WE COULD HEAR the music as we walked down the street, but when we opened the door, it was like being blasted in the face with heavy metal.
I tried to look cool, like a woman on a night out with her friend, maybe looking to get lucky.
I blanched for a minute, when the memory of another night at another bar hit me, and how angry Cade was at me for pretending to pimp myself out for information. I knew he wouldn’t be any happier about it now, but I meant what I’d said earlier. I’d rather have him with me and pissed, than never get him back.
We strode to the bar first, cause that’s what people normally did upon entering a bar, and ordered a couple beers.
While the bartender was tapping the keg for our drinks, I turned and leaned against the bar and looked around casually. Carmen was chattering in my ear to keep up pretense, and I mostly tuned her out, although it sounded like she was reciting her to-do list for the week.
My scan of the place confirmed the place was seedy, that the bikers were Diablos, and that Carmen and I had not entered undetected.
A tall white biker with a bald head and handsome face was watching me watch him, and I hoped the name on his patch was Cueball. I shot him a friendly smile, then turned back around to face the bar and wait.
A few seconds later, the bartender placed our beers in front of us, his gaze going over my shoulder, and I heard, “What you doin’ here, pretty lady?”
I turned my head to the right and looked the biker over.
Yup, his name was Cueball.
“Just havin’ a drink with my friend,” I replied.
Cueball looked past me to Carmen, who lifted her beer in greeting.
“Haven’t seen you in here before,” Cueball said.
“Nope, it’s our first time. We’re staying in town and thought we’d check it out,” I lied, hoping there was actually a hotel somewhere nearby.
“Well, if you ladies are looking for a good time, my brothers and I can show it to you.”
Gag.
I batted my eyelashes and smiled again.
“We’ll keep that in mind,” I said, and luckily, he nodded and wandered back over to his friends.
“He’s cute, but a little scary,” Carmen whispered.
I agreed, but I guess the same thing could be said about Cade. Hell, if I wasn’t with Cade and I didn’t know that guy had something to do with his disappearance, I’d probably think he was hot.
“Let’s go closer, over by the darts or pool table, see if we can hear anything?” I suggested.
When she nodded, I led the way.
Carmen and I took a high-top table in the back corner and talked about nothing as we listened to the conversations happening around us. After about an hour of what could only be described as come hither looks from Cueball, and just your basic bar room chatter, I started to lose hope that we’d learn anything more that night.
Maybe we needed to come back when the towing company was open and talk to the people there . . .
Or, we could hang around and follow the bikers back to their compound and hope Cade was being kept inside . . .
Finally, I could take Cueball up on his offer, go back to the compound with him, and hope I could keep him off me and distracted until I found Cade . . .
I quickly eliminated the final option, and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, so . . . option two it was.
I told Carmen my plan, and she agreed.
We nursed our beers until they were gone, and we felt we’d been there enough time to not come across as suspicious, then went outside to check on Bran and wait for some Diablos to leave.
“What took you guys so long?” Bran asked from the back when we got into the van. He had the seat laid all the way back. “I almost fell asleep.”
“Just doing a little recon,” I said, looking at him in the rearview mirror. “The Diablos are in there, Cueball included. They’re just hanging out and drinking. We tried to get close, without getting too close, but nobody said anything important. We’re going to wait for a couple of them to leave and follow them home.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked.
We both turned and glared at him.
“Just asking,” Bran said, holding up his hands in surrender. “I’m in this with you guys, so whatever you decide, I’ve got your back.”
Carmen’s face softened and she said, “Thanks, Bran.”
We sat in the van long enough for me to get Carmen and Bran hooked on Words with Friends, when I heard the sound of tail pipes and turned on the van.
I stayed a good distance behind, not wanting them to pick up my tail, which was difficult since it was dark and the town was pretty dead. It wouldn’t be too hard for them to clock my headlights and I just prayed they didn’t think anything of it.
When they turned left onto a gravel road, I waited a few breaths before turning down it myself and following behind. There was a large fence surrounding the property, with a huge rollaway gate, which was, luckily, open.
I pulled off onto the grass and tried to hide my van off of the road so people coming in wouldn’t see it, then we got out and ran to the entrance. After we were sure it was clear, we went inside and crept along the fence line, being careful to stay in the shadows.
We went in the opposite direction of the entrance, running along the building until we came to a set of basement windows.
I was about to get on the ground to peer inside when I heard the sound of a gun cocking, and a gravelly voice ask, “Now, what the hell do we have here?”