CHAPTER 15

Taz

I was in the office at the gym with Mac when my phone rang. Seeing the hospital number, I answered with a frown. Normally Flick rang from her mobile.

“Flick? That you?”

“Ah, no, this is a nurse. I’d, ah, I’d rather not give my name. Gus Shell asked me to call you with a message. Three Cowboys came and took Flick. Lead man’s name patch said Animal.”

Instantly I was on my feet and on full alert. “When? When did they grab her?”

“About an hour ago—”

Fury burst through me. “And you’re just calling now? Have you any idea what those fucking bastards will do to her?”

“I’m sorry, but we had to stabilize Mr. Shell first before we could call you. His health is our first priority.”

“Tell him I’m on it.”

I hung up and dialed Scout straight away. Mac was on his phone calling in Eagle. We might be with the Charons now, but the three of us would always have each other’s backs no matter what, and Mac knew from the little he’d heard of my conversation that shit had gone down.

“Scout, here.”

“Cowboys made their fucking move. Snatched Flick from the hospital an hour ago.”

“Fuck! Get a name? Who told you?”

“Gus got a nurse to ring me, said Animal was lead. You know him?”

I didn’t know many of the Cowboys, just the few that had come down last year when we were dealing with the shitstorm the Iron Hammers had brought our way. Animal hadn’t been in that group.

“Fuck! Dammit to hell. I haven’t had a chance to call Viper or Maverick yet, they don’t know she’s yours. Listen, I’ll get Keys on pulling video from the hospital parking lot, see if we can work out what vehicle they’re in. I’ll get Bulldog to start calling all the brothers in while I call Viper. You and Mac get your asses here to the clubhouse. I’m guessing you’ve already pulled Eagle in?”

“Yeah, Mac’s talking to him now.”

“Right. See you soon.”

The line went dead and as I lowered my arm, I noticed my hand shook. I never fucking shook. Next thing I knew Mac was in my face, a palm on each of my shoulders.

“We’ll get her back, brother. Remember who she is. That woman of yours will kick their asses the first chance she gets.”

I stared into my friend, my brother’s, eyes. “So how the fuck did they get her in the first place, then?”

“At a guess, it was either at gunpoint or they knocked her out.”

I growled and Mac gave me a shake. “Calm the fuck down, so we can get moving. We will get her back. Should you be telling the feds about this?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. They come barging in, her cover will be blown to hell and the Cowboys are more likely to kill her.”

Mac nodded. “Good point. Okay, let me get changed real fast, then we’ll head over to the clubhouse. Fucking wait for me, understand? Let me guard your back with this shit.”

The whole time it took Mac to change I paced the front of the gym. My mind was flashing all sorts of nasty images at me, some memories of what Gordon had done to my mother, others from what I’d seen over in the Middle East. If anyone had hurt my woman like that, I’d take them all out. I’d been the best sniper the USMC had, and I’d use my skills to take out each and every Cowboy who’d fucking dared to touch what was mine. I was pretty sure Gus would supply me with whatever ammo and weapons I needed for the task.

“C’mon, brother. Chip’s gonna keep the gym covered. Let’s ride.”

Eagle was on his bike waiting out the front for us, and with a nod, we saddled up and followed him over to the clubhouse.

The parking lot was rapidly filling up with bikes and cars as everyone came running from whatever they were doing. I ignored them all and went straight for Scout’s office. No tech was allowed in the meeting room where we held church, so I was fairly certain he wouldn’t be in there yet. Sure enough, I found Keys and Scout staring at a laptop.

“What’ve you got for me?”

Keys flicked his gaze up over the screen to me. “They took your girl out at gunpoint, knocked her out before putting her in a black Escalade. Original, I know. I’m now trying to track its movements from the hospital while I’m waiting for the results on the plates.”

I shook my head. “Plates won’t make a lick of difference. The Cowboys have her, that’s who’ll own the damn car. Scout, you get hold of Viper?”

Scout looked every inch the MC president in this moment. Fury had his gaze hard and cold and his body tense, that’ ready for a fight.

“No, bastards aren’t answering my calls. We need to call church to agree on what to do, but I say we go for a ride. A show of force to get back what’s ours.”

I moved toward Keys and with a jerk, he slammed the lid on his laptop shut and stood, which was beyond fucking strange. What was he hiding from me? I flicked my gaze between the two men, frowning. “What’s going on?”

“Later, brother. Let’s get your girl back first, this other shit can wait till after.”

I followed them back to the meeting room, not feeling at all comfortable at whatever they knew and were keeping from me. It had my instincts flaring. And not in a good way.

Flick

Blinding pain pounding inside my head woke me up. I raised my hand to examine my skull for injury before risking trying to open my eyes. I wasn’t surprised when I found a patch of my hair on the back of my head was matted with blood. Not a lot, and thankfully it seemed to be no longer bleeding.

“Don’t you fucking dare try to keep me from her!”

I knew that voice. It was rougher than it used to be, but it wasn’t so different I didn’t recognize it. Abandoning my assessment of my head injury, I blinked open my eyes and squinted until they adjusted to the sunlight filling the room. A quick scan of my surroundings assured me I was alone, so I swung my legs off the bed and tested my balance. I was a little shaky, but considering that prick had probably given me a fucking concussion by cold-cocking me with the butt of his gun, that was to be expected. I weaved my way over to the barred door on the otherwise normal-looking hotel room.

“Andrew?”

“Tank, get out of my fucking way right now.”

“Sorry, brother. No can do. You need to take it up with Viper if you want in that room with her. For now he doesn’t want her messed with.”

There was a growl followed by the sound of a gun cocking. “You fucking pervert, she’s my sister. No one better lay one fucking finger on her, or I’ll rain all sorts of hell down on them.”

I let the tears roll down my face as I gripped the bars and tried to see my brother. I hadn’t seen him since before he left for his last and final deployment, nearly four years ago.

“Andrew!”

The sounds of a scuffle sounded and then my brother was in front of me, shoving his hands through the bars to hold my face.

“Fuck, sis. Turn your head, let me see that wound.”

I did as he instructed, all the while doing my best to keep my gaze on him. He’d gotten bigger, broader with more muscle. He still had his hair cropped short. At a guess he did it himself with a buzz razor, as though he didn’t care about it enough to do anything else.

“Damn, they got you good. How you feeling? Seeing double?”

“It knocked me out, and I only just woke up. I can’t believe it’s really you.”

I turned back to face him and reached through the bars to touch him. The stubble on his cheek was rough against my palm.

“I’ll get Doc to come check you over. Then I’m going to Viper, the president, to see about getting you out of here. This is bullshit. Why the fuck are you here? What did you do?”

“Uncle Gus had a heart attack a couple days back, and he had me listed as his emergency contact.”

“This is about Gus? How old is he now? Should be too old to be causing this kinda shit.”

I shook my head, wincing at the pain that set off at the movement. “It’s not Gus’s fault. He owns a gun shop and range in Bridgewater, and your club wants it. They’ve told him to sign over the business or he won’t see me again.”

He shook his head. “Fuckin’ hell. And last I heard your employer wasn’t someone our club is too fond of. You, sister dearest, have the worst fucking luck.”

“My old man will be coming for me.”

He jerked back, out of my reach. “You’re involved in club life? What the fuck? How?”

“I’m with Taz, from the Charon MC.”

The color faded from his face. “Pretty sure it ain’t no accident you’ve hooked up with one of the men who hauled me in. How the fuck do you even know about that?”

“Get us somewhere private, and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. But until then, go tell Viper that Taz will have the entire Charon MC on their way here by now. That will include Taz, Mac and Eagle. You know what their skills are and what they’ll do to get me out of here.”

“It’ll be a bloodbath.”

“Yep, and no one will win a fucking thing.”

He started pacing the hallway for a moment. “Right. I’m gonna go see if I can talk with Viper about getting this shit sorted out. I’ll be back as soon as I can, and then I’ll find us somewhere we can talk.”

He stomped away, cursing the entire time. Still a little in shock at seeing my long lost brother, and my headache not improving, I stumbled back over to the bed to lie down and close my eyes.

“Sure don’t look like much for all the trouble you’re causing.”

The deep rumble jolted me out of sleep, tense and ready to fight. I opened my eyes to see another large man leaning over my body. Did bikers only come in one size? His voice was familiar–this was the man Andrew had been talking to earlier–Tank he’d called him.

Slowly, I moved to sit up on the bed. He stepped away two steps, before folding his arms over his chest.

“What do you want?”

“All sorts of things, but nothing you can give me. None of us even knew Stone had a sister.”

“Stone?”

“Yeah, Stone. As in stone cold killer. It’s what he’s been for the past three years. Never seen him show any emotion, until he saw your face as Animal dragged your ass in here. Then he went fucking nuts trying to get to you.”

My heart ached for my big brother. What the fuck had happened on his last deployment that had damaged him so badly? He never used to be cold.

“So help me, if you’ve laid a hand on her, Tank.”

The big man rolled his eyes. “Keep yer panties on, Stone. Like I’m that fucking stupid?”

I switched my focus onto Andrew, drinking in the sight of him. Our folks were going to be over the moon that I’d finally found him. They’d moved up north after Dad took a job in New York, so it would take them a while to get down here. Forgetting that we weren’t alone, I blurted out a question I’m sure he didn’t want to answer.

“Why didn’t you come home?”

Andrew’s eyes hardened and he lifted his chin. “Got nothing to say about it. Come with me, you’re gonna be staying in my room until we can get this shit sorted out.”

“Viper okay that?”

Did Tank have a fucking death wish? My brother didn’t look like he was in the kind of mood to negotiate anything at the moment.

“Where the fuck do you think I’ve just been?”

That wasn’t a straight answer. Did he have permission to take me out of this room? Before I could ask out loud, Andrew grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the bed and toward the door. I followed down the hallway, then a flight of stairs, confirming my earlier observation that this building must have been a hotel before the MC got hold of it. We’d just come out into a large game room on the next level down when a loud voice stopped Andrew in his tracks.

“Stone! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

He dropped my hand and turned to face off against the man who’d threatened my uncle. His name patch read Animal. Seemed appropriate.

“She’s my sister, you really want to push me on this? After you fucking bashed her skull in?”

“Had to knock her out, brother. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any chloroform on me at the time so I used what I had available. Guess I could have shot her instead.”

The growl that vibrated around the room had several younger men looking to each other nervously, but not Animal. He just stood there smirking.

When a hand wrapped around my bicep and pulled me back, my instincts took over and I twisted with his movement, swinging my hand in a palm-heel position as I turned to crack him in the jaw. With a curse, he stumbled, before fire lit his eyes and he came at me again. Fuck, I was pretty sure I knew why they called him Tank. Other than pissing him off, my blow didn’t do much. Kicking out, I took out his knee and sent him crashing to the ground before he could reach me. Another set of arms wrapped around my middle. I lifted my legs up, dropping my weight. Whoever held me cursed and loosened his hold. I drove my elbow back into his torso, before spinning to deliver a palm-heel strike to his nose. The crack was satisfying, as was the blood spraying free. Especially when I realized this was the bastard who’d held a gun to my ribs. With a sneer I grabbed his shoulders and kneed him hard in the groin. He hit the floor, unconscious, as I spun to take in the rest of the room. A hard jab to my ribs had me cursing and turning on my next attacker. He got a second shot into my ribs before I could focus through my fucking pounding head to disable him. I’d just spun with my leg out to swipe out his legs when pain flared in the back of my head again. I dropped to all fours panting through the pain, and black spots floating through my vision.

A foot slammed up into my gut, flipping me over and making me grunt out in pain. Fuck, I hurt all over.

“Stupid bitch.”

I tried to blink through the spots to see what was coming at me but all I saw were several blurry faces. I looked for Andrew. Where was he?

“Don’t fucking touch her! Let me the fuck go!”

I tried to lift my arm to reach for him, but my body wouldn’t move. The black spots grew until I couldn’t see anything, then I couldn’t feel anything, either.