Page 3 of Madison
Grant speaks up, “Son, calm down. Don’t go throwing the computer. It’s the only thing we’ve got that gives us any clues.” Neither of them are letting go. “What kinda fucking clue is that? We don’t have any idea who those men are or where they’re taking her!”
Erik, at this point, has grabbed Ma and has her looking at the laptop with him. He looks like he’s seen a ghost. “Play it again with the volume all the way up. Everybody, shut the fuck up for a second!” He looks at Ma and continues, “Linnea, listen with me. I could’ve sworn...” He quits talking and presses play from the start again. I watch both of them, unable to observe Mads’ abduction again.
The men’s voices are louder this time. “Shut the fuck up! You’re coming with us! Joseph said it was time to retrieve what was his, and you’re one of them.” Both Erik and Ma go white as a sheet.
Ma starts shaking her head. “No, no, no, no!” She turns and runs over to Pa. “It’s them! They can’t have her. They can’t do—”
Pa stops her with a finger to her mouth and a look I’ve never seen on him before. “They aren’t going to hurt my little one. I will bring down that mountain and everyone fucking on it before I let that happen.”
Jon, at this point, is standing next to me and watching everything. He finally asks what we all are wondering. “The name they said, is that the name of the guy who was in charge of the mountain people your parents were a part of?”
Ma, with tears rolling down her face, nods, but Erik speaks up. “He was their leader. He took off to fuck knows where for years. Like decades. I didn’t know he was even still fucking alive. What the fuck would he want with Mads?”
I catch a look that passes between Ma and Pa. Fuck if I wasn’t taught to respect my elders, but my woman is who knows where, having who knows what done to her, and I’m about done with fucking secrets.
Rory must’ve seen the same look and says something before I can. “What? Is there a fucking reason for them to go after her?” Ma starts chewing on her lip just like Mads does. I clench my fists.
“We’re wasting fucking time. They’ve got a head start on us! We need all the information so we can find her fast and not go on a fucking wild goose chase. We need to know. I have to get herback!” I feel the guys get closer to me again, as if they think I’m gonna blow. I just need her back. I don’t want to think about what she’s going through right now.
Ma looks at all of us and lets a fucking bomb drop. “Joseph is her biological father. Her birth mom was a barely eighteen-year-old girl who escaped from the mountain and came looking for us. She wasn’t prepared to be a mom and wanted to get as far away from Joseph as she could. She had our girl only days after she escaped. She knew he wouldn’t come to the hospital and claim her as his child, ’cause that would’ve been him admitting to having a physical relationship with a minor. She was seventeen when she got pregnant. She signed the paperwork, took some money we gave her, and left to go make a life somewhere else. We’ve never heard from her since. She needed to flee, and we helped her. She said she wanted her baby with us ’cause we’d protect her better than anyone else, since I knew what really went on up there. She’d heard stories about what happened to me since her family came up shortly after Father and Mamma died.” Holy fuck.
Kierstie says what I think most of us are thinking. “Why the hell didn’t you ever tell her any of this? She’s who the fuck knows where now and having who the fuck knows what done to her.She’sprobably finding out all this shit on top of it. She wasn’t broken after what happened to her before, but finding out you hid this from her on top of whatever she’s goin’ through right now just might break her!”
Why the fuck are we just still standing here? We need to get up that mountain like now. Jackson, one of the few of the older generation that doesn’t have multiple sets of angry, glaring eyesstaring at him, speaks up. “We need to figure out a plan of attack. Even back in the eighties, there were hundreds of acres and buildings up there they could’ve been in. We need to get more information.”
Juan speaks up as he’s heading toward the door. “Samson, head to the clubhouse. We need to fucking see what is theirs up there and get a plan to get Mads back.”
Samson starts running after him. “Right behind you!”
I feel so helpless standing here doing nothing, but then Pres speaks up, “Those of us who aren’t computer gurus or who didn’t get hitched today, we need to get to the clubhouse to round up our supplies of… tools we’ll need and figure out who all is gonna go up the mountain. If you need to run home and drop off anyone or grab a change of clothes, do it. Everyone needs to be at the club within thirty minutes. We need to get on the road as fast as we can.”
Thirty minutes? That’s like forever from now. We need to go faster than that. Jon stops my thoughts by putting his hand on my shoulder. “I know that seems like a long time, but we gotta give the guys a chance to find the shit online so we can figure out where the fuck we’re going. I know she’s your girl, but she’s my little sister, too.” Fuck me, he’s right. I follow a bunch of brothers out of the barn and hop in my truck to head to the clubhouse. I see her jacket lying on the passenger seat. Ineedto get her back. I pull out of the parking lot. I wish I knew what she was going through.
CHAPTER 2
Madison
Fuck. This was not in my plans when I stepped out of the barn, so I didn’t completely lose my shit in the middle of the reception. They haven’t hit me, so that’s something. I have no idea who these guys are or what it is they want. They tied up my arms and tied a bandana around my mouth as soon as they got me in the back seat of this truck, so it’s not like I can ask them anything. The two biggest lugs have me sandwiched between them. So far, I’ve figured out that the guy driving seems to be the leader of the four of them, but he’s not the main leader. He told them not to hurt me. I’ll take that for now. I can tell we’re headed north and just got off the interstate. We’ve been gone, I’m guessing, like half an hour. I really hope Mick ignored my needing space and has discovered I’m gone.Please know I’m missing, Mick.
Lug One speaks up. “I don’t get why we didn’t just knock her out and throw her in the back like—”
The older guy in the front passenger seat turns around fast, and interrupts Lug One while glaring at him like he’s pissed off. “Joseph said she wasn’t to be hurt. That’s all you need to know right now.”
So whoever their leader, this Joseph guy, is, has me safe for the moment. Why does that name sound kinda familiar? I try to think where I’ve heard that name before, going through things in my brain, when Lug Two speaks for the first time. “You don’t want to hurt her ’cause we don’t know yet who Joseph is going to promise her—”
Before he finishes his sentence, the older guy interrupts again, “Enough! I said that Joseph said what he said and let’s leave it at that for now. You both know his plans. No one will want their bride to be bruised and damaged on their wedding day.”
Wedding day?What the fuck are these people up to? I can tell we’re heading toward the mountains. Wait…holy shit!When Ma told us her and Pa’s story, that leader guy, he was named Joseph. Shit, if it’s the same guy, he’s got to be in his seventies, at least. Why does a sense of dread come over me?Mick, please come find me!
Mick
I swear to all that is fucking holy, if the guys don’t find something fucking useful in the next five minutes, I’m heading up the mountain, and I’ll fucking tear it down till I find her. All that keeps flashing through my mind is when Ma told the story, the part she didn’t say out loud. The part that has me wanting to go all Paul Bunyon and tear down the mountain with my hands.
I can’t sit and wait. We’ve gathered all the weapons, and the brothers who are going are all ready to hit the road. We’re all just fucking waiting for Samson, Juan, or Rory to find something. I keep pacing back and forth the length of the room, never taking my eyes off the door to their office.
I turn around to take another lap of fucking pacing when the doors to the outside bang open, and Logan comes running in with his laptop. “I found it!” He runs to the tech room, opens the door and slams it shut. What the fuck? Enough.
I go to open the door that he just slammed when I’m stopped by Asher. I can’t help but glare at him. “Glare at me all you want, brother, but Logan insisted on looking for where they might have taken Mads. He got all demanding and told me to drive him over here while he looked. About a mile away, he got excited and said he had found something. He considers Mads one of his close friends and we ain’t going anywhere till we find her. She’s family. You are too, brother.”
