Break Maiden (Chrome Horsemen MC Book 3) (5 page)

"Never seemed appropriate until now," she told him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

When the limo pulled up to the gate, two guards, with rifles clearly visible, came up to his car. He rolled down the window, "My name is Max Rozzi. I'm a long time client. I would like to go up to the house. Is there a problem?"

"Afternoon, Mr. Rozzi. I'm very aware of who you are and it is an honor to meet you. Your position in this city is well known. There was trouble, but not any longer. It is completely safe. Please continue up to the house and I'll call ahead to ensure you are allowed inside."

"Thank you," he said, noting that the man was wearing a very nice suit for a guard carrying an assault rifle.

As they passed through the gates, he asked his assistant, "Cathy, that suit?"

"Five, easy," she told him.

"Thoughts?"

"Lou?"

"Hmmm, interesting." Max murmured. "He did say he knew what my position was, didn't he?"

"Very few would; you aren't that popular to the masses. He would have to have a reason for knowing your name, or to recognize you on sight like that."

"Yes, agreed. You stay here. I don't think I'll actually get anywhere, so I don't think this will take long," Max told her.

The door was opened by another guard, but no rifles there. All handguns and shoulder holsters, "Afternoon, Mr. Rozzi. It is a pleasure to have you here."

"You're one of Lou's men?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Temporary detail. One month only," he said.

"And the trouble?"

"Has been taken care of," the guard assured him.

Instinct made him ask, "When?"

The guard fumbled, but then seemed to find no reason for secrecy with that, "Yesterday, about noon."

"Thank you," Max said and walked directly toward the front door like owned the place. Coincidence? Her transfer and abduction, and the end of trouble, which previously required this much firepower? Max didn't believe in coincidences of that nature.

The house was a three-story mansion and when Max came through the front doors, the lobby of the house had a greeting desk with a man sitting behind it, making the place feel like an office, with receptionist.

Who to ask for. Gabriel, or Nicole?
He walked to the receptionist and introduced himself.

"Yes, sir. I'm well aware of your standing with our service. How can I help you? Gabriel will not be back until at least six this evening."

"That's fine. Actually I am here to visit with Nicole. I was told she would be in this location now."

"Nicole?" he said and Max could see a great deal of surprise in the young man's face. "I'm afraid that she is not really available. She's had some…problems."

"Ah, well, I would still like to see her; you may charge my normal rate. Thank you."

"No," he smiled and almost laughed, "I can't charge you that much, Mr. Rozzi. After you see her, you would have my hide. And she's --"

"House pussy. Yes, I know," he said matter-of-factly. "I've been over this," he continued, pulling out his money clip and handing over five hundred. "One hour, probably much less. I am on a schedule, so please, let's not banter any longer."

The young man took the money and his eyes shifted toward the guards, then back to Max, "All right, but --"

"You warned me, yes, yes, lead the way," Max pressed, walking around the desk and forcing the man into action.

"Right this way, Mr. Rossi," he said, hurrying into a leading position.

Well, that wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be,
he said to himself.

She was Nicole, or at least the shell of Nicole. Her beauty was still intact, but everything he loved about her was gone. Her eyes were dark marbles and no one was home. He got to the bed and sat down, "Nicole? It's Max. I'm back. Nicole?"

"Max?" she asked, searchingly.

"Yes, I'm here."

"Max. Cole. Please. Cole."

"Coal? What do you need coal for?"

"Cole, Max. Please. Horsemen. Please. Help. I'm hurt, Max. I'm hurt."

"I know. I'm going to help you," he said.

"Find Cole Max. Find Cole."

"All right. Where can I find coal?"

"Horsemen. Horsemen. Help. Hurry."

Max spent a half hour with her, but that's all he got that made any sense and that much didn't make any sense at all. Horsemen? He eased her back down on the bed from his lap, "I'm going to get coal for you. I'll be back soon."

"Thank you, Max. Thank you. I love him."

Him? Coal is a man? Him. Horsemen.
There was no way he would get out of here with her. He didn't think the guards would kill him, but the possibility of being wadded up, stuffed in his limo, and sent on its way was viable.

Back in his limo, he told the driver to start heading downtown, waiting for further instructions. "You all right with a long night, Bill?" he asked.

"Willing and able, sir. I feel the same way Cathy does," Bill, his driver, told him.

"Then let's go, but no sense hurrying until we have a destination.

"Yes, sir," he said and took the limo out on the road.

"I think we better hurry on this one," Max assessed, "I don't believe he's trying to break her. I think he's trying to kill her. She's really gone, but physically she looks all right."

"What did you get?"

"Not much. I got key words: Horsemen, Coal…possibly a man's name. That's it," he said with frustration. "Oh, and she loves him. Coal."

It took Cathy over three minutes this time to come up with, "Chrome Horsemen. Chapters in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Chicago. An outlaw biker group that, until yesterday, according to news reports, was in a gang war with an unknown group. Several shootings, raids, and fires."

"Yesterday, eh?" Max said, feeling a scent in his nose. "Find them. A location. Anything."

A minute later, she said, "I have an address; it's a bar."

"Give it to Bill and tell him to rush," Max ordered.

Once the limo gained speed and purpose, Max said, "I don't know how much a group like that can do with the security I saw around that place. They seem the fastest resource, but get on the phone and put together a team of hostage rescue men. Men who don't mind pulling shit like this on U.S. soil and understand that until she is able to walk and talk, they'll probably be at risk for kidnapping charges at the very least. I want the best you can find and I'm fairly open on the budget," Max told her. Then he added, "In fact, make it a budget of $5,483,609.00."

Cathy looked up at him, "That was a fairly specific amount, for a budget."

Max gave her a sad grin and looked out the window as his driver rushed them through Chicago.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cole sat at a table in the club. The general emotions around him were those of relief and release. He watched his brothers relax, unable to join them. Brian sat with him and Rat was just about to sit down when Cole told him, "Rat? I love you like a brother and we have ridden some hard miles together, but I swear that if you even hint, at all, that she is a tramp, I'll gut you."

Rat stared at him and then sat down, "All right."

After a full beer, Brian said, "Cole, this is shit. You know it is, but you can't place it. So, come at it another way."

Cole looked over at him, "Such as?" his voice harsh. Then he shook his head, "I know I sound harsh and cynical Brian, but I got nothing. So if you got something, give. Please."

Brian nodded and got up, and walked to the bar. He came back with a pen and a large pad of paper, setting it down in front of Cole. "What we know, Cole," he started. "Stick with what we know. She was smart. She didn't scream and go into hysterics during the maelstrom of that drive-by. So she's tough. She was nearly fearless until Lou was brought into the picture. After that, she was nervous as fuck."

Cole went over those moments in his head. His mind brought up the image of her wide-eyed fear when Lou was talked about. Then he recalled the Valkyrie blaze in her eyes when faced with the two men in the cougar. "All right," Cole nodded in agreement.

"She said she had to talk to you at Rat's house. It was personal, but important." Brian continued.

"She wanted to say she loved me before I left," Cole admitted.

"No, that's not all she said. Write it down Cole, all of it," Brian suggested.

"Write it down? Why?"

"Because I don't think she was saying I love you before
you
left for war. But rather before
she
left for war. She told you something, Cole. Just write it down," Brian pressed.

Cole took a long drink from his beer and mentally shrugged. He didn't have anything, so why not? Bringing up the memory, which was more painful than he imagined, he began to write down her words. It was a bit of a spiel she gave him in the room, but by the time he was a little more than half way through, he recalled the last words she said on the phone. "I'm so fucking stupid," he spat.

"What?" Rat said, leaning forward.

"In the bedroom. She told me that no matter what happened or whatever anyone said, to always remember that she loved me."

"Right?" Rat said, "And?"

Cole looked at his longtime friend, "On the phone, she was convincing and cold as hell. I mean, it was harsh and logical, and…and then she ended with 'oh, and always remember what I told you.'"

Brian nodded, "She was going after Gabriel."

The younger man stood up and paced a little, his mind churning, "She had something. Something she believed would work. Maybe she thought that since he wanted her, she could get close enough. In fact, possibly even show her right through the front door so she could shoot him in his office or something. Whatever it was, it failed and he got her."

"But why the phone call?" Rat asked. "
How
the phone call?"

Cole shook his head, "Way wrong questions.
Why
am I still here, and
how
do I get in there? Those are the only important questions right now. I couldn’t care less about the phone call. It didn't matter and she told me it didn't matter at the end of it. She basically said '
oh, and this is all bullshit; come get me
' and I'm still here pounding suds."

A tall man, with hair nearly gone to gray wearing a suit Cole figured cost more than his yearly house payment with a stunningly beautiful redhead walking next to him, was now coming their way from the bar. Cole noticed Frank had pointed them in his direction.

"Holy shit. Look at her," Rat breathed.

"Is one of you known as Cole?" the man asked, looking from face to face.

"I'm Cole. Cole Porter. What can I do for you?"

The man inventoried Cole like he had never been assessed before in his life. The green eyes were like scanners and the mind behind them was sharp as a laser scalpel. "Yes… you are just who I want to talk to, I believe. My name is Max. Do you know that name?"

Cole nodded slowly, "I know of a Max. If you are the same Max, I might be interested in talking to you as well. Very interested."

"You know Nicole? Did she talk about me?"

"Yes, but not much. You were her… measuring stick."

"Excuse me?"

"You were the one she compared her world to --  this guy was nice, kind of like Max. This guy was mean, which Max never is. This guy was a good investor, but not quite as good as Max -- Understand?"

The sharp laser eyes were suddenly warm and nearly misty. "Do you care about her?"

"Yes, Max. I do. In fact, I just figured out that she's in a great deal of danger. The only reason we're still here is because we're trying to figure out how to breach a building my whole club was wary of with the limited resources we have."

"Maybe you would do better with the resources I have. Write your list."

Cole smiled, "Well, one of the first things on that list Max is going to be a method,
currently unknow
n, of taking out fifty to sixty well-trained, well-armed men without blowing the house and killing Nicole in the process."

"From what I saw over at the house, that would be my first item, too, so put it down. You see, Cole, the way this works is you tell me what you need and I get it to you before sunrise." Max told him.

Cole studied the older man and Nicole's words came to his mind,
these men don't have the problems of other people; they have the problems of other governments.

"You've been to the house? Have you seen her?" Cole asked, straightening up then rising to his feet.

"Yes, son, I have and all she says is your name,
Horsemen
, and
help
. Oh, she also said she loves you. Now, is there an office we can talk in so I can demonstrate my resolve, because she is on so much smack right now, she may not last much longer."

When Jim gave his permission to enter his office, he was sitting alone in the dark with only a small desk light on.

"Jim, this is Max, a friend of Nicole's. We have news if you are interested."