Chapter 17
The Exchange
Within an hour they were stood inside the abandoned warehouse they had agreed upon for a meeting place. Showing up without the girl was a risk, but then again Hammer doubted Miguel was going to bring Jaden. Hammer ran through the plan in his head. The club had agreed to give up territory and he’d brought a quarter of a million dollars with him as a peace offering as well as his Sergeant at Arms and new patch.
Miguel had always been one to respect the green and no club president would consider passing up territory over a dispute about kids. Though his VP was probably prepared to do just that, Hammer suspected Miguel might bend just the bit they needed to make a deal.
Looking over at Alia he could tell she was extremely nervous. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her to him. “Pretend like you cuddling me and let me know if they say anything interesting.”
Tilting her head up, she nuzzled the side of his face. When the Grims arrived, they were murmuring.
“Someone commented that the girl’s not here and another person said it didn’t matter because the gringos are going to all be dead soon. Someone commented on my tits.”
“Hammer, nice to see you with a new bitch. We don’t usually bring them to meets. What’s up?”
Ignoring the inquiry, Hammer got right to the point. “We tried to find the girl. Seems my son bought her a bus ticket to California a couple of weeks back.”
“We checked all the bus stations.”
“Probably before they got her ticket. They had her at their tree house for a couple of weeks to let the blowback die down. You know how kids are. They think they’re goddamned grownups these days. Have another look. She’s just a kid. She can’t be that hard fuckin’ to track down. I got a better deal for you today.”
Miguel rubbed his chin. “Hey man, I’m always up for a better deal. Especially if you throw that pretty little bitch in on the trade.”
“Might could see fit to toss her your way in a few months when I’ve had my fill. God knows, I don’t keep them around for long. I only care about my dumb ass son. Today I brought you a quarter of million dollars and am prepared to disavow all claim to the territory south of I9. I’ll throw in your Sergeant and new patch to sweeten the deal.”
“I’m impressed, gringo. That’s a lot of territory to trade for one foolish little boy.”
“I agree. Unfortunately, he’s the only family I got. You give me proof that he’s alive and unharmed and I give you the cash and your men. I’ll follow you back to your clubhouse alone and pick up my son.”
Miguel tossed him a tablet with a flash drive sticking out the side. Hammer saw that he’d loaded up a video. Pressing play he saw his son sitting in a dimly lit room. The young kid appeared roughed up a bit but otherwise fine. He spoke, sounding self-assured, though his eyes held an element of fear. “Don’t waste your time looking for the girl. I made sure she’s free and clear of this whole mess. None of us even know where she is right now. I made sure we’d have nothing to tell, in case they tried to beat it out of us. Sorry, sir. I screwed up by getting myself caught.”
Hammer’s hand shook slightly. Alina took the tablet from him.
“Can I watch it again?”
Miguel nodded, turning his attention back to Hammer.
A few swipes of her fingers and Alina transferred everything from the tablet’s hard drive to the flash drive. Covering the screen with her hand she moaned. “Poor kid, he’s just a baby.”
Reaching it back to Miguel, she gently tugged the flash drive out at the last minute just before his hand touched it. If he noticed, he gave no indication. The man’s eyes were pinned squarely on Hammer. He made no effort to conceal the fact that he was clearly enjoying the big biker’s grief. The hatred was evident as he scrutinized the man she loved.
“I want my son. Don’t hurt him.” Hammer’s voice sounded desperate.
“I’d never hurt Jaden.” Calm, cool and collected was the voice that answered him.
Hammer escalated quickly to anger. “You’d hurt him just to get to me.”
“He’s all I have left of her. You really think I would destroy that?”
Hammer snarled. “She chose me. ME.”
“But my little preciosa lived to regret that decision, did she not?”
Hammer glowered at him indignantly.
“You failed to keep her safe. If not for that, my anger would have faded long ago.”
“You’ve got some nerve, Miguel.” Hammer was fuming as Alina tried to make sense of their cryptic conversation. Were they both interested in the same woman at one time? That’s what it sounded like. If so, Jaden’s mother had certainly made the correct choice in staying with Hammer. Miguel seemed like a real nut job.
“He needs someone to teach him to be a real man. Someone to teach him honor.”
“Like you and your VP. Did Jaden tell you about the day they found the girl?”
Miguel stared at him.
“Your VP murdered his whole family. She ran screaming from the house and Jaden just took off with her blood soaked body. I thought la familia was everything to you guys.”
“I was led to believe his family is in Mexico, visiting with relatives.”
“Well you now know better, don’t you? I will never stop coming after you to get my son back. He will never be yours.”
Turning to Alina, Miguel asked. “Would you like to seek the protection of my club?”
Shaking her head, she didn’t know quite how to respond to his out of the blue and rather bizarre request.
“So be it, señorita. Please know this is nothing personal.”
“I am sorry, Hammer. But you must know by now that I never bargain for what I can have free for the taking. Unlike you, I am a businessman before all else.”
Before Hammer could respond he turned to his men and ordered. “Kill them all. Take the money and then clear out the rest of the vermin from that shithole they call a clubhouse.”
Hammer hurled Alina behind him as gunshots erupt all over the room. She knew everyone was worried about them storming the clubhouse and finding the kids there.
Alina quickly shoved the flash drive into the jean pocket and pulled out the revolver. Unsure quite what to do with it, she examined the side for the safety latch. Carefully moving it, she began looking around for something to shoot. Only then did she realize that Hammer had her wedged into a corner, protecting her with his own body.
Before she could consider her next move, strong hands were grabbing her. As she was pulled away, Hammer stayed in front of her, shielding her. His shooting only slowed for a few seconds here and there to drop a clip and reload. The acrid smell of gunpowder soured in her nostrils with so many guns all going off in the same enclosed area.
Someone threw her into the back of SUV and Hammer climbed into the vehicle behind her. She pressed her nose to the glass and could see men from several high vantage points, shooting down the Grims as they pursued them. Hammer had snipers in place to cover them. Decker jumped in and tossed the duffle bag of money onto the floorboard. “Hit it.”
The engine was already running, and the car jolted into motion at his rough words.
“Shouldn’t we be shooting?” Alina felt like she should be doing something.
“You leave the windows up. They are made of ballistic glass. As long as they stay up, we’re safe.”
Hammer queried. “Any causalities?”
“Couple of our guys caught a bullet but none are dead quite yet. We do win the quick draw championship for today though.”
Hammer murmured. “Miguel is a real piece of shit.”
“Roger that. And the two fuckers who went after Jaden got away. We did nail a few of their guys but no officers.”
The person in the front passenger seat spoke. “The team at the Grims’ clubhouse came up empty handed. There was only a handful of guys there but no Jaden.”
Hammer’s fist pounded the floorboard with one hard punch. “Fucking hell. I need my son.”
Though she thought him inconsolable, Alina touched him gently on the shoulder and he turned, pulling her to him. “Thanks for the warning that all the gringos were going to die. Decker developed a plan for if something like that happened. We stood two men deep and the ones out of the Grims’ line of sight, drew their weapons. They stepped out the moment things went bad and it gave us the edge we needed.”
“Wish we had gotten Jaden.”
“At least we got to see him. He looked good, all things considered. I could tell he was scared outta his mind. Miguel will pay for that before this is all over.”
“Miguel was saying some crazy…”
Hammer stiffened in her arms. “I don’t want to talk about that crazy bastard right now.”
“It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to. Just let me hold you.”
Sighing deeply, Hammer held her close. He didn’t speak all the way to the clubhouse, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.
Pulling up at the clubhouse empty handed was what could only be described as a character building experience. The three boys along with Duncan were all standing outside with hopeful expressions on their faces. Alina watched with an aching heart as Hammer stepped out of the vehicle and straightened his spine before walking over to speak with them. They looked disappointed, all save Non. He literally seemed to fold in on himself as he crumpled to the ground. Duncan picked him up gently and carried him to their room, kicking the door shut behind them. There was some screaming and crashing around inside the room. Duncan came out about an hour later and sat at the bar. Everyone was quiet and Mal slid a cold beer in front of him.
“Is he okay?”
“He can’t go on this way. Hawk was his rock. They had a routine. Hawk e-mailed him every morning with his itinerary for the day. It was just a lot of ridiculous kids’ stuff but Non took it seriously. It gave him purpose. Non checked off the items on the list throughout the day and they texted every night. I know it sounds stupid but he’s lost without his routine.”
Hammer sat down next to Copperhead. “You know what we need.”
“Twinkie.” The boy positively glowered.
“Not to trade her. I wouldn’t do that.”
“You think she might know where they stashed Hawk?”
“Might be that if we get to talking to her, she’ll know all kinds of stuff that might be useful against our enemy. Our men got shot at today, some took bullets to get Jaden back. We all have to do what we can to get him back alive, even Twinkie.”
“I’ll bring her. No one but you and Marlow speaks to her. She stays with me or Non. She won’t sleep without us.”
“Look. You go get her and bring her here. Whatever you think is best to keep her safe is what we’ll do. You call the shots on this one, okay?”
“I’ll try to get her to come here.”
“That’s all I ask.”