Chapter Seventeen
Sledge
Walking into his office, Sledge looked around at the mess. The filing cabinet looked like someone tried to pry it open, but was unsuccessful. The papers on his desk were thrown around the room.
“Whoever it was, they couldn’t get into the computer,” Reaper informed him. “They tried, but after entering the wrong password several times, the system automatically shut itself down. Without your thumbprint, it won’t reboot.”
“We’ll start there. I’ll bring up the camera and we can see who it was.” Sledge walked around his desk, picking up paper along the way.
Righting his chair, he sat at his desk and placed his thumb on the hidden scanner. Seconds later, his computer powered on and he signed in. As the computer loaded, Diesel handed him the remaining papers that were spread across the floor.
“Apparently, whoever it was didn’t care about the bar inventory or bills,” Diesel said.
“Apparently not.”
Once the computer was loaded, Sledge opened the camera program and clicked to view the file storage for his office. The three of them huddled around the screen watching. At 1:43 am, a dark figure approached his door and jiggled the handle.
“That looks like a woman,” Reaper said to nobody in particular. Both Diesel and Sledge agreed. The figure was small, and held none of the bulk that the Henchmen carried.
The guys watched as the figure left without entering the room, but moments later, she was back. Using a lock picking set, they watched as she opened the door and disappeared inside the door, closing the door behind her. Still watching, they noticed she never turned on the light. Nothing showed under the door.
“Professional,” replied Diesel. “An amateur would have flipped on the lights.” Again, they all agreed.
“How the fuck did a professional get into the clubhouse?” Sledge demanded.
“Pull up the video of the entrance,” Reaper told Sledge. “Who was on last night?” he looked to Diesel.
“Viper.” All three men groaned.
Clicking on the data file for the entrance, the guys watched as club members and the normal club girls came and went throughout the day and night. Nobody entered or left that was unknown.
Sitting back in his chair, Sledge said the one thing that made his stomach turn to lead. “She is one of ours.”
“So, we have a mother-fuckin’ traitor in our club,” Reaper fumed.
“Pull the office video back up,” Diesel said.
“Why? We can’t see her fuckin’ face!” Sledge barked.
“Just pull it up! Maybe if we can figure out some characteristics, we can at least narrow it down!” Diesel barked back.
“That’s actually a good idea,” Sledge conceded. He knew he was out of line yelling at his SA, but he was fuckin’ livid! Whoever this woman was, lived off his dime and to betray him was the ultimate slap in the face.
Clicking back on the video, Sledge played it in slow motion. Trying to gauge any features of the violator.
“Okay stop,” Diesel said. “Look. It looks like her head is about 3/4th of the way up the door frame. That would put her around my height.”
“That means it narrows it down to Stella, Victoria, and Deedra,” Reaper concluded.
“I can’t see any of those woman breaking into my office, or my damn bedroom.” Those women came to the clubhouse after the Henchmen rescued them from a human trafficking ring about ten months ago.
“Honestly, I can’t either,” Diesel agreed. “We have to be missing something.”
The guys looked back through the tape one more time. Then moved on to other locations around the compound to see if they could find something, anything that seemed to raise a flag, but they found nothing.
Making a decision he hated, Sledge ordered, “Put covert surveillance on the girls.”
Pulling his phone from his pocket, Diesel sent messages to his team. His job, as Sergeant at Arms, was to ensure the safety of club members, to make sure they all followed the rules.
“Done,” he relayed after getting confirmations that everyone received his order.
“Now, Beth’s father...” This was another topic that Sledge wished he could avoid. “Something about his voice rubbed me the wrong way. He knew I was lying about Beth and Derek being here. But how? And are these two events - the break-in and Beth’s father, possibly related?”
“Personally, I’d like to think they are two separate instances, but my gut tells me they’re connected.” Reaper’s gut had always served him well. So he constantly followed it.
“Same here,” Both Sledge and Diesel said in unison.
“So, who is giving him information? Beth and Derek haven’t left the compound since they arrived,” Reaper remarked.
“They haven’t even been out front from what I’ve gathered.” After the call Sledge got this morning, Diesel had checked with his men. None of them had witnessed Sledge’s woman or kid outside of the pool area, which was located behind the house and a ten-foot solid privacy fence.
“No, they haven’t,” Sledge replied. He made it a point to tell Beth to stick to the inside and rear of the compound. “So, we have someone leaking information.”
Blowing out a breath, Sledge leaned back in his chair. This entire day was pissing him off. All he wanted was to be with Beth and his son, but he had business to take care of. He promised to keep them safe, and that was what he intended to do.
Grabbing the phone, he called Banjo, putting it on speaker phone. When his friend answered, he didn’t waste time with chit-chat.
“Hey, I need you to look into Texas Senator Jonathan Andrews. Somehow, he knows Beth and Derek are here. Cross reference him with any contact that has an association to us. I need you to get back to me ASAP. This is top priority.”
“I’m on it,” Banjo replied. “Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of,” Sledge muttered. “Anything else guys?” he asked Reaper and Diesel.
“After you look into Andrews, check out the club girls. Phone records, specifically,” Diesel had a hunch.
“Am I looking for any in particular? Do you think one of the girls is working with Andrews?”
“Honestly, we aren’t really sure. Someone broke into my office. Kind of trashed the place. She tried to get into the computer, but the failsafe kicked in and shut it down. The same person went into my bedroom last night snooping. They could be two separate problems, but truly, we think they are connected, somehow.”
“Wait, she?” Banjo asked. “What makes you think it’s a woman?”
Sledge explained what they found in the cameras. The size of the person, the lack of muscle. After agreeing to get started, Banjo hung up the phone.
“Now what?” Diesel wondered out loud.
“Fuck if I know,” Sledge said on a deep sigh.
All heads turned toward Reaper when his phone chimed, breaking the silence in the room.
“What the fuck!” he said, looking at Sledge.
Sledge felt a sense of worry fill his gut. “What?” he demanded.
Reaper handed him the phone. It was a text message from Amber, and the words made Sledge’s blood turn to ice.
“I am with Beth and Derek. She is freaking out, Zander. She is planning on leaving! What the fuck do I do? She is so scared her dad will find her. She is planning to leave Derek here with Devin because the people working for her father are looking for a woman with a child. Zander... This will crush Devin! Help me!”
Sledge was out of his chair and across the room before anyone could stop him. He raced downstairs and out of the bar. He had to stop her. What the hell was she thinking? She was safe here! Throwing open the door to the house, everyone in the living room jumped at the sound of it crashing against the wall. But he didn’t care. He had to get to Beth.
Opening the door to Derek’s room, he found her sitting on the bed next to his sister and Derek laying on a pallet on the floor watching TV.
“Hey, Dad!” Derek jumped up and ran over to Sledge. He wrapped his arms around his son and lifted him off his feet.
“Hey, Son!” Sledge smiled. “I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you too. Are you done working?”
“No, not yet. But I need to speak to your mom for a minute, okay?”
“Okay!” Sledge put Derek back down and watched as his son returned to his spot, eyes glued back on the show he was watching.
Sledge walked over to Beth. “Come with me.” He couldn’t stop the irritation that coated his words.
“Okay,” she answered in confusion. Obviously, she didn’t know Amber had messaged Reaper. Well, she would in a minute. There was no way Sledge would just let her walk away from him again. He couldn’t.
Taking her by the hand, he led her to their room. Walking in, he closed and locked the door behind him. There would be no interruption this time. He didn’t give a shit if the building was on fire!
“Care to tell me something?” he asked. He watched the look of confusion pass across her face, then it was like a light bulb went off over her head.
“Amber messaged you.” She said it as a statement, but Sledge answered her anyway.
“Actually, she messaged Zander. He showed me the message. Amber -,” but she interrupted him.
“Listen to me Devin, my father will find me here. I can’t just sit here and wait for him to come for me and hurt you, Derek, Amber, Zander...” she trailed of, her voice breaking. “I can’t allow y’all to be hurt because of me. Please! I need you to understand!” she begged through the tears rolling down her face.
Sledge couldn’t offer her comfort. He couldn’t make his feet move. He had to make HER understand. He couldn’t lose her again. His heart wouldn’t be able to handle it. It would kill him. The one thing she wanted to prevent by leaving, she herself would accomplish. Sledge felt his world start to collapse.
“Baby, please,” now it was his turn to beg. “You don’t understand. If you leave, you might as well kill me. I wouldn’t survive it, Beth. Not again.” Sledge stood there, his own voice breaking. He hadn’t cried in years, eight to be exact. But here he was, about to lose his shit, over the same woman who wrecked him the last time.
“Beth, you are safe here. Your father cannot hurt you here. Think about it! Woman, you are surrounded by some of the best, most Elite Military personnel on the planet. Black ops, SEALs, Delta Force, Green Berets, Army Rangers. The list goes on. My men would die to protect you and Derek.”
“That’s my point, Devin! I don’t want people dying because of me!”
“Please, Beth! Derek and I both need you here. I promise, I will keep you safe. Just please, don’t leave us.”
Sledge wouldn’t force her to stay, no matter how much he wanted to. Beth had to make the choice to stay with him on her own.