ROUGHNECK: A DARK MOTORCYCLE CLUB ROMANCE (12 page)

Six…

I still couldn’t hear anything. Maybe they were walking in the wrong direction. Maybe they were sneaking around behind me. With no way to know for sure, all I could do was wait.

Nine…

Still nothing.

Ten…

Go!

There was no use in trying to tip toe out of there. The rustling of the dry leaves would give anyone away.

Somewhere along the way, I found my second wind. I reached the edge of the tree line in record time. They must have heard, because there was a heavy rustling from behind.

“Shit! She got behind us!”

When I reached the broken fence I barely slowed down. Once on the other side, I took a look back. They were just emerging from the woods. I had a good lead. I was going to beat them to the van.

A dull ache started to fill my knee. Maybe it was from the running… maybe it was from the accident. I wouldn’t let it slow me down.

My feet almost went out from under me when I jumped to a stop on the gravel shoulder of the road. I had to catch myself against the side mirror.

The sliding door was still wide open from when I escaped. It felt so weird to be using the van for safe haven, when twenty minutes ago all I wanted to do was find a way out of it.

I slammed it shut behind me. Once inside, the first thing I did was lock all the doors. Just in case the movie cliché where the car doesn’t start came true, I didn’t want to be unprepared. I got to the driver’s seat. It would be the first time in my life I drove anything bigger than my little car, but I was going to drive the hell out of it. Unless…

No keys.

They had taken the keys. My string of luck was at its end. I watched as they made the side of the road and stopped at the front end of the van. All I could do was hope for help.

The one from the passenger seat pounded on the hood. He was bleeding heavily from a cut on his forehead, but otherwise seemed uncompromised.

“Unlock the fucking door. There’s nowhere else for you to go.”

“Fuck you!” I yelled through the rolled up window. “Leave me alone!”

The driver, “Dime” is what his friend called him, was making his way to each door, checking to see if it was left unlocked.

“Don’t make me break a window,” he shouted.

His nose was a mangled mess. I’d shattered it with the kick.

“How’s your nose?” I screamed back.

That sent him into a rage. He started banging on the large rear window with his fist.

“Get out! Get out! Get out!”

It reminded me of the way an angry child acts when he can’t have what he wants.

Still, no one drove down the road. It could be hours before another car came through.

I had to think.

Cell phone!

One of them had taken it out of my pocket when they grabbed me, but it had to be in here somewhere. I looked in the cup holders first. Nope. Then, I checked the small duffle bag in the passenger side foot well. There was nothing inside but clothes.

Think Addy. Where is it?

I popped open the glove compartment, but that was empty, too.

“Open the door, bitch! Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Because if you don’t let us in…”

C’mon, c’mon… it has to be here.

I frantically scanned my surroundings. They had to have put it somewhere.

The door! I checked the pocket in the driver’s side first. Nothing. I leaned across to the passenger side. He was standing right outside the door. We came nose-to-nose against the window. He had hate in his eyes.

There it was!

Tucked behind the manual was my last lifeline.

I yanked it free and held it up to show him.

“Back off,” I yelled. “I’m calling the cops.”

The battery indicator was green. I had full bars.

The first number that came up on my call history was the one Hale had given me. I hit the call button without even thinking.

“Addy? Where the hell are you?”

His voice soothed me.

“Hale! I don’t know. Two guys… they grabbed me. I’m stuck in a van out on some-”

There was a tap at the window. I stopped to see what it was. When my eyes raised, they were staring down the barrel of a black handgun.

Having a gun pointed at you makes you do silly things.

“Put the phone down.”

I took it away from my ear and watched him.

I couldn’t hear Hale impatiently calling my name from the other end of the phone.

“Addy? Adeline… are you there? Where are you?”

“Down,” he said again, as he motioned toward the door. “Or I’ll blow your head right off your shoulders.”

I knew he wasn’t bluffing by the look in his eyes. My hand involuntarily went back toward my ear. But what could I say? I couldn’t tell Hale where I was any more than I could tell the police.

The gun fired.

The shot shook me to my core. A loud bang, followed by the sound of breaking glass. After that, everything turned into a high-pitched hum.

Smoke billowed in through the hole in the glass. I let the phone fall to the floor as I wondered how long I would have to live.

He used he but of the gun to break out the glass that remained in the window. I couldn’t do anything to stop him.

He grabbed me roughly by the hair and started pulling me toward him. I couldn’t even scream.

“Looks like we’re not getting the deposit back on this thing,” laughed the other one as he joined his partner in front of me.

The jagged edges left in the frame of the window cut my legs as he pulled me the rest of the way through.

“Did you hit her?”

“Naw. Just buzzed the tower, that’s all.”

They laughed again.

The shot went through the one window and out the other. Instinctively, I felt around for the hole in my chest. Glass littered my hair. My eyes stung from the muzzle flash and smoke.

“Next time, how about a little warning? You almost hit me.”

“I hit just where I was aiming,” he said. “And next time, it won’t be a warning shot.”

He sneered down at me with yellowed teeth.

“This time tie her feet too.”

I
t didn’t take
them long to get the van moving, and this time they made sure I wasn’t going to be giving them any more surprises. The rope rubbed my ankles raw where he tied it, and they’d slapped a piece of tape over my mouth to keep me quiet..

I had no plan. All I could do was sit and wait to see what fate would befall me.

At least Hale knew that I was in trouble. He would be looking for me, and that gave me
some
comfort.

It wasn’t a long drive. From the time they tied me back up until we rolled to a stop couldn’t have been longer than ten minutes.

Would Hale know to look for me here? They seemed to be expecting him. I didn’t know if he would bring Jared. The thought of trading his life for my own made me sick to my stomach. I knew Hale would do that if he had to. I hoped he had a plan.

The sliding door flew open so hard it clanged as it hit against the end of its tracks.

“Let’s go. Dirty’s waiting.”

Someone pulled me by my legs toward the open door and untied them. As he brought me out of the van, his hand slid up the back of my leg and grabbed a handful of my butt.

My knee found his crotch.

“Damnit!” he yelped in pain.

“Yeah, watch her,” said a voice from behind him. “She’s a feisty one.”

The man pushed me roughly toward the unknown. There are few things more terrifying than being forced to walk when you can’t see anything… Especially when you can’t put your hands in front of you to feel around.

They laughed as I stumbled and winced. One of the jerks shoved me and I fell face first into a patch of dirt.

“Don’t fuck her up too bad. Dirty said he wants her clean.”

Two men picked me up and carried me the rest of the way by my arms. The area seemed big and open. The way the sounds echoed off the walls made me think it was some kind of conference room. That didn’t fit with what I pictured in my head, but, to this point, nothing else really had either.

There were a lot of voices, as well. Male and female. They hooted and hollered. The sound of bottles clanking together filled the room.

“Drop her,” said a voice above all the others. “Take that damn bag off her head, too.”

The light hurt my eyes.

I surveyed the room the best that I could. The place was old and worn. There was a flag hung prominently on the wall that matched the symbol that Hale wore on his back. Beneath, it read: The Fallen MC.

What the hell was going on?

A man with a short grey beard and a hard look in his eye stood before me.

“Stand up,” he said.

“Why? What are you going to do to me?”

The room went up in a chorus of cheers and jeers.

“Shut up,” he barked back at them. There were probably ten of them altogether, though I couldn’t be sure what was behind me.

“What do think I want?” he asked.

“You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded. “Jared… he didn’t do anything. He’d never talk to the cops or anything like that if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He shook his head and pulled a chair out from the long table that dominated the center of the room. He sat in front of me.

“What did you say your name was, doll?”

“I didn’t,” I answered, harshly.

“That’s okay. My name is Sly. Have you ever heard a name like that?”

I glared back at him, not wanting to play the game.

“A man gets a name like that because he thinks of everything. Are you following me?”

I spit at his boot. He didn’t flinch.

Sly took a long pause, then looked around the room.

“I don’t let little things like your brother get in my way. If we have to put him six feet under to make sure he doesn’t talk… then that’s what we’ll do.”

“I told you, he won’t say anything. That’s not him.”

“Unfortunately darlin’, your word isn’t good enough for me. That kid is gonna pay one way or the other. You see, he ran out on his brothers when they needed him. What kind of precedent would that set if I just let him slide?”

“What if you don’t get your hands on him?” I said angrily. “What then?”

“Are you saying your own brother doesn’t have the balls to trade places with his sister? I don’t even think he’s that much of a coward. And if he is… then we’ll just hang on to you as a penalty and find him another way.”

“Fuck you.”

The corner of his eye twitched before he swung his open palm against the side of my cheek. The slap felt like a sting from the world’s biggest bee. Pain radiated down my jaw.

“Now, I’m sorry if this is a shock to you. But you should have known the deal when your brother decided to become a part of what we’re doing here. Hell, it doesn’t even sound like he knew the deal.”

“Hale isn’t going to let you do this.”

“Oh yeah, Roughneck…” he said, offhandedly. “That son of a bitch is gonna bring your brother to me, just like we told him. And when he does, we
might
let the both of you live. I have to tell you though; he’s starting to become a real pain in my ass.”

“He’s gonna kill you,” I said, quietly.

“Somebody get this bitch out of here,” he barked. “If she doesn’t want to listen to reason, I can’t make her. She’ll be singing a different tune soon.”

The same two bikers who carried me in, picked me up and dragged me to a room down the hallway. There was nothing inside but a double bed shoved into the corner.

“Get comfortable,” one said, before slamming and locking the door behind him.

This place was more like a prison cell than a bedroom. There was one small window that probably would have looked out over the front lot, but I couldn’t know for sure because it was boarded over.

A single light bulb swung from the center of the room. It barely illuminated the floor. The corners were dark and scary. I stood in what light I had feeling more vulnerable than I’d ever felt in my life. I was wearing nothing but my underwear and the flimsy tank top I had on this morning. The rest of my shorts had fallen away in the latest struggle.

All I could do was wait. Wait and hope for my twisted prince charming to ride in on his metal horse and save me.

“
T
hat’s it
. We’re good to go,” said Cejudo.

“The judge signed the warrant?”

“It should be coming through any minute.”

I couldn’t believe it. We barely had enough evidence to make it stick outside of that young kid’s testimony. And we hadn’t been able to get in touch with him for a day and a half. Part of me wondered if the gang had already gotten to him. Maybe it’d be better if they did. Least then the kid wouldn’t be changing his story when he hit the stand…

“I’m not sure this thing is gonna stick,” I said to my partner. “Without Jared Kason’s personal testimony we might not have a leg to stand on. The tapes go a long way, but a jury likes to look a man in the eye when he’s telling a story…”

“The major said to charge him and keep working the case after. He wants this guy off the street.”

“Who’s going with us?”

“We just got word that he’s out at the gang’s clubhouse. There’s gonna be a lot of those fuckers out there so we’re gonna have to go in heavy. We’re just waiting for the team to come together. Should be ready to roll out in the next fifteen.”

The old fax machine struggled to life. It kicked out three or four documents.

“There it is,” said Cejudo. “One arrest warrant for a mister Robby “Dirty” Carlson. His ass will be in jail by sundown.”

I
banged on the door
. I yelled for someone to come talk to me. I asked for food.

Nobody came. I wanted answers and they refused to give me any.

How long was I going to be here?

When I’d all but given up on seeing anyone ever again, the door knob slowly started to turn. It stepped back toward the bed with my hands balled into fists.

In walked a man I hadn’t seen before. He was thin, but imposing. A long, jagged scar ran the length of his cheek.

“Who… who are you?” I asked.

The man only stared. His gaze went rapidly up and down my body. It felt different from when Hale looked at me. Hale’s eyes swallowed me and took me in. His… dissected me.

“Excuse me… who are you?” I asked again. “What do you want from me?”

“So, you’re Adeline?” he said, finally. “I’ve been waiting to meet you.”

He took a step closer. I shuddered.

“I don’t know you,” I said.

“Oh, well don’t worry about that, Adeline. We’re going to get to know each other.”

The way he said my name made my skin crawl. The stench of cheap alcohol wafted off of him.

“What do you mean? I just want to get out of here.”

“You want to leave?” he asked. “Go right ahead…”

He stepped to the side, giving me a path to the open door next to him.

“What?”

“You ask a lot of questions, Adeline. You said you wanted to leave, so… go ahead.”

He motioned toward the door as he pulled a flask from the back pocket of his jeans. He took a long pull from it while motioning to the door.

“What are you waiting for? The door is right there.”

“You’re… just gonna let me go?”

“That’s what I said.”

I took a tentative step forward. His lips curled into something evil. He retreated to the door frame and leaned against it. He made a long sweeping motion with his hand, as if to say
what are you waiting for?

There wasn’t much room to squeeze by him. I would have to pass right under his downturned nose.

“Please move,” I said, cautiously.

He chuckled to himself and then moved to outside the door.

“You sure are a handful, Adeline. Maybe you shouldn’t be so nervous. I’m not such a bad guy when you get to know me.”

I walked to the door and peeked my head out. Even though we were down the hallway, I could tell that things had cleared out a bit. Other than the idle chatting of a few women around the corner, it seemed that we were alone.

“I don’t believe you,” I said solemnly. “Why are you trying to torment me?”

“When the boys brought you in, they said you liked to run. I just thought it might be fun if you wanted to run from me. I bet I can catch you.”

“You’re disgusting,” I said as I retreated back into the room. “What kind of cowardly people use an innocent girl to get what they want.”

“The kind that will do whatever it takes,” he said.

His demeanor changed. His face changed to something more business-like as the fake smile fell away. When he followed me back into the room, I wished I’d at least taken the chance to run.

“What are you going to do? Your boss said that if my brother comes in, I can leave. So you can’t do anything to me.”

“First of all Sweetheart, I don’t have a boss. And second, yeah, if your pathetic brother comes in, we’ll give you back. But we never said we’d give you back
whole
.”