Page 39 of Babe's Bounty

Mode jumps up and leaves the meeting while I watch Chrome pace the room.

“They might have seen the drone,” Scorch says. “Or they could have made the prospects.”

Chrome nods. “Both are possibilities. I just hope Mode can track them. Next time we get a bead on them, we’ll need to move faster. How many hiding places do these bastards have?”

I shrug. I’m confident that Mode can track them down. So far, he’s come through for us. If he needs help, he can always reach out to my brothers in San Diego. Smoke, Byte, and now Maestro are the best at this tech stuff. However, my mind isn’t on where the enemy is now, it’s on how the enemy knew we were watching. I saw the drone video. None of the footage showed those inside the building noticing the surveillance. It also didn’t show anyone heading toward the exit. So did they see the drone or the prospects? Or did someone call them and warn them we were watching? Does the Chicago Chapter have a rat?

We’ve had two instances where they knew we’d discovered their location. The first I can understand. We caught one of their men and stole their vehicle. Maybe they had someone tracking it and realized their man wasn’t driving it to the designated location. However, I’m having a harder time believing they figured out we had them in our sights less than an hour ago. I can’t say anything to Chrome without proof. I stay silent for now. Vigilance is my best option.

Returning to the common room, I see Min heading in my direction.

“I had a thought about where we might find Dr. Blankenship,” she says.

“Shh,” I warn her, earning a frown. She wasn’t being loud, but I’m worried about someone listening in on our conversation. Glancing around, I don’t see anyone paying us special attention, but I pull her outside and away from the clubhouse.

“What’s wrong?” She asks, yanking her arm out of my grip.

“I think there’s a snitch in the clubhouse,” I tell her what happened at the community center while keeping my back to the clubhouse.

“Fuck. What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. Keep our guard up and our eyes open. Now what were you saying? You think you might know where to find Blankenship?”

“Maybe. Cicely made a comment that had me thinking. We were talking about Angie and the Mountebank Medical Group. How Vivian and Colin hid their trafficking victims in the hospital. She said that it was a great place to hide women as patients. Well, what better place for a doctor to hide than in a hospital? And wouldn’t Mountebank be the best place to hide since they’re fixated on those who work there?”

“You think Blankenship is working at Mountebank?” I ask, considering her logic. It’s possible. We don’t have any other leads, so why not check it out? “I think it’s worth riding over there.”

“We could have Mode check hospital records. See if anyone started working there recently who fits Blankenship’s description?” Min suggests.

I nod, but know that Mode is busy. Instead, I take out my phone and call Byte.

“What’s up, Babe? You and the lovely Min coming home soon?”

I growl when he mentions Min, which has him chuckling. I have to stop myself from saying ‘mine’. Instead, I tell him about Min’s idea regarding Blankenship.

“I’ll have Smoke check the records. That’s a good idea. If we don’t find him there, we’ll check other hospitals and clinics. Blankenship’s an excellent resource to have. Why not put him to work? We know he has no morals. I’ll let you know if we discover anything on our end. Anything else?”

I debate telling him about my suspicions around the Chicago Chapter having a vermin problem, but figure I’m better off warning my club about the possibility. “Yeah, there is. I don’t have any proof, just a gut feeling,” I start.

“Never ignore the gut,” Byte says. “We’ve all learned that the hard way.”

“True. Okay, here goes. I think the Chicago Chapter has a rat.” I tell him why I’ve come to that conclusion. Byte doesn’t interrupt or try to dissuade me from my suspicions. Instead, he gets serious.

“Well, fuck. Sounds like Chrome has a problem. I’ll do some sniffing around to see if I can find something. We need to tell Dante. He can send the rat squad to Chicago to get eyes on the situation. They’re in Pittsburgh and getting ready to head out. I’ll see if Dante wants to divert them.”

Only the Executives in the San Diego Chapter knows that our three Nomads, Eagle, Preacher, and Stone, are more than nomads. After Dante discovered his father was part of a human trafficking ring, he and Chaos cleaned house. The only surviving members from that time were Grimm, Stone, Eagle, and Preacher. Dante had a major task ahead of him to rebuild the original chapter, but he also worried about the other chapters and if they were involved in trafficking. Grimm stayed to help Dante rebuild, while the other three went nomad. They had a cover story. The other chapters believe that while the Nomads are loyal to the Demon Dawgs, they couldn’t stomach staying at the San Diego Chapter after everything went down. But the truth is, they travel to each chapter and report back to Dante. They make sure each chapter remains loyal to Dante, and they help weed out potential threats from the inside. Knowing that Dante will probably send them here eases my concern.

“Byte and the other techies in San Diego will do some searching,” I tell Min. “In the meantime, let’s check out the hospital. We might get lucky and spot Blankenship.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: MIN

Mountebank Medical Group encompasses a modern, four-story building in downtown Chicago. Skyscrapers surround the site, but the building stands out because of its futuristic appearance. The glass sparkles, revealing a blinding white interior. Bright white paint covers the walls. White marble covers the floors and serves as an accent on the walls, providing depth rather than color. Sporadic displays of modern artwork providing splashes of color. Even the furniture is white. Doctors and nurses wear white scrubs and coats. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a hospital with this much white. Better to see the blood?

On the way over, I reached out to Cicely to find out which departments she and the other missing woman worked in and how to get into the building without raising suspicion from security. She’d stressed the level of security Chambers Medical Group maintained, so I expect security to meet us at the door. However, I don’t see a security guard anywhere in the lobby except behind the information desk. He pays little attention to us, his eyes fixed on the desk in front of him.

We pass through the lobby and wander the first floor until we find the directory. We take the elevator to the maternity ward. Dr. Blankenship was an OB/GYN, so we figure that’s the best place to start our search. However, after multiple trips around the ward, we give up and find a nurse.

“Hi, I’m looking for a doctor,” I start.

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