Chapter sixteen
King
Today they were leaving to deal with Dane. They didn’t have a definite timeline and Bianca was kicking up a fuss about going with them.
“No,” he said again plainly.
“Stop saying no! There’s no reason I can’t come with you and then hide out in your hotel room or something.” Bianca complained.
“For the last fucking time, we know where he is but we don’t know how easy it will be to get to him. We need to plan and do some reconnaissance. What if we’re spotted and they come looking for us and find you? Do you think Dane will keep you alive long enough for us to rescue you?”
King patted Digger’s arm to help rein him in. They didn’t want her too scared. Bones stroked her cheek.
“The thing is, beauty, when you’re with us you hold our attention. That’s the way it should be and its fine when we are here. Where we’re going there’s no way we could concentrate enough to pull this off if we spend the whole time worrying about you. You stay here, safe and behind our club walls and we can get the job done much quicker. We’ll be back before you know it.”
King thought Bianca looked adorable. She was watching them with watery eyes and her cute bottom lip pouted out, sulking. She knew she’d lost the argument.
“Fine. Then at least tell me where you’re going.”
King laughed while Bones and Digger looked exasperated. He had to hand it to her she didn’t give up easily.
“Why? So you can attempt to follow and cause mayhem without us being prepared for it. Sorry, not happening.”
Her wounded façade fell and she huffed, “Whatever, just know that if any of you get hurt, I’ll be adding to it when you get back.”
Digger pulled her in for a hug. “You got it, love.” And pressed a long kiss on her forehead.
King’s stomach dropped when her face pulled back from Digger’s chest. Tears were swimming in her eyes and her voice croaked as she half-whispered, “Promise me you’ll come back.” None of them answered, too shocked by the grief and sorrow she was projecting. “Promise me,” she said again with more force and just a touch of hysteria.
He and Bones surged forward and surrounded her. “I promise,” King said meaning every word.
“I promise.”
“I promise.” Digger and Bones followed his lead.
*****
They were on the road for two days of solid riding. They should have really stretched it to three and gotten more rest and eaten something from somewhere other than a gas station or 7/11, but doing anything else would have extended the time they were away from Bianca. Every time they stopped they’d spoken to her and her nervous chatter kept them from missing her too much.
She asked them questions, seemingly at random, and he was enjoying her attempt at being crafty. She’d ask what areas of interest they’d seen on the ride and kept asking if they’d seen certain roadside attractions, trying to gauge where they were. Each and every time they would laugh or play confused and she would huff her displeasure through the phone.
He spent a lot of the ride contemplating how much their lives had changed. Not so long ago he would have been elated to be on a ride, just the Musketeers on the open road. There’d be no rush to return and they would have normally taken a few detours on the route back. Now, he was impatient to return, feeling as though part of them was missing.
They pulled in to a Holiday Inn on the edge of Columbus, Ohio. They had a few hours until nightfall, then they’d be going to Dane’s hideout. Dane was staying in town, pretending to be ‘creating relationships’ with local business owners using the contacts he had through his alma mater, Ohio State University. Of course, all this was complete shit and he was hiding out where he knew he’d hear from his business acquaintances if anyone was asking about him. He had a lot of questionable contacts it seemed and more protection than they had anticipated. It still wasn’t enough to stop them from fucking his shit up.
He’d chosen his hideout well; an upscale apartment building in the metropolitan area with high level security and a doorman. There was also plenty of cameras, people and potential for innocents to be caught up in the crossfire. It was kind of funny that Dane thought that gave a shit about any of that and as if it would stop them once they’d found him.
Thankfully, there was no need for a complicated plan or vast levels of tech; the job would get done with brute force alone and they had that in abundance. There wasn’t much anyone could do against physical force when they’re unprepared for it, especially when the people delivering it give zero fucks about any fallout. They were one-percenters. They were the scurge of society. They don’t hesitate to act and they don’t give a fuck.
Another aspect that Dane hadn’t accounted for was other chapters of their club. It wasn’t surprising really. A man like Dane wouldn’t be able to trust anyone else unless there was some quid pro quo arrangement. He didn’t have any true friends and no one he could count to have his back. When you live like that, you assume everyone else does too and that would be his downfall.
There were two fallen chapters in Ohio and one happened to operate a bar not far from where Dane was staying. They’d spent the day with their brothers and small groups had checked out the building throughout the day. He, Digger and Bones didn’t go anywhere near. They could count on Dane having the building watched and no doubt he’d know their faces by now. When the time came, if they were recognised, it wouldn’t matter – it would already be too late.
They’d found out everything they needed and had a plan. Their Ohioan brothers would create chaos and distractions throughout the local area, keeping any quick response from law enforcement from happening. Then they’d do the rest.
They took the free time to eat a proper meal and have a few drinks until it was time to move out. King’s phone rang, it was Lock from the local chapter who was staked out at Dane’s building.
“Doorman’s packing up now.”
“Got it.” He hung up and turned to his mates. “Ready?” He asked as Bones finished his beer.
“Let’s get this fucking done.”
A steely determination hardened all their expressions. They all stood and left the bar to the cheers and encouragements of their brothers.
King swung his leg over his bike and shared a grin with Digger and Bones. It had been a while since they’d done anything like this and fuck, if he wasn’t looking forward to it. He pulled up his black, half-skull face shield, leaving his helmet off. The rumble of his Harley engine vibrated through his legs and he inhaled the smell of gas and leather. He fucking loved it. He could feel himself getting riled up and he embraced the fury that built in his core. His muscles tensed and fingers flexed in anticipation of delivering serious pain to the man who was haunting their woman.
Bones led, taking them straight to Dane’s location. As they pulled into the street they were greeted with sounds of sirens and flashing lights in the distance. The distractions were taking place, so now they had nothing holding them back.
Digger
They parked their bikes at the side of the building, out of the view of the cameras. For a fancy fucking complex, it had plenty of blind spots. He patted his pocket to double check he had the police badge that would guarantee them entrance. It was a little after 10.30 and the doorman had finished his shift and left. Now there was only the security who manned the front desk and were there to respond to any resident emergencies.
They approached the glass door and tested to see if it was open. It shouldn’t have been but it was, no need for the badge then. Security hadn’t got round to locking it yet, probably distracted by the scene down the street that the building’s front cameras would pick up.
He strode into the highly polished lobby. There were couches and chairs with small tables decorated with flowers on one side. On the other was the front desk and three gold elevator doors. The security guard had yet to look up and he took advantage of taking him by surprise. He ran forward, placing his hands of the raised front of the desk and propelled himself over. The guard looked up and his eyes widened in that split second before Digger ploughed into him. They both hit the floor and he easily wrestled the man onto his front, pinning him with his knee on his back and securing his hands and feet with practised ease. Any fight left in the guard disappeared quickly. Digger bent and put his mouth next to the whimpering guard’s ear.
“Don’t make a fucking sound and you might just live through this,” he snarled, putting a bit of extra weight on the guard as he spoke.
He stood up and looked for Bones who was checking the office behind the front desk. He heard what sounded like a table being overturned and the distinct smash of glass shattering, followed by a indistinct yell. There must have been a second security guard in there who job it is to watch the cameras, supposedly. He figured the guy had probably been watching TV and eating his weight in chips. Bones appeared, dragging the second guard out of the back room by his collar, his hands and feet already secured.
Bones grunted as he sat the fat bastard next to the other guard, “Heavy fucker.”
Digger smiled at the orange cheeto dust that stained the guard’s white shirt and fingers – he knew it.
King arrived from doing his part and stood over restrained guards, “Wiped and stopped the cameras, the whole building’s dark now. Now we just need…” he bent down and plucked a swipe card from the guard’s belt and then ripped their id badges from their uniforms. He waved the id cards in the guard’s face, “We’ll hold onto these. We know who you are and where you live. You might want to keep that in mind when you’re talking to the cops tomorrow.” He winked and stood back up.
Bones had covered their mouths with duct tape and the fat guard had tears streaming down his face. The fear would no doubt keep them from trying to move until they were sure they’d left, no that the guards would get very far once they tried. He turned the guards so that they were sat back to back and used an additional cable tie to attach their hand restraints to each other. They wouldn’t be getting out of that until the doorman showed up or someone noticed them on the floor behind the desk. His money was on the doorman, there was no need for anyone to go behind the front desk.
The anticipation of confronting Dane grew as the time drew closer and genuine excitement bubbled inside him. King gripped his shoulder as they walked into the elevator, his faced stretched by a sinister grin. Yep, they were all looking forward to this.
They reached the eighth floor and the doors opened. Dane might be somewhat important to some people but the fucker didn’t warrant a penthouse. He watched as King rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as they paused outside apartment 807. The doors were thick so there was no way of hearing anything that was going on inside the apartment. Then again, there was nothing they could have heard that would stop them from going in.
King swiped the guard’s card that had emergency access to all the apartments in the building. The red light blinked to green and the automatic lock disengaged with a quiet mechanical click. Digger stowed his urge to barge in, wrecking the place on his way to Dane, utilising stealth would be safer. They didn’t know if Dane was armed and if he was the fucker would definitely be trigger happy once he saw them.
They walked and in and scanned the apartment. It was open plan, plain, all neutral colors and hard-wearing furniture. It was a typical corporate apartment, designed for people to use for a couple of weeks instead of going to a hotel. The living area was empty apart from a few takeout containers and beer bottles littering the coffee table. He spied a laptop and bag propped up against the side of the couch. They’d be taking them with them when they’d finished.
The bedroom door was ajar and as they approached they could hear the shower running. He had no intention of seeing the fucker nude so he closed the door behind them as they too different positions around the room.
Porn was playing on the TV and there was lotion and tissues on the bedside table – clearly Dane wasn’t getting any. He saw a cell phone laying on the bed and pocketed it. The shower shut off and they could hear Dane starting to whistle. This fucker felt so fucking safe he could whistle and jack off, meanwhile their woman and no doubt his wife and kid shuddered at the thought of what this bastard would do to them. He wouldn’t be whistling when they were done with him.
The bathroom door opened and steam spilled into the bedroom. Dane walked out, a towel around his waist and one being rubbed over his head, drying his hair. The guy was built up top but he’d clearly been skipping leg day. Dane’s facial expression was almost comical when he finally spotted them in his room. His mouth gaped open as he scrambled backwards searching for the entrance to the bathroom. King threw his arm out, fisting the fucker’s hair and started dragging him out into the living area.
“Let me go! Who are you?” Dane was yelling as King threw him towards the couch. Digger swept the garbage off the coffee table and sat facing Dane. “Look, I don’t know who you are but I’ve got plenty of money, tell me what you want and it’s yours.”
He laughed. “We have everything we could ever want from you already.”
Dane looked confused and Digger didn’t like how settled he seemed. This fucker needed to be shaking in terror, yet here he sat as if he was in the middle of a negotiation. He must have been pretty confident that they weren’t there to hurt him. He was wrong.
Bones
"What do you mean?" Dane asked, only slightly stumbling over his words.
This guy was a cocksure son of a bitch. He was screaming out to be taken down a few pegs. Little did he know they weren’t there to knock him down, they were there to kill the bastard. It would be easy to just put a bullet through his head here and now, but he wanted to see sheer panic and fear in his eyes before they went blank. His jaw ached, he was clenching his teeth so hard. His body was prepped and eager to deliver untold pain to this fucker.
He watched as Digger leaned forward, crowding Dane’s space. “We have your wife, son and sister-in-law.”
Danes face shocked equal amounts of shock, rage and calculation. “You cracked that bitch? She finally gave up her sister. What do you want for them? I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ve been searching for them for weeks. Those bitches stole my son and I want to make sure they pay for every day he’s been away from me.”
Bones moved before he realised he had. His fist flew out, punching him right in the temple. Dane rocked to the side and covered his head with his arms. King grabbed his arms, holding him back from beating Dane to death. He tried to calm himself.
Digger forced Dane upright and wound his hands around his neck, restricting his breathing.
“You should be very careful how you speak about our woman.” Dane’s fingers clawed desperately at Digger’s hands. His face turned a fierce red and Digger finally released him.
“Who’s your woman?” He croaked out, looking significantly more scared now.
“Bianca.”
Dane’s reflex was to sneer at her name. It lasted only a split second before he paled.
“You…you…you’re them Musketeers?” he looked as if he was silently begging for the answer to be no.
“I see your spies have been thorough. Yes, that’s us. Bianca’s our woman. Our old lady. Now I want you to guess where we found her.” Digger was almost snarling now.
Bones loved seeing Dane start to tremble as he shook his head and gulped. His white towel showed a yellow stain gradually growing on it as Dane pissed himself.
“She took my family from me! There was no way Maggie would have disappeared without her help,” Dane blurted out desperately.
Bones thrust his hand out, snagging Dane’s hair and pulled so his face was upturned. He spat on him.
“You’re a sick fuck who beat your wife and son. You made it so our woman suffered for weeks in a dank cell surrounded by monsters. Monsters you hired. Then you ran like a fucking rat up a drainpipe. You think hitting a defenceless woman who’s protecting her son makes you a man? Let’s see how you do against someone who can fight back.”
He threw Dane onto the floor and stomped his foot down on his ankle, hearing the bone snap. Dane wailed and tried to drag himself away. King rounded the couch and did the same to his other ankle.
“You scream like a bitch,” Digger snapped and forced his jaw open. He stuffed a sock into his mouth muffling his annoying shrieking. “You’re gonna pay for every bruise and cut you put on them and then we’ll slit you from dick to neck.”
Dane started wailing and crying as they carried out their threats.
They spent the next hour beating every inch of Dane, letting him recover for a few minutes before starting all over again. His knuckles were split from delivering the repeated blows and blood splattered up his arms and legs. The plan was to ditch their clothes with the local chapter to burn, but he was tempted to keep his to show Bianca just how Dane had paid for what he did to her.
Dane could no longer move other than to twitch and flinch. His face was unrecognisable and blood gurgled and spluttered from his lips when they finally removed the sock. Bones took out his knife. He wished it was blunt so it would be even more painful. He slid his finger over the sharp edge and smiled down at the wreck of a man on the floor. He knew Dane could see the blade through the slightly open slit of his eye. His sobs renewed and he was sure that Dane was begging for his life. He couldn’t make out the words, but he didn’t need to hear them exactly to kno what they were.
“This is for your family. They’re free of you now,” he said plainly and then stabbed the length of his knife into his abdomen and drew it up, flaying Dane open.
They all stood and watched as the last of Dane’s blood pumped onto the carpet and his chest rattled its last breath.
He sighed, letting all the tension and the worry of the last few weeks drain out of him. It was over. They could get on with the rest of their lives knowing Bianca was theirs and there was no one looking to take her away.