Chapter Twenty-Nine
Roadkill’s chest ached as he watched Jenna. It had been hours since they’d discovered Lacey missing and she still sat staring at the wall, as if there was something interesting projected there. He knew from experience she wasn’t seeing the wall, but was instead, stuck in her own head.
Most of the brothers who’d shown up after Jenna called Papa Smurf had gathered information and cleared out before the sheriff’s men had shown up.
They’d all gone to do different things, some to check with neighbors to see if they’d seen anything, or had cameras that might have picked up who was at the house, but Joker had gone to see the teacher.
Roadkill didn’t know what Joker had said or done, but he’d gotten the teacher to admit he had a part in Lacey’s disappearance. He’d given Joker the name and number to his contact.
Knowing the police would be coming to talk to him, Joker had told them that if the teacher didn’t confess when the cops questioned him, then he’d be back, and he wouldn’t get away so easily. Roadkill wished he’d been there to see it, but Jenna needed him more.
The police had questioned her for quite a while, then taken her contact information and told her they would be in touch.
She’d wanted to stay at the trailer, in case Lacey had somehow managed to return.
Roadkill had convinced her she’d be better off here, but he’d made sure someone would be there just in case.
Now, one of the prospects sat outside the house, in a pickup, watching.
Just in case. He’d brought her back to the clubhouse and found that Hex had sent all the Belles and Angels home.
The only people around the clubhouse were brothers and their women.
Roadkill wanted to go to Jenna, pull her into his arms, take her upstairs, lay down, and just hold her. But something told him she needed to be here. She needed to be in the middle of the men talking about what they were finding, where to look and who to question next.
Elizabeth sat in a recliner close to Jenna, not saying anything but being there with her. Roadkill was grateful for the other woman. Her quiet strength seemed to help Jenna when he didn’t know what to do.
Roadkill felt helpless, he needed to be here for Jenna, but he also wanted to be out looking, out helping to find her.
Consider the girl dead.
The words from the note echoed through his mind.
No. They would not give up. Jenna would never give up on her sister, so that meant the Savage Warriors wouldn’t either.
The scuff of a boot drew Roadkill’s attention.
He looked up and found Hex in the opening to the hallway that led to his office and Cypher’s command center.
His president watched Jenna and Elizabeth for several seconds, then his gaze flicked to Roadkill.
His gaze met Roadkill’s and he jerked his head toward the hall, then turned and disappeared.
With one more glance at Jenna to make sure Elizabeth wasn’t leaving, he followed Hex.
“We have news,” his president kept his voice low, Roadkill assumed so they wouldn’t be overheard by the women in the other room. “We know where she is. On a boat in the gulf, Joker’s on their tail and will let us know as soon as he has her.”
Roadkill closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The end was in sight, hopefully. Maybe. The real question was what had happened to her while whoever had taken her had her? How traumatized would she be? He had no doubt there would be trauma, but how much?
Hex looked back down the hallway, as if making sure they hadn’t been followed.
“The house is yours.” He held up a set of keys.
“It’s not locked now. I’ve got some of the men moving some stuff we had in storage in now, then they’ll move on to the stuff in your room.
You can stay there tonight, if you want.
If you think she’ll be more comfortable here, with the rest of the club closer, we can hold off on moving your shit. ”
Hex turned toward where he knew Jenna sat and stared at the wall as if he could see her through it.
They were likely only a few hours from Lacey’s return.
There was nowhere for Lacey in his room upstairs, and while they could put her in another room, that wasn’t the best option.
But he knew he would feel better, and likely Jenna would too, just knowing they were inside the compound with the Warriors around them, and the gate manned all the time to stop anyone from getting to the house.
It would give them another layer of security to make certain nothing like this would ever happen again. Then something occurred to him.
Jenna and Lacey had lost everything. Sure, there might be a few things salvageable in their house.
He hoped the things that were important to them, the memories that couldn’t be replaced, had escaped the worst of the damage, but considering what he’d found in Lacey’s room, he didn’t want either of them to wear anything from that house.
“They have nothing. No clothes, nothing,” Roadkill said, looking at Hex with wide eyes.
“No worries. I called Mother and gave her their sizes and told her what was going on, or what I could. She’s a pro at shopping.
She’ll have them fixed up and things delivered here before you know it.
” He checked his watch. Roadkill didn’t have to look at his to know it was after midnight.
“Knowing her, she’ll have the basics here first thing in the morning. ”
“Yo, get your asses in here,” Cypher’s voice came from the door a few feet away. As one, Hex and Roadkill turned and headed for the command center.
“Joker has her. Limited info, she’s secure.
He radioed in to let us know, but said he would be focusing on her for a bit and would get back to me.
” Cypher looked up from the computer screen, meeting first Hex’s gaze then Roadkill’s.
“He wants Bones at the dock, if he can’t make the dock, then here. ”
Roadkill’s stomach sank. If he wanted Bones, then she was hurt. The question was how much.
“Does she need to go to the ER?” Roadkill asked.
There were some things that would need to be reported, others they could get by without, depending on what had happened out there on the water.
If she’d been raped, they would need to take her to the hospital so they could press charges.
That was assuming the perpetrator had survived his encounter with Joker.
Cypher shook his head. “He said no. She’s battered but they’d been so focused on getting out clean that was all they’d managed so far.”
There was so much more to that. If this was a trafficking ring like he suspected, they might have been told to keep their hands off. A virgin would bring a lot more cash than if they’d taken turns with her.
Roadkill dropped his head. He stared at the floor for several seconds as some of the tension he’d been holding for the last several hours drained from him.
“Can we get my room moved soon? I’d like to be able to take them both to the house once Bones is done with Lacey,” he said to Hex.
“I’ll get on it now.” The president turned on his heel and left the room. Roadkill stood there, looking after him.
Something smacked him in the back of the head. He looked down and found a small leather ball on the floor. Picking it up, he recognized it as the ball Cypher kept on his desk and would knead as he stared at the screen thinking sometimes.
“What was that for?” he asked, tossing the ball back at the hacker.
“Go talk to your woman. Tell her the girl is safe. It’s not a lot, but it will help.”
Roadkill blinked, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that, then headed for the main room and Jenna.