Chapter 6

Kracken

I pound on the door where Butcher and Selah are staying, my heart racing a mile a minute. Ever since Moira took off, I know I've pushed my brothers away with my attitude, mood, and erratic behavior. I can't seem to help myself; she wormed her way into my heart the day I found her lying there, and despite the fact that all of our conversations have been one-sided, I still want her in my life. So, when Hawg said he needed Selah right away, I didn't hesitate to come and get him. I'm at the point I'm ready to burn the world down and wonder if maybe getting a few flamethrowers like Selah asked for is the way to do it or not.

"The fuck happened?" Butcher roars, his face reflecting the panic I feel. I'm rather disheveled at this point, which probably doesn't help the situation, but time is of the essence now.

"Hawg called, he needs Selah on her laptop. Right the fuck now!" I bellow, uncaring that I'm talking to another chapter's VP the way I am. I'm sure he'd like to knock my block off based on his clenched fists, but he surprises me when he talks instead.

"Brother, shake off whatever has you ready to come at me like a raging bull. I'll get Selah and her laptop and meet y'all in Banshee's room."

I nod then quickly turn and stomp back to Banshee's room. I hope and pray that Hawg's request means he's close to finding Moira. I don't know how much longer I can go on like this without my brothers threatening my existence.

While I wait impatiently for them to arrive, the room around me is chaotic. It does make me happy to see they wasted no time in getting down here, because I know based on how Butcher looked, they were likely both asleep.

"Selah, how long will it take you to get set up?" Banshee asks her as he leads the two of them inside.

"I"m already connected to the Wi-Fi service here, so all I need to do is open up my laptop and switch it on. Did he happen to mention to you what server he wanted me to meet him on?

"He said something about the one you wrote last night and sent to him."

She giggles and the happy sound seems to lift some of the fog from the brothers' eyes. In tense situations such as this, we aren't used to hearing something light, airy, and sweet. Usually, we're battle ready, scowls blanketing our faces and growls escaping our lips. Laughter is a foreign concept to us when a serious call comes through before the sun has kissed the horizon.

"Sorry," she says, waving her hand in front of her face, fanning it. "I love it when someone isn't a techie and is given instructions by somebody who is. I know what address and network he wants me to log into. I'll be set up and ready to meet with him in less than five."

We all watch, fascinated, as her fingers fly across the keyboard, never once looking at one key. Hawg's voice soon comes through the screen and we all crowd around so we can hear what he has to say that's so fucking important we're all up before the donut guy.

"Selah, I found something, but I can't decode it. I'm not familiar with the method they're using for communication. I sent it to Beast to check out, and he's never seen anything like it. After two hours of us working together to try and decipher it, we decided it'd be better if we had you take a glance at it," Hawg says.

"I'll see if I can crack the code. What file did you place it in?" Selah questions, her mouse hovering over a folder on her home screen.

"TFOTC communications," Hawg instructs her. And when she opens up the file he named, a plethora of documents pop up. There must be hundreds of them stored in that location. "It'll be labeled ‘scratch my head'."

"Okay. Shit. This may take me about half an hour to go through. It's a mix of languages. I'm going to open up a secondary screen and transcribe what I'm deciphering. Butcher?" she asks.

He's quickly by her side and asks, "Yeah, Lah?"

"In the side zipper of my bag is a box that has a secondary screen inside of it. Can you get that for me and take it out of the packaging?" she questions, never looking away from the monitor.

He nods and moves to her bag, finds what she asked for, then opens the box and hands it to her.

"Thanks, biker man." She winks at him then takes it from him and latches it onto her laptop. Pressing a few buttons, she connects it, and it gives her a secondary screen to view things from.

We all watch as she opens up a tab, chooses a blank document, and drags it over. Now, she has two manuscripts she's working from. As she works, she opens up and gives us more information into her background. "Our forefathers, the leading founders of the community, come from Russia and Iceland. This dialect is a mixture of Slavic and Icelandic. The linguistics are vernacular and hard to break down unless you're intimately familiar with the vocabulary, in particular the way they're both spoken and written, and I don't mean studying the language like someone going to a foreign land for vacation… this is old school. Most of it has been lost through the generations and reconstructed. The syntax has been combined, a mash-up that is only known by the elders who have relocated to America. I take that back, their inner circle, the higher ups have studied it and know it too."

"How did you learn it?" Butcher asks.

Not like any of us truly understand what she's talking about, except for Hawg, of course, but it's kind of interesting in a vague way.

Her fingers stall for a moment before she starts to speak. "Once I became fluid and bilingual in both languages, I invented the sublanguage. As I mentioned, only a few were privy to it, most still use the cheat sheets in order to share the intel back and forth. Each community has someone in a leadership role who has taken classes and has familiarized themselves with the encryption residing in their village. It's the only way the system works."

"Can you make me and Beast one of those cheat sheets?" Hawg interrupts, his voice coming across as enthusiastic.

"I can pull it from my personal files. I kept it there for safe keeping. It's in a confidential location, only known to me, where everything I've invented for them went in case I needed it at a later date and time. Blackmail material in case I needed it to get my girls out. So far, I haven't had the opportunity to use it, trust me, nothing I have yet scares them. They have allies in some high places. So, I'm biding my time and I placed it into an unlocatable storage file on the dark web."

"We don't need to use it against them. We'll be using brute force to get Hannah and Moira back… if they have her too," Butcher says, amending the last part of his statement because out of his peripheral vision, he catches the way I stiffen at the use of her name connected to them.

A panicked gasp escapes Selah's mouth. Her hands tremble as she announces, "They have her. Dammit! Those motherfuckers found her." Selah's shoulders shake as silent tears fall from her eyes.

"Fuck!" I roar as I begin to break every piece of furniture in the room outside of what's bolted into the floor as well as the chair Selah is sitting in. I briefly note that Butcher wraps himself around Selah in an attempt to save her from the broken furnishings as they splinter and fly through the air.

My Roanoke brothers tackle me to the ground, trying to calm me down, but I'm past that point.

"I'm okay," Selah says to Butcher, patting his hands as they skim her body. "Help them subdue him. I need an hour to scan the documents and get us a location."

Butcher jumps into the fray so he can help my brothers keep me restrained, because they know with the adrenaline and dopamine coursing and pumping through me, I'm nearly unstoppable. Selah's innocent statement that they've recaptured Moira, my ol' lady, has released the proverbial Kracken. And when we find those fuckers who dared to touch something that's ours? They'll find out exactly what that means.

* * *

Now that I've slightly calmed down, we start to talk about what we're going to do as Selah continues to talk to Hawg. I hear her tell him where she put the cheat sheet she created and he says, "I'll send this to Beast because there are additional ones that we need to sift through, extract, and decipher with a fine-toothed comb. As you were working on that one, I found a dozen more."

"From the sounds of the conversation happening around me, once I've narrowed down where they're keeping Moira, we're hitting the road. Butcher has his Bluetooth enabled, so if you need any help with any of the verbiage, contact me. If I need to get online, we'll pull over for a break," she replies.

"I'll take you up on that. Stay safe," Hawg says before signing off.

"Guys!" Selah yells.

"What is it? What did you find?" Butcher asks, going behind her and massaging her shoulders. "Tell me you've got something, baby girl. Kracken is ready to go on a rampage if we don't give him something soon."

"They've been hiding beneath our noses, Butcher," she mutters.

"What do you mean, Lah?" he asks.

"They're in Seven Points," she replies.

"They're hiding in our backyard!" Butcher roars.

"This faction is. But they're also hiding in other chapters" vicinities too," she states.

"Whose?" Banshee asks, walking up to her.

"Yours," she answers. "They've taken up residence in Lynchburg."

"Shit. That's right down the road." Phantom whistles. "Ban, you need to call Brick so he can be advised and tell him to let Hawg know as well. We've got some rats to exterminate once we're finally back home."

"On it," Banshee replies, pulling out his phone before walking out of the room since the noise level hasn't abated.

"Which place are they keeping Moira at?" I ask.

"The same place as Hannah," she says, now sobbing.

"Where, baby?" Butcher questions, kneeling down next to her, grabbing her hands with his. "Tell us where we're going, Lah. Where's our girl?"

"Seven Points. They're both there, Butcher. We have to go get them."

"We will, baby girl. Pack up your laptop, Lah, and I'll go gather our things." As soon as Butcher hands out those instructions, Selah quickly shuts down and begins storing everything in her bag.

* * *

We've been on the road for hours, most of it silent as we're all lost in our thoughts about what's to come. This bunch of pussies has apparently infiltrated areas where the Bastards are located and that just won't stand. No woman or child should ever fear being held in captivity for any reason whatsoever, and I know there are other chapters who are heavily involved in taking down various trafficking pipelines. There are some sick motherfuckers out there, yet we're called the outlaws. Guess because we don't wear suits and ties, we're less than in their eyes, but fuck that! I'd pit any of my brothers in any chapter against those pussies—they may be loud and rowdy, but they're loyal, honorable, and stand against those who hurt those who are weaker, like women and children.

Not that women are weak, per se. I mean, they push a baby out of their pussy, for fuck's sake! But in terms of physical strength, even those who are military trained are not as strong as a man. It's physiologically impossible, although they can learn ways to protect themselves. Again, that's not something they should even have to worry about, they should be able to go out and run without fear of being abducted or go out with friends at night without being bothered by men or worse, being maligned when they refuse to allow said men to buy them drinks or dance with them.

"How much longer do we have until we make it back?" Selah asks Butcher, breaking the silence.

I tune in because I've never been this far in my life. The scenery has been interesting, although the number of cars on the road has me glad I'm not riding by myself. Roanoke born and bred, that's me and most of my brothers, although Banshee was out in Texas not too long ago. In fact, he stayed at the Cedar Creek clubhouse if memory serves.

"Six hours, give or take," he answers. "We'll be pulling over for fuel shortly. Dragon's waiting on us so we can put together a successful plan of attack. We need more brothers at our backs for an operation of this magnitude. We're going to send out scouts to scope the property and give us an idea of the security risk we'll be facing when we go charging in."

"Having numbers on our side is a good idea," she says. "I'll get into their feeds when we get home, and depending on where they've situated the cameras, I can get a lay of the land and give you the blueprints of the outer perimeter of their land as well as the floor plan inside of the building. I'll also break into their system and get their switch of guards schedule."

"Let Beast and Hawg help you, Lah. You have two girls at home that I know you're missing. Take a few minutes for yourself, spend some time with Amelia and Faye. I swear we won't make a move without you," Butcher says.

I agree with him. More than anyone else, I'm aware that time is of the essence, but while we plot and plan, she can see her other daughters for a little bit.

"You can't go without me no matter what, Butcher. They're notorious for changing the security codes randomly. I'm the only one who can get past their firewalls and shut their shit down," she retorts.

I snort, because she has what I've come to know as her sassy voice going, and that one means she won't take any shit from any of us, including her old man.

"And for shits and giggles, that's not something you can do from the clubhouse?" Butcher asks.

"It's not possible. The signal doesn't stretch out that far. It has to be done onsite. I wish I could explain to you the way it works, but it's very technical and confusing to describe. I have to hook my computer up to their wiring from the outside of the property, otherwise, you could alert them before y'all are ready for them to know you're there," she explains.

I'm lost again, but I'm positive Hawg would understand her perfectly.

"Again, this is a theoretical question, but Beast couldn't do it in your place? He's our tech guy, and he's good at what he does, Selah," Butcher argues. He sounds frustrated and I get it, because I know once we find Moira, I may be hard pressed to let her out of my sight.

"I know he's good, Butcher. I've worked with him, but I'm the one who designed the program and am the only one who can break it down fast enough to go undetected. I know you're worried about me being in the middle of this since it's going to be dangerous, but I promise to listen to you and do exactly as you tell me to do. I won't unnecessarily put myself in the line of fire," she pleads.

"See. It's that ‘unnecessarily' part that has me the most concerned, baby girl. But if you swear to listen to me and do what I tell you to do, I'll stop nagging you," Butcher replies.

I suspect if he thought he could get away with it, he'd try to have us leave without her. But we need her along for this ride. That doesn't mean we won't protect her with everything we have because she's an ol' lady.

"I love that you're a man of your word, Butcher. It's what makes you so attractive to me. If I can't trust the man I'm with, then there's no future for us," she says.

I snicker when I hear Butcher mumble under his breath, "I wish people would stop using that I'm a ‘man of my word' against me."

"You swore I could be there, Butcher. Don't take that back now, not when I've given you my heart and soul," she rebuts.

"Why would I do that? I'm a man of my word, remember?" Butcher grumbles. "Swear to fuck, Lah, anything happens to you, and I will follow you to Hell and drag you back by the roots of your hair and spank your ass raw. Got me?"

"Got you. Love you, Butcher," she says.

"Love you too, Selah. But you're still a pain in my ass," Butcher retorts.

"But I'm worth it," she reminds him.

"That depends on how well you follow directions," Butcher rebuts.

"Touché," she says, giggling. "And fuck you very much."

"I can't help but be protective over you, baby. You're my everything. The world will stop spinning for me if you're not in it. I've just gotten you; I can't lose you because you"re being stubborn and refusing to back down when you know there's a possibility you'll be hurt, or worse, killed."

Even though I feel like an interloper during what should be a private conversation, his words ring with merit in my head because despite the fact Moira has no clue she's my ol' lady, we haven't shared so much as a kiss, and I have no idea if she'll ever get to that point, I feel the same way about her.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take when it comes to bringing Hannah home, Butcher. Plus, I'm not the only one who'll be in danger during this rescue mission, ya know. You and the rest of our family will be just as much of a target as I am," Selah says.

"Difference is, Lah, I've been trained for this," Butcher replies.

"And I know their inner workings, and the way their minds function, Butcher. I can keep you all from making the wrong choices. Y'all can plot and plan all you want, but you know as well as I do that you'll have to make decisions you hadn't planned for on the spot. When that time arises, I'll be able to help y'all weigh the pros and cons," she states.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it, baby girl," he grumbles.

"Neither do I, Butcher. But I always knew that one day I'd have to go back, so I'm prepared. Plus, I've got you to watch my back. Right?" she asks.

"Always, Lah. You can count on that," Butcher asserts.

I tune out the rest of their conversation, my mind lost on Moira. I hope she's surviving, and that she's ready for me. Once I find her, I'm never letting her go again, and we may not have the same relationship as Butcher and Selah, nor my brothers and their ol' ladies, but I'm determined to be the man at her side, however she sees fit.

I won't pressure her, now or ever, but that doesn't mean I won't be like a leech stuck to her side for the rest of our forsaken lives.