Chapter 14 #2
Beau lifts both hands. “First of all, just let me say that we had nothing to do with this. Yeah, those could be two of our guys, but I swear they never came to me with any kind of plan. I’d have quashed it instantly.
Stealing guns is one thing, but taking a young girl… ? Nah, that’s not what we’re into.”
“Someone is,” I point out, “and if I don’t find her soon, I’ll hold everyone who has ever had any connection to the assholes who came onto our compound and took her to account.”
“I hear you.” Beau turns back to his guy, Fitz. “You’ve got a contact in the local sheriff’s office, right? Think they might be able to run a license plate check on Garth’s and Sutton’s vehicles over the past twenty-four hours?”
“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll do that.”
Fitz takes his cell phone from the pocket of his leather cut and moves away from the rest of us to make a call to his contact.
“Think we can put the guns down now?” I suggest.
Beau considers this and then signals to his men, and I do the same with mine.
We’re all a little antsy, especially considering we’re on another MC’s territory, but it’ll be safer for all of us if we’re not waving weapons around.
All it would take is for one person to say the wrong thing, and there’ll be bodies all over the goddamned place.
I’m quietly impressed that Ace hasn’t lost his shit yet.
I’d been sure he would have by now. I know Camile has gotten under his skin as much as she has mine, but that he’s managed to hold himself back proves that he truly cares for her.
I shoot him a glance as we wait. He’s practically trembling with anticipation, and I feel sorry for whoever has taken her.
He’ll probably use his teeth to tear every feature from their faces when we find them.
The minutes tick past, and a few people make themselves more comfortable, taking up spots on the ground, their backs pressed to the building where we’d expected to find Camile.
My old chapter is getting antsy, too. Everyone had been expecting a big fight, but they’d been left unsatisfied.
The fight is still to come, though, and I hope they all understand that.
This is far from over.
Finally, Fitz returns. “Okay,” he says, “they got a hit on Garth’s truck—several hits, actually—all on the same corner.
” He pulls up a map which has a pin dropped in it to indicate the location of the traffic camera.
“Looks like he’s been coming and going past this camera since yesterday afternoon. ”
I reach for the phone. “Let me see that.” Staring at the map, I shake my head. “But that’s on our territory.”
Ace moves in beside me to get a better look. “What are those fuckers doing on our territory? Must have something to do with the Numbnuts.”
“The who?” Beau asks, his brow pulling down in a frown.
“The now ex-members of our MC who’ve been talking to your guys,” I explain.
My mind is whirring. What reason do they have to take Camile?
The only thing that makes sense is that they’re involved with the same people who killed her father—the same ones her mother and brother are hiding from at the safehouse.
If the cartel is involved in this, we have much bigger problems than a few idiot club members who made terrible choices.
I highly doubt the fucking Numbnuts even knew what they were getting themselves into, but Beau’s men must have.
Someone would have communicated with them, and I assume large sums of cash are in play.
“Wait a minute,” Ace says. “I know this area. There’s a building, similar to the one behind us, about a mile from where that camera is located.
We used it last month, remember? We stashed those too-hot bikes for rebuild before bringing them onto the compound with new plates and ID numbers.
The Numbnuts were involved in moving the bikes. ”
I look at Ace. “So they know the location.”
“Yeah, and they also know we’re not using it for anything else right now.”
A flicker of hope sparks inside my chest. “You think they might have taken Camile there?”
“I’d say there’s a good fucking chance.”
“How long’s it going to take us to get there?”
Ace thinks for a beat. “If we move fast, thirty minutes, tops.”
“Let’s do it, then.” I turn to Beau. “What do you want us to do with your guys, assuming we find them there?”
Beau purses his lips. “You okay if I send a couple of my men with you, so they can bring Garth and Sutton back to me? I’d like to know if they are alone.
I’ve not exactly done a headcount of my men, you know?
There could be others involved. If there are indeed other snakes, I need their names and to deal with them. ”
I consider this for a moment. I want to know who the fuck they’re working with and how they got involved in this.
“Does your way of dealing with them include interrogating them to find out who they’re working with?”
“Of course.” He nods. “I want to know just as much as you do why these fuckers have done this.”
“Will you share that information with us?” I gesture to my men. “I have a worry they’re working with an organized crime group down in Mexico.”
He frowns. “Long fucking way from Mexico here.”
“Yeah, I know. But that’s what I believe.” I don’t elaborate as I don’t want to give too much away to people I’m not one hundred percent sure I can trust. “And I would really appreciate it if one of my men can be watching the interrogation. To bring me back the information.”
I know I’m pushing here, but I need to fucking find out every single thing I can.
His eyes are deceptive because their color is so warm, but the expression in them is hard as granite.
Finally, he gives a jerky nod. “Fine. Deal.”
“Thanks. I mean it.”
“I’ll send three men with you,” Beau says. “To make sure they can get those fuckers back here without any issue.”
The idea of having some of his men with me when we rescue Camile makes me antsy.
They might cause trouble or get in the way of our rescue mission.
But with all my men, we’ll outnumber them massively, so I can’t see what harm it would cause.
I also don’t want the hassle of dealing with a rival MC’s men, when all I want is to take Camile home.
Nor do I wish to start up a war with the Revenants, which insisting I take their men back to my club might do.
I’ve already got a massive win with Beau agreeing someone can sit in on the questioning of the fuckers who took her.
Best not to push my luck. I can put one of my men in the interrogation, knowing he’ll make sure we get all the information we need.
I already want them dead, but Beau has shared what he knew, which has allowed us to find Camile, so I owe him the respect of letting him deal with his own men his way.
With the caveat that at the end of all this they end up in a box.
I gesture for Beau to walk with me, and when we’re about fifty steps away from the others, I talk, keeping my voice super low.
“You do know that for my men, particularly those who are fond of the girl who was taken,” I glance at Ace, “the only way they get closure is if, ultimately, your men are dead. I’m not trying to tell you how to discipline them, just saying that I am trying to keep a lid on some of the more… . impetuous members of my club.”
He chuckles. “You are very much trying to tell me how to deal with them, but I understand. If someone came on our land and took one of our women, then I’d want them dead. You have my word that after I’ve interrogated them and made them suffer, they’ll be executed.”
“Then we’re all good, but if we get there and discover Camile has already been harmed, or they start shooting at us, I can’t promise you’ll get them back alive.” I shrug. “I want to keep them alive so we can get information from them, but her safety comes above all else.”
Beau gives a curt nod. “Agreed.”
I raise my voice to address the rest of my men. “We’re moving out.”