Blade

 

“You’re out,” the cop at my cell door said as he slid the bars aside to let me out.

 

“I’m out?”

 

“Yes, your bail has been posted. You’re free.”

 

I stood up and started to walk toward the open cell door. “I didn’t even know the judge had set bail,” I said, suspicious that I was being set up.

 

“He set it this morning. Your lawyer must have convinced him somehow. Anyway, it’s been posted. You can’t stay. It’s time to go,” the officer explained.

 

I cautiously walked out of the cell and walked down the hallway to get my personal belongings before leaving. It seemed he was not setting me up for anything. I really was free to go. I grabbed my personal things up front and started toward the door. That was when I saw Robby waiting for me just outside.

 

“Come on. Let’s get in the truck. I’ve got some things to tell you,” Robby said, patting me on the back with one of his large hands.

 

“I don’t like the sound of that,” I told him as I walked with him out to the truck and climbed in the passenger side.

 

“You’re really not going to like it when I tell you.” He climbed in and started the engine.

 

My heart sank. Something had happened. “What is it?” I asked as I pulled the seatbelt across my chest and he pulled out of the parking spot.

 

“Lucy is missing.”

 

He’d just said three simple words, but they crushed me. I had been expecting to see her as soon as I got out. I had hoped to be able to check on her when I got home.

 

“Missing how?” I asked. My first thought was that her father had come and taken her somehow. I tried not to be immediately angry with Robby or my younger brothers. They’d all been tasked with watching her, but I didn’t know what happened, so there was no way to put it off on them.

 

“I took her to the house to grab a few things, and from what I could tell, she dipped out while I was waiting on her to come back out,” he explained.

 

“You don’t think someone kidnapped her?” I asked.

 

“How? She was in the house alone,” he told me.

 

I felt certain, just like Robby did, that no one else had been in the house at the time. It would have been impossible. Still, after everything, it seemed incredibly unlikely that she would have just left like that. I didn’t want to believe it. I almost wanted to believe she’d been taken from my house instead.

 

“Did you check the house?” I asked him. I needed someone to be mad at for it. Robby would have made an easy target, even though I really knew better.

 

“No, but tell me, would you have checked your house before letting her into it?” he snapped.

 

“You’re right, Robby. I’m sorry, man. I just can’t believe she’d run off like that,” I told him.

 

“I looked all over the house. If she was still in there and just hiding, she’s good.” He chuckled.

 

Robby and a few other guys had helped me comb the club for drugs after letting go of some of the girls. I had seen how thorough he could be. If he said he looked for someone in my house, I knew he had.

 

“Does the rest of the MC know she’s missing?” I asked.

 

“Yeah. I’ve got everyone looking for her. No one has been able to turn up anything.”

 

“How in the hell does someone disappear so completely?” I asked him. Of course, she could have had some help, I thought.

 

“Want me to drop you by the house or take you to the clubhouse?” he asked.

 

“Drop me at the house. I’ll head to the clubhouse later. Tell Brick I want to talk to him about what we’re going to do about Bryan Smithfield, Lucy’s father,” I told him.

 

When he let me out of the truck at my house, I went inside immediately and started looking for Lucy myself. I wanted to find some clue as to where she’d gone or why she’d left. I didn’t notice anything anywhere in the house. Nothing was out of place.

 

Then, it occurred to me to look in my closet. I had told her about the emergency cash I kept hidden behind the false panel in the wall at the end of the shelf on top of my clothes. If she’d left the way she supposedly did, she would have taken that money.

 

I pulled the panel back and, sure enough, the gun lay there undisturbed, but the money was gone. I closed the panel and started looking around the rest of the room. I found a note on my desk from her. Her beautiful handwriting stretched out across plain white paper.

 

My love,

 

I’m sorry I had to take your emergency cash. I will pay you back as soon as I’m able to. I hope to be able to tell you one day why I have to leave this way. I’m sorry, but it’s for the best. It’s not your fault, and it’s nothing you did.

 

Lucy.

 

The note was short and sweet, and it told me enough to know she’d gone on her own. She hadn’t been kidnapped or taken away by anybody. She’d made the decision herself to leave. I just had to figure out why she’d gone.

 

I pulled out my phone and called her. I took for granted that she had taken the phone with her. I had no real reason to expect her to actually have it on her, and I had even less reason to expect her to answer it, but I did.

 

“Lucy, it’s me, Blade. Call me back when you get this message. We need to talk.”

 

Lucy was my only chance at getting to her father and getting beyond all this crap he was doing to me. I needed her to answer the phone. I needed her to call me back. I called a few more times, but I didn’t leave any other voicemails. I figured the first one was enough.

 

After I stopped trying to reach her, I called Robby.

 

“You find anything?” he said when he picked up.

 

“Yeah, she left on her own. I don’t know how she got out or where she went, but she’s out there somewhere. No one took her,” I told him.

 

“How the hell did she get past me?” he asked. I could hear the astonishment in his voice. “My back was only turned for a moment.”

 

“Gotcha. She’s easy to underestimate, brother. Don’t beat yourself up.” I was reminded of how I had underestimated her when she came into the strip club the first time, but she’d proven me wrong with ease. She could dance. She was good at it. She would have made bank if I’d let her take the stage.

 

“I’m really sorry, Blade. What do you want me to do?” he asked.

 

“Nothing. Just stay on standby. I’m trying to reach her. She went somewhere, and you’ve already had guy out looking for her with no luck. I don’t know how much luck I’m going to have either.”

 

“She’s something else, isn’t she?”

 

“You have no idea, Robby. For being so sheltered, she’s really independent and resourceful. I’m sure she’s going to continue surprising us before it’s all said and done.” We laughed, and I hung up the phone.

 

I texted her.

 

“Call me. I need your help.”

 

I knew my name would come up on the phone with the text. I hoped she had it on her. Her phone was the only way we had to reach her or locate her. She didn’t have any cards, so there was no way to trace her through her accounts. With only cash, she was going to be nearly impossible to find, but I figured we’d luck out at some point. We always did.

 

I thought about calling Liza to help us find her. She wasn’t a private investigator, but she was good at tracking people down. She had connections. She was a good one to have on our side for more reasons than just her abilities as a lawyer.

 

I wasn’t ready to talk to her just yet. Any call I made to her was going to wind up on the case, and it wasn’t time to talk about the case. It was time to find Lucy, get her back with us, and figure out a plan of attack against her father. Using her, of course.

 

I told myself I wasn’t going to keep calling Lucy, but I called her a few more times. If she still had her phone, I wanted my name and number to come up enough times to convince her to answer.

 

In between calls to Lucy’s phone, I grabbed a few things to take to the clubhouse with me. I was going to stay there for a few days while I worked with Liza to establish my defense. Once news made it to Mr. Smithfield that I was free, it wasn’t going to be safe for me to be alone at the house. I didn’t know what else he would try, if anything, but I knew he was capable of pulling just about any stunt he tried. He had people who could help him pull anything off.

 

I grabbed my things and hopped in the Charger to head over. I wanted to be on my bike. I needed the power and freedom it brought with it, but I also needed to be ready to right out to get Lucy the minute I got ahold of her. Once I knew where she was, I was going to bring her back myself.

 

On the way to the clubhouse, I kept my phone plugged into its charger with the ringer turned up, and I kept my eyes on the rearview, making sure I wasn’t being followed. I didn’t know who would be out looking for me. I didn’t know who would be waiting for me anywhere, but I didn’t want to take any chances either.

 

Brick and Hatchet greeted me with Robby at the door of the clubhouse when I pulled up a few minutes later. I slid my phone in my pocket after trying to call her again and not getting an answer, again.

 

“Any word?” Brick asked me.

 

“Nothing, but I’m ready. When she calls, I’ll be on my way to get her, wherever she is,” I told him as I walked inside.

 

Hatchet pulled the door shut behind us.

 

“We’re keeping the place locked down until all of this blows over,” Brick told me. “It’s only a matter of time before her father’s reach expands to grab the whole MC.”

 

“Right. I’m sorry I got us into this, brother,” I told my president.

 

“Are you kidding? Man, this isn’t shit. I’ve gotten us into more trouble than this, and you would think your founder and president would be smart enough to avoid trouble with the law. Well, I wasn’t always that smart,” he said with a laugh, dismissing my concern.

 

“We’ll wait it out,” Robby told me. “Until we can find either Lucy or her father. Then, of course, we’ll do what needs to be done.”

 

His voice was menacing. Robby didn’t play around when it came to problems. He liked to handle them the best way he knew how: with his size and strength. I saw it in his eyes – he wasn’t in the mood to play around with people like Bryan Smithfield.

 

“Well, we don’t know what all is going on right now,” I told them both. “First order of business is finding Lucy. Her note said she left on her own, but I’m starting to suspect her father is behind it, even if he didn’t actually take her himself.”

 

“I’m going to let this be your call for now,” Brick told me. “But if he comes after the MC, we’re going to eliminate him.” He patted me on the back and walked away, leaving me standing with Robby in the middle of the room.

 

I looked over at Robby and saw a serious look on his face. He was on the same page as our president. I knew if we went after Mr. Smithfield without handling my personal situation first, I was done for. There wouldn’t have been any way to stop a conviction if the person who had put everyone up to it was eliminated.