Jasper

I hadn’t heard a peep from Angel since he’d left the dead animal and the note to call him on my front porch, so when his name appeared on my cell phone, I was more than a little surprised. Angel was known for being all bark, no bite. He would talk a big game, make threats, and then quietly fade into the background and avoid any sort of actual confrontation.

I considered ignoring the call – Marin was expecting me over at her place any minute, and I still had some things left to do at the restaurant – but I decided to take it and finally put the situation with Angel to bed.

It took me a second to realize it was a video chat. Angel’s face filled the screen.

“Listen,” I said, deciding to lead the conversation, “your guy was stealing from me, and we dealt with it. You would have done the same thing.”

Angel nodded. “You’re right. I would have. In fact, I did.’

I hesitated. What did that mean? I didn’t want to ask and look weak, so I said nothing.

Angel smiled devilishly and pointed his camera towards the corner of a dark room. Just visible in the dim light was a woman, gagged and bound, her breasts exposed and heaving as she sobbed. I stared at the vile image for a few seconds before I realized I was looking at Marin. I felt like I would be sick. Not only had Angel retaliated, but he’d retaliated in a serious way. No matter how this ended, it would mean war.

“You were wise to place a guard at her apartment,” Angel said from behind the camera, walking over to Marin, his shoes slapping on the concrete floor. “Unfortunately, he was easy to surprise and overpower.”

“What did you do to him?” I asked, my voice even, though my heart was thundering in my chest.

“Killed him the way he killed my man.”

I closed my eyes for a second. Bear may not have been the brightest of the Hellions, but he was a good man, and I would miss him.

Angel had reached Marin, and up close, I saw tear tracks running down her face. Her eyes were wide and pleading. Her mouth had been stuffed with a knotted towel. Angel’s hand came into view, and he stroked one of her breasts. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Don’t touch her,” I growled out.

“You should feel lucky this is the worst I’ve done to her... so far.” Angel laughed and flicked her nipple. “You have an hour to turn over everything in your bank account, or your girl will be passed around like the dirtiest club girl and then disposed of like the trash she is.”

Angel pointed the camera at the floor, and then seemed to think better of it. His face came back into view, filling up the screen. “Oh, and I know all about the baby. If you think that will stop me from killing her, you’re sadly mistaken. You have fifty-nine minutes.”

I practically flew to the Hellion headquarters, my tires screeching with every turn. I parked my bike outside the abandoned building and ran inside. I’d send out a mass text before leaving Jasper’s Grill, and it seemed as if most everyone had arrived.

“The Jagged Jackals struck back in a serious way,” I said, my voice pulling everyone from the edges of the room to the center. “We have to storm their headquarters and kill anyone we find.”

The MC had been waiting for an excuse to fight the Jackals, but I’d been holding them back, trying to avoid an all-out war. But now, there was no reason not to attack them with everything we had. Angel had crossed a line, and I was going to kill him.

Everyone cheered, but then one man stepped forward. “Angel isn’t at the Jagged Jackals headquarters.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, the room quieting.

“You asked me to keep an eye on the activity at their headquarters a few months ago,” he said. Now that he said it, I remembered assigning someone the task, though I hadn’t thought it important until this moment. “And I haven’t seen any activity there all day,” he finished. “I know Marin isn’t there.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. My mind was spinning, trying to think of where Marin could be. I glanced at my watch. Forty-five minutes.

I pointed to the man who had just spoken and a few others next to him. “All of you go to the Jackals’ headquarters and confirm. Everyone else, send out feelers and see if we can find out where they are.”

Forty-four minutes.

I shoved my hand into my pocket and tried to stop watching the seconds tick away. Marin was in danger, and I had no idea where she was. The issue wasn’t the money; I would have gladly turned over every dime to ensure Marin was safe. The problem was that I didn’t believe for even a second that any amount of money would save Marin.

Angel would take the money and run, leaving me to deal with the aftermath of Marin’s body. I paced around the room, calling every other MC leader I could, trying to find out if anyone knew where Marin was, but with no luck. I glanced at my watch again. Thirty-nine minutes. Time was running out.

As the minutes ticked away, I grew desperate. The men I’d sent to the Jackals’ headquarters had confirmed Marin and Angel weren’t there, and none of my usual leads had turned up any new information. While I was pacing the room, and trying to think of anyone who might know anything, my phone vibrated.

I opened it as fast as possible, thinking it could be a message from Angel. It wasn’t. Just an alert that another article had been posted about me online. I had set up a system so I would be notified anytime my name was mentioned online. It was a good way to keep on top of public opinion and help me work on my reputation.

I swiped the notification off my screen, annoyed at the few seconds it had cost me and went back to pacing. But then, an idea struck.

I opened the message and clicked through to the gossip website that had mentioned me. It was an article about my relationship with Marin. The journalist’s name was at the bottom of the page, her email written beneath it. I drafted a hasty email to her and sent it, hoping she would respond quickly, or at all, and sat down to wait.

Within two minutes, another notification popped up on my screen:

UPDATE: Jasper Black Searching for Marin Wagner – See Photo and Respond with Information

The woman had simply copied and pasted my email above her own article. It asked for any leads as to the location of Marin or her kidnapper. The only photo I had of Marin in my phone was posted prominently in the right-hand margin. I refreshed the page, and the woman had found several more from other articles that had been written about us in the past weeks and attached those, as well.

My phone went off again, this time it was a message from Angel. I opened it, both anxious and afraid of what I would find there. It was a photo of a box of pills, the prescription name written prominently on the front of the box. I didn’t recognize the name, but even as I searched it online, I knew it wouldn’t be good.

When “abortion pills” popped up on my screen, I nearly collapsed. What kind of monster was Angel? For years, I’d viewed him as little more than a pest, but now I was seeing the truth. The man was psychotic. Sure, I’d killed a man, but he had been a cheat and a liar and a thief. Marin had done nothing wrong. The only mistake she had made was getting involved with me, and I’d forced her into that. How could Angel live with himself?

Even I was having second thoughts about the drug dealer I’d ordered to be killed. For a long time, I’d viewed right and wrong as too simplistic. No one was entirely good or bad; therefore, their actions could not be entirely good or bad. Everything was a shade of gray. But then Marin happened. She was entirely good, through and through, and she made me realize that I wanted to try and be good, too. Of course, that would have to wait until after I’d killed Angel. One more bad thing, and then a lifetime of good.

Tips started pouring in via email and text, and as comments posted underneath the article. Many of them were Internet trolls who cared nothing about Marin.

Girl has a nice body. I’d kidnap her too.

She is not pretty enough to be with him. Jasper, if you’re reading this, call me.

She is probably dead by now – move on.

I saw her... IN MY BED LAST NIGHT.

It was amazing how many people were willing to spend their time sending incredibly unhelpful messages when a woman was in immediate danger, but I did my best to ignore them. Responding to the trolls would not help find Marin, and another chunk of the comments were people doing that for me – telling the mean commenters to get a life.

I waded through the sludge, scrolling until I thought my finger would fall off, before finally seeing something useful:

I was picking my kid up from daycare on the east side of town, and I saw a black SUV, being followed by a line of motorcycles, pull into an old mattress shop just off the interstate. It might have been nothing, but you never know.

Angel had always been a bit too conspicuous for his own good. He was afraid of being caught alone – as he should have been – so he had a protective detail of MC members following him at all times. It had to be him. And for Marin’s sake, I hoped it was. It would take just about thirty minutes to get there, so if we were wrong, it would be too late.

“We’ve got a location,” I shouted, circling my arm above my head to tell everyone to round up. “Time to ride.”