LOKI

Taz is in her car, I’m on my bike, because that’s how this rolls. I may be giving into this, but Kiwi is the only bitch I’ll have on my bike. We’re headed to the back of Pixie Sticks. The club put rooms back there for club members to use and after hours it’s usually pretty quiet.

I’m thankful when I get stuck at a light and she goes on ahead. I whip out my phone. “She do it?”

“Yeah,” I say into the phone. “When was the last time you swept Pixie Sticks for cameras?” I ask Tryke.

“Yesterday, who suggested it?”

“I did.”

“Then you should be alright, but I’ll sweep the feeds.”

“Thanks,” The light changes and I rev, I faintly hear the click on the line and I take off, putting my phone back in my cut and following behind her.

I feel my phone vibrate against my chest, but it just goes once, so it’s a text.

A few minutes later, I’m pulling into the back of Pixie Sticks and there is no one else here, as expected.

I park next to her car, and I pull my phone from my cut again.

Pyro to Loki:

Sweep checks out. Watchin.

. Some of the tension in my back subsides and breathe a bit easier. My brother has my back.

I put my phone away and grab the keys from my bike. She’s waiting by the door. She’s nervous and her lack of pick-up tonight has me worried. She’s not her usual self and it makes me wonder if she’s ready to turn against Rooster.

I punch in the code to the building and hold the door for her. She reluctantly steps inside and I lead her to the first room on the left. Once inside, I close the door behind us, and she wraps her arms around her midsection and she starts crying.

“What is it?” I ask her.

“I can’t do this,” she mumbles.

I walk behind her and put my hands on her shoulders. “Talk to me, Leslie.” I say her real name and she stiffens.

“They have him,” she sobs.

“Who?” I demand with urgency.

“Rooster, Gunnar, they have Hunter.”

“Fuck,” I groan.

“If I don’t do this, they will kill him.”

“What are you supposed to do?” I ask her and she produces a syringe from her purse.

“Give you this.”

“What’s in there, Leslie?” I ask, backing away. She’s a woman on the verge of losing it and I don’t want her stabbing me with whatever is in that needle.

“I,” she sobs, “I don’t know. They just gave it to me. It looks like H,” she says. “But there’s a lot of shit that looks like it, so I have no fucking clue. They told me whatever is in here won’t kill you, but it’s supposed to take you out and then I’m supposed to call them and let them know the job is done.”

Her tears are making it hard for me to understand what she’s saying. I reach for my phone.

There’s a text from Pyro.

Calling it off. Hunter is more important. Where is he?

“Where is he, Leslie?”

She turns and her eyes are desperate, pleading. “I don’t know,” she says through quivering tears. “Right before I came into I.W. they sent me this.” She pulls her phone from her purse and shows me a picture of Hunter, there’s a little blood dripping from his nose and his cheeks are dirty.

I see red, blood fucking red.

“If they want you dead, or drugged, I figured I could trust you to help me,” she breathes.

I nod. “You can, but please, give me the needle.” She has no problem handing it over to me.

“I want him back, I need him, Loki,” she sobs.

“Hey,” I tell her as I approach her, having set the needle down on the dresser. I wrap my arms around her.

She sobs in my arms for a moment before sobering. “I’ll help you,” I tell her.

In a move I didn’t think her capable of, she twists in my arms and out of my hold. Something hard presses to my head and I hear the familiar click of a gun being cocked.

“Jesus,” I spit and she pushed me to my knees and forces my arms behind me. “What the fuck is with you bitches today?”

She presses the gun harder to my temple and her eyes meet mine, solid green and focused, pointing right at me. “So fucking gullible.”

“Are you kidding me?” I tell her. “I’m not your enemy, Leslie. If anyone can save your son, it’s me.”

“Yeah, by me killing you.” The gun rattles a little bit.

“Have you ever fired one of those before?” I ask her. I’m trying to distract her. If she wanted to kill me, she’d have pulled the trigger already.

“Shut up,” she snaps.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Sure, I have a gun to my head, what else is fucking new. “I know Gunnar threatened you into doing this. Told you if you didn’t do it, Hunter would pay. I knew before you walked into the bar that this was the plan and I must admit, you gave off a stellar performance, Leslie.”

“Stop calling me that,” she snaps.

“That’s your name, isn’t it?” She doesn’t answer me, I didn’t expect her to. “I really thought you were scared when you approached me tonight, so well done.” I lean into the gun, her eyes widen. I’m not called Loki for nothing. “So if you’re going to kill me, do it. But know this before you do, I’m the only one who knows Hunter is in his hands. I’m the only one who has a pretty good idea where he is and most importantly, if you kill me, no one will help you.”

“Hunter will be safe,” she insists.

“No, Leslie, he won’t. You kill me, you do their dirty work, and how long before they hold Hunter over your head again? Next time it won’t be as simple as taking down an unarmed man. Next time you could get yourself killed in the process.” She doesn’t say anything so I continue, “Think about it. You know I’m right. I’m willing to bet this isn’t the first time they’ve threatened you into doing something you didn’t want to do.” I take a chance, because I need to keep her talking, or at the very least, distracted. “When they kill him, and you know they will, what will you do then? What’s stopping them from killing him, even if you kill me?”

I hear the gun rattle again and I take my shot, grabbing her arm and lowering the gun. It goes off, but it doesn’t hit anything but plaster behind me. “Oh, God,” she cries.

“It’s alright, I’m alright,” I tell her.

“They’re going to kill him.”

“No, they’re not. A gunshot has rung out. You’re going to call them, you’re going to tell them that the job is done. Then you’re going to find out where they’re holding Hunter, or a place to meet to get him back. Do you understand me?” I ask.

She nods, but she’s a million miles away.

I tuck the gun in my jeans and grab her shoulders. “Leslie, look at me,” I tell her with a little shake and her eyes turn to me, but it takes a minute for her to focus. “Did you hear me?” I ask her.

“Call them. Tell them it’s done,” she breathes.

“Then find out how you get Hunter back,” I say again. She nods, her eyes are glazed over, she’s in shock. “I need you to call them, now, Leslie. If there is someone outside, someone that followed you here, they’ve heard the shot. The longer you wait, the more danger you’re putting him in.”

“Okay,” she breathes.

“Where’s your phone?” I ask.

“Purse,” she mutters.

Fuck, this isn’t going to work. I want to slap her, wake her up, but I’m afraid of hurting her. “Leslie?” I snap. She doesn’t move, or even flinch. Fuck. I slap her across the face. It takes a second but she focuses. “There you are,” I say softly.

“Why did you do that?” she asks. Tears fill her eyes.

“Because you’re in shock, Taz. I need you to focus right now.”

“Ohhkay,” she says reluctantly.

“I need you to call them, tell them it’s done and find out where Hunter is or how to get him back. You hear me?”

“Yes,” she says, reaching into her purse for her phone.

I stiffen because I don’t know what else this crazy-ass woman has up her sleeve but she only produces her phone.

She presses a couple buttons and puts the phone to her ear. I lean down, listening.

“It’s done,” she says softly into the phone.

“Good,” Gunnar says on the other end of the phone.

“Where’s my son?” she asks him.

“Patience, bitch. I need you to do something else for me.”

“No,” she snaps into the phone. “I’ve done what you asked me to do, I’ve taken him out. He’s dead, now give me back my son.” The catatonic woman that was standing here a minute ago is no longer here, the mom in her is taking over.

“We’re not done with you yet.”

“Let me talk to Hunter,” she begs. “Let me hear that he’s okay.”

“Mommy, mommy, where are you? I wanna go home.”

She cries, “I’m right here, baby, are you okay? Has he hurt you?”

“I’m scared.” His voice ricochets in my brain. He’s sounds terrified.

“Now, where were we?” Gunnar returns to the line.

“I’ve done what you asked, give me back my son,” she snaps.

“Not until you’ve completed your next task.”

“What do you want from me? Why can’t you do this shit yourself?” she barks into the phone.

“Because it’s much more fun watching you do it. Now, I need you to go to Iron Wings, get that bitch of his and put one in the back of her head.” The line goes dead.

Kiwi.

“When you dance with the devil, the devil always wins,” I mutter. “We’ve got to get you out of here,” I tell her.

“What about Skit?” Tears trickle down her cheeks.

I shake my head. “You’re not touching her,” I tell her. I grab my phone from my cut. There’s a new text from Pyro.

Wow, that was close.

We’ve got a lock on Gunnar’s location. He’s in the old warehouse behind the clubhouse.

Rooster is in his house, waiting for us. We have eyes on him.

Cowboy has eyes on Kiwi. They’re shutting down the bar early. Stay put.

“Now what?” she asks.

“We wait.”

“What the fuck do you mean, we wait?”

Just then my phone buzzes.

It’s a group text to all the guys inside the Angels that we trust.

Amber! Amber!

Hunter Ingles – Taken by Gunnar. Compound Warehouse.

Full alert.

Inbound Rescue.

Standby.

The text went to about twenty members of the Roswell charter and several from Tucson and Boulder. Most of which are still in town. “They’re going after him,” I tell her.

“What do you mean?”

“The club, an Amber has gone out. The guys are in motion. We wait here.”

“No!” She charges past me and I wrap my arm around her waist. “I need to be there when they do.”

“You’ll get yourself killed.” She rights herself. “You’re no good to him if you’re dead,” I remind her. She stops fighting me. “Now, I need you to tell me if Gunnar was with anyone when he approached you today?”

“How’d you know it was today?”

“That’s unimportant. I need to know if he had anyone with him when he did it.”

“No, it was just him.”

“Where?” I ask her.

“In the clubhouse. I’d just left Shifter in one of the back rooms.”

“You didn’t see anyone else?”

“No,” she breathes.

“What time?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Early afternoon, maybe around two, two thirty.”

I turn my phone back on, pulling up Tryke’s number, he answers on the second ring. “We need to go back on the tapes,” I tell him.

“From when?” he asks.

“Today, when Gunnar approached Taz.”

“What do you want to know?” he asks.

“Was anyone else in the hallway, anyone else watching their exchange.”

“No, I checked all the feeds in and around the hallway, the rooms, nothing. Why?”

“I need to know if anyone else has turned against us, working for Gunnar. I need to know if I can get her out of here.”

“There’s no one else there. I canvassed the whole thing. So, unless they have cameras I couldn’t pick up, no one else is there. Inside or out.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Yup, they’re close,” he tells me. “I’ve got eyes on Rooster via camera and on site. If he moves, we’ll know.”

“Thanks,” I say and hang up the phone.

“I want you to get in your car. I want you to go to Iron Wings.” She stiffens. “I want you to stay away from Skit,” I warn her. “I will let Cowboy know you’re coming. If you don’t show up, I will call off the rescue of your son. If you show up and even attempt anything with Kiwi, so help me, God, I will let Gunnar have Hunter. Do you understand me?”

She nods solemnly. “How do I know you won’t hurt him?”

“You’re alive, aren’t you? Unharmed, despite putting a gun to my head?”

“Yesss,” she says shakily.

“Then that’s your answer. You know you don’t put a gun to an Angels’ skull and live to tell the tale. You’ve been around this club long enough to know that.” She nods. “That’s my insurance. See, if I go spouting about your actions here tonight, you’ll have the weight of the Angels coming down on you faster than you can sputter an apology. So, rescuing Hunter is moot. Get me?”

She nods again.

“Good, now get out of here. Get in your car, go straight to Iron Wings and whatever you do, do not step foot on the compound. Hear me?”

“I hear you,” she breathes.

“Go, now,” I bark.

She jumps and scurries from the room. I follow her to the outer door and listen closely to what’s happening outside. I hear her car door shut and the engine turn over. She wastes no time backing out and I hear her engine rev as she goes.

I take a deep breath; my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out, it’s Sticks.

“Yeah?” I say into the phone.

“Jesus, you’ve got brass nuts, man. You alright?” he asks.

“For the moment, what’s going down?”

Sticks kept me on the phone for another minute or so, filling me on the situation. They’re about to move on the warehouse and I want to get there so bad, but I let him go to call Cowboy.

He answers on the second ring. “Yup.”

“Has Taz arrived yet?” I ask.

“Nah, not yet, she coming back here?”

“I told her to get her ass over there, she’s to stay there. She even breathes on Kiwi, you let me know.”

“Kiwi’s not here,” he cuts me off.

“What?” I shout into the phone.

“She left about five minutes ago, said she was going home.”

“Fuck,” I growl and I charge out the door, drawing Taz’s gun from my back just in case.

“I’m coming,” I tell him and disconnect the call.

I try calling Kiwi, but she doesn’t answer. If she’s riding, she wouldn’t.

I fire up my bike, tucking the gun behind me again, and I take off out of the parking lot of Pixie Sticks, headed for Kiwi’s, not Iron Wings.