Chapter ten
Bianca
They arrived at her apartment complex in the club’s truck. She wanted to argue that she could keep her apartment - it was hers and she was attached to it. Yet she knew she’d never sleep peacefully there again, the night of her kidnapping had forever tainted the space. It was part of her old life and she wanted a fresh start with her guys far more than a place of her own.
Bones held her hand as they walked up the stairs to her place. As they approached her door she realised that she didn’t have her keys.
“How are we getting in?”
Digger turned around and smirked at her as he pulled a small leather case from his jean pocket.
“I learned plenty of things in my delinquent youth.”
He kneeled down and started to pick her lock. The door clicked open and Bones held her in place as King and Digger went inside. A couple of minutes later they came back to the door. They both looked pissed and only nodded as they opened the door wide enough for them to enter.
She should have expected what she saw, still it hadn’t occurred to her that her place would be destroyed. She could see her mattress shredded and sticking out of her bedroom doorway, her couch was torn apart and the stuffing thrown everywhere. Her fridge had been left open and rotting food decorated the kitchen floor and counters. The smell was nauseating and flies now inhabited her apartment. She could distinctly smell urine and shit too. She didn’t want to know where it was coming from. Tears sprung to her eyes. There really was nothing left of her old life. Her grip on Bones’ hand tightened.
Digger bent to look her in the eye, blocking her view of her apartment, “Don’t focus on any of this. Me and King are going to box up everything that isn’t damaged and we’ll sort through it away from here. You go in the bedroom and pack up any clothes that you can salvage.”
Bones moved the mattress and led her into her bedroom. Her tears fell as she saw photo albums and books torn to pieces and picture frames smashed and the photos ripped. All her drawers had been emptied and the contents spilled on the floor. She bent to collect her bras and a sob broke free. She reminded herself that this was just stuff and could all be replaced, yet she still felt heartbroken.
Bones pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight and she let her tears fall as she clung to his large chest. When she caught her breath and her tears finally dried, Bones framed her face and she saw compassion and sympathy in his azure eyes. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and stroked her hair. She reminded herself that although she’d lost a lot, she’d gained a lot too.
She could hear Digger and King packing her stuff up and leaving to put it in the truck. She needed to get a move on. She tried to smile at Bones and pull herself together. She sighed and got back to picking up her clothes. Luckily, most of it hadn’t been damaged, just thrown about and she ended up with two bin bags full. Bones too them to the truck.
She took one last look around her place and left to give the guys a hand loading the truck. She stepped outside and heard a distinctive pop. Her side burned, her legs went out from under her and she fell to the ground. Bones, Digger and King were running towards her and pulling their guns, yet everything seemed to be in slow motion. Digger threw himself on top of her while Bones and King fired their guns at someone she couldn’t see.
The firing stopped and Bones and King sprinted away. Digger tore his tee off and pressed it against her side. She flinched away from the burning pain and tried to move away as she felt her side was sticky with blood.
“Put your arms around my neck, we need to get out of here,” Digger ordered.
Bianca did as he said. She wouldn’t dare argue with him right then. He looked murderous. He bundled her up and placed her on the floor of the truck and then turned, slamming the sliding door shut before climbing in the driver’s seat.
“Stay down and away from the windows,” Digger instructed.
A second later the truck took off. She braced herself against the side of a seat. She peered around her and couldn’t see Bones or King – they hadn’t made it to the truck. Panic started stealing her breath as a vice closed around her heart. Where were they? She could feel herself hyperventilating and black dots started to obstruct her vision. Digger was shouting something but she couldn’t make it out. Her body felt heavy and she let the darkness take her.
Bones
Digger flew past them in the truck as he and King raced on foot to where the shots were coming from. He couldn’t believe Bianca had been hurt again. Fury like he’d never known pulsed like liquid fire through his veins and limitless energy flooded his system. He saw a slumped figure in dark clothes with a rifle laying loose on the floor next to it. Getting closer he realised it was middle-aged guy and he didn’t recognise him from Riot’s ranks.
He dove on top of him before he could recover from whatever injuries he had. When he groaned under his weight, Bones started to pummel his body and face until he felt his knuckles split.
King dragged him off. “Stop, Bones! Fuck, this fucker’s not dead yet and we need him to be able to talk.”
He nodded, knowing King was right but he didn’t release his hold on the guy. They stayed low and looked around to see if there was anyone else with this guy. He noticed bottles of water and takeout bags littering the ground around them. Clearly, this guy had been hired to watch Bianca’s place and take her out if he could.
His phone rang and King fished it out of his back pocket. Bones couldn’t talk right then. His mouth felt dry and he wasn’t moving his hands. He could hear King talking to someone but his focus was shot. His mind whirled and he was trying to puzzle together everything they knew, but there wasn’t much and what they did have didn’t yield any useful intel. Hollywood pulled up in his truck and Bones forced his body off this soon-to-be-dead bastard.
“Let’s move this bastard.”
Bones picked him up by his neck. He wasn’t a big guy, only about 140 pounds with thinning hair and a soul patch. He gagged and clawed at his hands as he dragged him to the truck. His eyes were just starting to roll when he dropped him on the floor in the cab. Hollywood threw him some long cable ties and he secured his hands and feet, not worrying about blood flow, he wouldn’t be needing his limbs when they were through with him anyway. The guy struggled, so he gut-checked him and the guy spent the rest of the journey heaving.
They pulled up at the compound and Digger threw the door open with such force he was sure it would come off the hinges. He reached in and dragged the guy onto the yard, where he got a few hard kicks in to his torso. Duke, Razor and Prez met them and King dragged the guy to an outhouse making sure his body came in contact with any broken glass and gravel.
Prez patted his shoulder, “Bianca’s fine. It was a graze, this pussy couldn’t shoot for shit, thank fuck. Slam’s given her a couple of stitches and put her out for a couple of hours so she doesn’t go in to shock.”
“How many stitches?” He knew the bullet had only grazed as there wasn’t much blood, but any blood was too much blood as far as he was concerned.
“Not sure. Not many I don’t think. Anyway, she was more worried about you two,” he pointed at him and King. “We told her you were fine and on your way back and she calmed down. Slam’s treated her in your room so she doesn’t have to move too much.”
Bones was thankful that Slam was sedating Bianca as it could be a while before they were free to go to her. They walked inside the outhouse. He didn’t think he’d be back in one of these so soon. It was only a few weeks ago they were beating the hell of out Helen after she worked over Nicole. Hollywood threw Digger a wallet that he pulled off the guy.
“His name is Jerry Fields, 32. Plenty of credit cards, $260, a bank card and a voucher to Blitz Burgers.”
Bones couldn’t help but smile when he saw Digger pocket the voucher and the cash. Duke was texting the personal info to one of the brothers to do a search on him.
Bones focused on Jerry who was sat dazed and swaying on the metal seat. He’d sort that straight away. This guy was going to be fully awake when they started and cold air would solve that and make it so he would feel every bit of pain they tortured him with. He moved forward and pulled his knife from his boot and proceeded to cut his clothes off. By the time he was done, Jerry was stark naked with a few shallow cuts for his trouble, yet not coherent enough for his liking. Bones walked into the club and filled three metal buckets with ice cold water. He carried them back to the outhouse and threw each one at Jerry, making sure every inch of his skin was doused in icy wetness.
Jerry cried out and instantly started shivering. He was definitely alert now. As much as Bones would love to question this guy, he knew Hollywood was the right one to do it. He was huge with movie star good looks and the enviable ability to make anyone piss themselves. His deep voice could go from jovial to menacing in the blink of an eye. Bones loved watching him work.
“So, Jerry…anything you want to tell us before we start?” Hollywood asked while weighing the hammer he now had in his hand.
“You won’t get me to talk, do your worst,” Jerry snarled.
He certainly seemed confident but Bones knew that would change in the next couple of seconds. Hollywood winked and smiled at him and then brought the hammer down on the top of his foot with all his considerable force. The sound of bones snapping and skin splitting had Jerry wailing like a hooker in church. It was like music to his ears. Hollywood didn’t give him any time to recover before he brought the hammer down again on the same foot. Blood was pooling under the chair now and Jerry was shaking and dripping sweat.
“You positive you’ve got nothing to say because I’m going to start making my way up this leg before I start on the next one. Feel free to stop me when your tongue loosens up a bit.”
He lifted the hammer up, showing the blood and skin clinging to it and wiped it off with a dirty rag. He positioned it to swing again and Jerry cried out, “No, no, please, please I’ll talk.”
Hollywood turned to them smiling, “No one’s ever got past two.” He turned back to Jerry who was weeping now. “Who sent you after Bianca?”
“Dane Halbert.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t give me a reason. Just that he needed his sister-in-law injured badly enough to be admitted to hospital. He gave me her address and said she would go there within 3 days. I broke into her apartment and the place was trashed. I knew the smell would alert the neighbours so I stayed outside the building.”
“How do you get in touch with this Dane person?”
“He calls me on an anonymous number at 9 and 3 everyday. I’m only supposed to answer when the job is done.”
“How’d he find you?”
“I’ve done some surveillance for Riot MC in the past and they gave him a few useful numbers; one of them was mine.”
“Anything else?”
“No, that’s it.”
Hollywood turned to them, “Anything you want to ask?”
Bones approached the guy, making sure to stand on his mangled foot. He let him scream until his voice was horse, “No. I think we’ve got all we needed from him.”
King came up behind him and placed the revolver on Jerry’s forehead. “Hope whatever he paid you was worth your life.” Jerry didn’t have time to beg before he pulled the trigger. He turned to him and Digger and said, “Let’s go check on our old lady.”