Page 23 of Her Avenging Angel

Chapter Seventeen

Raven drove his fistinto the stomach of the man hanging from his tied wrists, then stepped back to take in his handiwork. The man’s right eye was already swollen shut, and he had several cuts on his face and other places. It was a start but not enough. Nothing would ever be enough in making this man pay for what he’d done to Taylynn.

“How many others do you have, asshole?” Raven demanded.

Ace coughed, spit out a mouthful of blood, and looked at the men around them one by one. “You’ll never get away with this, my men will make you pay.”

“Your men are too busy drinking and whoring to know what’s going on and by the time they sober up enough to figure it out, it will be too late. Now tell me how many other women you forced into paying off a debt to you on their backs.” Raven wanted to just kill the man and be done with it, but he needed to find this out. He needed to know how many and who, so they could hopefully get them out before Smokey set off the explosion in the basement.

“Like I’m going to tell you Demons business.” Ace scoffed. He grunted when Raven’s fist found a target in his abdomen again.

Raven turned away, circling the small room in the old, abandoned house Pike had found near where the tunnel leading to the Demons’ basement let out, then going to the small table where he’d lined up a selection of weapons. He picked up a knife—it wasn’t long, but it didn’t have to be in order to hurt. It was short so it wouldn’t leave marks on bones. They wanted to make sure he left no trace on hard tissue that might give the authorities any clue that Ace had been interrogated or killed before the explosion that would either burn or vaporize his body.

If they were doing this closer to home Raven wouldn’t have been so worried about leaving evidence. But they didn’t have any cops in this county on their payroll, so it would be next to impossible to get them to ignore certain things.

Turning back to Ace, Raven held up the knife, showing the other man the way the light glinted off the blade as he examined it, making sure it was nice and sharp for what he wanted. He knew it was, but letting his captive watch him test it was an intimidation tactic that Raven wasn’t sure would work but he’d try, at least for a moment or two.

“You see, I’ve discovered that you are over here forcing women to be your club mamas. That’s not how this is supposed to work.” Raven used the knife to slice off Ace’s shirt while he talked. “I’ve learned about the cruel things you do to the women who hang around your club. I’m here to make you pay for it.” Once the fabric had fallen free, Raven turned his attention to the skin, trailing the tip of the knife lightly along Ace’s torso leaving fine red lines. They didn’t look like much at first, but the knife was sharper than most and after a moment, blood welled and began to trickle down his chest.

“I can do this for hours,” Raven said. “And when I get tired, I’ll have one of my other men step in.” He tilted his head toward where Panther stood watching, arms folded across his chest. If we do this right, we can make this happen non-stop for days.” He paused, letting those words sink in as he continued to draw abstract lines all over Ace’s chest. Moving around to his back, he used the tip of the knife to outline the Demons’ colors tattoo Ace had covering his entire back.

By the time Raven had finished with outlining the tattoo, Ace was begging to tell them everything he knew. Raven listened, checking with Panther to see if the tied man’s descriptions of the women fit with what they’d seen while scouting for this operation. When Panther nodded that he knew each of the women Ace told them about, he turned back to Ace and wished he could put a bullet in his head, ending the threat to them all, but he couldn’t, not if he didn’t want to tip the investigators off that his death wasn’t more than it appeared to be.

He spun on his heel and spoke to Panther. “Take care of him, get him down from there and ready to transport. I’ll talk to the others.”

He left his Sergeant at arms to take care of the piece of shit he’d finished with and went to where the others were working on the rest of the plan. They had to find a way to get the women in question away from the clubhouse without alerting the rest of the Demons. Then Smokey would detonate the little setup he was working on.

Pike had managed to snake some kind of camera into the basement from the tunnel, letting them discover that the room was being used for storage, mostly furniture but a few other things like toilet paper and liquor. They were working on getting the brick wall down, so they could get in and set things up to get rid of the Demons for good.

“Any ideas on how to get the girls out of there?” Raven stood against one wall, arms folded across his chest as he looked at the men gathered in the room.

Several suggestions were given, ranging from the ridiculous to just marching in, taking them and shooting anyone who tried to stop them. There was a bit of discussion as they tried to settle on what seemed like the best plan to accomplish all their goals. First to get the victimized women out, Pike already had a place in mind to take them so they’d have time and counseling to recover. Second was to eliminate the Demons—that plan was solid, as long as getting the girls out didn’t mean half the club was on their ass trying to get them back. Third was getting away clean. That meant not leaving a bunch of bodies with bullets to let the authorities know that this had been anything more than a meth lab gone wrong.

After twenty minutes they were no closer to getting things done and Raven was hyperaware of the night passing them by. They needed to get this done and sooner rather than later. Coming to a decision, he started issuing orders. Pike, Smokey, and a couple of others would finish getting through the walled in doorway into the basement, leaving Ace down there, and setting things up to Smokey’s specifications. Raven and the rest would go in and get the women. There were three they wanted to get out of there, then once they were clear, they’d let Pike know. When everyone was a safe distance away, they could detonate. And as quick and easy as that, their Demon problem would be eliminated, and Taylynn could stop worrying that she couldn’t leave the club house for fear they’d find her and take her back.

After one last check that everyone knew what they were doing, they split, each group heading in a different direction. They had a lot to get done and it would take sharp minds and quick reflexes to get in and out without getting hurt. Raven just hoped they were all up for the job.

Before he had time to worry about it too much he and the rest of the men with him were walking into the Demons’ clubhouse. They’d taken off their colors and he hoped the Demons were so wasted on alcohol and drugs they either wouldn’t recognize their faces or would be too wasted to put up much of a fight.

Raven was first through the door. He couldn’t help but be surprised that no one stopped or challenged him. Did these idiots not have anyone on guard duty? Oh, well, their stupidity made things easier for the Angels. Inside, he looked around and spotted one of the women he was after right away. He made his way over to where she sat on a sofa, looking bored and like she was trying not to attract attention.

“Come with me,” Raven said, holding out one hand.

He knew from talking to Taylynn that the women here, especially those that were here against their will, learned fast not to argue, say no, or hesitate. She put her hand in his and stood, he used her hand to pull her outside, where he handed her off to Grinder, then turned and went back inside. He still had two women to get out of there.

Going back inside Raven had no doubt that things wouldn’t go as smoothly for all the women as it had for the first one. Eventually someone would realize who he was or what he was doing. He was prepared to have to fight his way out. Jersey would be next through the door, but he was waiting a couple of minutes, so it wasn’t so obvious they were together. No one, especially Panther, had wanted Raven to be first inside, or for him to go in alone, but he’d insisted. He wasn’t about to send someone in for a job he wasn’t willing to do.

Only vaguely familiar with the Demons’ clubhouse layout, and that only from plans on file with the city, so not entirely reliable, Raven wandered through the main floor looking for the two remaining women. He didn’t want to have to go upstairs and start checking the rooms, but he would if he had to. He’d likely have to confront whatever Demon had taken her up there, and he was trying to get them out before anyone realized they weren’t supposed to be there.

He wandered from one room to another, trying to look like he belonged. In a room near the back with several pool tables he found the second woman. She was bent over the edge of one of the pool tables, one of the Demons behind her, obviously having just finished.

The Demon’s cut said his road name was Vulture. Vulture slapped the woman’s ass as he stepped back and tucked his dick back into his jeans.

“Not bad, but you could move a little more. Act like you like what you’re doing,” Vulture said before turning away.

Fire flashed in the woman’s eyes before it faded. She pushed herself up off the pool table and shoved down the skirt she wore so she was mostly covered but Raven noticed she didn’t have any underwear and didn’t go looking for any.

---