Chapter Twelve
Twelve
“Are we done?” Keys asked before Absinthe or Czar could ask Lyric another question.
His tone suggested they’d better be done.
Tightening his fingers around Lyric’s, he pulled their joined hands to his chest and pressed her palm over his heart.
“You keep pressing her, Absinthe, and she’s stated very plainly she doesn’t have any other facts for you. ”
It was Czar who answered. “We appreciate your discussing what clearly is an uncomfortable subject, Lyric. Our club all but declared war on Headed for Hell in order to find Keys. That isn’t done between clubs.
We went into their territory. We had to admit that Keys and Destroyer had been there for three months without wearing their colors or paying Sid his due respect.
Headed for Hell has the right to go to the council and lodge a complaint against us. ”
Lyric instantly tilted her face up toward Keys. “Those men were after me, Keys, not you. I got your entire club into a terrible mess.”
“That isn’t what I said,” Czar objected before Keys could respond.
“As president of Torpedo Ink, I made the decision to put all of us in jeopardy to go after one of our members. At the same time, Keys made the decision to ignore the main rules we’ve had since we were children—having a partner and telling us where he was. ”
“He wouldn’t have gotten hit over the head in the first place if he hadn’t been coming to see me that night,” Lyric pointed out.
Keys heard the pain in her voice and knew the others heard it too.
He wrapped both arms around her head, hiding her from the eyes of his brethren.
“Wildfire,” he breathed his nickname for her into her ear.
“You aren’t responsible for any of this.
Declan is. His people are. You didn’t set any of this in motion. ”
“Keys is right,” Savage suddenly spoke up. “You’re being hunted, and we’d like to put a stop to it. We’re capable if you let us.”
Keys raised his head, his eyes meeting Savage’s. “You have information?”
Czar nodded toward Lyric. “She does. She mentioned a Russian helping Declan. That Russian went to one of Sorbacov’s schools.
That ties him back to the Ghosts and the outfit involved with trafficking children that we’ve been pursuing for years.
The fact that we had information about a pipeline being used in Headed for Hell territory, then the local militia, the one she suspects has something to do with trafficking, attacked Lyric and you, Keys, and it’s all too much to be a coincidence. ”
Keys had to admit that was true. He didn’t believe in that big of a coincidence.
Put together, the facts began to paint a very ugly picture of the people living on the mountain above Headed for Hell territory.
The fact that Sid’s club was small and he didn’t have allies made them a prime candidate for the Ghosts to use.
They went after clubs knowing law enforcement would never be involved.
The Ghosts tortured men, women, and children.
They kidnapped wives or girlfriends of club members and held them hostage in order to get the club to comply with whatever their demands were.
Once kidnapped, the women were subjected to gang rape and torture, even if their club agreed to aid the Ghosts.
“I don’t understand,” Lyric said. “If the militia are the ones using Sid’s caves to hold prisoners, what are they doing there? I don’t have enough imagination to understand why they would bring children and women to those caves.”
Again, it was Czar who answered. His tone was gentle, very soft and careful.
Keys appreciated that he was feeling his way with Lyric, not trying to run over the top of her.
He had to see she was neurodivergent. All of them were familiar with a woman, Rikki, who lived on the same property as Czar.
Czar’s wife, Blythe, referred to Rikki as a sister of the heart.
Rikki had rescued Lev, Czar’s birth brother, from certain death.
She was autistic and well respected in Sea Haven and Caspar.
Keys appreciated Czar’s caution, but he was beginning to find that place inside him, the one that wasn’t so nice and would never be nice unless he was talking to his woman.
He didn’t mind being the scary one, the one apart, as long as he could protect Lyric from any threat coming at her.
That included whatever his club brought.
The more this went on, with Lyric in the spotlight, the more he felt her sliding away from the real Lyric, letting the mask settle over her.
Once she was there, pulling her back was going to be a bitch.
He’d brought her to his family, hoping for a quick debrief and then an introduction to the women, always much safer and more welcoming than all of the Torpedo Ink brethren.
Even Alena and Lana could be harsh and shut down.
“Women or children are kidnapped and they need a place to hold them prisoner while deals are made for them,” Czar explained.
“Often there’s an auction, they’re sold to the highest bidder.
Sometimes the buyers want them trained a certain way as sex slaves.
No one can hear them scream if they’re secreted in those caves in the mountains.
You’re thinking in terms of a cave with dirt and leaking water.
There’s a network of cave systems that run throughout the mountains, and they’ve been renovated to be exactly what these people need to hold and possibly train their prisoners to become the sex slaves they will be used as. ”
“I still don’t understand how I can help you,” Lyric said. “I’ve told you what I believe to be true about Sid, but I don’t know any of those who live with the militia well. I’ve never been in the caves and didn’t know they existed.”
She was definitely withdrawing. Keys tightened his hold on her hand when she tugged to get it back. “Babe, look at me.” He gave her the command softly, but very firmly. He needed her to see him. To rely on him.
Lyric didn’t so much as turn her head toward Keys. She stubbornly held herself away from him. He knew why. Sid wasn’t personal. Declan and the Russian were very personal, and Lyric knew the conversation was heading in that direction. She was identifying him with his club, not with her.
He refused to relinquish her hand, holding it tight against his chest. “Baby, I know you’re uncomfortable with this subject, but if you have any information regarding the Russian or the militia, it would be very helpful.”
“I don’t,” she said. His woman could be extremely stubborn once she made up her mind—and she’d made up her mind.
“We’re not looking for personal details, Lyric,” he said patiently. “If the militia is running the human trafficking ring up in those mountains, we need to know.”
“I have no idea.”
There was silence following her statement. She’d made it abundantly clear she was finished with the subject.
“Okay,” Czar suddenly conceded. “Thank you for your help. I know giving one’s opinion instead of knowing facts can be upsetting.”
Lyric glanced out the window and made a slight move as if she might head toward the door. Keys tightened his hold on her. He needed to keep Lyric with him. She’d gone through too much, and she wasn’t used to being around so many people she didn’t know.
Routine was important to her. Structure. She planned everything out step by step. She didn’t like the unfamiliar, and when confronted with it, she retreated back into her head. She functioned from a safe distance.
“We finished, Czar?” he asked.
“Not quite, Keys. It would be good if Lyric would tell us as much as she can remember about Yaman Kuzmin. If we know what he did to her, we most likely can pin down the school he attended in Russia. Each school taught their students slightly different techniques when it came to torture.”
Czar’s tone was matter-of-fact. Every single one of the club members was far too comfortable with torture and killing. They’d lived with it from the time they were toddlers. That was the world they lived in.
Lyric had a soft heart. She’d had bad things happen to her, but she hadn’t turned to violence to solve her problems. She was a runner.
She withdrew into her head and then into the wilderness.
Just as they went after their enemies, patiently planning a way to take them out permanently, Lyric planned her getaway.
Keys was fairly certain she was doing so now.
She didn’t answer Czar; she simply shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on the window. “I need to go for a walk, Keys.” Her voice was low, but she made the declaration in her sweetest false tone, the one she reserved for her clients. She gave him a vague smile without looking past his nose.
Keys resisted the urge to strangle her. He allowed her fingers to slip from his. She went straight to the door of the clubhouse and walked out.
“You’ve got trouble on your hands,” Czar pointed out.
“Yeah, like all of you, she’s not convinced that I’m going to stick with her.
We talk about parties, and she knows she’s going to have to face women I’ve fucked.
There’s no getting around that. She knows it and so do I.
It isn’t as if she didn’t see me with multiple women.
She took a chance coming here, but she’s got one foot out the door. ”
“It doesn’t help that we’re pushing her,” Czar said. “Blythe tells me we can be insensitive.”
Keys kept his gaze fixed on Lyric as she walked through the open gates of the compound and turned along the street heading toward the ocean. At the last moment, she turned and followed the sidewalk toward other businesses and buildings in Caspar.
“She has to learn to trust me,” Keys said, meaning it.
“Have you given her reason to trust you?” Czar persisted.
Keys considered the question. He had done a lot of things that would prevent Lyric from trusting him as a partner, but he’d also laid his life on the line multiple times for her. That should have bought him some faith.