Saxton stared at his phone in his hand. He shook with anger and terror. Carter had her and would kill her. His own sister? He was dealing with a mad man, then. Anything might happen.
He had to get to her and fast. He couldn’t be certain if the place he was told to go was where she was being held or not. If Carter was smart, it was a different spot. If he was as cocky as Saxton suspected, it would be where she was. Maybe he’d make Sara watch as he killed Saxton. Or tried to. No way was this asshole going to get away with any of this. The Jagged Souls were about to take a stand.
Saxton called Crasher. “We have a situation. I need as many Jagged Souls as possible at headquarters in ten minutes.”
He hung up, hopped on his bike, and rode. This time, he had to bring his phone. Carter might call again with further instructions, and he couldn’t take the chance of missing it. There was no time to build an alibi. He’d have to risk it and take the chance that he was leaving a trail, and would have no good answer if something went down and the cops asked him where he’d been.
The cops were the least of his concerns at the moment. All he could think about was getting to Sara and getting her to safety. His Jagged Souls would be a huge help. In fact, going into a trap like this, there was no way he’d survive without them. With their help, he might stand a chance of getting Sara and Ian and making it through himself without too much injury. At this point, he didn’t care about himself, though. He only cared about getting them to safety.
The sudden intense terror in him was undeniable. Whatever he was feeling for her, he could no longer downplay it. He felt like his chest was on fire and his heart was going to implode as he thought of what was happening to her now. And if she was hurt, he didn’t know what he would do. There would be serious repercussions, that was for sure. He’d kill every Cruel Crow he came across if there was so much as a hair missing from her head. And maybe he’d even torture them first if he had time. Beat them a little to get his anger out.
He pressed harder on his bike’s gas petal and turned sharply. The headquarters came into view after a minute. His bike’s engine was barely shut off before he was jumping off and running inside. He threw the door open and looked around the room.
He’d called Crasher fifteen minutes ago and said to have as many as possible there in ten. It was the middle of the night. He hadn’t expected more than a handful of them to turn up. But when he looked around the room, twelve of his guys were there. He swallowed hard and addressed the waiting men.
“Thank you,” he said, standing tall at the front of the large room. “You probably came from your beds or even sleep to be here at 4 a.m. to help me. I appreciate your loyalty.”
The men, seated in leather chairs or standing around the pool table nodded.
Saxton continued, “Here’s the situation. The Cruel Crow leader, Carter Taylor, is responsible for Liam’s death.”
At this proclamation, several of the men murmured or made sounds of shock and anger.
“The Crows know that I know, and they don’t like it. They want me dead. So, they kidnapped someone I care very much about and her son to—”
“You got a girlfriend, boss?” his road man, K9, asked.
“Something like that,” Saxton said. “Maybe. Or I want her to be. But she’s being held captive with her six-year-old son in order to get me to come to their rescue so that the Crows can kill me. It’s a trap. And that’s why you’re here.”
Crasher punched his fist into his hand. “We’ll take them out. I’ve been looking for an excuse to go after them. They’ve cause too much trouble in this city and I’m sick of it. Killing Liam is enough excuse to finally take them down, but if they’re after you, too, nothing is going to stop me from smashing a Crow skull or two.”
Saxton nodded. “We have to be smart about it. They have a big crew. But if we move fast, hopefully they won’t be fully assembled or expecting us to have big numbers.”
“Just tell us how you want to roll this, and we’re on it,” Blade said.
“I need a way to get in the place they’re keeping her without them seeing me, so I can break them out and find Carter and kill him,” Saxton said. He left out the part about not knowing for sure that where they were headed was where she was being held. They might be doing this for nothing.
Crasher nodded. “Some kind of diversion?”
“That would work if it’s good enough and big enough. They’ll be expecting something, I’m sure, and they’ll be on the look out. It has to be something that would make them all leave the building and not suspect it’s a trap.”
K9 spoke up. “I have an idea that should do all that. If we smash enough glass and set off enough alarms, it’ll make a racket and should bring them out, as well as a bunch of other people. Chaos in the streets.” He grinned and crossed his arms.
Saxton considered this for a moment. That might be enough to make the warehouse men come out to see what was going on. It probably wouldn’t draw Carter out, but maybe he would at least leave wherever Sara and Ian were long enough—assuming they were there—that Saxton could get in and get them out. Unless he had a guy who would just tell him what was happening. And someone like Carter might. This could go either way.
Unless they did something like set the building on fire, Carter wouldn’t be forced to budge. And doing something like that was only an option if all they wanted to do was kill Carter and if they were sure Sara and Ian weren’t there. But a fire was far too dangerous if he had to get in and get Sara and Ian out. Who knew what sort of warehouse death trap they were being held in. A fire and smoke could kill them before he even got to them.
This was probably the best option. It was at least a start. If it didn’t work, they could always come back and try something else. Except then Carter would know and he’d make different plans. Maybe he’d hurt Sara. They needed to have some sort of back up plan in place.
“That’s a good start,” Saxton said. “I like it, but what if it’s not enough?”
The guys exchanged thoughtful looks.
“We can’t do something like light a fire until Sara and Ian are safe,” Saxton said. “But that’s a sure option to get Carter out once we know there are only Cruel Crows in the building.”
“I like the fire idea,” Blade said.
“I need you all to be on alert for Carter,” Saxton said. “If he runs, grab him. Hold him for me so I can kill him myself. Killing Liam was bad enough, but going after Sara and Ian made him dead three times over.”
“We’ll get him.” Crasher put his hand on Saxton’s shoulder. “We’ll make sure they’re safe, and we’ll get him.”
“Let’s roll out then,” Saxton said. “No time to waste. They may already be gathering bigger numbers.”
K9 held up his phone. “Just heard from Skull and Thorn. They’ll meet us on route.”
“Perfect.” Saxton walked to the door, glanced behind him into the room of his crew and said, “Let’s go get them.”