Jason
After I got off the phone with Margot, my mind and my heart were racing. I knew I had to get to the hotel as soon as possible, but first I’d have to arm up. I drove straight from Dr. Collins’s office to The Silent Havoc clubhouse. It was busy for a weekday—I saw Axel’s truck in the parking lot and about seven bikes.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. My original plan of grabbing a lot of guns and ammo wasn’t going to be easily managed if I had to sneak it by the guys. They’d all want to know why. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell them, but I wanted to figure shit out on my own first. After all, I was the president. It was my job to protect my guys, not put them in danger at the slightest whiff of trouble.
Except this ain’t a slight whiff, I thought to myself. This is a hell of a lot more than that, and you’re fucking well aware of that.
I shuddered. I couldn’t believe everything that was happening, but I had to stop feeling so fucking bewildered and start getting down to business. If I didn’t nut up and save Katie, I couldn’t even begin to think of what would happen. And I was dying to speak to Margot, too, to ask why she’d gone away and faked her death. I loved you, Mar. I loved you so fucking much.
“Hey, man,” Axel greeted me as I slipped inside the clubhouse. “You want a drink?”
I shook my head. “No time for that,” I said. “I gotta hurry. Bad shit going down.”
Axel stepped closer and I saw the concern in his eyes. “Did something happen with that abusive asshole, Troy?”
I shook my head, then remembered the previous day. “Well, yeah,” I said after a moment. “But that ain’t why I’m here.”
Axel nodded. “Margot?”
“Bingo,” I said darkly, pushing past him and letting myself out back. The Silent Havoc had a warehouse stocked with guns and ammo and all kinds of things for situations like this; it was better than going to a black market gun sale. I let my gaze wander all over our wares before finally selecting a sniper rifle and an AK-47. Even though I preferred handguns for this type of close-in work, but I knew the sight of an AK was one of the more intimidating sights on this planet. Even Margot, fearless Margot, would have to back down when she saw her ex-fiancé toting a giant gun.
“Anything I can help with?” Axel slipped up behind me and stared. “What the hell is going on, anyway?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I said grimly. “People coming back from the dead isn’t a thing that happens every day.”
Axel threw his head back and laughed. “Ain’t that the truth,” he muttered. “Oh, yeah, some guy called for you a while back. Wanted to know if you’d be around today.”
I frowned. “Who? I didn’t get a call from anyone,” I said in accusing tone. Whenever calls for me reached the clubhouse, the guys were supposed to contact me immediately.
Axel shook his head. “It ain’t worth your time, I could tell the guy didn’t know anything about you,” he said. “It was a fucking scammer, or someone who just wanted weird info about you,” he added.
I frowned. “Still, though,” I said. “With all of this shit going on, I would’ve liked to know.”
“Sorry, boss,” Axel replied. He helped me carry a few boxes of ammo out of the warehouse and load up the back of my car. “Oh shit,” he muttered. “Here comes trouble.”
I whirled around to see that blond pussy, Troy, walking towards me with a weird look on his face. My hands balled into fists and I was just swinging my arm back to hit him when he held his hands up in the air.
“Wait,” Troy said. “I’m not here to fight you, man.”
I stepped closer and swung my arm back, holding it inches away from his face. “I don’t give a shit what you’re here to do, pussy,” I said in a menacing growl.
Troy shook his head and stepped away. “I’m here about Katharina,” he said quickly. “I want to help you. I know where she is and why Margot has her.”
I blinked and slowly lowered my arm to my side. “What?”
“I want to help you,” Troy insisted. “I know I’ve been a shitty person but I want to help. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her,” he said in a scared, nervous voice. “And now I’m fucking freaked out.”
I shook my head. “You’re fucking disgusting, you know that? You spend years abusing this chick and now you want to save her life? Why, so you can just go and keep doing the same thing?”
Troy shook his head. “I know that’s what it looks like,” he said hurriedly. “But I know Margot took her, and Margot’s responsible for Matthias’s death.”
“I already know that, asshole,” I said. “She called me not twenty minutes ago.” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Time was ticking, and my wife was in trouble. I had to go help her, I had to save her—it was a visceral need in my bones, my blood, that I’d never felt before.
“I gave Margot information about Katharina,” Troy said. “I know her hotel room is a direct shot from the hotel next door,” he added. He glanced down at the sniper rifle that I was still clutching in my hand. “And you can use that to shoot.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe I was accepting help from Troy. Of all the people I wanted to see dead and buried. He was a disgusting weasel; he wasn’t even a real man. He couldn’t even bring himself to defend Katharina himself. I wondered how long he’d been sitting on the information about the hotel room.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Troy said as if reading my mind. “I know you want me dead, and I understand why, but just let me help you with this first, okay?”
I sagged my shoulders. My life was crumbling around my feet, and I didn’t know who I could trust anymore. Margot, my ex-fiancée, my love, wasn’t really dead. She’d faked her own death and lied to me for years. Katie, my wife, was keeping secrets from me. And now Troy, this ratfuck of a human being, was trying to act like he was a decent guy, like he was my friend.
“You should listen to him,” Axel said in a low voice. He stepped closer. “I wouldn’t normally tell you this, but I think he’s telling the truth,” he added. “And you have to do something, Jason.”
I nodded. “I know,” I said. “You know it was Margot who killed Matthias, right?”
Axel looked into my eyes. “I always knew that,” he said. “I mean, I didn’t know it was her specifically. But, man, I always knew it wasn’t you. You believe me, right?”
We embraced in a rough, brotherly hug. “Thanks,” I muttered as we pulled away. “That means a lot, man.”
Axel nodded. “Of course,” he said.
Troy looked at me. “So, you ready to go?”
I nodded, feeling heavy and depressed and like nothing was ever going to make sense again. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I mumbled. “Come on.”
Troy climbed in the passenger seat of my car and stared straight ahead. He was silent on the drive downtown, towards The Center Park Hotel. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and frankly, I didn’t much care. I just wanted this shit to be over so I could put a bullet in his head and forget about him.
It occurred to me that he could have been bullshitting me. According to Katie, Troy was a master manipulator. While this little piece of shit didn’t look like much, I knew he had pressured Katie into doing lots of things she didn’t want to do, and had kept her from doing things that she actually cared about.
“Why did you treat her so badly?”
“What?” Troy turned in his seat and glanced at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t be a dumb shit,” I told him. “If I weren’t driving right now, I’d hit you. Why did you treat Katie so badly?”
Troy didn’t say anything. He looked out the window; when I glanced down to his lap, I saw that his hands were twitching and fidgeting.
“I don’t know,” he said finally. “It wasn’t like I wanted to do it at the time. But I was so unhappy, and she seemed so unhappy…I guess it was like a way of controlling her, of trying to make our relationship better.”
I snorted. “You are a Grade A bullshitter,” I said, whistling low. “And don’t forget that you’re still on my shit list,” I added. “You ain’t getting away with this just because you’re helping me right now. In fact, half the reason why you’re in the car is so I can make sure you’re not lying.”
Troy swallowed hard. “Margot had been out to get out her for a long time,” he said. He glanced over and I saw he didn’t look nervous anymore. There was a manipulative gleam in his eye. “She’s been biding her time and waiting for the perfect moment.” Troy looked at me. “And everything finally fell into place.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any fucking sense,” I snorted. “Margot loved me. She’d never do anything to try to hurt me. She must have faked her death because someone was pressuring her, or because she was in trouble. I only wish she could have told me!” The very thought filled me with anguish and pain, the kind of pain that radiated out from my heart and made my limbs pulse.
“Don’t think that way,” Troy said. He gave me a nasty grin and I felt my stomach flipping over. It was an unpleasant feeling. “Margot knows exactly what she’s doing.”
“Kidnapping my wife and holding her for ransom?” I glared at him. “Margot isn’t crazy. Someone is putting her up to this. There’s no way she’d do that, not to me, not to Katie!” I paused. “Unless she’s jealous…”
Troy shook his head. “She ain’t jealous,” he said in a nasty, thin voice. “She ain’t jealous at all. She’s getting her dues, that’s all.”
I frowned. Troy wasn’t making any sense. He was like one of those dolls with a string in the back and when you pull the string, the doll talked to you. He was so deluded, so hurt by Katie’s actions that I could tell he’d do anything.
“So,” I said as casually as I could muster. “You going to kill me when this is all over?”
Troy looked at me in surprise. I couldn’t tell whether I’d guessed his plan or guessed the exact opposite. “You won’t keep me around,” he said, swallowing hard. “You’ll get rid of me the first chance you have.”
I paused, letting his words sink in. It was true that I planned to kill him as soon as Katie and I were both safe. Even though she’d rushed to his defense in the park, I knew I couldn’t let him live. Troy had abused my wife for far too long, and he wasn’t going to get away with it. I had no way of knowing that he wouldn’t do the same to another woman in the future, and I didn’t think I’d be able to rescue her.
“I’m not talking about that now, not with you,” I said. “We have to find Margot and Katie first.”
Troy leaned back against the head and let his forehead rest against the window. I stared at him once I pulled up to a stoplight: he didn’t look well. His pale skin was greasy and full of acne, and his face was bloodless, like he hadn’t been sleeping well. His blond hair was plastered across his forehead and his eyes, though evil, mostly just looked tired. I couldn’t believe how someone like him could have manipulated Katie for years, but I was starting to realize there were a lot of things in the world that I didn’t know.
“It’s over here,” Troy said. He pointed towards two buildings. “On the right.”
“Thanks, genius,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I can tell.” My heart started to pound as we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. With as much subtlety as I could, I readied the guns and ammo in a duffel bag, hoisting it over my shoulder.
“You ready?” Troy looked at me.
I nodded and swallowed hard. “Let’s do it.”