, frowns. "No, you fucking didn't."
Savage looks at him and silence drops over the alley.
"What did the call say?" Rogue asks.
"That Ghost wanted me at the clubhouse. Said Webb had surfaced and everyone was being pulled in."
"I never called you," Venom says.
"I know that now."
Ghost looks between them. "Your phone."
Savage pulls it out and tosses it to Rogue who catches it. "Call came from Venom's number?"
"Yeah."
Rogue checks the screen. "It's here."
Venom pulls out his own phone. "And I didn't make it."
Rogue's already working again and Ghost looks at Jinx. "You get a text or a call?"
"Text."
"From Savage."
"Yeah."
"And then?"
"I turned around and came here. Got inside the building and somebody hit me from behind before I made the stairs."
"How many?"
"Two that I saw."
"Evan?"
Jinx shakes his head. "Not then. I didn't see him until they dragged me into the alley."
Ghost turns to Savage. "Where were you when you got the call?"
"Three blocks from here."
"And you went back to the clubhouse?"
"Yeah."
"They pulled you away minutes before Jinx arrived."
Savage's jaw clenches. "They knew I was coming."
"They knew all of it," I say.
Everyone looks at me and I look at Ghost.
"They knew you called me. They knew I was leaving. They knew Savage was replacing me."
Ghost's face hardens.
"And they knew exactly who to send in his place," Rogue says.
Jinx looks at me. "I’m a prospect. I’m expendable."
"You're not fucking expendable," Savage snaps.
Jinx shuts up.
Ghost looks at Rogue. "Can they spoof numbers?"
"Yeah. That's the easy part."
"Knowing who to spoof isn't."
"No."
Which means they found a way to get close to us, or they’re monitoring us closely.
Ghost looks at me. "Same person who warned Webb?"
"Has to be."
"Not necessarily," Rogue says. "Webb had fifteen weeks of surveillance, maybe more. If he was watching the clubhouse as well as Lilah, he could've built out relationships, bikes, routines."
Savage shakes his head. "Doesn't explain knowing Ghost called Tempest this morning."
"No," Rogue says. "It doesn't."
Ghost goes quiet. I watch as he looks around the alley, taking everything in: the fire escape, Jinx, Lilah's phone in Rogue's hand, and then me.
"Nobody outside this club knows anything from this point forward." Rogue nods and Ghost looks at Venom. "Get Jinx checked out."
"I'm staying," Jinx says.
"Wasn't a request," Ghost tells him.
"I'm fucking fine."
"You've got blood running into your eye," Ghost says, raising a brow.
Jinx wipes at it. "Then give me a fucking Band-Aid."
Normally, somebody would laugh, but nobody does. Ghost looks at him for a moment. "Fine. Venom cleans you up. You stay here." Then he turns to Rogue.
"Traffic cameras?”
"Already pulling them."
"The recording?"
"Still running. I'm copying it before I touch anything."
"Good."
Ghost looks at Savage. "I want every call, text, and message you've had since last night."
"You'll have them."
"Venom, same."
"Yeah."
Then Ghost looks at me and I already know what's coming.
"Tempest."
"No."
"I haven't said anything."
"You're going to tell me to keep my head."