Jess listened to the commotion at the stop of the stairs and tried to open the door again, but something heavy was against it. “Angela?” she called, wanting to make sure her friend was okay. “Angela?” she called again when there was no answer.

 

She heard some thumps and bangs, then the door opened and Jason was standing there. “Save your breath. She’s gone. What the fuck was going on, and why the fuck are you always in the middle of trouble? Val should kick your ass!”

 

“Why don’t you come down here and try it, you little shit!”

 

Jason started down the steps toward her and she went cold in fear, backing down an equal number of steps. Compared to most of the Grim Angels, Jason was a small man, but he was still bigger than she was, and probably stronger, too. Before she could decide how to react, he stopped, just two steps into the basement.

 

“No. Val said you weren’t to be touched. But if that ever changes, maybe I will find out what made Scott turn his back on the club. It must be some good pussy.” He smiled nastily, then climbed the two steps back up and shut the door.

 

Jess retreated back to the basement and stood, shaking with rage. She started by tipping over the video games then throwing pool balls at the television, pinball machine and beer cooler until she had smashed all the glass out of them. She ripped down all the paintings and used a large shard of glass from the pinball machine to cut open the couch, chair and the felt on the pool table. She then pulled all the beer out of the cooler and threw the bottles against the wall until they were all broken before taking a pool cue to the light above the pool table, smashing its brightly colored shade.

 

By the time she was finished she was panting, sweating, and had broken everything she could find to break. Val might keep her locked in this fucking basement, but he was going to pay dearly for it. She heard the thump of boots on steps and she looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. I have to get out of here!

 

She picked up the shard of glass she had used on the pool table and furniture and held it at her side, out of sight.

 

“What the fuck!” Marc bellowed. “You stupid bitch! Val is going to kill you!”

 

“Good! Anything beats staying locked in this basement!”

 

Marc glared at her. “You’re going to have to clean this mess up.”

 

“Fuck you, fuck Val, and fuck all the Grim Angels,” she screamed, picking up a pool ball and throwing it at him. She had to throw it left-handed because she held the glass in her right, and she was surprised when it hit him.

 

“Goddamnit, Jess!” he bellowed while stomping toward her as she picked up another ball. The second ball missed when he ducked, and he grabbed her hand as she drew back to throw a third.

 

She swung the glass in a swishing downward arc, burying it deep in his left shoulder, feeling the glass glance off something hard as it penetrated. Marc roared as he stumbled back and she chased after him to bury the glass in his shoulder again. He screamed in pain, putting up his right hand as she pulled the glass out and tried to drive it in a third time. His hand deflected her strike, the glass cutting his right hand and left arm. She threw the glass down and charged for the steps, but she made it up less than halfway when Greg and Jason appeared and pounded down the steps into the basement.

 

“What have you done?” Jason bellowed, chasing Jess down the steps. When they reached the bottom, he could see Marc standing there, stooped as he bled profusely from this left shoulder, the blood seeping out between his fingers as his left arm hung limp.

 

“I can’t move my arm,” Marc said meekly.

 

“You fucking bitch!” Greg snarled as he shoved past her to look at Marc. “Hang in there, Veep. We’re going to get you some help.”

 

“I can’t feel my arm,” Marc repeated softly.

 

“It’s going to be okay. Just hang in there,” Greg repeated. “Call an ambulance,” he barked to Jake when he appeared at the bottom of the steps. “Jess stabbed Marc.”

 

“You’re going to pay for this,” Jason muttered under his breath. “I promise you that. The only reason you’re not dead right now is Val doesn’t want you hurt. But that may change when he and Jodi get back from Kalamazoo tomorrow.”

 

Still jacked up on adrenaline, Jess sneered at him. “When you think you’re man enough.”

 

Jason drew his hand back as if to strike, but held the blow when she cringed away. “That’s what I thought. Not as tough as you act.”

 

***

 

“Don’t talk, listen!” Rick’s hushed voice came over Scott’s phone. “She’s here, in the basement. I’ll try to slip away and call you later.” And just like that, Rick was gone.

 

“She’s at Val’s house,” Scott said, still staring at his phone.

 

“We should go to the police,” Ron said.

 

Scott thought about it, admitting to himself that Ron had a point. The cops could bring a lot more manpower to bear, and had the weight of law on their side. But on the other hand, when Val snatched her from their home, he made it personal. “Yeah, maybe,” Scott said slowly, still thinking it over.

 

“What do you mean maybe?”

 

“I’m just trying to think it through, Ron. Give me a minute. I know how these guys think and I’m trying to think of all the ways this could go wrong.”

 

“How could it go wrong? The cops show up, find Jessica, and rescue her. Val and his gang go to jail for kidnapping. Simple.”

 

“Ron, this isn’t television, okay? What if Val has a stooge with the police? We call the cops, he tips Val, cops show up, and no Jess. Then we will have lost her again.”

 

“Does that really happen?” Ron asked, his disbelief clear in his voice.

 

“Think about it. They sure as hell didn’t find us by accident. The Grim Angels have a lot of resources, and yes, it happens. We had a couple of officers that were…friendly…with the club in Atlanta. Would they cover for us on a kidnapping? No, probably not. But they could help with minor problems with the law. In exchange, we would sometimes help them.”

 

“Help them…how?”

 

“Let’s just say that we helped them, and they helped us and leave it at that, okay?”

 

Ron thought for a moment. “You know, I hate this shit.”

 

Scott smiled sadly. “Yeah, me, too. It’s not supposed to be like this. It didn’t used to be like this.”

 

“So you think you can take on Val by yourself?”

 

“I don’t know. I need to think about it. Maybe I will call some brothers up from Atlanta, then we can have a right good old-fashioned family get together.”

 

“Scott, I like you, but I can’t be involved in a gang war.”

 

“Don’t worry. You won’t be. Just let me think about—” He paused as Jess’s phone began to ring in the bedroom. He frowned as he rose from the couch, setting aside his beer, to go answer her phone. The last caller to her phone was the manager at McDonald’s, wanting to know why she hadn’t shown up for work.

 

“Angela?” he asked when he saw the name on the screen.

 

“Scott? Is that you?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Thank god! Scott, Kat told me what happened and that Jess was here! She’s locked in the basement of Val’s house.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

“You need to do something!”

 

“Angela, I’m working on it, but I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants here.”

 

“I talked to Ed. He wants to help.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Because this has gone too far. This isn’t what the Angels are about. Kidnapping the old ladies of members because the President doesn’t approve? That’s just fucked up. There are four others that feel the same way. We want to help Jess.”

 

Scott though it over for a moment. “Can you send me the phone numbers of the brothers that want to help? I need to know what I have to work with.”

 

“Two minutes,” Angela said and then she was gone. A moment later, Jess’s phone began to chime with the arrival of text messages. When the last of the texts arrived, there were five names and numbers. Counting himself and Rick, that gave him a total of seven brothers to work with, and he hoped that would be enough.