Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Smoke

When I haul myself up into the dim confines of the attic it’s difficult to make out what’s going on. As my eyes adjust, I’m horrified at what I think I’m seeing. I immediately grope for the light switch but I don’t find one, so I stumble forward until a dangling lightbulb hits me in the face. I reach out with my free hand and pull the string. When the light flares to life, I see what’s happening, and relief floods through me. Serena is attacking someone, someone who might already be dead. I rush forward into the cluttered attic space and grab what appears to be a bloody baseball bat from her hand.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay, I think you got him, Serena.” She freezes and just stares down at the bloody, broken body on the floor. I tug the bat from her hands and toss it aside. When I reach out to touch her, she jerks one arm back and shoves me away.

I lift up both hands to let her know I’m not going to push. Meanwhile, she’s never stopped looking down at the body. A few seconds of silence spin out between us as I try to find the words to distract her from the gruesome sight.

In a barely audible whisper, she says, “It’s not him. It’s not Stan.”

When she turns and I catch a glimpse of the front of her body, I want to kill whoever this bastard is, all over again. The front of her shirt has been ripped open, her clothing is torn, and her face is bruised.

I wrap one arm around her and say, “It’s okay. Whoever the fuck this is, started the fight and you finished it.”

“He’s one of the men who abducted me, he tried to strangle me,” she croaks out. For the first time, I realize how hoarse her voice is.

I smooth her hair out of her face. “You defended yourself. Everyone has the right to protect themselves. You know that, right?”

Her head lifts and I see a blankness to her expression that I don’t like. “It was supposed to be Stan.”

“Who is this guy? Do you know?”

She nods. “They didn’t use names, so I made up nicknames for them. This one was Mr. Skin and Bones. Stan hired him and another thug with tattoos to abduct me.” Glancing back down at the man she apparently just bludgeoned to death, she mumbles, “When they saw you guys coming on the security cameras, they brought me up here and tied me up. I’m guessing this pervert thought he could sneak up here, untie me and molest me while no one was looking.”

“Yeah, the untying you part was particularly stupid.” I say in disbelief. Serena is a small woman, he clearly didn’t see her as a threat, which was the last mistake he ever made. “Regardless, he’s never going to molest you or any other woman again.” I rubbed her back, “He clearly messed with the wrong woman today.”

“I’m rescued, right?”

“Of course, princess.”

It takes me a minute to talk her into coming down, but I awkwardly descend the stairs with her slight form in my arms. I set her down on her feet and give her a minute to adjust her clothing before we turn to face the others.

Siege speaks before he thinks, “Holy shit, sis. Are you okay?”

She wraps her arms around her stomach and replies, “I’m trying to be.”

“You’re covered in blood. Where are you hurt? I’m going to fucking rip his head off.”

“Calm the fuck down Siege. It’s not her blood.”

He jerks his head to the side to look at me, then takes a deep breath and announces, “We need to get my sister the fuck outta here, right goddamn now.”

My throat closes up to see Serena like this. Siege is freaked out as well. I pull her closer and explain, “Three men were involved in your sister’s abduction, the ex, and two hired guns. One is dead upstairs. That means we’ve got two targets still on the run. Stan, and a hired gun with tattoos. Did our brothers find anyone outside?”

Rigs pushes forward, “Negative. They found another two members of Stan’s security team. They’re pretty oblivious to what was going on, they thought they were here to protect the property, not necessarily people. There were only a couple of out buildings and they’ve been cleared. However, their vehicles are still here. Evan and Gordon haven’t seen any movement at the perimeter. I’ve sent teams out to canvas the area for them. Trust me, it’s only a matter of time before we catch up with them.”

“Alright,” I say. “I’ll get Serena to safety and come back to help with the search.”

We all began heading for the front door when from out of nowhere a huge, bald-headed guy with tattoos, jerks Serena from under my arm. I realize he came through the closet, and as I can feel a cool breeze, I figure there must be another escape exit to the outside that we missed, hidden in there. Why a fancy cabin in the middle of nowhere would have secret entrances is beyond me, but that’s not my immediate concern right now.

“Drop your weapon, or the bitch gets it.” I watch him press the business end of his pistol into the soft flesh of Serena’s neck.

“Kill her and you’ll never get out of here alive,” I say menacingly.

“We’ve been watching you long enough to know you’re not going to do anything to risk her life, so how about you stop acting the hero and do as I say?”

“One of your crew is already dead. But being bludgeoned to death is nothing compared to how painful your death is going to be. Your one and only chance of walking out of here alive, is to lower your weapon and let my old lady go.”

“You must think I’m a gullible fool.”

“You’re half right. The deal I just gave you is the best one you’re gonna get from me. You’re a damn fool for not taking it.”

“Step aside if you ever want to see your woman alive again.”

The dude hasn’t lowered his weapon. My mind clicks through my limited number of options and the probable outcomes of my top three. If I put down my gun like he asked, it would be bad. He would use Serena as a human shield and try to shoot his way out. The moment she ceased having a use for him, he’d kill her as well. It literally didn’t make sense for him to do anything else. Being weaponless is not an option.

My blood runs cold as I realize what my only remaining option is. Stealing a quick look at Serena’s face, understanding passes between us. She knows what’s coming. That gives us a small advantage. I lower my weapon and toss it to the ground. He kicks it out of the way and growls, “Back the fuck up.”

I take a step back even as my hand drifts behind me to pull out my backup weapon.

The moment he steps forward, forcing Serena to accompany him, her knees buckle, and he has to remove the gun from her neck to pull her up so they can make their escape. This is just the opportunity I need.

When I say her name, she jerks to the side giving me a clear shot at his face. Gritting my teeth, I pull the gun out and fire. Just as it sounds off, Serena wrenches herself from his grasp entirely. I watch as the smaller caliber bullet tears into the man’s face. His body freezes for a brief second before he falls slack to the floor.

Bolting into action, I grab Serena and hug her close. Scooping her up in my arms, I carry her down the hall, as my club brothers surge forward to check on the man I just shot. We step out of the cabin, and I sit her down in one of the chairs. “Are you okay.” Before she can answer, I shake my head. “Of course, you’re not okay, but you will be. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying close enough attention and these fuckers got their hands on you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she says with tears in her eyes. “You came. I knew you would.”

Just the thought of not coming for her, makes me sick to my stomach. “Of fucking course, I came, princess.”

“I probably shouldn’t have gone to the coffee shop on my own.”

Looking down at the woman I love, I can’t find it in my heart to be angry at her. She looks exhausted. “We had a couple of prospects looking out for you. We thought you’d be safe with so many people around. We were wrong.”

“Evan?” she asks.

“Yep, and Gordon. We told them to stay out of the way and be subtle. We didn’t want you to feel like you were being watched, Rigs’ kid went off script with his coffee shop trips, but that’s what saved your life. His quick thinking and Gordon’s riding meant we were onto the assholes straight away.”

“They were going to kill you too,” she says as if that’s something important to tell. “The guy you shot was building some kind of contraption in the basement. It looked like a bomb but I’m not sure what it was.”

We all exchange alarmed looks, Rider had cleared the room, but he was looking for Serena or her abductors, maybe he missed something? “Someone go back to the basement and check it out. Everyone else clear back, just in case it’s set to go off.”

“On it,” Talon says as he runs toward the front door.

“It might not be a bomb,” Serena says weakly, “I just said it looked like one.”

“Better safe than sorry, princess,” I answer.

Suddenly, Siege was there pressing a bottle of water to her lips. We both know she’s in shock after what she’s gone through, and me shooting a man in the fucking face only inches from her, isn’t helping matters. Her eyes jump from Siege and then back to me.

“Should we tell him about the attic?” Serena asks.

I shake my head. “They’ll be time enough for that.”

We see Talon emerging from the cabin carrying something, “Was this what you saw?” he asks.

Serena looks over and nods.

“Panic over, gentlemen,” Talon says with a laugh. “Our man was repairing an old CB radio.”

“Does anyone other than neanderthals use those anymore? I thought they went out with the ark.” I quip.

“I resemble that remark,” Rigs says walking over. “I’ve been thinking about getting one of those. You might knock them, but it doesn’t hurt to have other means of communication when the Wi-Fi or cellphone network goes down.”

Talon throws the small oblong box over and Rigs wanders off to take a better look at his new toy. I gotta hand it to Talon, that brother sure has balls to run back in there—balls or a death wish.

Siege gestured for Serena to drink some more. “We were really worried about you, sis. Everyone in the club was freaking out. Marge called me when she couldn’t get through to Smoke. She was going to lose her mind too.”

Serena sighs and tells me, “You and Marge need to sit down and have a talk.”

“We can talk about it later. Right now, we gotta get you to the clubhouse.”

“I’m all for getting the hell outta here, but what about Stan?”

“Was he here?” I ask.

She nods, “The thugs he hired wouldn’t give me to him unless he paid up, and he refused to pay because he said they hadn’t finished the job, he wanted you as well. They agreed to let him keep me here, but he wasn’t allowed to touch me. It was good you came when you did, that tattooed bastard was gonna head back to Las Salinas and kill you. But then everything went crazy, they saw you approaching, and that’s when I was moved to the attic.”

I look around, wondering where the stupid bastard could have run off to. No vehicles had left since we arrived, and Stan didn’t look the type to take his chances on whatever wildlife lurked in the woods. “Maybe he climbed a tree or something to keep from being seen,” I muse out loud.

Serena slowly comes to her feet. I realize she’s staring at the dark colored sedan that we’ve already identified as belonging to her ex.

“What’s up princess? Are you having a flashback or a brainstorm?”

“Brainstorm,” she answers without hesitation. “Let me ask you something, babe. If you were trying to hide in plain sight, where do you think is the last place your enemies might look for you?”

As we both stare at the vehicle, it suddenly dawns on me what she’s thinking.

Turning to Siege, I ask, “What do you think the chances are that Stan has climbed in the back of his own trunk to hide out?”

“I would say that considering the lack of obvious hiding places, there’s a high probability our stalker might be in there.”

I take a step closer and say loudly for the benefit of Serena’s cowardly stalker of an ex, “What say we just shoot out the trunk and see?” For emphasis I slam the butt of my gun down on the trunk and the noise rings out. If that bastard is hiding in there, he’s gonna have one hell of a headache now.

While I’m taunting Stan, Siege jerks his chin at Rigs, the older club brother is barely able to contain the huge grin on his normally serious face. “You got it, boss.”

Dutch falls into step alongside him. Those two go way back and have always been tight. They take a minute to jimmy the lock with Rigs’ pocketknife. Once they pull the lid up, we all let out a sigh of relief.

Stan is curled up with his cell phone in his hand, looking both embarrassed and terrified that we discovered his ridiculous hiding place. To my satisfaction there’s a strong smell of piss, so I guess my scare really did frighten him.

Rigs snatches his phone away and then gives him a disapproving look. “Of all the fucking people you could be calling to save your sorry ass, you’re on your security app, watching us swarm your place. You’re pretty stupid for a smart guy.”

Rigs and Dutch haul Stan out of the trunk and to his feet.

I storm up to Stan and my fist collides with his face so hard he falls backwards against the car. Now he realizes we aren’t gonna shoot him like a sitting duck, he comes back all bravado. “Alright, glad you got that out of your system can we talk like civilized men now?”

I draw back to punch him again, but Serena’s voice rings out.

“Stop. Smoke, just stop.”

“You grew up in this club,” Siege interjects in a serious tone. “Surely you don’t expect us to let him go.”

“What? Of course not. I want him arrested.”

“Yes, go ahead and call the police,” Stan taunts.

Serena walks down the steps and stands about ten yards from Stan. “This is one time your Ivy League education isn’t going to work in your favor. You can’t even soften the charges by saying you weren’t aware of the laws you broke. You murdered my friend and would have done the same to me. You’re going to spend the rest of your life in jail.”

“Oh, baby girl, you still don’t know how the world works, do you? Money and connections matter. You’d be surprised at the number of favors my family can call in from people well positioned to make this whole problem go away. Face it, you’re no match for me. I’m always going to outsmart you.”

Serena just stares at him, like she hardly recognizes the pompous fool. “You can’t be very smart, because you just talked me into letting the Savage Legion MC decide your fate.”

“Wait. What? No, that wasn’t what I’m saying.”

Serena gets a hard look on her face.

I quickly threw in my two cents’ worth. “I think you’re making a good decision there, princess.”

“I said call the fucking police,” he screams at Serena. “Do it now or I will make you regret it.”

She glances over at her brother, “He’s all yours, Siege. I don’t know why I was even thinking trying to do the right thing.”

“Fucking bitch,” Stan screams, as he tries to close the distance between them. His eyes are wild, and his expression is furious. I just can’t take the chance that he is going to tear into her, so I draw down on him. A single gunshot rings out in the silence of the evening. I aim for his heart. When he falls facedown onto the ground, a pool of bright red blood begins to spread around his body.

I put my gun away, knowing I could have handled that differently. In fact, I should have handled it differently, killed him in a way Serena didn’t have to see. I try to think of what to say to make this situation right, but Tank speaks up.

“That fucker was never going to stop. I’ve seen his kind before. Thinks he’s smarter than everyone else, and that his money enables him to do as he likes. Reminds me of my asshole cousin who got involved with the syndicate, thought he was untouchable.”

Dutch steps up to stand beside Tank. “Yeah, he’s already killed one woman and abducted another. God only knows what he’s been up to that we don’t know about.”

Rigs walks over to Stan’s dead body and uses his fingerprint to open his phone. Luckily it worked, a lot of the newer sensors work by detecting electrical activity, and a dead body has none. Not that it would have stopped Zen getting in—but at least it made our job easier.

“I’ll bet his phone will go a long way toward telling us what he’s been up to.” Rigs says. “I’m gonna change it from finger scanner to password, so Zen can have a snoop around.”

“What are we going to do with his private duty security?” I ask.

Siege answers, “I’ll have a word with them. I have a feeling they aren’t going to want to be associated with the shit this fucker was up to.”

Serena tilts her head back to look up at the sky, as a gentle sprinkle of rain begins to drop. “It’s finally over then.”

I walk up and wrap my arms around her. Pulling her close, I murmur, “Yeah, it’s over. You don’t have to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Time to work on putting this shit behind you and enjoying your freedom.”

She turns in my arms to hug me, and almost the moment she does the sky opens up pouring enough of a deluge upon us to wash away any sin.