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Suddenly, Jasper’s cell phone rings. He pulls it out of his pocket and raises it to his ear. After a second, he says roughly, “Fuckin’ hell, hold on a minute. I’m gonna put you on speakerphone so Slate can hear.”
It’s Tray, one of the two prospects that were assigned to look out for our old ladies at the spa today. “Look, Prez, things went bad here, real bad. I took a bullet, but Ben’s been shot too. He’s bad. I don’t know if he’s gonna make it.”
“What in the hell happened? Spit it out, prospect,” Slate barks.
Tray is breathing heavily, struggling to get the words out. We can hear women crying in the background and Tessa’s voice saying something about staying calm.
“We got hit. Five armed men showed up out of nowhere. We tried to hold them off but there was a shootout. The old ladies barricaded themselves in the basement.”
Ben’s ragged voice speaks. “Cut to the chase. Tell them about Queenie and Beth.”
I come to my feet without meaning to. “What about my Beth?”
Tray doesn’t answer but we can still hear background noise. Tessa is telling someone to hold on and that an ambulance is on the way. She finally comes on the line. “Sorry, Tray passed out. Look, we need backup, right now. Call in every favor you’ve ever had. Those assholes took Queenie and Beth. The rest of us are okay. We just want outta here.”
Jasper’s hand tightens around his cell phone, and he crushes it to his ear. “We’ll call in everyone. Hang tight, sweetness. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Be careful, babe. We don’t know if any of the gunmen are still on site. We’re all still barricaded in the basement. Tray managed to get himself and Ben downstairs. We brought them inside with us.”
“Roger that. We’ll be there as soon as possible.”
We can hear sirens in the background.
“Look, we’re gonna have to open up to let the paramedics take the prospects or they’re not gonna make it. I imagine the police will be here shortly as well. I can’t stay on the phone. I’ve got to manage this crisis until help arrives.”
The phone goes dead before any of us can respond. Jasper sends an alert to the brothers’ group chat and virtually every brother in the club immediately goes to the armory to gear up. For the first time in forever, Rock is gearing up as well. I should have guessed our retired founder wasn’t about to be left behind, not when they took his old lady. Jinx and I are left in charge of the clubhouse with the remaining prospects.
This is one of those times that I don’t ride out with my club brothers. I can’t afford to waste time on site where they will have to negotiate with traumatized old ladies, bleeding prospects, EMS, and law enforcement. These bastards have my Beth, and I need to do my level best to track them down.
I grab Josie and take her to my office. It’s a small room at the clubhouse that’s set up with computers, monitors, and everything else I need to track vast amounts of information in real time. I set Josie up with cartoons on an old laptop. She sprawls out on the sofa I sometimes sleep on, seeming drowsy. Thank God for small favors.
The first thing I do is pull the feeds from any security cameras I have on the same street as the spa. Although I don’t own the spa’s security feed, I do own the one at the coffee shop a few doors down as well as the gas station three blocks away. I meticulously piece together the last hour or so.
I continue working while brothers go to the spa to secure the scene and get our people out of that basement. Onyx managed to reroute the spa’s security feed to me before the police arrived. I quickly pull everything I need.
It takes my club brothers a while to sort things out at the spa. By the time they’ve got the women loaded and headed back to the clubhouse, I’ve found the information I’m looking for in the footage.
In case there was any doubt, the men who showed up were after Beth. I know because the first one out the door after they grabbed Beth and Queenie was the guy Jinx and I caught stalking her.
I’d know that face anywhere, especially because the brothers have been circulating it all over Cedar Falls in the largest canvass we’ve ever done. It’s strange how this fucker was nowhere to be found and then pops out of the woodwork to abduct Beth out of nowhere.
Jinx shows up at the door of my office with his baby on his shoulder. “I thought you might want to know that the brothers arrived with our old ladies.”
I jerk my chin at him. “Thanks, Jinx. I do want to greet them. It’s the least I can do after what they’ve been through.”
The baby starts getting fussy and wakes Josie, who starts crying for her mother. I go over and hold out my arms. “Your mama’s not here yet. Want to come with me and get some juice?”
She nods and scrambles into my arms. There’s something about having Beth’s little one in my arms that makes me feel closer to her. I may not be able to rescue the woman I love right now, but I can console her daughter.
Jinx and I walk out to the main room just in time to see the old ladies coming through the door. Slate has his arm around Christina who looks like she’s been crying. Jasper has his very pregnant old lady, Tessa, tucked safely under one arm. And Onyx is actually carrying Emily, who has her head resting against his chest. The others are similarly paired up with their women. They even brought back a handful of spa girls we don’t even know. They’re huddled together, looking around suspiciously with genuine fear in their eyes.
Me and Rock are the only sad fuckers who didn’t get our women back. He glances over at me, and I can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s in the same kind of burn the world down mode that I am. We’re gonna get our old ladies back or die trying.
Rock calls for church in ten minutes and we all scramble to get ready. Tessa breaks away from Jasper and walks over to us. “If you want, I can keep an eye on Josie while you’re in church. She can blow bubbles with me and the other kids on the front porch like she did before.”
“Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“Yeah. Life has to keep marching forward, you know?” She holds her arms out to Josie and asks if she wants to play with the other kids.
