Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

S houting and sirens roused Jumper. His head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Boots pounding on the ground was a familiar sound to him. It brought back the feelings of camaraderie and determination.

His eyes blinked open to the bright blue sky. The fluffy clouds overhead made him think of the Toy Story themed nursery in Bulldog's house.

As he sensed someone coming to their knees next to him, Jumper turned his head and felt something wet pooled beneath his hair. He blinked slowly, his mind recognizing Will but not processing why Will would be kneeling down next to him.

Jumper's mind wasn't comprehending what Will was saying either. His lips were moving, but Jumper had no idea what he was talking about. Why was an ambulance coming?

Will turned his head over his shoulder and shouted something about Jumper being awake. Who was he shouting at?

Will took off his prospect vest, balled it up and shoved it under Jumper's head. Jumper wanted to argue—Will should know better—but his mouth was dry and his tongue felt heavy.

"…bleeding from the back of his head…"

Who was he talking to?

Jumper saw someone else kneel down on his other side. It was Star. Starbucks. Their newest patched member. Since arriving in Mount Grove over a year ago to prospect for the VDMC, he'd been complaining about the lack of chain restaurants and city comforts the small town lacked. The most common one was the town's lack of a Starbucks . So when it was time to be patched over, the club had not only voted for him to get his rockers but on his road name. Generally, the club allowed members to choose their own road name. Unless there was something that had occurred during their prospect year that prevented the club from calling the newly patched member anything but their name. Like Pumpkin and now Starbucks.

For short, the club did allow ‘Star' but his cut still stated ‘Starbucks'. He'd tried to get the nickname of ‘Buck' but no one in the club would call him that.

Jumper hadn't seen Star for a while. He'd been out of town visiting with family. Why was he now here next to Jumper?

Another face came into view. Bear.

Jumper liked Bear. The large man had the heart of a teddy bear. He'd always been voyeuristic with his sex life until he'd met Tessa. Per Bear, those other women hadn't mattered so he didn't care who saw him fucking them. Tessa was his ol' lady and he'd carve the eyes out of any man who saw her naked. Jumper thought the sentiment was sweet, even if it was morbid. He wondered where Maggie was. Unlike Jumper, Bear hadn't wasted any time making Tessa his once he'd found her again.

Jumper had wasted so much time with Jasmine. He knew deep in his gut that he wasn't ready for a relationship even two years ago, but it still felt like wasted time. Jasmine was so perfect and she'd been right here within…reach…

Jumper blinked. The image of Jasmine being forced into the back of a van came to mind. But that wasn't right. Jasmine was at the clinic.

Wasn't she?

"…concussed…former addict…"

Jumper looked to Bear. Why was Bear telling someone that Jumper was a former addict? He was and he didn't hide it, but still… That was his business to tell.

"…Gus Sager…"

Gus? Gus was his brother. What about Gus?

Jumper felt himself being lifted up. His entire body felt weightless, like he was floating on a cloud.

"…shot twice…lost too much blood…field transfusion…"

Jumper had been shot? Was that what was going on? Was that why he felt loopy and not in control?

Steel's face filled Jumper's vison. "We'll get her back. I swear to you, we'll get her back. Just hold on, brother…"

Get who back? As the blue sky was replaced with a white ceiling, Jumper felt the darkness overtake him once more. He really was tired.

It had all happened so fast. One second she was waving goodbye to Colleen Swick as she drove away with Polar, her Great Pyrenees, and then the next Demo was pushing her to the ground. Gunshots followed. Jasmine felt Demo fall. She had been trying to stem the bleeding from the bullet wounds. One was in the shoulder and she feared had hit his subclavian artery; the other was in his lower stomach.

Then rough hands were dragging her away. Even bleeding out, she saw Demo lift his gun once more. He didn't aim for her kidnapper though. His bullets were trying to hit the van. Jasmine fought against the strong arms but it was no use. A bullet hit one tire. It immediately popped, dropping that side of the van.

Relief had filled Jasmine. Demo had saved her!

Then she realized her captor was still dragging her towards the van. Either he didn't care or didn't notice that the van only had three working tires now.

Jasmine cried out as she was forcibly tossed onto the back of the van. Her chin slapped painfully against the vinyl plank, making her teeth slam together.

The man she now recognized as Tim McCrery scrambled into the back of the van too, shouting for them to "Go! Go! Go!" They started moving. Jasmine turned herself over. To her horror, she saw a bound and gagged Sophia on the floor of the van next to her. Her best friend looked furious and was actively trying to gnaw her way through her cloth gag.

Jasmine looked towards the back of the van. Through the open doors, she saw Demo collapse back down in the sidewalk. Fear gripped her—not only for herself and Sophia, but for Demo too.

Where was Jumper? Jumper would save them!

Tim McCrery shut the left door. Jasmine flinched at the loud sound, her mind equating it to the closing of a coffin lid. He reached for the right door. A figure came out of nowhere, flying into the small open gap between the open door and Tim's outstretched arm.

For a moment, Jasmine thought it was Jumper. Then her eyes landed on Aerial.

Tim McCrery slammed the door closed. Jasmine watched in dismay as Aerial turned on him, growling. Aerial made as if she was going to attack, but the uneven footing of the van being forced to drive on only three working wheels caused Aerial to tumble to the side as they took a sharp turn. Jasmine too was thrown against the left wall. Sophia slammed into her side, unable to stop herself from being tossed around with her hands and feet bound.

Aerial shook herself as she stood. Jasmine did a cursory glance and was relieved that Aerial did not look hurt from her tumble. Rather than attack, though, Aerial took steps back away from Tim. She fixed herself in a protective stance over Jasmine. For some reason, Jasmine realized that Aerial wasn't wearing her service vest. She wasn't sure why that stood out as significant to her adrenaline, fear-filled mind, but it did.

"What is going on back there?"

Jasmine's head flew around over her shoulder. She hadn't thought about the driver until that moment. It wasn't Doug McCrery and she didn't recognize the man from his profile.

"We got an unexpected hostage!" Tim McCrery called out. He was keeping his distance from Aerial. She wondered if he had a weapon. If he did, he hadn't pulled it out yet. She knew there had to be a weapon somewhere because they had shot Demo. "The bitch that bit my brother came along for the ride!"

"Put her down!" the driver shouted back.

The van took another sharp turn. Jasmine could hear the scraping of the metal tire rim on the road. She briefly wondered if the rim was scraping the road enough to leave a trail someone could follow.

As soon as Tim righted his footing, he shouted, "Got a better idea! We put her in the ring!"

At hearing this, Jasmine automatically put her hands around Aerial's body and pulled her closer. She was not going to allow these assholes to put Aerial into a dogfighting ring! She wished right then that she knew the Dutch commands Jumper used with Aerial. The only one she knew was zit , which meant sit .

Tim turned his pudgy eyes on Jasmine. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?" she asked back. She hoped she kept the fear out of her voice. For some reason, it was important to her that this man not know she was terrified.

Sophia tried to shout something through her gag, and Jasmine realized that she was painfully lying on her hands behind her back. Keeping one hand on Aerial, Jasmine awkwardly helped Sophia to sit upright.

"Don't play games with me, you stupid bitch! Your fat ass has caused enough problems for me and my brother! Now, where is it? "

"I'm not playing games!" Jasmine shouted at him truthfully. They hit a bump in the road and Jasmine nearly toppled over again. Sophia let out a moan of pain as her shoulder was thrown into the panel that separated the front and back of the van. "I didn't take anything from the barn! I didn't even know that body was in there until the police told me!"

She didn't mention the puppies because she was convinced that neither McCrery brother cared about them. For a moment, she wondered if Tim considered believing her. He studied her without saying anything, the maliciousness on his face seeming to lessen.

Then he shook his head. "No! It was gone when we got back! You two were the only ones there! You took it!"

He made to step forward, but froze as Aerial's growling intensified. "If she attacks, I will kill your friend." He made a motion behind his back as if reaching for a gun while pointing a finger at Sophia.

Recalling Demo, Jasmine demanded, hoping to distract him, "What is it you're looking for? How can I tell you if I have it if you haven't even told me what it is?"

"Don't play games, bitch!" came from the front seat at the same time that Tim shouted, "His cut! His biker vest! You took it!"

Jasmine's jaw dropped. "The man you killed was a biker?" He wasn't one of Jumper's brothers… Was he? Jumper surely would have told her if one of his brothers had gone missing or had been killed.

Jasmine looked to Sophia, but she looked equally confused. Catching her eye, Sophia shook her head that she had no idea what was going on either.

"Where is his cut?" Tim demanded again.

The next turn slammed Jasmine up against the side of the van, whacking her head. Aerial lost her footing and landed heavily on Jasmine's legs. Sophia was thrown forward on top of Aerial. Both let out protests of pain.

Jasmine quickly pushed Sophia off of Aerial. She was trying to be gentle with her bound friend but also didn't want Aerial to get injured. Aerial was their best chance to get out of this unscathed. As soon as Jasmine was able to sit up again, she shouted at Tim, "I didn't take it! I never even knew the body was there!"

Tim had lost his balance too. He seemed to have decided it was safer for him to sit on his butt against the doors than try to remain standing over her. "We'll see."

"I'm not going to let you hurt her." Jasmine's voice cracked, but she hoped the noise of rim dragging on the road covered it.

Tim let out a sound that resembled a snort. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about my own ass or my friend's than the bitch's. My brother went to jail because of you."

Jasmine swallowed nervously and prayed Jumper was somehow following them.

For nearly a decade, Jumper's nightmarish dreams revolved around being buried alive and the loss of his teammates. The expression time heals all wounds was inaccurate in his opinion. Time had never healed the loss of Saint, Wizard, Bunny, and Crash. Time would never grow back Smeagol's arm and both his legs. Time would not make Jumper forget being trapped, knowing he was going to die as soon as his air ran out.

Time did not stop the number of accounts when Jumper would wake up gasping for breath because his brain believed he was back in that underground grave.

Time did not heal all wounds. Time changed the wound, sometimes making it smaller and sometimes making it deeper. But the wound was still there. Always. Permanent.

Since Jasmine had come into his life in a more romantic sense than simply being his veterinarian, Jumper had felt like his wounds were finally getting smaller. Jumper no longer felt like time was mocking him, that it was only adding salt to his wounds. Jasmine was the balm his soul craved, the healing salve people claimed time was.

Jumper knew right away that something was different about this nightmare. He wasn't stuck underground and he wasn't gasping for breath.

He was standing in a pool of tar. It started out below his feet, which were bare, and slowly crept up to encase his feet and ankles. The more he struggled and tried to break free, the faster it rose. Like quicksand. He looked around for anything he could use to pull himself up and out, but there was nothing around him. His shins were nearly halfway covered when he realized the tar puddle was in the middle of a street.

Jumper recognized the intersection immediately. He was outside the animal clinic, but the building wasn't where it was supposed to be. The clinic had transformed into a farmhouse.

A van came rolling up. The tar was past his knees now. Jumper had to lift his hands so his fingers didn't get stuck too.

The back doors of the van sprang open. A man dragged Jasmine out of the back.

Fear gripped Jumper. He shouted but neither showed signs of hearing him. Jasmine wasn't struggling; was she unconscious? Jumper fought against the tar holding him hostage, but it only tightened its hold on him. His hips were nearly covered now.

Still he fought. He had to get to Jasmine! He couldn't let her get taken into that house! He shouted and called out, but he wasn't loud enough. Jasmine couldn't hear him.

The tar was over his chest now. He was about to be completely encased.

The door of the farmhouse opened. Another man stepped out with Aerial at his side. Aerial sat obediently at his feet.

As the tar came up his throat, Jumper took one last big breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "JASMINE!" before his mouth was covered. The last thing he saw before the tar completely engulfed him was Jasmine being led inside the farmhouse.

Jumper bolted upright in bed. His head immediately protested the action. Head spinning, he turned and vomited.

"Whoa!" Though his eyes were closed, Jumper recognized his brother's voice. Something was thrust under his chin to catch the bile and he felt a tight hand on his hair.

As soon as Jumper stopped heaving, he forced the question out of his mouth. "Where's Jasmine?"

Rather than answer him though, Gus made him wash his mouth out with water and spit it in the container he still held below Jumper's chin. Jumper obliged, mainly to wash the disgusting taste out of his mouth.

Gus guided him back down to the bed when he was finished and offered him a paper towel to wipe his mouth with.

As Pirate took the plastic container over to the sink, Jumper realized he was in a hospital room. His mind was fuzzy. He couldn't help but feel like he really had been fighting to get out of a tar pit. His entire body ached to the point where blinking hurt. He wondered if that had been the first time he'd thrown up with how painful his abdomen felt.

The room itself was small. He noticed two other chairs in the room, as well as a familiar purse sitting on one of them.

"Mom?" he managed to get out. His voice sounded croaky.

"They got in about forty-five minutes ago." Though it was difficult to think, Jumper did the math. Even if his parents came directly from Asheboro, that was a six and a half hour journey without stops. "I called them on my way to the hospital."

Jumper didn't see any evidence that Jasmine had been in the room. She would have come though. There was no doubt in his mind.

"Did I have an episode?"

Gus slowly shook his head. "What do you remember?"

He blinked, unsure. "Did I hit my head again?"

His brother nodded. "You reopened the wound from last week and have a second cut. You're concussed but thankfully no active brain bleeding. They don't think this fall would have been as bad if you hadn't been injured last week too in roughly the same spot."

"Where's Jazz?" Jumper asked. He desperately wanted to go to sleep again but wanted to see her first more.

His hospital room door opened and Steel walked inside with Jumper's parents behind him. Rhonda and James Sager looked good, but for the worry on their faces. Pirate and Jumper's mom was in her early sixties. She was a runner and kept in good shape. Her tall, lean body showed the muscles from her time in the gym too. In contrast, their father was short and had a bit of a beer-belly. The only time the man had ever run somewhere was to the refrigerator between commercials.

Jumper loved his parents, but his dad would always be his own personal hero. While his mom had a strong and independent personality that dwarfed his father's quiet demeanor, Jumper would never forget the moment his dad had stepped up onto that ledge with him. His dad wasn't the sort of Superman hero that kids portrayed their dads as with the muscles and cape, always flying to the rescue. No, his dad was the silent, always present hero that he'd taken for granted as a child.

Until that day on the bridge when his father's true colors showed as the bravest, most understanding man Jumper would ever have the pleasure of meeting.

Rhonda came right over to the bed as soon as she saw that Jumper was awake. "Marshall!" she bent down and kissed his forehead. "How are you feeling? Has the doctor been in to see you yet?"

Jumper made to answer but caught Steel's hard gaze. Instead he said to his mom, "It's really good to see you. Do you mind if I talk with Steel alone for a moment?"

Shock made Rhonda's jaw drop. She looked over her shoulder at Steel, whom she'd met on many visits before to Mount Grove, and then back down to Jumper lying supine in the bed.

Jumper was aware that his request was rude, but he did not like the look on Steel's face. Whatever had happened, it hadn't been good. Since Jasmine wasn't in the room with him and Gus wouldn't answer about how Jumper had ended up in the hospital room, his mind automatically feared the worst.

Had he , Jumper, hurt Jasmine? Had he had been triggered and she'd been too close?

His eyes landed on his mom. With her dark hair now cut in a bob, the small scar on her temple where she'd collided with that coffee table was more prominent. People probably didn't even notice it, but Jumper did. His eyes landed on it whenever he saw his mom.

Guilt seized him. Not just for his mom, but for whatever he had done to Jasmine.

Gus stepped forward. He encouraged their parents to follow him outside into the hallway, saying something about getting the doctor.

Jumper needed answers more than he needed a doctor. Was Steel about to strip him of his colors for hurting Jasmine? Jumper wouldn't blame him if he did. Hell, Jumper would hand them over willingly for having hurt his woman.

As soon as the door shut, Steel said, "Demo's alive. He took a bullet in the shoulder and the gut. They did emergency surgery and had to remove part of his liver and his gallbladder."

Shock overrode his guilt. "Demo was shot?"

Steel stared at him for a long moment before saying, "They said you might have some short-term memory loss from your injury. What's the last thing you remember?"

The pounding in Jumper's head intensified as he tried to think. "I'm not sure. What did I do? Where's Jasmine? Is she okay?"

"Approximately ten hours ago, Jasmine was kidnapped outside her clinic. You and Demo were injured trying to prevent her from being taken."

Injured? He'd only been injured ? He should have died before he allowed Jasmine to be taken. Shame washed through him for having failed her.

Bile threatened to rise again but he forced it back down. "McCrery brothers?" Steel nodded to his question of who took Jasmine. "Where is she?"

"Johnstown," Steel answered. "Bulldog, Ghost, Ranger, and Pumpkin followed. They didn't take her to the warehouse that the McCrery brothers had purchased though. She's being held in the basement of a restaurant currently. Keys is looking into the connection of the restaurant to the McCrerys."

"Why haven't they gotten her back?" Jumper demanded. He tried to get out of bed, but Steel put a single hand out and pushed him—far too easily—back down on the mattress.

"First, the restaurant was full of civilians dining until an hour or so ago. They're waiting for the staff to clear out before they go in."

Jumper tried to move again and, again, Steel prevented him. He let out a noise of frustration. "I'm not going to stay here while Jasmine needs me!"

"You are in no condition to help her!" Steel shot back. "You can't even sit up without swaying." He pointed to Jumper's hand and the IV attached there. Jumper hadn't even noticed it. "They're keeping you on fluids with acetaminophen to help with your concussion."

"I don't care about my concussion," Jumper argued. "I need to get to Jasmine."

Steel stepped back and crossed his arms over his muscled chest. "Fine. If you can stand up and walk out of here, I won't stop you. But," he added sternly, "I also won't help you."

Jumper stared at him in disbelief.

Steel indicated to the door with a sweep of his arm. The dare was obvious.

Jumper flung the blankets off his legs. He was wearing a hospital gown and socks. The indignity of the outfit, though, didn't stop him from moving himself to the edge of the bed. His head swam and he feared throwing up on Steel's boots, but he kept moving. All he thought about was Jasmine. It was all the motivation he would need.

She was alone and afraid. Who knew what the McCrery brothers were doing to her?

Pain radiated from his head as he placed his feet on the floor. He had to use the nightstand to help balance.

As soon as he stood up, his knees buckled under him.

Steel moved and caught him before he landed on the hard linoleum. Jumper wanted to fight, wanted to say that he would crawl to the fucking door if it got him to Jasmine, but his brain felt like someone was carving a hole right through his skull with a dull chisel.

"That was stupid," Steel scolded him as he was placed back on the mattress.

"You'd have done the same if it was Jenna," Jumper argued back. His lungs and heart were pounding like he'd just run a marathon. He just needed to catch his breath and make his head stop throbbing and then he would try again.

"Well, I can't argue with that," Steel said evenly. "You need to stay here and get better. Jasmine's going to be pissed if you hurt yourself more trying to rescue her."

"I'm not worthy of her if I stay here while she needs me."

Steel analyzed him for a moment. "Do you not understand that you already rescued her?"

Jumper's eyebrows met. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember releasing Aerial from her harness?" Jumper shook his head, slightly surprised he hadn't remembered to ask about Aerial until now. "Jumper, as soon as we got to you, we found Aerial's harness. You were still gripping it. Keys immediately began to track her. Based on what the security cameras show, you released Aerial and ordered her to go after Jasmine. She's the reason we even know where Jasmine is right now. Keys was able to track Aerial's chip."

Due to the severity of Jumper's PTSD, it was recommended by the training facility where Jumper got Aerial to implant a GPS chip that sent a constant signal to an app that anyone with Aerial's code could access the data at any time. Unlike other microchips that were only detected with a wand on the dog or pet for their owner's information, Jumper wanted a way for Bulldog and his brother to track him via Aerial if Jumper went MIA.

Whatever had happened at the clinic, Jumper must have realized that he couldn't rescue Jasmine in his condition or location. His training would have taken over to find an alternative solution.

He'd been working with Aerial to understand a protection command regarding Jasmine. He didn't want Aerial to only protect him. Aerial's police training was mainly to guard and take a subject down. She received other training when she became a service dog for alerting and sensing his stress and anxiety.

Jumper had wanted Aerial to look after Jasmine as much as she looked after him. If he wasn't in a condition to protect Jasmine, he wanted to know that Aerial would.

As smart and capable as Aerial was though, she had her limits. And he'd just sent her into the hands of men who'd already demonstrated a desire to get their hands on her. Their goal was likely to place Aerial in a fighting ring.

Jumper had to find a way to rescue both of his girls. Jasmine was his priority, but Aerial was equally as important to him.

"There's more," Steel said softly. "We can't find Sophia. She was supposed to be at her parents' house, but no one's seen or heard from her for hours."

"You think they have her too."

Steel nodded. "It's a possibility. We'll know more soon. As soon as I hear from Bulldog, I'll let you know what's going on. I'm going to go let your family back in now."

"Wait," Jumper called out. Even raising his voice so made him wince in pain. "I can't just lay here, Steel. I have to do something to help."

Steel squeezed his shoulder sympathetically. "Let's talk to your doctor first to figure out your options. I'll drive you to Johnstown myself as soon as you get cleared."

"She's my ol' lady," he told his President. "Make sure Bulldog knows."

Steel nodded once. "He knows, but I'll tell him it's official now."

Jumper rested his head back on the pillow. The throbbing had only intensified. Please be safe, Jazz. Please…

Jasmine held on around Aerial's neck as tight as she could. Tim McCrery and his cohort had to switch vehicles due to the shot-out tire. Tim McCrery had tried to bind Jasmine as he had done to Sophia, but Aerial wouldn't let Tim anywhere near Jasmine. However, while she'd been distracted, the driver had taken hold of Sophia and put a gun to her temple. Fearing for her best friend's life, Jasmine had complied and gotten into the trunk of the car that was most likely stolen with Aerial while Tim McCrery took Sophia into the back seat of the car.

Jasmine did not like that they were separated.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Tim McCrery had tried to grab for Jasmine. Aerial had snapped at him, nearly catching his fingers. The driver went for his gun again, but Jasmine had stepped in front of Aerial and talked him down from shooting Jumper's dog. Jasmine swore that Aerial wouldn't attack them if they didn't attack Sophia or her. It seemed to be a weary truce, especially since Jasmine and Sophia were still unwilling hostages and Aerial seemed compelled to keep the men away from them.

The sounds of a busy restaurant echoed through the floorboard to the ceiling below. Jasmine kept looking up, as if she could send a telepathic message to anyone above that she needed help and to call the police. Unfortunately, most likely neither the staff nor the patrons had seen Jasmine, Sophia, and Aerial being brought into the building through the old storm cellar doors. Worse, the wonderful aromas from the food above reminded Jasmine that she hadn't eaten for hours. Neither she nor Sophia had been offered food or water.

Maybe that was their plan? To starve them to death? Was that how the biker in the barn had died? No, she was pretty sure Carlos had said he'd been shot.

Like Demo…

Jasmine buried her face in Aerial's fur. She desperately hoped that Demo was okay. She couldn't believe he'd put himself in such a dangerous position for her .

Jasmine's legs and ass had fallen asleep a long time ago, but the closet they were in didn't offer any seating options other than the hard floor. As soon as they'd been brought down into the basement of the restaurant, they'd been locked in what had likely been a pantry once. With no lights on, Jasmine didn't have a hope of trying to discover a way out. She'd blindly tried to undo Sophia's binds but had failed. They were too tight and she couldn't see what she was doing.

She wasn't a fighter, she wasn't a runner, and she wasn't a risk taker. Jasmine needed to find a way out that didn't endanger her or Sophia's lives.

Then again, their lives were already endangered. What were the real chances that the McCrery brothers were going to let them go? Even if she did somehow convince them that they hadn't taken the biker's cut, would they really just let them walk away?

Jasmine pulled Aerial closer against her, taking comfort in the dog's presence. She kept one hand on Sophia's bound legs.

Sophia must be going out of her mind. There was no doubt that she was pissed and plotting her vengeance. Jasmine suspected she was resting now, gathering her strength, but every once in a while she would start pulling on her bonds again. Jasmine had the idea of trying to use Aerial's claws to break through them, but didn't want to risk it when she couldn't see what she was doing.

She wondered where Jumper was. More, she wondered how he was. She'd been kidnapped when he'd sworn to protect her. Something had to have stopped him from getting to her. Had he been shot too? Like Demo? He had sent Aerial to her, she had no doubt, but that meant he didn't have a way to channel his anxiety. What if her kidnapping triggered him and that was why he hadn't come to rescue her yet? She knew how proficient Keys was with tracking someone by their phone, but Jasmine's phone was currently in pieces on the side of the road somewhere between wherever here was and Mount Grove. She had no idea where Sophia's phone was, but guessed it shared a similar fate.

She'd been around the club enough to know that they didn't necessarily talk to the police about some things. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that—she didn't want Jumper or any of his brothers to end up in jail—but she also knew that the club wasn't bad . They were not out for personal gain. And she couldn't see Carlos allowing his brother or the club to go too far outside the law. It wasn't like they were murdering people. Maybe, like her, they did their own side investigation. And offering Sophia and her protection wasn't illegal. They hadn't been holding them against their will.

Still, she would give anything to see a friendly face right now—cop or club member.

Voices from outside her door made Jasmine's head pop up. She felt Aerial tense too, like a coil ready to spring. Sophia stiffened and held extremely still. Jasmine's heart started pounding furiously in her chest and she knew her breath hitched.

"…dark enough…" There was a clank and then, "We're ready to move them."

"We never should have brought them here in the first place! That dog isn't going to let us near them. All my tranqs are at the ring!"

Jasmine's hands instinctively tightened around Aerial. She was not going to allow them to tranquilize her! Of course, if they sedated her or Sophia then Jasmine couldn't do much about it. And if they did that, neither human likely wouldn't survive, depending on what sedative they were using. Acepromazine was standard in an animal hospital, and one that she herself used at her own clinic, but it was not meant for people. Acepromazine poisoning caused shortness of breath and drowsiness. If they overdosed her, thinking she was larger than a dog and would need two doses, her lungs could stop working.

"I had to drop off the cash or King would have gotten suspicious! You know this. You and your brother are the ones who fucked up! That bitch is your problem!"

Jasmine guessed that that voice was the driver from her kidnapping. She hadn't gotten a good look at his face yet. She wondered if ‘that bitch' was her or Sophia.

"I told you they weren't worth going after! Mount Grove should have stayed off limits with the Via Daemonia guarding it. My brother was arrested. We both got bit?—"

"Your incompetency is what got us in this mess in the first place! Killing Venom should have been quick and easy! Now the police have his body!"

"If you didn't like our plan, you should have done it yourself! You were the one who wanted his position!"

Jasmine's ears perked up. Venom? That sounded like a road name an outlaw biker would use and certainly no one in the VDMC had a name like that. Was that the man in the barn with the missing cut? From what Tim had just said, the driver had been the one who wanted him dead and the McCrery brothers had been the ones who had done the deed. That still left the question of who the driver was and why he wanted Venom dead, but she'd done enough investigating to last a lifetime.

She was not Sherlock Holmes, nor was she a ninja detective. Her insistence on investigating the dead Pitbulls was what had gotten her and Sophia into this mess.

All she wanted now was to go home to Jumper and have a normal, drama-free life. Maybe a little house with a large yard for all the rescues and foster animals she wanted to take in. She'd been thinking about getting a horse or two and riding for some stress-relief and exercise. Maybe set up a rescue to take in banned animals seized by the state that people tried to keep as pets, like sugar gliders, skunks, and hedgehogs.

She loved her clinic and working with the town's pets, but she wanted to do more .

"We can pin Venom's murder on the fat one. Make it out to be she was screwing him and the Via Daemonia guy. The two found out about each other and he killed Venom. Then put the body in my barn to try and frame me."

"You stupid fuck. King is never going to believe that Venom was fucking some random vet from Mount Grove! Certainly not one that looks like her ."

For once, Jasmine did not take offense to the reference to her size. Not if it got her out of being framed for murder.

"Then what do you want to do with them? Keep the bitch and kill the girls?"

"We can make it look like an OD. I have some brown sugar on me."

Nope . Jasmine's eyes went wide with horror at those words. She didn't know what brown sugar was, but she certainly knew what OD meant. She'd rather be framed for murder than be murdered herself. She didn't even know if it was possible for her to be successfully framed for Venom's murder but, even if she was, Jumper wouldn't let it stand. Neither would Carlos or the MC.

"We don't really have a choice now, do we? She says they don't have Venom's cut."

"Then who could have taken it— what the fuck?! "

Jasmine heard something like a sharp swoosh that made her think of the swordplay in Game of Thrones . A loud cry was followed by a heavy thud. Something smacked against the locked door of the old pantry.

Then Bam! Bam! Bam! as something was repeatedly slammed against the door again and again. Both Sophia and Jasmine jumped. Based on how high up it sounded, Jasmine had to wonder if it was someone's head. The door even splintered on their side from the force of the attack.

The silence that followed was eerie. Jasmine was grateful Aerial was well-trained and wasn't barking or growling. Whatever was going on out there, she wasn't sure she wanted that pantry door to be opened.

There was a weird clicking sound, followed by a muffled curse. Jasmine held her breath, not recognizing the voice as either Tim McCrery or the driver. "It's me. He's not here." Jasmine heard something like metal hitting metal. "No, I'm headed there next…" The voice waned as the speaker, Jasmine assumed, left the basement.

Silence fell again.

The basement floor was concrete, much to Jasmine's ass's dismay, and it prevented her from hearing footsteps. After several minutes of nothingness, Jasmine scooted herself towards the door. Aerial moved quietly out of her way. Sophia made a noise of protest, but Jasmine ignored her bestie.

There was a small crack between the door and the frame that barely let in any light. Earlier, Jasmine had tried to see out of it and had been unsuccessful. She didn't know why her panic-induced mind now thought she'd get different results. When she didn't, Jasmine pressed herself as close to the floor as possible to try to see under the crack in the door.

Nothing. While her eyes couldn't focus on any shapes, she also didn't detect any movement.

She crawled back. Aerial once again placed herself between Jasmine and the door. Sophia made an inquiry sound but Jasmine didn't dare answer her out loud.

Then something echoed like the creaking of wooden stairs. Jasmine placed her hand over her mouth to help cover her heavy breathing. She felt Sophia go motionless. Geez, this was the reason Jasmine didn't watch horror movies. She couldn't stand the not-knowing, the never-ending fear. Sophia would laugh at her whenever she jumped or screamed, but Jasmine had never been able to stop it. Not even after one Halloween season when Sophia had decided to try exposure therapy on Jasmine to get her to stop jumping at every little thing that went bump in the night.

Something smacked against something wet. Jasmine's ears picked up on the small splash, and she cringed at the idea of what had caused it. This was followed by rummaging and muffled cursing.

Jasmine noticed that Aerial's tenseness changed. She put her nose to the ground and sniffed. Suddenly, Aerial burst from Jasmine's hands and went right up to the door. She started barking loudly, pawing at the door.

"Over here!"

There was the sound of something heavy being dragged away. Then the pantry door was thrown open and the small room flooded with light. Jasmine turned her head away from the sudden brightness, covering her eyes with her hands.

She heard Aerial lunge forward—but not in defense. Jasmine blinked rapidly to get her eyes used to the light, and saw Aerial had taken Pumpkin down to the floor and was licking his face furiously while the man chuckled.

Jasmine let out a breath of relief. Jumper had come for her.