Page 36 of Prospect
Disappearing amongst the trees, we walk for a few minutes before coming out near a narrow dirt road where a rusted blue moving van is parked. The backdoor is already open, and we are instructed to climb inside. Luna and I huddle together with our backs pressed against the wall. The one claiming to be the VP—my attacker, jumps in with the short bald guy and closes the doors, while the other climbs in the driver's seat. There are no seats in the back, just a couple of crates. The only window is a cut out between the bed and the cab of the van and the only light comes from a small dome above our heads.
The VP narrows his eyes to slits, staring at us for a few minutes as the van starts and we begin to drive down the bumpy road. I realize the moment we hit the highway because the ride becomes smoother. Turning my head, I look at Luna. Her attention is trained on the man sitting across from us. Her tears have stopped, and her face has dried. Pike pulls a cigarette from the front pocket of his shirt. As it dangles from the corner of his mouth, he digs a small square matchbook from the same pocket. Lifting his foot, he strikes a match across the bottom of his boot, brings the flame to the tip of the cigarette and lights it. He cocks his head and blows out a cloud of smoke. "I never understood what my brother saw in you." He takes another drag.
"You should be dead right now. If it were up to me, you would be. However, my brother still has a hard-on for you." He flicks ashes to the van floor. "He's getting out soon. Did you know that?" Pike smirks. I feel Luna's body stiffen. "Rex has plans for you." His eyes shift to mine. Leaning forward, he puts his elbows on his knees, then blows smoke in my face. "And you," he licks his thin, dry lips. "You just happen to be my consolation prize for putting up with my brothers sick obsession with your friend here." His hand reaches out grasping my knee. His touch causes me to recoil.
"Don't touch me," I find my voice.
"Or what?" he grabs me again, this time forcing his hand between my thighs. Without thinking about the repercussions, I bring my foot up, kicking him in the chest with as much force as I can, sending him stumbling back against the box crate he was sitting on. He recovers quickly and in a matter of seconds snatches me by the hair on my head, tossing me across the back of the moving van. "Fighting makes me harder," he grabs his crotch as he stands over me. "I'm gonna use you up. Then I'll let the rest of the club have their turn. I'll have you begging me to kill you before it's over." His words drip with venom making me remember Antonio and Los Demonios. Trying to put more space between myself and my captor, I press my back against the corner near the backdoor. I stay put for the remainder of the ride.
I've been listening to the sound of the wiper blades, and heavy rain hit the roof of the vehicle for a short time now. If I had to take a guess, we have been on the road for at least thirty minutes. Pike stands from his seat and maneuvers himself to the front of the van talking in hushed tones to the driver. With his back turned and the red headed guy's attention turned toward the front as well, Luna crawls across the van floor. "My family will find us. Don't give up. No matter what happens you fight." I mouth to her. A new look of strength and determination shines in her eyes, and she nods. A sharp turn jostles us from side to side before feeling the van come to a halt. The men turn around catching the two of us huddled together again.
"Home sweet home," Pike announces.
With a loud bang coming from the outside, Luna and I move to the side as the door opens and appearing in front of us are five more men staring back at us; sporting cuts with the name Savage Outlaw. "Out," Pike barks.
Once Luna and I shuffle out of the van, I take in our surroundings. We are inside a vast industrial building. Plastic covers the broken windows. "Take them upstairs. I'll deal with them later. Someone bring me my fuckin' phone. And bring me a damn beer," Pike orders and walks off in the opposite direction of where Luna and I are dragged to.
They led the two of us pass several large pieces of machinery—one of which is a conveyer belt and the other a massive round saw blade. After climbing the rickety metal staircase to the second floor overlooking the warehouse, we are taken into a room that looks to have been a janitor's closet at one point. The smell is the first thing I can't ignore the moment we are shoved inside. A rotten, putrid smell mixed with a strong odor of mold. A man pushes his way inside the cramped space holding a pair of handcuffs. He slips them through the backside of a large pipe protruding from the floor leading up the wall through the ceiling. The redhead from before grabs my wrist, painfully twisting it as he forces my hand above my head and the other guy slaps one cuff around my wrist. Treating Luna in the same manner, he brings her hand above her head as well next to mine as the man tightens the other cuff around Luna's wrist.
Both men step out of the small room. Neither one bothers looking back before closing the door leaving Luna and me in utter darkness.
Chapter nineteen
Sam
It's been fifty-two minutes since Reid woke the entire clubhouse announcing Sofia and Luna were missing. The motion sensors surrounding the property line of the compound were tripped and sent an alert to his phone. By the time I jumped out of bed and raced outside to the back of the compound along the tree line, they were long gone. The tire tracks in the mud were the only evidence left behind by the men who are minutes away from meeting their maker. At that exact moment, something inside me shifted; a switch had been flipped. Something dark and ugly had crawled up inside me and took residence. Something unfamiliar, but welcoming. Standing outside, with the rain beating down on my head, my eyes focused on the tire tracks that lead away from the compound. I breathed in the warm, damp air and allowed the bleak darkness of the night to consume my entire being as I made a silent vow to bring Sofia home and end the man who has taken her from me. My fingers twitched at the thought of having them wrapped around the son of a bitches neck. With those evil thoughts running through my brain, my body vibrated with adrenaline, and my blood began to boil. On the inside, I'm burning up, but on the outside, I'm a mask of calm. The eerie stillness that surrounded me said don't fuck with me because moments ago while standing outside in the haunting silence with the other men, I said nothing as I turned and walked away in the direction of the clubhouse. I was on a mission with only one thing on my mind. I heard Quinn calling out my name seconds before Jake murmured, "best let him be, brother. He's got that look."
I snap back to the present when a black duffle bag is dropped at my feet. "Suit up," Gabriel says with the same look of determination and fury that mares the face of every man in the room. Forty-five minutes ago, we all watched as Reid showed us the video from when Sofia and Luna were abducted. It all started when Luna snuck out of the clubhouse. A minute later Sofia came into the picture as she walked out of the same door Luna did moments before. I watched on the video as my woman, wearing nothing but her pajamas hustled after Luna who was making her escape across the compound toward the south end of the property. It only took us two seconds to spot what Sofia and Luna didn't because of the fog. A shadowy figure stood just beyond the trees as the orange glow from the end of his cigarette burned through the darkness. The two women had no idea of the danger that waited for them.
At first, a couple of the men had questioned what Luna was doing. Was she willingly meeting with one of Savage Outlaw's men? But that thought was quickly squashed. We all knew what Luna was doing. She was running. Luna had been so eaten up with guilt. She was doing what she thought would help keep Sofia and the club safe. At that though I lift my gaze to Riggs who is sitting three feet from me. He's geared up and is currently assembling what is my best guess a bomb. A bomb left behind by Savage Outlaw. Stupid fuckers didn't even have it rigged the right way. It was a dud. But not anymore. Now they will have their own bomb used against them. It looks like a metal box wrapped in black tape. Riggs is using a pair of pliers to fuse an array of wires together. It suddenly dawns on me how Riggs got his name. Cocking his head sideways he eyes me. "I always bring my own toys to the party, but this one will do." After a pause, he speaks again. "We're going to get our women back, brother. You can fuckin' count on it." I don't miss the fact he said,'our women.'
I nod. "Only goddamn outcome there is."
Leaving Riggs to do his thing I go about getting ready. The second we finished watching the security feed, Jake had Demetri, and his right-hand guy Victor, along with Nikolai hit the streets and canvas the area. They started by following the tire tracks while Reid began tapping into the surrounding area traffic cameras. He's been on the phone with Demetri for the past twenty minutes with a lead. We are now waiting for confirmation and a location.
Unzipping the duffle bag, the first thing I pull out is a gun holster. Shrugging my cut off, I slidethe holster on over my shoulders then pull my cut back on. Also, in the bag are two pistols and several clips. I load both weapons before sliding them into the holster. Once finished, I stand and take in how quiet the clubhouse has become. Each man stands ready and waiting. I turn my attention to my left to see the women gathered in the hall at the edge of the main room. Each one visibly shaken. Sofia is such an essential part of this family and fiercely loved by every person here. She is the last person on the planet that deserves what's happened to her. But my woman is strong. She will overcome this just as she did in the past and I'll be by her side as she does.
Taking a deep breath, I try to rein in my thoughts; the ones that cause a gut-wrenching knot to form in the pit of my stomach. The thoughts I desperately don't want run through my head. What are those filthy animals doing to my girl? Have they touched her?
"Don't go there, son," Jake's gruff voice cuts in as he comes to stand toe to toe in front of me. "I've been in your shoes. I know what your thinkin'. Right now, you're thinkin' the worst. That can't be helped. What you need to do is take all that shit swarmin' inside your head and turn it into sheer will power, not anger. Anger will only get you hurt or killed. Anger clouds your judgment, and you forget about being smart. Sofia needs you, and your club needs you. You get what I'm sayin'?"
I nod. "Yes, sir. I get you." Jake is right. I need to keep a clear head. To do so, I have to get my emotions under control. At this moment I'm thankful for Jake. Thankful he was paying enough attention and saw my struggle. It's one of many things that makes Jake one hell of a President. I have not once doubted why these men look up to him, and this is why.
"We have our location!" Reid shouts as he stands from the bar shoving his phone in his cut.
"Where?" Jake barks.
"Cocksuckers are held up at the old lumber mill. They were right under our fuckin' noses when we went out that way a few days ago."
"You have got to be fuckin' kiddin' me," I hiss under my breath as I head out the door behind Jake.
Reid continues as we mount our bikes. "Demetri has eyes on the place. He said we're dealing with thirteen Savage Outlaw. He said they'd stay in place until we arrived."
"Alright, brothers!" Jake bellows. "You heard the man. Demetri confirmed thirteen of those motherfuckers have taken up residence out at the lumber mill but be prepared for more. Always expect the unexpected. We're goin' in, and we're goin' in hot. We roll in and take those sons of bitches out. You shoot every one of them dead, no questions asked. We don't stop until every man wearin' a Savage cut is on the ground with a bullet in them. I want to see those walls painted red." Jakes starts his engine, and the rest of us men follow suit. Nine strong, we peel out of the compound and head in the direction of the mill. One of Riggs's guys Fender stayed behind along with Blake and Bennett to guard the clubhouse. As we ride down Main Street the power coming from our engines fills the empty road rattling the windows of the buildings lining the street.
It's early morning and still dark as the town of Polson is asleep and blissfully unaware of the bloodshed that's about to take place in their backyard; unaware of the evil that has taken up residence next door. Ignorance is bliss they say. Those people are lucky. Myself, along with the men I ride with know the truth. We know all about the monsters that live in the shadows, watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike. What the demons don't understand is The Kings are always ready. When you least expect it; we will come for you. We're going to paint the walls red and take back what's ours—what's mine. "I'm comin' for you, Firefly."
With the lumber mill in sight, Jake doesn't slow down, and he doesn't hesitate. He's doing exactly what he said we were going to do. We're riding in hot. I'm sure by now Savage Outlaw has heard us coming. I have no clue where Demetri, Nikolai, and Victor are, but they are no doubt close by and prepared for battle. The lumber mill is a large metal framed industrial building. It has sat empty for several years now. The parking lot had long ago grown over with grass and weeds, and the roof is missing several sheets of metal while the windows are covered in plastic. The moment our Harleys rumble through the busted gate shots begin to ring out.
