Chapter 5

Eagle

Even distracted with worry for Silk, I still felt a jolt roll through me as I walked into Church for the first time. Normally only patched in members were allowed in this sacred room. I glanced around as others came in and settled into seats. The club insignia was carved into a huge hunk of wood that hung on the back wall. A short table with five seats sat below it. The president, vice president, secretary, treasurer all sat in their seats. The sergeant in arms wasn’t here yet. I sat silently waiting as the rest of the club sat their asses down.

Taz and Mac came in together and sat on either side of me. I looked to Taz first.

“Any news?”

He shook his head. “Not yet, but they’re definitely interested.”

Fuck, I hoped that meant the FBI was going to help us take these bastards down. I knew we were supposed to be the ones helping them out, but I could really use their expertise on this one.

“Mac?”

“Yeah, I got something, but how about I wait five and tell everyone together?”

I wasn’t waiting five minutes. “Go tell Scout you got information. He’ll sort this shit out so we can get started in less than five.”

Mac rose and made his way up to the front, then leaned in to speak with Scout. The president’s eyes narrowed a moment before he nodded. Then he rose and hit his hammer down on the table.

“Everyone, sit down and shut the fuck up. We don’t have time to fuck around today.” He gave the club less than thirty seconds to sit. “Silk’s been taken. Went down less than half hour ago. Eagle was guarding her shop and put a couple bullets in the bastard, but they still got away. Most of you know, Eagle, Taz and Mac were marines, and that’s why, even though they’re still prospects, they’re in on this. Right. Mac? What have you got for us?”

Mac stood in front of the club looking as confident as ever. He stood at six-feet-three, with his clean shaven head, a closely cropped beard, and two half sleeve tattoos, he looked like what he was, a deadly fighter you didn’t want to fucking mess with.

“After I heard the mob up in L.A. was sniffing around looking for Silk, I put out some feelers to see if I could figure out why they wanted her. I haven’t found out a whole lot yet since I only started looking into things about an hour ago, but they definitely want her alive and unharmed.”

Before Mac could continue, the door slammed open and Nitro, the sergeant in arms came in behind a woman who looked like she was about to pee herself. He casually led the woman to the front of the room and pulled a spare seat forward and placed it in front of the table facing sideways, so everyone could see her face.

“Sit.”

At Nitro’s growled command, she dropped into the chair without wasting a second. Her wide eyes focusing on Scout.

“Wanna tell us the truth to why you’ve been sniffing around Silk?”

The woman frowned. “Silk is Claudine, yes?”

“Do not fuck with me, woman. You’re a reporter. I’m sure you had that worked out long ago. What did you come after her for?”

Ah, so this was the reporter that set all this shit in motion.

“Like I told your colleague here, I had nothing to do with her being kidnapped. I only wanted to interview her.”

“As a club, we generally stick with a rule of not ever hurting women. But with one of ours gone God knows where, we may rethink that rule if you don’t start fucking telling me something useful right now.”

“I’m trying to explain! Look, with the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, I wanted to find a new angle to report on. I found it last month. Turns out Claudine’s father’s bag missed his flight. He tried to take it as a carry on, but it was too heavy so they forced him to check it.” She shrugged. “Typically, it missed the flight as they didn’t get it checked and out to the plane in time. It was put in with the next flight’s baggage. In the aftermath of the attacks, no one gave it any attention. It was tossed into the lost baggage room at LAX. I figured doing a story on Claudine getting her father’s personal effects back after all this time would make a good article. Of course, when you wouldn’t let me near her, I had to rethink how I was going to write it. But I managed to come up with something. Clearly, the mob still has people in the media on their payroll because not an hour after I emailed my proposed article to my boss, I had a visitor who told me my life depended on getting Claudine back to L.A., to them. Apparently they really want whatever is in that bag.

“And you knew nothing about them snatching her this afternoon?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t. Not until your man here came and grabbed me. They’ve been calling me daily, and I keep telling them that she’s under your club’s protection and I can’t get anywhere near her.”

Bulldog thumped the table. “Fuck.”

Scout squeezed his VP’s shoulder before turning back to the reporter. “What are you expected to do now?”

“I go back to L.A. and hope I wake up breathing tomorrow morning. I somehow doubt they’ll want any media present when she goes to get that bag.”

I stood and moved to stand near Mac at the front of the room. Scout raised an eyebrow at me before he turned to Nitro and told him to take the reporter back to wherever the hell he’d found her. I waited for her to be out of the room before I spoke.

“That’s the best chance we have to getting her back. At the airport.”

Mac shook his head. “It won’t be that simple. LAX is fucking huge and there’s cops and security all over the damn place. Especially this close to the 9/11 anniversary.”

I frowned. “That’s the only place we know where she’ll be. We need to grab her either before she gets the bag for them, or straight after. If they want her to get this bag, they won’t touch her until they have it. No way will it not raise flags if some woman beat to shit is trying to pick up a bag that’s been sitting there for fifteen years. But there’s no saying what the fuck they’ll do after they have what they want from her.”

Scout frowned at me and Mac for a moment before he turned to Keys, the club secretary who earned his road name thanks to his hobby of hacking into shit.

“You got any video feed on that car? Plate number?”

“It’s owned by a rental company in L.A., and the details on the rental agreement are fake. The vehicle stopped briefly at a pharmacy on the outskirts of town, then headed straight for the highway. They’re not wasting time getting her to L.A.”

“Right, let’s get this shit planned out now, then we move out. Tonight.”

I folded my arms over my chest and focused in on the discussion. I might have failed to prevent Silk from being taken, but I vowed to be the one that saved her. It would be by my fucking hands that made sure the bastard who took her paid dearly for it.

Silk

With a groan I blinked open my eyes and wished I hadn’t bothered. Pushing past the ache in my head and my dry mouth, I rolled over on a lumpy mattress that stunk bad enough I was fighting to not throw up. Needing to get away from the stench, I shuffled toward the edge and sat with my feet on the floor. I was a little surprised to discover I wasn’t tied up, until I glanced around my cell. Bars covered a small window high up the wall. They also filled the doorway. I wasn’t going anywhere. There was a small sink in the corner next to a stainless steel toilet bowl. The full jail experience. Charming.

My lower belly cramped in demand, as though I hadn’t peed in a week. I rose on shaky legs, and stumbled a few steps before my muscles got with the program. Keeping an eye on the door, I used the toilet quickly, then washed my hands and splashed some water on my face before drinking a few mouthfuls from my cupped palms. Thankfully the sink, toilet and water were all clean.

With my dry throat eased and my full bladder relieved, I took in the room once more. Not that I honestly expected to find an escape had magically appeared in the last few minutes, but it would have been nice, and worth a try. With a wince, I made my way back to the mattress. I didn’t want to sit on the cold concrete floor, and my muscles still weren’t working one-hundred percent. Guess they didn’t appreciate having electricity jolted through them. I hoped that if I kept my head up, away from the mattress, the smell wouldn’t be too bad. With that in mind, I sat against the wall, brought my knees up in front of me and rested my head on them, closing my eyes.

Fear crept up my spine as images of what could happen to me filled my mind. A moan slipped free as a shudder racked my body when I heard movement at the doorway. Turning my face, I watched as a different man than one that kidnapped me entered and shut the door behind him with a metallic clunk sound. There went the idea of rushing past him. Not that it would have worked any better this time, than the last time I tried it.

“I’ve brought you some food.”

His Italian accent was heavy, as though he either hadn’t been out of Italy for long, or he spoke his native language enough that his accent had stuck. I suspected the latter was the case. I lifted my head and cocked an eyebrow at him. Like I’d trust it wasn’t drugged or something? Between how empty my stomach was and the headache I was currently sporting, I’d guessed they’d already drugged me at least once, to keep me out longer than the Taser would have on its own.

Sensing my question, he lowered the tray to the end of the bed. “It’s all in sealed packets so you know it’s not been tampered with. We have no desire to hurt you, Claudine.”

“Sorry, but I find that hard to believe after you’ve already had me Tasered and drugged.”

I bit my tongue to stop myself from sassing him any further. I really didn’t want to piss him off but I was scared, and when I was uncomfortable in any way, I tended to lash out.

“I apologize for that. We’d sent a reporter to speak to you about coming to L.A. with her, but that club of yours wouldn’t let her anywhere near you and my patience ran out. Keeping you unconscious was the safest way to bring you to where we needed you to be.”

Lifting my head, I frowned up at him in confusion. He was being extremely polite and wasn’t trying to intimidate or threaten me at all.

“I don’t understand why I’m here.”

He glanced at the mattress, curled his lip, then strode over to the door and left for a moment. He returned with a folding chair that he placed across from me before sitting on it.

“My name is Antonio Sabella. Perhaps your father mentioned my family on occasion?”

I shook my head. “I was twelve when he died, still a child. He didn’t tell me anything about what he did for work. In fact, I didn’t even know what his occupation was, let alone what it involved.”

Antonio nodded. “He did lots of things. Mostly illegal. He took something from my family and we require it to be returned. We’d thought it lost in the crash but we’ve recently come to learn his bag missed his flight.”

I stilled. “I’m sorry but that can’t be right. He only ever took a carry-on bag when he flew. I know that much because he used to rant over how often bags got lost or people behind the scenes at the airport went through and took things they shouldn’t.”

He smiled at me. “The reporter who found this information for us was told his bag was too heavy for him to take on board so he was forced to check it in. And as he told you, baggage regularly gets misplaced. As his bag was that day.”

“It’s been fifteen years. Surely it’s been thrown out by now?”

“LAX is a big airport and things get pushed to the side and forgotten about. I assure you, it’s safely stored in the baggage claim room at LAX. Once they worked out what flight it was from, they contacted the media to assist in finding its owner. Normally, they would send it to auction, but some kind soul thought a next of kin would like the bag.”

My eyes stung with emotion. What would be in that bag? I knew Antonio thought it contained something belonging to him, but I wanted to know what else it contained. Seeing those things he took everywhere with him would hurt, but to have those small parts of his life in my possession–it was a temptation I couldn’t resist. I wanted that bag.

“If I go with you to get this bag, you’ll take what you believe is yours and the rest is mine to keep? You’ll let me go?”

He shrugged one shoulder in an elegant manner. “That depends on what we find. We may need your help for a little longer. We suspect he put our belongings in a safe deposit box and we hope the key will be in the bag. If that’s the case, we’ll have need of your services to retrieve that box. Then, you will be free to go with the remainder of your father’s belongings.”

I frowned at him. “How can I trust you?”

“If I meant you harm, I would have done so already, my dear. I have no desire to hurt you. Your father is dead, he paid for his crimes against my family. My family is not seeking further payment for what he did, I simply want what is mine, returned to me. That is all.”

I spoke softly, not sure whether I truly believed him that I would walk away unharmed from all this. “If you really want this to end peacefully, you need to let me call my uncle. The club will come for me and it won’t end well if they believe I’m going to be harmed.”

He stood and folded the chair. “I’ve already contacted your uncle. How he chooses to proceed is his choice, but some pissant southern MC is no threat to us. If they come, we will deal with them appropriately. I’ll leave you to eat in peace. We’ll be heading to the airport in about thirty minutes.”

With that parting statement he left me alone to ponder what the hell was going to happen with the rest of my day. The fact rape and torture didn’t look like it was going to be a part of it was certainly a huge relief. But I still had my doubts if I’d remain unharmed once Antonio had whatever he wanted out of that bag.