Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
In a daze, I walk with Layne clinging to me toward my parents’ house.
Jen’s dead.
All the while, I was more worried about Layne. Not just because she was the one… I love, but because in my mind, she’d been the target. Jen was just an extra to them. I never expected her to be the one who wouldn’t make it.
My best friend lost his wife.
And meanwhile, I’m walking here with my… My mind isn’t sure how to finish that sentence. What is Layne? My girlfriend? Officially, she wasn’t even that before she got kidnapped.
The two girls who came with Layne follow us in silence. When we climb the porch steps, I knock on the door and wait for my mother to unlock it. When she appears in the doorway, her jaw drops.
“Oh, Layne,” she says, relieved, and steps outside to wrap her arms around Layne. “Thank God.” When she takes a step back, she looks past Layne. My mother’s gaze goes from the dark-haired girl to the white-blond girl and then to me. “Jen?”
I shake my head cautiously.
“Is Brooks… Is she coming?”
I shake my head again.
“No?” she asks.
“She’s…” Layne starts, then goes silent. After taking a deep breath, she says, “She didn’t make it.”
My mother just nods, but I can see the pain in her eyes, and she takes a step back. “I think there’s someone here who really wants to see you.”
Without another word, Layne rushes past her into the house, and within seconds I hear, “Mom?”
Following her, I notice Rebel has buried her face in her mother’s shirt. Behind her, Brandon looks up at me hopefully, and that look breaks my heart into a million pieces. “I’m sorry, kid,” I whisper.
“She’s not here?” he asks, his voice faltering.
“No, I’m sorry.” I walk over to him and set him down on the couch. “Listen, buddy.”
“No,” he yells, trying to get up.
I tilt my head. “Brandon…”
A tear falls down his cheek. “No!” he yells again and pushes me hard.
Rebel appears beside me and kisses me on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispers and takes a step toward Brandon.
His eyes find hers and for a moment, they just stare at each other. Then Rebel wraps her little arms around his neck and he bursts into tears. Biting my lip, I nod at her and rise.
“Hey, I’ve gotta go… Stay here, okay?”
“Go ahead,” Layne says softly. “I think he needs you more right now.” Then she looks down at the floor.
I nod at her and kiss her on top of her head. “I’ll position Crusher by the door. If anything happens…”
“I’ll make sure he knows.”
“He’s not answering his fucking phone, Ash. Any idea where he is?” I pace back and forth in front of the clubhouse.
“No, but I’m on my way to the club. See ya soon.” That bastard’s got the nerve to hang up on me.
Goddamn it, where’s Brooks? We need to figure out how we’re gonna take those bastards down.
The gate slides open, and a motorcycle rides up to me. Ash. The moment he takes off his helmet, I growl, “We need to know where he is. Those bastards…”
“Colt’s already on it. Hop on.”
“Colt?” I ask, swinging my leg over the seat.
“Yeah. If Brooks took his cell, we can track him.” Ash starts the bike and drives down the path that leads to Colt’s house.
“Track him?” I’m twenty-eight years old, for fuck’s sake, but this conversation makes me feel like I’m eighty, thinking only authorities could do that.
“You’ll see.”
It doesn’t take long before we get there, and when we enter the small room with the computers, we find Colton hunched over the screen. One has a pin on a map, the other looks like Google Maps, but with Colton, I’m not so sure anymore.
“Got any info on the fruit fly?”
Colt rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Nothing since the last update before the whole dock thing.” He nods toward the screen. “Brooks’s there.” He points to the dot on the strange map. Then he points to a spot on the other map. “That’s over here,” he says. “But I just can’t…”
“The fucking Knights of Mayhem. Damn it, Brooks.” I slam my fist on the desk.
“Goddamn it!” Colt roars. “Mind the fucking equipment. You know how much that shit costs?”
“Sorry,” I mumble. “Okay, we’ve gotta go get him, and I think we’ll need some backup.” I dig my phone out of my pocket.
“I’ll send a message to the club,” Colt mumbles.
“Meet me at the bar in five minutes.” His fingers fly across the keyboard and before I’ve even found Pax’s number, he says, “Done. Come on.” As he rises, he grabs his jacket from the back of the chair.
The three of us run outside, where I hop on the back of Asher’s bike and Colt starts his own.
The engines roar to life, and we rush back to the clubhouse.
Lo-and-behold, everyone is already waiting for us when we arrive.
“What’s going on?” Dad asks as I get out of the car.
“They killed Jen. Brooks… He’s…”
“Fuck,” my father yells. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. That kid…”
“Did you hear what I said?” I yell back at him. “They killed Jen. What the hell would you do if they…” I don’t even want to think about it.
My dad cuts in. “Where is he?”
“I sent the location to all your phones. No idea what we’ll find.” Colt wiggles his own phone back and forth. “Ready to go?”
There’s some mumbling, and everyone starts their engines. I walk over to Crusher, tell him to watch Layne, and then climb on my Indian. We quickly fall into formation.
My stomach drops the moment we arrive at the location.
The warehouse door is flung wide open. It’s a gaping black hole with a body on the floor next to it—probably the building’s security guard.
We switch off our engines when we’re close enough and roll forward a few more meters.
I park my Indian in front of a locked building, put my helmet on the seat and as I stand, my fingers close around the Glock tucked into my waistband.
Carefully, I click open the magazine and peer inside.
Two empty chambers, so I reach into my pocket for some spare bullets.
I put two in the chambers and click the magazine back into place.
Then I scan the area for Ash. I quickly spot him next to Colt and my brother. Without pausing, I walk over to them.
“Fuck,” he says. “What the hell’s he thinking?”
“Nothing. He didn’t think about it for a second. This is blind rage,” I grumble and light a cigarette.
“Seriously, Ky? We’re about to go into that building and you’re lighting a cigarette?” Pax rolls his eyes and sighs.
I take a long drag. “I need it,” I mumble. Who knows what state my best friend will be in when I find him? Best-case scenario, he’ll be in one piece with no scrapes. Worst-case scenario… like that guy on the floor.
I walk up to the door with my gun in my hand. Ash pursues me and soon the rest of the club joins us in a line. I’m scared shitless of what I’m going to find inside.
I push with my foot against the man lying in the doorway.
He doesn’t budge. I can’t assume he’s dead, but it sure looks like it.
As quietly as possible, I shuffle past him and try to peek inside.
Death silent. Literally. The first three people I see are certainly dead.
One’s throat has been slit, the second’s intestines are spilled all over the floor, and the third’s got a bullet lodged in his skull.
There’s blood everywhere, but I can’t understand why it’s so damn quiet.
“Shit,” Asher comments as he takes in the scene before us. “This doesn’t look good, Ky.”
“Tell me ‘bout it,” I whisper.
We slowly shuffle forward, and the others follow suit.
With my Glock raised, I turn the corner and aim the gun at nothing but five other bodies. This is fucked up. Where the hell is Brooks?
I take a step forward, then another, and as I round the next corner with my Glock in my hand and my finger on the trigger, I aim it at the back of my best friend.
“Where’s the bastard?”
Blood covers Brooks, who sits on a man’s chest. He’s pressing a knife against his throat.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, psycho,” the guy yells, his voice croaking.
“Ballistic,” I say cautiously. I don’t use his real name ‘cause the bastard on the floor doesn’t need to know it, if he doesn’t already.
“Fuck off, man,” he replies. “It was my job to protect her, not yours.”
“I’m not here for her, I’m here for you,” I respond.
“Did he tell you anything?” I put my gun back in my waistband, find my cigarettes, and tilt my head to light another one.
I take a deep breath and walk up to him.
“Well, you gave him a good beating. Good job.” My father’s footsteps approach and Asher hisses something that I know will keep him at a distance.
“Well, the whole Vanderberg deal didn’t really work out for you and your friends, did it?” I grin at the man lying underneath Brooks. “So, who do we need to talk to?”
“Like you won’t kill me if I tell you,” the man sobs.
“Uh, yeah, he will, but if you tell us, you know we will punish the bastard who caused your death, won’t you?” I crouch down next to him. “Just tell him and get it over with.”
“All I know is Vanderberg’s name, and I got an address.”
“Spit it.” I open my notes app and, as I type in the address, Brooks leisurely cuts his throat.
As soon as we’re outside, I roar at him, “By yourself, Brooks? You forget what we agreed on?”
He pushes my shoulder and walks past the rest of the club members. “Fuck off, Ky. She’s my wife.”
“And my mom’s sitting with a boy who lost his mom and whose father gets himself killed because he doesn’t rely on the club. Asshole.” I stomp after him.
He turns around abruptly. “Fuck off. I gotta do this, man.”
“No,” I yell. “No, what you gotta do is go home and talk to that kid. Let him cry and make sure he doesn’t become an orphan.
You gotta make sure we go back together to get Jen, that we punish those assholes together, and we bring her home together.
” I grasp his chin. “You gotta make sure she didn’t die for nothing.
Mark my words, Jen’s revenge is coming, and you will not be joining her.
The muscle twitches and I think my words are affecting him.
At least, I hope so.