Blade

 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Her father admitted to everything, revealing even darker secrets than we had expected to find. I had failed to realize just how far her father was willing to go to get rid of her child. I was floored. I should have called the guys in right there. I should have given the word for them to take the house then, but I didn’t realize he had more up his sleeve than just running his mouth and admitting everything to her.

 

He grabbed the phone and took me off speaker. I could still hear what sounded like a small scuffle in the background. Something was going down as he told me I’d never see her again. I hung up the phone and called Robby.

 

“Everyone in. Now,” I said when Robby answered the phone. I cranked up the car and drove around the corner back to her driveway.

 

I pulled into the yard with the guys right behind me. Surely, the whole neighborhood heard our motorcycles. It had to be embarrassing to live in such an uptight neighborhood with a bunch of bikers pulling into the yard and storming the house.

 

I had my piece drawn when I left the car. My brothers brandished their weapons, as well, as they left their bikes. Robby, Brick, and Hatchet directed guys all over the house. There were a few that followed me into the house itself. Some of them took the stairs while the rest of us stayed downstairs. A few guys stood guard out front. A few more took to the backyard.

 

“Clear,” Robby called from upstairs.

 

“Clear,” I muttered downstairs. I opened the back door, and Brick turned to me.

 

“Clear,” he said, shrugging as the men with him secured the rear of the house.

 

Then, from the front I heard Hatchet. “We got cops.”

 

“Guns away, guys,” Brick called to the men in the backyard with him. They all put their guns away.

 

“Guns,” I told the men standing inside with me, and they holstered theirs, as well.

 

I heard shouting as the cops stormed the yard first. Then, I heard their feet entering the house.

 

“Guys, cooperate,” I told my brothers. We all had our hands up by the time the cops came around the corner to find us in the back.

 

“Get the fuck down,” someone shouted with guns pointed in our faces.

 

I took a deep breath and did as I was told. It wasn’t time to fight back. It was time to cooperate and get the fuck out of there to find where Lucy’s father was taking her. Everyone followed my lead, getting down onto their knees, then onto their stomachs.

 

“You armed?” the same cop asked as others ran out back.

 

“I think we all are. Yes, sir,” I told him. There was no sense in lying. They were liable to search us anyway.

 

“Who am I kidding? Of course you are.” He laughed.

 

I glanced up to watch him. He stood in front of us alone. He kept an eye on the guys in the back.

 

“I know why you’re here,” he said.

 

“I know you do,” I told him.

 

“Right. Well, you boys need to get on home before someone gets hurt. Mr. Smithfield and his daughter aren’t coming back any time soon,” he said, like he was basically performing security detail for Bryan Smithfield. He wasn’t answering a call. He was answering the pay.

 

Once they made sure the house was secure and we had been delayed, they escorted us back outside the house. The same cop who had addressed me in the dining room locked the front door behind him and walked back up in front of us. I stood next to Brick and Hatchet. We held our hands in front of us so the cops could see that we weren’t reaching for our weapons.

 

“You’re free to go,” he said. “My men will wait until you leave the property.”

 

“I guess we go,” Brick said to me lowly.

 

“Yeah, I guess so,” I agreed.

 

The police had only meant to hold us up. They could have charged us with any number of crimes if they had just wanted to, but they weren’t really all that worried about us. That told me Bryan had something big planned. We had to stop him.

 

“Let’s regroup at the clubhouse,” Brick said as we walked away from the cop.

 

I nodded and hopped in my car while the rest of the guys climbed onto their bikes. I cranked up my car as bike after bike roared to life on the lawn of the Smithfield house. The cops just stood around and watched, trying to look intimidating. They were failing miserably, coming across as aggravating and pretentious instead.

 

We rode back to the clubhouse. Out of protest, everyone parked their bikes outside so any cops who wanted to give us a hard time about them would see them clearly from the road as they came by. Usually, as many motorcycles as possible would go inside, and only the ones that didn’t fit would be outside. The guys filled the lot around the building with their motorcycles.

 

“So, he’s not just tipping them off,” Brick said as he walked past me, going into the building.

 

“No, it seems like he’s got them on his payroll,” I said absently, turning away from the mass of bikes outside to follow him in.

 

He called a meeting of the senior members of the MC and walked to the boardroom. Robby and I followed. Hatchet came in behind us. Hammer and Sketch walked in behind him, closing the door. We all sat around the table.

 

“All right, we could have trouble here,” Brick said, standing where his chair should have been. He’d pushed it back.

 

I looked around the table. Everyone nodded in agreement.

 

“We need to take this Bryan Smithfield down. He poses a threat. As long as he has all the power he does, he’s a threat. He has lawyers, judges, and the cops on his payroll. This guy’s one person, but he makes what we do look like child’s play. He’s far too connected, and it’s going to become a problem. Blade, I know we agreed to let you and Lucy handle this, but it’s a bigger problem now. He has targeted all of us,” Brick said.

 

“Fine by me,” I said, sitting back in my chair. “It’s time for us to do something about him as a group.”

 

“Anyone?” Brick asked.

 

I knew I had to figure out where he was taking Lucy, and I knew the longer we were out of the loop, the farther away they were going to get. I failed to see how sitting in a meeting was going to help me do that.

 

When no one answered, presumably because they all felt the same way I did, I sighed heavily.

 

“You got something, Blade?” he asked me.

 

“First thing we need to do is figure out where he’s going,” I told him. “Where is Bryan taking Lucy?”

 

I looked around the room at the faces staring back at me. No one else knew as much about what was going on as I did. They were all there for support. Robby was probably the only one who had any real clue. He’d spent time with both of us.

 

“He kicked her out because of the baby, right?” Robby asked.

 

“That’s the story,” I told him.

 

“If he kicked her out, why the hell does he keep trying to interfere?” Hatchet snapped. “Why not just let her go?” He was just saying what we were all thinking.

 

“That’s a good point, Hatchet,” I agreed. “I think he’s trying to get rid of the kid. I mean, you guys didn’t hear what I heard on the phone.”

 

Then it hit me. I stopped talking and slammed my hand on the table, sitting forward.

 

“He said she was supposed to lose the baby at the hospital. I’m assuming the doctors told him she was there and he told them what to do. Fortunately, they have procedures and laws governing their behavior, so they weren’t able to do it. Plus, Robby, having you there helped. Apparently, you intimidated them into doing their jobs the right way just by being present.”

 

“That’s my job,” he said with a satisfied smile on his face.

 

“Well, that means her father has to find another way to get rid of that baby,” I said.

 

“You think he’s going to take her to the abortion clinic?” Brick asked.

 

“Isn’t she too far along?” Robby asked.

 

“Does it matter?” I asked him, raising my eyebrows.

 

Robby’s jaw hit the floor as he realized what I was saying. No one else seemed to be following except maybe Brick.

 

“He’s probably going to pay off one of the doctors to handle things, regardless,” I said, choking on the words.

 

“That’s sick, man,” Brick chimed in.

 

“I know, but that seems to be who we’re dealing with,” I told him.

 

“Who is this guy?” Sketch asked, astonishment thick in his voice.

 

I shook my head. “All I know is he’s my old lady’s father, and he has gone from ultra-conservative asshole to psycho since he found out she was pregnant and involved with a member of a motorcycle club.”

 

“Not just any MC, now,” Brick said with a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t downplay our reputation, son. We’re the Vicious Thrills. That means something.”

 

“Yeah, and apparently that means a lot to Bryan Smithfield, as well,” I said.

 

“Don’t worry. We’ll get her,” Robby assured me. “I’ll get some guys together. We need to get ready to go. If he’s paying a doctor to perform an abortion without any questions, he’s probably not going to have to wait very long for the procedure to get underway.”

 

“Right.” I watched as the big man left the room and looked back at Brick, who was still holding my shoulder.

 

“Don’t worry. We’ll handle it,” he said.

 

“I’m going, too,” I told him. “First, we need to make some phone calls. I don’t want the police interfering with us this time. We need to go over their heads to stop him.”

 

“You thinking the Sheriff?” Brick asked in his thoughtful, scratchy voice.

 

“No, I’m thinking higher. Chances are, he’s got someone there, too. And at the state.” I watched Brick’s face as he tried to follow me but couldn’t.

 

“You’re talking about the FBI?” Hatchet asked. “What are they supposed to be investigating if they come after him?”

 

“Tax evasion? Human trafficking? I don’t know. We can give them something,” I said, and I wondered if there was anything already on the books for Bryan Smithfield. Surely, there had to be something. Guys like that didn’t usually make it to his stature without something shady going on.

 

“Call Liza,” Brick said. “She’ll help you come up with something. Hell, she’s probably got connections that run that high.”

 

“Nice. Yeah, I’ll give her a call.” I didn’t want to admit that I hadn’t checked in with her since leaving jail. I hadn’t wanted to talk about my case, but if this worked, I wasn’t going to have to talk about my case. Charges were going to be dropped once someone got ahold of this man.

 

“In the meantime, the rest of you go down with Robby,” Brick said, addressing the other three members still sitting at the table.

 

“Right.” Hatchet got up and took Hammer and Sketch with him.

 

I got up to leave, as well. I needed to make that call to Liza.

 

Brick grabbed my shoulder again, stopping me. His touch always felt so fatherly. It demanded my full attention and obedience. “Be careful, Blade,” he said. “This man seems unpredictable. I mean, he has a one-track mind, but I don’t trust how he’ll react when we finally confront him.”

 

“Don’t worry. If this works, we won’t be alone,” I told him. I left the room and pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was time to see what Liza could do.