Page 24 of Gypsy's Lady
Hawks MC
Gypsy, Eight months later
Gypsy laughed hard and bent to press his forehead against the palm of his hand, elbow propped on the edge of the counter. “Stop, Jesus.Stop, brother. Let me catch my breath.” Jase ignored him, launching into yet another story, this one involving two hockey players, a trapeze artist, and the destruction of a hotel room.
“I gota million of ‘em.”
Turning to the side, Gypsy put his back against the wall, holding his beer loosely in one hand as he swiped across his face with the other. The woman standing beside him pressed close. Still laughing, he looked out across the room filled with RWMC members, seeingsimilarmirth reflected on every face close enough to hear Jase’s story.
Laughing so hard he could scarcely talk,Jase sputtered, “And then—Jesus Murphy I’m funny as fuck—and then, she said, ‘Only 10,000 people went down on the Titanic.’ Eh? Funny, right?” Jase tipped his chin up, looking around the group with a broad smile on his face. “Get it? ‘What’s the difference between your ex and the Titanic?’”
Gypsy groaned along with the rest of Jase’s audience. He grew quiet when he saw Deke walking across theroom towards them. Gaze on Gypsy, Deke jerked his head towards the office door,andwhen Gypsy looked that direction, he found Mason standing with Willa, bent closesohis mouth was near her ear.
Gypsy leaned over and spoke to his date for the night, a friend of one of his bartenders at Marie’s. “I’ll be back. You’re safe here.” He sighed at her wide-eyed look in response. She was niceenough,but wasn’t right for him.Might as well draw a line under it now. “Actually, let me have one of the guys escort you out. I don’t know how long I’ll be. It was nice to meet you…” Gypsy stumbled over her name and finally gave up, gesturing to one of the prospects roaming the room. “Take her to her car.” Gypsy watched her walk away and clapped a hand on Jase’s shoulder. He used the grip for leverageto stand straight, then said, “Back in a minute, brother. You got jokes, man. Not good ones, but jokes.”
“Hey now.” Jase’s fake outrage made the men laugh, a sound that died off as they turned to watch Gypsy walk towards Deke.
Wanting to have an idea about the upcoming conversation, he asked Deke, “What do we have?”
Deke shook his head. “Dunno. Bossman took a call, came out and wanted you.”
That could mean any of a dozen things. Sure, Gypsy managed Marie’s, the bar and music venue the club owned here in town. But the job was only one part of what he did for Mason and the Rebels. The piece which fed his soul was taking down abusers and users, something he’d perfected over the years.
Inside the office, door closed against the murmurs of conversation and beat of the music, Mason didn’thesitate. With Myron on the phone, he launched into the reason for his question at the door if Gypsy had a valid passport.
“Years ago I ran upa debtandit’s been called in. I don’t mind clearing the obligation, and honestly, if they’d led with thewhy, we’d be wading inanyway.” Mason’s gaze was steady. “You’ve heard of the Hawks down in Australia.” Gypsy nodded, peripheral vision catchingDeke doing the same at his side. “Talon, their national president, has a situation. Daughter of a member got scooped up in what looks like a trafficking ring. They want her back.”
“Where do we come in?”Why would a club halfway around the world be calling on the RWMC for help with something that would have to be handled locally?The only thing that made sense was if her location had changed.“Was she shipped here for sale?” Gypsy had shut downa number ofsuch auctions in the past couple of years, working alongside regional clubs to mete out punishment once the victims were rescued and put in the path of help from authorities. Bringing her here would make the most sense; there’d been a huge uptick in purchases all across the states, money coming out of the closet to buy flesh. Butwhy would they want him to fly to Australia if that were thecase?Something wasn’t adding up.
“No, we’re certain she’s being held there. They know the player, but not the where. With who her daddy is, she won’t be going to open auction, so we need a buyer in place who can get to her and get her out fast.” Mason sighed, ran a hand over the top of his head, and gripped the back of his neck tightlyfor a moment. “Myron—” Hewaited fora beat until the man on the phone acknowledged his call, then continued. “—I need you to find her. I’ll connect you to their tech gal, Melissa Stevenson, and she’ll feed you everything she’s got. We’ve got to get moving on this. Nary, the girl, she’s barely in college, brothers. Hawks are digging as fast and as deep as they can to find her, but as of this moment,Rebels are also all-in.” His eyes bored into Gypsy as he asked, “Got me?”
“I got you, boss.” Myron echoed Gypsy’s response from the speakerphone.
Moments later, Gypsy stood outside theofficeand scanned the group. Tequila would need to run Marie’s for the time Gypsy would be out of town. Looking at the mass of men gathered in the room, he quickly located the faces he considered his personalinner circle, those of his closest brothers. Then, with his mind on the woman, Nary, and what the Hawks would lose if things went wrong, he tookamoment to think of all the Rebel faces no longer in the mix. Men and women who had passed, painful memories all. Winger, Bingo, Watcher, Hoss’ old lady, every absent person was a hole in the fabric of the club they’d mended around.
Nothing could fillthose holes, but they could strengthen the spaces around where they’d been, making the club stronger in the end.Claudia would have liked these people, he thought, not forthefirst time.She would not have liked what’s her name. He snorted, walking towards where he’d spotted Tequila standing near Gunny, another of his favorites.And Claudia would likely have kicked my ass for not already bookinga flight. It was her memory that had first driven him to try and right what wrongs he could. From what Mason had said, the Hawks didn’t need to have holes in their lives, and if something happened to Nary…
In his head, Claudia’s voice spoke softly, something that was harder and harder to grasp onto these days, “Doug, you’ll be given an opportunity to change your life one day. Don’t pussy out.Take it, and run with it, because we don’t all get second chances.”
***
Gypsy stared at the two men and one woman standing outside arrivals near the customs area. Mason had described Iss, or Melissa as he said she was known here, and that could only be her standing and staring at him as if he’d suddenly grown two heads. It had been a long, cramped flight followed by half an hour of questioningby security about his “bikie” affiliations, and he was ready to get this show on the road. Not certain which of the men were present, he offered them all a lifted chin in greeting. The movement made his hair drag across the back of his neck, irritating in the heat,sohe settled his duffle on his shoulder before scooping up the length of his hair to tie in a loose knot at the back of his head.
In the years since he’d quit the force, he’d found himself adopting the style he’d become accustomed to in Cali, and the only time he rethought the idea of long hair was like now, when it was hot, or when dealing with the aftermath if he forgot to put it up for a ride.When he focused on the group of people, the woman’s mouth still hanging open, one of the men had closed the distance between themand stood close behind her, arms folded across his chest.
Introductions took only a moment, and Gypsy tried to match the namesofthe club members from the files Myron had sent.
Vicious, government name Saxon Black, was more than just a member of the Caroline Springs chapter of the Hawks; he was also the missing woman’s defender. Not boyfriend, that distinction belonged to a man called Fang,and why he wasn’t here to pick the traveling Rebel up, Gypsy wasn’t sure. If it had been his woman taken like Nary had been, Gypsy knew he wouldn’t let any stone go unturned. The other man who’d come, Dallas, was harder to figure out. Based on Myron’s info, he’d been a Hawk for a while, but had proven difficult to track within their organization. Inperson,he didn’t seem quite as impartial asMyron had indicated, and Gypsy wondered if it was because of Nary’s abduction.
The woman, Melissa, was exactly as Mason described her. Tough, smart, smart-mouthed, and compassionate. She was also cute as hell, something Dallas had clearly noticed. Gypsy smirked from his position in the front seat of the vehicle, listening to the professed “not a couple” snark and snipe at each other. This wasa tale in the making, for sure.
Less than half an hour after they’d walked out of the airport, he was standing in a meeting room at the club’s compound, doing his best to keep all the names straight. Stoke, Nary’s father was there, and the pain in his face was hard to see. Gypsy was staggering on his feet in exhaustion, but he gave them the info Myron had senthimand found they were all on thesame page with how to deal with the flesh trader named Baxter.
Fast, hard, and no mercy.
***
“No girl, no cash. You think because I’m American I’m stupid, Baxter?” Gypsy shook his head in counterfeit distress, pushing to his feet from the low couch. Everything about the room screamed Baxter’s need to put himself in a superior position, and that only echoed the self-important details about thekidnapper’s compound far in the country. His men were strolling the grounds with visible weapons, but Gypsy could read the men’s unease with having so much firepower. If it came down to a fight, they wouldn’t be anything near a match for the Hawks. Now he had to talk Baxter into bringing him thegirlso he could communicate the plan. Stoke and Talon both swore she had a steady head on her shoulders,and they were confident if he could tell her what was going down, she’d find a way to help.Fuck, I hope they’re right.
