Chapter Twenty-One

Vladmir

The second I saw Aksana whisper something to my daughter, I knew something was wrong, and when Remi stepped behind Aksana right before my wife took the newcomer to the ground, I knew I was right. I wasn’t the only one who saw, because Reaper was already on the move along with everyone else.

Before the girls could engage, everyone had the women separated before the fight even started, leaving only Aksana and the woman she was beating the hell out of. And make no mistake, my wife was kicking the woman’s ass, but when I distinctly heard the woman cackle, “Remember me, whore? It’s payback time.”

I didn’t move fast enough before the bitch shanked my wife.

Kicking the woman off Aksana, I dropped to my knees while Claudia and George, the two doctors of the Sons of Hell, started barking orders.

“Someone go get my medical bag!” Claudia shouted as George pressed on Aksana’s stomach to stem the flow of blood.

“Jesus,” George muttered. “I got three stab wounds to the left side. Shit, Lidi, I think the bitch got Aksana’s liver. I can’t stop the bleeding.”

“Just keep the pressure up,” she instructed, reaching for her phone, hitting speed dial. “Stacey, it’s Lidi. Get O.R. two prepped and ready. I’m bringing in a female stab wound victim. Have plenty of O-negative on standby.”

“A-negative,” I corrected. Lidi nodded and amended the order.

“DAD!” young Cameron ran screaming from the clubhouse, running straight for King. “Someone took Rose, Max, and Katiya!”

All the brothers of the Sons of Hell, along with Maxim and Illyria, took off running as the bitch fighting Dmitry’s hold cackled menacingly. “I hope he fucking kills them all!”

Skylar quickly picked up her brother as Reaper roared, “LOCK DOWN THE CLUBHOUSE!”

“Go.” I barely heard her voice through the chaos. Looking down at her, I saw the tears in her eyes as she murmured, “Go, Vladmir. Go find our daughter.”

“She’s right,” Lidi said frantically as she and George tried to save her life. “There is nothing you can do here. Leave her with me and George. We will take care of her. You need to help the others. Go!”

“Dmitry, take that cunt to the bunker. Savage, go with him. Remi and Jess, get all the women into the clubhouse and stay there. The rest of you, I want this compound locked down tight. Double up, no one goes alone. Vladmir, let’s go!” Reaper ordered, taking charge.

“I don’t give a fuck, Montana!” Reaper shouted into his phone. “Just fucking do it!”

“What’s going on?” Nikandr asked, walking over to stand next to me.

“Reaper wants Montana to activate his southern clubs and take out the last remaining members of Satan’s Angels, but Montana is hesitant. He doesn’t want to start a war with everything going on.”

“If the asshole knows what’s good for him, he better do it.”

“Listen to me, you lying, backstabbing bastard,” Reaper seethed. “I didn’t create this fucking mess. Your dad did, and if I have to clean up your fucking mess, you better sleep with one fucking eye open. You fucking owe me, and you damn well know it. Now get off your ass before I start making calls and just remember one thing, you piece of shit. Your club is blood bound to protect Maxim’s son and Bane’s niece, so if anything happens to them, your ass is on the line.”

“Where are the boss and Illyria?” I asked quietly.

“Under lock and key. I’ve got Rurik and Slaughter trying to keep the boss from leaving. Illyria is on the phone with Giovanni. God only knows how that conversation will go.”

“And Henry?”

“Still sleeping. Whoever took the kids knew right where they would be. Vladmir, how is that possible? No one knew we would be here. This place is in the middle of nowhere.”

Nikandr was right.

How did they find us?

Pushing off the wall, I started looking around the clubhouse. I knew it wasn’t any of the brothers. They all had a vested interest in protecting the kids. The Sons of Hell were a small club. They didn’t get involved with the politics of the underworld. Reaper and the Golden Skulls were another story, but I’d trust any of them with my life. So that begged the question, how did this person know how to find us?

Walking into the main gathering room, I stood and took everything in. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. I reached for my cell phone and made a call. Placing the phone to my ear, I waited while it connected, my eyes glued to one thing.

“What now?”

“Sypher,” I whispered, low and firm. “Do you have access to the security cameras at the Sons of Hell clubhouse?”

“Yeah. I set up their system. Just like I helped Dmitry set up yours. I help a lot of people. Why?”

“Who do you help?”

“Uh, loads. Wanna tell me why you’re asking about my business?”

“Do you contract for members of the table?”

“Yeah,” Sypher said cautiously. “What’s going on?”

“Kill all the feeds. Kill them now, Sypher. Someone hacked your system!” I shouted, running back into the office where Reaper was still on the phone with Montana.

Not thinking, I grabbed the phone right out of Reaper’s hand and shouted at Montana, “Kill the cameras! Someone has hacked into your system. They’ve been watching us all this time!”

“WHAT!” Montana roared loudly, damn near deafening me.

Handing the phone back to Reaper, I put my own phone back to my ear when I heard Sypher shout, “Oh shit!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

But the kid said nothing because the next thing I heard was, “Daniel Franks, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can’t afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them?”

“Fuck you, asshole!” I heard Sypher shout and the line went dead.

Looking at Reaper, who stared at his phone, before placing it on the table, I asked, “Montana?”

The man slowly shook his head. “He never got the chance to make the call. FEDs just walked in looking for Pippen. They have a warrant for his arrest.”

“Sypher was just arrested, too.”

Reaper looked up at me when his phone started ringing.

Looking at the caller ID, I didn’t need to hear what was about to be said. The FEDs were at the California compound to arrest Phantom.

We just lost our only way of tracking the kids.

“King, I need your permission,” Reaper said, looking at the distraught man. Why they took his daughter was a mystery to everyone. King and the Sons of Hell had nothing to do with the criminal underworld.

They were a legit biker club, solid members of the community.

They were clean.

“Callum, look at me,” Gunner said to his brother as the big man looked up with unshed tears in his eyes. “You are in no position to deal with this. Give Reaper the go-ahead.”

“She’s my little girl, Cord.”

Gunner’s face fell as he wrapped his brother in a hug. “I know, and we will get her back for you.”

Turning to look at Reaper, Gunner nodded. “As the VP of the Sons of Hell, I am giving you permission.”

With that, Gunner walked King out of church, closing the door behind them. Not a single one of us thought any different of King. King was a strong, capable man who could handle anything that came his way, but involve his newborn child and well, that would cut the knees off any father. As it was, I was barely hanging on myself. I tried not to think of how scared Katiya must be, and I didn’t even want to know how Maxim was handling things.

This whole night had just turned into a fucking nightmare.

With King in no frame of mind to help or think clearly, Reaper sat at the head of the table and took charge. No club president liked giving up power to another, but in cases like this, we needed someone who could think objectively.

“Alright,” Reaper sighed, leaning forward. “What do we know besides Sypher, Pippen and Phantom being arrested?”

“Whoever is behind this is patient and methodical. They waited for the precise moment when the children of three major players would be in the same location,” I said as Bayou looked up from his phone and cursed.

“Fuck, Vicious just texted. York is missing too. Montana’s losing his shit. He’s locked down the Soulless Sinners and put all his clubs on alert with orders to shoot on sight anyone wearing a Satan’s Angel cut.”

“Bayou, call Player and tell him and Matrix to get on their fucking computers and start digging. I know they are not as good as Phantom, but maybe they can find something. Then call Sandman and tell him to get all the kids and Sunny to a safe location. I don’t want to know where he takes them. Just make sure they leave within the hour.”

Bayou nodded quickly, leaving the room only to shout seconds later, “Reaper, we got company!”

Jumping from my seat, I rushed out of church along with everyone else and saw the local town sheriff of Rosewood walking through the front door of the clubhouse, carrying a small pink bundle in his arms.

Bailey cried as she ran over to the man, who happily handed over the little baby as King gathered both of them in his arms.

“Someone want to tell me why I found Rose laying on the front step of the sheriff’s station?” the man firmly asked.

“Mike, now is not a good time,” Pyro cautioned.

“Make the fucking time,” the sheriff growled.

“Short version,” Gunner started. “Someone came into the clubhouse and kidnapped three kids. Rose was one of them.”

“My grandbabies?”

“All good, Mike,” Gunner quickly confirmed. “They are with Sarah and the others upstairs.”

“And the other two?”

“My daughter,” I said, stepping forward. “Along with my godson.”

“You’re the Russians visiting Banks?”

I nodded. “Aleksandr is Nikoli’s older brother.”

“Missing kids is a federal crime, boys. Know you gents like handling shit your own way, but I’ve got to call in the FEDs.”

“I can’t let you do that,” Reaper replied sternly, then lied, “They are the ones who took them.”

The sheriff took a good look at Reaper, narrowing his eyes as he slowly shook his head. “This have anything to do with that shit in the news over a year ago? Because if it’s connected, I’m not gonna be happy if that crap spills over into my town. Don’t know if you know this, but Rosewood is a clean town.”

“I am aware of that,” Reaper stated, holding his ground.

“Fine,” the sheriff groaned, reaching for his phone. “If you won’t let me call the FEDs, then I’m calling in for reinforcements. You might know the man. Goes by Merc.”

“Phantom’s brother?” I questioned, looking at Reaper, who frowned and asked, “You know Merc?”

“Yeah, served together before I got out. Mean fucker too. He and his team are still together. Last time we talked, he was thinking about joining some group called Harbor Security.”

“Hold that call,” Reaper ordered and started pacing the room.

I’d seen him like this before. The man was running possibilities in his head faster than a supercomputer. Reaper did nothing without calculating every possibility and outcome. The man was methodical, borderline obsessive compulsive when it came to everything.

“What if all the ghost files have nothing to do with anything? Think about it, this mystery fucker Malice look-alike, the Oracle, and Ace disappearing, what do they all have in common?”

The man was giving me a headache.

No one knew what the asshole was thinking until he spelled it out for us. Groaning, I clipped, “Just tell us what’s going on in that fucked-up head of yours.”

“The old guard is dead. The release of those files makes no sense. But the files from the Trick Pony, now those are different.”

“Because several of the members are still alive and can be brought to justice. We know this, Reaper.”

“Exactly.” Reaper smiled deviously.

“Fuck,” I groaned, realizing where he was going with this. “You think the ghost files were a smoke screen? You think Ace disappearing, Malice’s twin, and this Oracle are all trying to protect us?”

“Yes.” Reaper nodded. “Because it was Ace and his team who found the files at the Trick Pony. I know Ace. Fucker may hate club life, but he would never do anything to intentionally harm his brothers. Malice, his twin, Ivy, and now Aksana all have the same father.”

“And the Oracle?” Maxim asked, walking over.

“You heard Aksana. They work for Mr. Ess. I’d bet my clubhouse that Malice’s twin is also working for Mr. Ess because, whoever he is, he doesn’t want the information from the Trick Pony to get out into the open.”

“And Max, Katiya, and York?”

“Children of three major players?” Reaper said before reluctantly adding, “Leverage to bring you to heel.”

“Then we need to have a talk with that bitch,” I sneered. “Because my daughter is not leverage.”