Chapter Seven
About midmorning, the front door opened and several men came into the clubhouse. Stone turned to see his second in command- Dewey Mann walking toward him. “Dewey.” He grasped the other man’s hand. “Glad you could get here so quickly.”
Dewey grinned. “Yeah, who do I have to thank for the ride?”
“That would be me.” Mountain stood up.
Dewey and the men with him slowly tilted their heads back as they watched the big guy get to his full height of six foot eight inches. Dewey held out his hand. “Thanks man.”
Mountain shrugged. “He…” He jerked his thumb toward Stone. “Seemed to think he needed you guys here. We’re under a timeline here. We got a madman after an innocent woman and a lost little girl.”
Cassie came through the doorway from the kitchen with a smile on her face. “We can take the little girl off the missing person’s list. My men found her. They’re taking her back to her mother at this moment.”
“Maybe they should bring them back here, just to be on the safe side,” Deke suggested. “I’d hate to think this maniac could get to them again.”
Cassie smiled. “Don’t worry about that. Amos is taking them to a safe house for a while. He and the others will keep Trixie and Jerah Dawn safe until this is wrapped up.” She looked over at Stone. “They’re out there watching the streets for your man. If they spot him, they will call in his location. They know better than to try and take him.”
Stone nodded. “More eyes looking is better.” He paused then asked, “Did he hurt her?”
Cassie shook her head. “He scared her that’s all. He didn’t really hurt her. Jerah was smart and did nothing to piss him off.”
“Did she say what happened?” Deke asked.
Cassie shrugged. “All she would say was he brought her to a warehouse tied her up and left her in a locked room. She was waiting for him to come back but he never did. He did tell her to wait for him that he would be back for her.” Shrugging she added, “My guys got there first.”
Dewey and the others glanced toward Cassie, then Dewey turned back to Stone. “Pappy, what the fuck is going on here?”
Stone exhaled deeply. “We need you guys here to help us track down a killer. Ten years ago, he was a member of the Hell’s Fire Riders. We knew him for three years before he disappeared.” He stared at Dewey for a moment then added, “He’s after my woman and I’ll be damned if he’s going to get to her.”
“Your woman?” Dewey looked shocked.
“My woman.” Stone growled. “He’s been playing fuckin mind games with her for four years now. He thinks he’s got her where he wants her, but he doesn’t know we’re here. We have to stop him before he can get to her.”
“Who is this guy?” Dewey asked.
“His given name is Jon Ronin, his Rider’s handle was Hades Ghost.”
One of the men dropped his duffle on the floor with a loud bang. “Hades? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Stone turned toward the man and shook his head. “I only wish I was, Recon. He’s back and he’s as sick as he ever was.”
“Damn, Pappy.” Recon dropped down into a chair. “When he disappeared in Iraq, we all were hoping the desert would claim him.”
“Well, it didn’t.” Stone snarled. “He got back home somehow and has been perfecting his craft. He’s murdered at least ten women in the last four years. God only knows how many before the police caught up with his doings.”
“And how did the police catch up with him?” Dewey asked.
“Six women stumbled across his latest murder scene four years ago.” Stone said. “One of them was my woman. She’s been running and hiding since then. Now he’s found her for the fourth time and this time he plans to end the game.”
“Is this the game he told us about in the sand box, boss?” Recon asked.
Stone nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
“Well fuck.” Recon growled.
Dewey looked between the two men. “Will one of you guys explain to the rest of us what this game is all about?”
“Like all of us, Hades is looking for the perfect woman,” Stone explained. “From the way he spoke to McKenna this morning he thinks he found her.”
“Thinks he found her?” Dewey repeated Stone’s statement.
Stone nodded. “Yeah, he thought he found a deep connection in McKenna, now he knows no connection exists, so he plans to kill her.”
Recon scoffed. “I’m surprised he hasn’t killed her already.”
“Well, he definitely wants her dead now,” Deke told the group of men.
“That ain’t gonna happen.” Stone growled.
“Exactly what does Hades consider ‘the perfect woman’?” Dewey had to ask.
‘I asked him that once,” Recon replied to this. “At first, he wouldn’t say anything. Like he had to think about it, then what he said made me shiver. He said she would have a body that didn’t quit, a mind that was sharp, and an attitude that would challenge him on every level. Oh, and she had to have deep blue eyes he could lose himself in.”
Stone paused then demanded, “Are you sure he said blue eyes?”
Recon nodded.
“McKenna’s eyes aren’t blue, they’re green.”
They all stood for a long minute, looking around at all the tables full of files, laptops and men.
“Where do you want me Pappy?” Recon asked.
“I want you to work with Deke’s man Zipper and see if you can try and locate Hades. He has to be living somewhere in this city. Check the city cams and traffic cams.”
Recon shook his head. “How the hell are we supposed to do that? Do you have any idea how big this city is?”
“I know but we have to try.” Stone nodded. “I just wish we had more info on this guy.”
Recon smiled. “Oh Pappy, ye of little faith. Remember than tape recorder I always used to carry around with me?”
Stone stared at the other man for a moment. “Yeah, what about it?”
“I recorded everything over there. You guys didn’t know it but I was going to write a book about what it took to be a soldier during wartime. It was something I wanted to do back then. I got more of Hades than I ever thought I would use, but every night I’d transcribe it from the tape to a computer.” He held up a flash drive. “Maybe there is something in here that can help us run this fucker down.”
Stone grinned. The man earned his name, Recon every day back then and now too. He felt a little relief and hope. “Go for it.”
“And the rest of us?” Dewey asked. “What do you want us to do?”
“We need to come up with a plan of attack. Find a weakness, something, anything we can use against him to bring him to us.” He turned to the back wall. “We have the police files from his latest murders. Look through them. Familiarize yourselves with the way he kills. We’re down to eight hours before he comes after her. He may not know it yet, but he’s lost his hostage so the timeline may move up.” He paused then added, “We also have to lock down this place. I want you guys in the woods watching the perimeter, in case he does find us, I don’t want him inside the fence.”
“But your guys know this asshole right?” Dewey asked. “Can’t they find him?”
Stone shook his head. “I want a new perspective on him. You guys are military trained, so is he. You guys have planned attacks, so has he. You guys have been in the thick of battle…”
“So has he,” Dewey repeated. “Yeah, yeah we get it.” Glancing at the men he brought with him, he gave the orders. “Okay guys, you heard the man, let’s dig up as much as we can on this guy.”
Stone led Dewey over to the table where everyone else was sitting. He motioned at the group. “Everyone, this is my VP Dewey Mann. Dewey, this is Deke, Sam, Cassie, Mountain, and Gator.”
Dewey nodded at them. “And the woman? Where is she?”
Stone went over to the corner where McKenna sat.
She’d wandered over here a while ago and just sat with her back to the wall, not saying anything to anyone. Her eyes looked so lost. He hated to see that look in them but at the moment, there was nothing he could do about it. Helping her up to her feet, he brought her over to meet Dewey. “Babe, this is Dewey Mann.” His arm went around her waist and she had a grip on his hand that told anyone who cared to look that she wasn’t letting him go anytime soon. “He’s gonna help us run down Hades.” He looked toward Dewey. “Dewey, this is my woman, McKenna Sawyer.”
McKenna looked from one to the other. “Can you find him? Can you stop him? I really don’t want to die.”
Stone drew her into his arms and held her close. He looked over her head and glanced at Dewey. He could see the other man’s shock then he noticed something else in his eyes. He saw determination.
“We’ll keep you safe ma’am.”
McKenna shivered and leaned into Stone. His arms tightened around her for a moment then he turned her and led her away. After settling her at a table with a cup of coffee, he joined Dewey again.
“Tell me more about this game he’s playing with her,” Dewey urged. “There has to be more than a body, a mind and an attitude. What else is he looking for?”
“There is,” Stone admitted. “I was there the night Recon was talking about. A bunch of us were. We’d just been through hell the last few days and this was our way of relieving stress. Anyway, the guys were talking about finding the perfect woman. We all spouted off about what we were looking for when Recon asked Hades. I saw the look in his eyes same as everyone else. For some reason, his eyes changed. He went to a place in his soul that was very dark. And when he told us about his dream woman, I could tell he was holding back something.”
“Something important maybe?” Dewey asked.
“Something majorly important. I think it’s the something that has kept McKenna alive this long. I just wish I knew what that something was.”
“I’m going to go catch up on the files. I need to know what this fucker is doing.” Dewey walked away.
Stone just stood there for a moment and let himself calm down. He didn’t realize just how tightly he’d been wound until now. He felt glad to have the extra men here. He knew that despite the fact they were Army brats, they knew how to work together as a team.
“Well, I’ll be a god damn son of a bitch!” Recon called out.
Everyone turned toward the corner of the room.
“What is it?” Stone demanded.
Recon looked up. “I found the fucker.”
Dewey, Stone, Deke, Calico, Mountain, Sam and Gator rushed toward the corner where Zipper and Recon sat. On the screen of Recon’s laptop were several smaller frames. Each frame showed a different street angle in a different part of town. The one frame everyone stared at showed the man in question.
Stone gritted his teeth as he stared at the picture frame on the monitor. Hades had changed in the last ten years. When he knew him, his hair had been dark brown and cut to regulation. Now it was bleach blonde and hanging down to his collar. His face covered by facial hair hiding his lower face but it didn’t hide the coldness of his dark brown eyes. They still looked cold and void of any human emotion.
They all watched as he crossed the street and opened the door to another warehouse. Just as he was about to disappear inside Hades slowly turned and gazed straight at the camera mounted to the street sign across the street from the warehouse. For a brief moment, Hades stared at the camera as he slowly raised his hand in front of his face then he lifted his middle finger and flipped the camera the bird. Without saying a word, he turned and a second later the door slammed shut.
“What a fuckin cocky bastard,” Dewey murmured.
“He knows he’s being watched, Pappy,” Recon announced.
“Yeah, but I don’t think he knows yet, who is watching him,” Stone explained. “I also don’t think he knows where McKenna is.” He glanced around at the men standing there. “Does anyone know where that warehouse is?”
Everyone shook his head. “Not off hand,” Deke mumbled.
“Amos or Frankie would know,” Cassie announced. “Those guys know every inch of this city.”
Deke glanced over at her. “Call Amos and get him out here. We’re going need his input on this.”
Cassie nodded and placed the call.
“Who are Amos and Frankie?” Dewey asked looking totally lost.
“Retired vets,” Deke replied. “But she’s right, they could probably tell you exactly where that place is. They found a missing kid in just a few hours.”
“How the hell did they do that?” Dewey looked even more perplexed.
Deke chuckled. “If you don’t ask, they won’t lie right to your face. These guys can do anything they set their minds to.” He sobered then explained, “Cassie called them in earlier this morning. Most of these guys know Trixie. She’s a bartender down at Drugen’s. They also know this town like nobody’s business. Your man Hades doesn’t. They probably knew where to start looking for the girl by the time they heard she was taken. Finding her was like child’s play to these guys.”
“Can they get eyes on your man without him knowing it?” Dewey asked.
“If anyone can these guys can.” Deke nodded.” They blend in, like nobody I’ve ever known.”
Dewey looked over at Stone. “If they can, that’s half our work.”
Stone nodded at Deke. “I want some of my men surrounding this place as extra lookouts. They won’t interfere with your men or what you do here. They’ll just be extra sets of eyes keeping everyone safe. Is that going to be a problem?”
Deke stared at the men for a moment then gave a nod of his head. “Our families live behind these walls. We need to keep them safe. I don’t have a problem with extra eyes watching over them. And before you ask, I already begged Cassie and the other women to go to a safe house but they all refused to go. They said they weren’t going to run every time someone threatened them. This is their home too and they have a right to protect it.”
“Can they do that?” Stone wanted to know.
“They can and will. If he gets in, they will do what they have to do to protect their kids and themselves. They all have been weapons trained. No one messes with our women.”
Stone nodded then looked over at Dewey. “Did you bring a perimeter set up?”
“Yes sir. I brought two, as I didn’t know what we were getting into. I’ll have my men set it up.”
Stone looked around for somewhere to set up the extra monitors they would be using. “I want to set up the security monitors somewhere out of the way.”
Deke motioned toward the bar. “Have at it. I don’t think anyone will want a drink until this is over anyway.”
Stone glanced at the clock on the wall. “We’re down to seven hours. In eight, either Hades will be dead or McKenna will be. I’d rather it was Hades.”
“You and me both.” Deke sighed.
Stone told his men where to set up then went over to where McKenna was sitting. “How are you doing?” he asked her softly.
“I’m doing okay, I guess.” Studying him, she asked, “Is this ever going to be over?”
“We won’t stop until it is.” He shifted in his chair. “You told us last night that you would have to disappear again. You also said you would have to change your appearance again, what did you mean by that? What did you look like four years ago?”
“I remember we were going to a concert that night, so everyone was dressed up accordingly. I was wearing a short blonde wig and a miniskirt.”
“What about the color of your eyes? Did you change that?”
McKenna shook her head. “I’ve never like having anything that close to my eyes, so I never wore contacts or anything.” Shrugging she told him, “I’ve never needed glasses anyway, so my eyes have always been greenish blue.”
Stone frowned and looked deeply into her eyes. “They look green to me.”
McKenna shrugged. “When I’m under stress they can change to a blueish color. There is a medical name for it but I can never remember it. It’s not a true blue color but a blueish green.”
“Why haven’t they changed now? This sort of situation is very stressful.”
“I know but there’s something about having you guys around that lessens the stress. I guess not being alone is worth something.” She bit her bottom lip. “Before last night, I had to face him alone and now, I’m not alone anymore. I have you and your men to thank for that.” Looking away for a moment. She turned and stared at him. “How long do you think it will be before he finds out where I am?”
“Long enough to get my men in place. Then we’ll call him and lure him to us.”
McKenna shoved her chair back and gasped. “You’re going to invite him to come to you? Are you crazy? He’ll kill the whole lot of you!”
Stone stood slowly. His eyes never left hers. “He will not kill anyone. He’ll never even get close to you or anyone else here. My men are going to take this mother fucker out.”
“How can you be so sure?” she cried. “I don’t want to die.”
Stone grabbed her by the shoulders and gave them a shake. “Then don’t,” he growled. “Don’t give Hades the opportunity to get to you. You can’t give him that much power over you. If you do, he’ll win. You aren’t facing him alone anymore. I have your back. My men have your back and they have never let me down yet.”
Twenty minutes later, the front door opened and several men came inside. Cassie went over to them and spoke to them quietly. The men looked around and saw the sheer number of people involved.
Deke joined them and asked, “How’s it going guys?”
“Just wondering what’s going on here?” Amos commented.
“These guys are looking for the man that took the little girl this morning.”
“From what I understand, this guy is nothing but trouble,” Frankie stated. “What’s his story?”
“The man is a serial killer.” Deke glared angrily. “He’s been targeting McKenna Sawyer for the last four years. This is his fourth time of finding her and this time, he isn’t going to let her run again.”
“How many people has he murdered?” Joey asked. He was the youngest of the group standing there.
Deke shrugged. “As many as ten but that number is probably on the low end. The ten are the ones we found. Or the police have managed to find. They’re still looking for other victims.”
“So what do you need us for?” Amos asked. “After Cassie called us and told us what happened this morning we spread out where we thought was the best place to look for the girl. When we found her, we took Jerah Dawn back to her mother. We took them both to a safe house we know of and have men watching them both until this menace is gone.”
Stone joined them. “And we want to thank you that. My name is Stone Masterson and I understand you men know this city.”
Amos stared at him for a long moment then nodded. “Yeah, we do, why?”
“We found Hades on a city camera and we need to know which part of town he’s in.” Stone pointed out. “We also need to keep eyes on him, so we can figure out what his next move is going to be. We know he’s looking for McKenna and we know that he wants to see her dead. Can you help us out? I don’t want to put you or your men in danger, so I’ll understand if you want nothing to do with this. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve done your job already.”
Amos huffed. “We didn’t do much of anything yet, but find a little girl. And we ain’t afraid of this Hades guy neither. We can hold our own.” He motioned toward the monitors. “Show us what you got, we’ll find this little prick for ya.”
In mass, they all moved toward the corner and carefully studied the shot frozen in time of Hades. Then one of the men, a younger one patted Amos’s sleeve. “I know that guy.”
Stone turned and observed the man. “How do you know him, kid?”
Joey straightened and stared at the monitor. “I know where he hangs out. I’ve seen him.”
Stone felt a lurch in his belly. ‘Where is that kid?”
The man turned and glared at him. “My name is Joey, not kid.”
“Where is this little prick…Joey?” Stone acknowledged his name and looked at him with respect.
Joey grinned. “He stays in the warehouse district. On Front Street.” He shrugged. “He’s not respectful to the people who live down there. Walks around the place like he owns it or something. They have been muttering about it for days now. “
“Are you sure? I’m not doubting you, but I have to know for absolute sure this is the man your people saw.”
Amos nodded. “He’s sure. Asshole like that and everybody keeps an eye on him. He may dress down the part but it’s him.” He nodded at the still photo of Hades. “We’ve been watching him since he got to town a few days ago. Man like that sort of stands out, even with us. We knew he was dangerous, so we haven’t crossed him yet but now, his day is coming.”
Stone shook his head. “You have to tell your people to stand down. Hades will kill them and step over their bodies like they are nothing. Because to him, that’s what they are nothing.”
Amos tightened his lips. He glared at Stone but didn’t say a word.
Stone raised his hands in surrender. “I know this prick. He was a psychopath from the cradle and since he’s grown up, he doesn’t care whose blood he spills. He’s a person’s worst nightmare and he’s the one we have to stop. I’d just as soon no more innocents die by his hand before we can make that happen.”
Amos crossed his huge arms over his chest. “So what do you want from us?”
“We need to keep an eye on his movements until we can get ready to lure him here,” Stone explained. He turned and pointed to McKenna. “He’s coming after her and when we’re ready, we’ll tell him where she is.”
“You’re using a woman as bait?” Frankie glared at him.
Stone turned to glare at the other man. “Fuck no,” he growled. “She’s ain’t bait. He is already hunting her and we want to control that. She won’t be anywhere where he can get his fucking hands on her.”
“You planning on bringing him here?” Amos asked.
Stone shrugged.
“There’s women and children here.” Amos snarled.
“I know that,” Stone spoke low. Motioning to his men he said, “I’m got the best team in the world with me. I trust them to keep everyone who lives here safe. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Then you would have no objection if we do the same?” Amos asked with steel in his voice.
Stone gazed into his eyes and without blinking, he said, “My men will form a perimeter outside the fence. Your men can be stationed inside the fence as a secondary line of defense. Between the two of us, we should be able to bring this fucker down.”
Frankie smirked. “Glad you’re thinking with the head God put on your shoulders and not the other one.”
Stone turned his head to glare at him.
Frankie shrugged. “Some men can’t help the he man attitude when they want to protect their women.”
Stone didn’t say anything but the heat of anger rolled off him. Instead, he walked over to the monitors of the bar to check on the progress of set up they were in. Amos joined him and they both stood there watching without saying a word. Finally, Stone commented without looking at the other man, “Can your people check on Hades? Find out where he is and what the fuck he’s doing?”
Amos nodded then reached for his cell phone. Moving away from Stone he spoke in low tones to someone on the other end for a moment, then hung up. When he walked back he asked, “How long before he comes looking for your girl?”
Stone checked his watch. “About four hours.”
Amos nodded. “Then we need to get more people here.” He smirked a bit. “As our secondary defense, so to speak”
“Not too many,” Stone warned. “If Hades sees a bunch of guys wandering around where they shouldn’t be, he’s going to know it’s a trap.”
Amos glared at him for a moment. “I ain’t a stupid man. Me and my boys know what the fuck we’re doing, same as you.” He started to walk away then turned back and asked, “What kind of weapons you got with you?”
Stone frowned. “What difference does that make?”
Amos shrugged. “Guns are noisy, that’ll scare the women and kids.”
Dewey joined him and they both asked, “What do you have in mind?”
“Can your men shoot a bow?”