Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Smoke

By now Siege, Tank, and Dutch have all caught up with me. It doesn’t take long for Rider and Rigs to do the same. Now we’re six strong with more brothers not far behind. When we roll up to the coordinates Evan sent us, Evan is filling up the gas tank, while Gordon is taking a cigarette break well away from the gas pumps. I guess the drama of the chase is getting to him.

“Good work,” I say to Gordon as I slow down.

Our prospect gestures toward Evan, “I just rode, but that kid—it wasn’t for his quick thinking, man,” he shakes his head.

He’s not wrong, as my Harley ate up the pavement on our ride here, my mind went through just about every scenario that could have happened. Gordon stubs his cigarette out with his boot and makes to head back to his bike, he looks back at me saying, “He’s gonna be one hell of a brother one of these days.”

I park near his motorcycle and begin filling up. Evan’s looking around at the club brothers, I guess when we’re out in force it’s a sight to behold. I say, “You did good work today, Evan.”

He gives a shaky shrug, I guess the adrenaline hit is finally wearing off. “Is the location app still functioning?”

“Yeah, follow us and we might be able to catch up with them. Though I think your dad might prefer it if you head back to the clubhouse. Things could get dangerous.”

“I wanna do this,” he says, sounding years older than a kid of fifteen. Though I suppose he’s been through a lot in his life. I see him looking at Rigs expectantly.

Rigs heaves out a sigh, “Mattie’s gonna kill me, but okay, son. We need all the men we can get. But you stay well back. You and Gordon can watch the bikes once we get to wherever they’re heading to.”

All around us, my club brothers were all shoving their credit cards into the fuel pumps and topping up their tanks, we didn’t know how long a journey we had in front of us, but it paid to be prepared. It was a stroke of good luck that they swapped out vehicles or else we’d be stuck.

We are back on the road in five or six minutes. There isn’t much talking amongst us because there is just no time.

We ride for what feels like endless hours and finally end up on a long dirt road leading into the country. Instead of being some syndicate type facility, the place is a large two-story luxury cabin. It has a fireplace on each end of the home and a huge wrap around porch. A little scouting reveals an Olympic size pool in the backyard as well as a hot tub and exotic landscaping. Whoever lives here definitely has money. This is no cabin in the woods.

Siege walks up to me, “What the holy fuck is this?”

“Unless I miss my guess, this is where Stan has been holed up all this time. Serena told us that his family was wealthy and politically well connected. This is exactly the kind of luxurious accommodation I would expect him to fall back on.”

“The fucking place is huge. We don’t have anywhere near enough men in place right now to take it.”

“Well, we need to come up with a fucking plan because I’m not leaving Serena at the mercy of the man who killed her friend.”

“I agree. The first order of business is to scout the place out. Let’s see if we can determine how many warm bodies are present. We have to know what we’re dealing with, in order to come up with a plan that has a reasonable chance of success.”

Everyone gathers around, as Siege doles out jobs. “Gordon, I want you and Evan to stay with the bikes. Guard our only means of escape and let us know if unexpected guests arrive, or heaven forbid the police.”

“On it,” Gordon says.

“Yes, sir,” Evan answers, keen to be given an important job to do.

Rigs pulls out his cell phone and gives it to Evan, because of course his phone is still tied to the van currently sitting blamelessly in the driveway. I notice he gives Evan a stern look which is clearly shorthand for, don’t try and do anything heroic and stay the fuck here, but he then winks and gives him a proud pat on the arm. “You did good son.”

Evan smiles broadly and looks like he’s about to burst with joy.

Siege continues, “The rest of us will surround the house and gather intel about how many men are present. If we get the opportunity to snatch one of them without causing a ruckus then do it. Squeezing information out of one of their people will save a bunch of time. They might even know where my sister is being held.”

“Be careful,” I warned. “Don’t discharge your weapon until we get Serena free and clear of this mess. I don’t want her accidentally getting shot because one of us got trigger happy and thought we had a clear shot.”

My club brothers murmur their agreement, and we break apart, each slipping forward along the darkened hedgerow to get close to the house undetected.

The tension of the moment drives home what a really bad idea it had been for me to take my eyes off her even for a minute. I should have known she wasn’t safe in town, even with a bunch of people around.

We follow the plan Siege laid down. Me, Siege, Tank, and Dutch heading for the main cabin. I go up the steps first. Naturally, on such a luxurious cabin, the steps were solid. Therefore, there is no creaking to give away our presence. The others come up and spread out on either side of the porch. When we are all ready, I kick the door in, and we all surge forward. There are the men in the main room and they’re waiting for us. It’s clear these men are a legitimate security detail. They have a command center set up, and as I’m running forward, I notice they have several big screens. I can see our club brothers scattered out and at least two are walking into a trap. Siege immediately falls back to warn them on his com. I’m cursing myself, usually we go in prepared, take down the transformers and make sure no one knows what hit them, but today we had to act immediately and there was no time to plan ahead.

A bullet grazes my leg. I barrel into the first man and smash him into the wall. I’ve got my gun in one hand but I’m hesitant to kill a him because he could just be one of the security guards for some rich guy’s estate. Instead, I slam his head into the wall with my free hand and turn to see that Tank and Dutch have incapacitated the other two and were using zip ties to bind their hands behind their back and their feet together.

Siege rushes through the door and stands staring at the video feeds for a brief second. I know he must have gotten through to them, because the other members of the security team are down and being restrained.

Sierge and I head for the kitchen area, hoping to find Serena tied up there. I’m not quite that lucky. When the downstairs is thoroughly searched, including closets and such, we return to the living room to see one of the security guys trying to hop away. He’s not making much progress because his ankles are zip tied together. Siege punches him in the face and drags him back to sit with the others. “Do not fucking move,” he demands.

I could hear Tank and Dutch tromping around on the second floor. This was starting to feel like a bust for me.

Siege rummages through a nearby desk stuffing some paperwork inside his vest. We then go upstairs to see what’s holding up Tank and Dutch. We passed several doors they kicked in. It looks like they had torn the room apart only to find nothing. Kicking in several more doors we find nothing. Clearly whoever had been upstairs had rushed downstairs to face off with the Legion.

I cursed under my breath. “This can’t be right. There are multiple SUVs plus the minivan we were tracking. She has to be here somewhere.”

Siege shoots back firmly, “Rider cleared the basement himself. Other club brothers have cleared the outbuildings. There’s no place else to look.”

I don’t say anything to Siege but in my heart of hearts I just can’t accept that. Serena has got to be here somewhere. I just have to keep looking and she’ll turn up.

As we stand staring at each other, we hear a noise. Siege jerks back and looks around. We all do. When it happens again, my head tilts back and I stare straight up because that’s the direction the sound came from. “How about an attic?”

My heart is beating so fast that I can almost hear it, as we all run from the room and start looking for an access door to the attic in the hallway. I spy a trap door with a bit of cord hanging down with a loop on the end.

The thumping continues, a bit more angrily. My heart hammers away. I don’t know how I haven’t had a heart attack by now. This is my Serena telling me to come rescue her. I just know it. I jerk the ladder down and start to climb up.

Siege’s big hand lands on my shoulder. He pulls me back down.

“What the fuck?” I grumble, unable to understand why he’s holding me back from saving his sister.

“Draw your fucking gun,” he reminds me.

I feel like an overly eager idiot. Of course, I need to draw my weapon. Chances are good someone might be up there guarding her. I slide my weapon from my side holster once again and begin climbing up the ladder. The weird thing is that the thumping noise never stops. I’m getting ever more anxious, so I started climbing the few steps faster.