Nitro

Heads were gonna fucking roll for this mess. How hard was it to put shit in piles? Or fucking call me if they got stuck? But no, someone, or most likely several someones, had just started dropping stuff on the desk in here and shutting the door. I hated to think of what Cindy had found in the storeroom. The cleaning crew that came in twice a week would have the main bar area looking neat, I hoped. But I bet that back storeroom was a bigger mess than in here.

“Yo! Nitro? What’s this door open for? Where’s your girl?”

Arrow’s voice had me instantly on full alert. A quick glance at the clock had me cursing and rushing to get out from behind the desk. I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. Bolting down the hallway, I shoved Arrow aside to get into the store room.

“Cindy!”

The room was empty. I could see where she’d started cleaning up empty boxes and knew she must have started taking them out to the trash. In seconds I was out the back door and beside the dumpster. The parking lot was empty aside from my and Arrow’s bikes.

“Motherfucker!”

My voice echoed around the lot as my blood rushed through my system. Her stalker had her. He’d fucking snatched her right out from under my fucking nose. With a roar, I turned and threw a punch at the bin. The front caved in under the pressure and the sting across my knuckles helped me focus. I needed Keys, needed to see the feed from the camera back here. I went to grab my phone when I heard Arrow on his.

“Need you, man. Cindy’s been snatched from Styxx. Yeah, from the back lot. Not so great. Yeah, gotcha. Be there soon.”

He hung up and came over to grab my shoulders so I was forced to look him in the eye.

“Listen up, brother. We will get her back. I’ll ride to the ends of the earth with you until we do, but right now I need you to find your calm. I’m gonna run in and lock up, then we’re going over to the clubhouse. Keys is doing his thing with the cameras and her phone.”

Of course, her phone. I’d turned on the GPS tracker Keys put on all the girls’ phones the first chance I’d gotten. So long as that was on her, we could track her.

“My keys are on the desk.”

“I’ll grab them. You wait here, no running off on your own—got me?”

After a nod, he released me and jogged into Styxx. My gut twisted as reality crashed through me. A sick, twisted fuck who had been fixated on her for nearly two decades had her. My girl was in danger and I didn’t know where she was. Rolling my shoulders and neck, I paced in front of the bin as I waited for Arrow, but stopped when something caught my eye. Crouching down, I glanced under the edge of the dumpster and saw the end of the plastic plunger of a syringe. Standing back up, I ran for the door and bolted into the storeroom. Grabbing a zip-lock bag and a glove, I ran back out. Arrow called out to me but I ignored him for the moment. He’d work out what I was up to soon enough.

Back out at the dumpster, I put the glove on and after opening the bag, leaned down and grabbed the syringe. Carefully, I pulled it out from under the bin and quickly got it sealed in the bag and my glove off and in the trash.

“You think that was used on your girl?”

I strode over to my bike and put the needle into my saddle bag. “Why else would it be here? My girl is out there, drugged and alone. Where are my fucking keys?”

We don’t tolerate hard drugs in Bridgewater, never have. And if someone in town did decide to shoot up, no one would be fucking stupid enough to do it behind the club’s bar. No, I was certain that needle had been used on my girl. It was the only reason why she hadn’t fought and screamed out for me. I should have heard her.

“Fuck!”

Arrow handed me my keys but didn’t release them straight away. “You level enough to ride? Because you wreck, that ain’t gonna help your girl, you hear me?”

“I’m level enough to ride. I’m just fucking furious I didn’t hear anything. Didn’t fucking save her.”

Releasing my keys, Arrow slapped me on the shoulder. “You will. We’ll get her back. The whole club will help you do this, brother.”

I’d always loved being a Charon, but whenever shit hit the fan, I was reminded exactly how good it was to be a part of this awesome family.

“Thanks, brother. Let’s ride out.”

We got to the clubhouse and the place was pumping. Arrow’s call to Keys had set things in motion and every member who was able was here to help me get my woman back. After parking in the front of the line-up, I was up the steps and through the door in seconds. Figuring Keys would be still sorting through video feeds, I ignored everyone milling around in the main room and ran for the offices, not stopping until I was standing in front of the man.

“He’s got her, doesn’t he? That fucking bastard of a stalker has her. Keys, talk to me, man. What happened?”

He looked up briefly and the grim look in his gaze didn’t ease the tightness around my chest.

“Still can’t work out who the fuck he is. Bastard wore a baseball cap. It kept his face hidden. Cindy was taking out torn down boxes to the trash. When she was dropping the second load in, he came up behind her and grabbed her, drugged her and dragged her away. Looks like she tried to fight, but he caught her by surprise, got the needle in before she could do much.”

I tossed the bag on the desk. “Found that under the dumpster. Used a glove, so I didn’t touch it.”

Keys’ eyes flared for a moment. “Hopefully that’ll mean we can figure out what the fuck he gave her so we can counteract it when we find her.”

“I’m just waiting on her GPS to load up. Fingers crossed that’ll be pay dirt for us and we can ride out. I’ve got a trace going on the plate, too.”

I paced the room as we waited, my mind running over all the shit Cindy could be going through right now.

“Fuck!”

I never should have left her alone at Styxx, or let her go outside. Fuck, why didn’t she come and tell me what she was doing? I never would have let her take that shit outside on her own. Why didn’t I fucking take Keg or Mac or someone else with me to Styxx? I scrubbed my palms over my face.

“We’ll get her back, brother, and we’ll make whoever took her fucking pay.”

Scout had come in while I’d been pacing. I didn’t respond to his statement, I couldn’t. I wanted to believe we’d get her back, but this fucker had been obsessing over her for nearly twenty fucking years. I had no idea what he would do to her before I could get to her.

“I followed a few cameras and he’s headed south, out of town. And he ain’t being careful. Stupid fucker’s gonna get pulled over by the cops if we’re lucky.” He paused for a minute and hit a few keys. “The plate was a bust. It’s a stolen van.”

“He’s being reckless. I doubt he’s planned any of this. Like the fire, he’s doing stupid shit without thinking it through.”

Which could either mean he’d fuck up and we’d catch him fast and get Cindy back, or he’d fuck up and it would cost me my girl’s life. Scout moved to block my path, looking like he’d asked me something and was waiting on an answer.

“Sorry, prez, what’d you say?”

“You can’t think of anyone this might be? Anyone from your high school days who you’ve seen around lately?”

I closed my eyes and thought back over the last couple weeks, on everyone I’d seen around Houston. No one stood out. I shook my head. As I opened my eyes, my gaze caught on the clock behind Scout and for a moment, the breath froze in my lungs at how long had passed already. She’d been gone for hours. Fucking hours.

“Can’t think of anyone. Keys? This fucker’s had her for way too long already. Tell me you have her location, brother.”

“Stupid fucker hasn’t tossed her phone. He’s got her on a boat. She’s currently in the middle of Galveston Bay heading toward the outlet.”

“I’ll call Joaquin and see if they can get someone out on a boat to shadow him for us.”

Joaquin was the new president of the Iron Hammers MC, who were based down in Galveston. I was sure someone on their crew would have a boat, or at least access to one. Scout wrapped a palm around my shoulder, getting my full attention.

“And Nitro, I know this is personal, but you need to be the club’s SAA and road captain right now, not Cindy’s old man. Get your ass out there and organize the club to get this done. Focus on that.”

I took a deep breath and gave my president a nod before I headed out of the office. Scout’s words were just what I needed to hear, to help me focus on what was important right now. I needed to get my club organized and ready to roll out. Later, once I got my hands on her stalker, I could be Cindy’s old man. The moment I entered the main room, everyone went silent.

“I need anyone who can drive a boat or who is good in the water. Chances are high we’re gonna get wet on this one.”

Cindy

With a dull, throbbing pain, my brain came back on line. For a moment, I thought I must be home in bed with the flu or something. But then I tried to move, but couldn’t and memories flooded back to me. Licking my dry lips, I took a couple breaths and tried to listen for anything that might be near me. It felt as though I was swaying, even though I’d been restrained on a chair. I couldn’t hear anything other than the soft drone of an engine, so lifting my head, I blinked clear my vision to take in my surroundings. A quick glance confirmed I was alone, then I focused on the window and frowned. What the fuck? I was on a boat? I could see land, but there was a lot of water between here and there. Could I swim that far? In the open ocean. After being drugged. I shook my head, quickly deciding that would be a last resort. I’d never been that strong of a swimmer, not like Nitro had been. Tears pricked my eyes as I wished he were here with me. Why hadn’t I told him I loved him? I knew my stalker would catch up to me at some point, why had I held off telling him how I felt about him?

Taking a deep breath, I shut down all my emotions, not having time for them at the moment The longer I took, the further away the boat would be from home. I wriggled my hands and grinned when I heard the clank of metal. My thumbs were double jointed and I could maneuver the joint so my thumb lay flat against my palm, allowing me to slip out of cuffs if they weren’t put on too tight. After I’d mentioned it at Titanium one Sunday, the Doms had tested me out a few times. Apparently it was a neat party trick. I was grateful I’d mucked around doing it now, because getting out of these cuffs was my first priority right now.

After testing the tightness of the cuffs, and discovering they were fairly loose, I rotated my thumb joint until it slipped in against my palm, then with some wriggling and a few tugs, my hand slipped free. With my hands now in front of me, I made fast work of getting my other hand free, rubbing at the scrapes it had left up the lower parts of my thumbs and below my little fingers.

The cuffs looked like cheap metal ones you bought at a costume store. The Doms at Titanium would be mortified that someone had actually used them as real cuffs. The fact they were certainly nothing a cop would ever use had me wondering once more about who this guy was. I’d often suspected he was something to do with law enforcement, but this basically threw that theory out. I shook my head. It didn’t matter who he was. He was a nut-job, whoever he was, and I now had a pair of cuffs I could use on him if I got the chance. I quickly pushed the moveable arms of the cuffs all the way through so they were reset and ready for use, then sat them on my lap. After I got my legs free, I’d put them into my back jeans pocket so I could grab them easily later if I needed them.

It only took me a few minutes to work the knots on the rope holding my legs to the chair loose, then I was free. Well, I was free from the chair, anyway. Carefully, I made my way to the doorway. Silently opening the door, I poked my head out to see I was at the end of an empty hallway that had a few closed doors down each side and a living area at the other end. The driver, or captain, or whatever the fuck you called the person driving a boat, must be on the level above me. This was one big fucking boat. A lot bigger than any of the fishing boats I’d been on as a kid, that’s for sure. Considering how far out in the Gulf we must be by now, I guess that made sense. A smaller boat wouldn’t have been able to make it out here. Whoever had grabbed me, hadn’t let me see his face so I still had no fucking clue who it was and I couldn’t think of anyone I knew, or had known, who would own a fancy boat like this one. I paused as another thought hit me. He might not be alone. I had some hope of catching one person by surprise and cuffing him to something. Hopefully. But if it was more than one, I had no chance at all.

I paced back up and down the hallway for a few minutes, trying to decide what the fuck I should do. When the boat suddenly slowed down, I stumbled into the kitchenette, where I found my phone sitting on the bench. I snatched it up and shoved it into my pocket without looking at the screen, because if he was stopping the boat, it was probably because he wanted to check on me. The land I could see out the windows was still a long way off, so he definitely wasn’t docking. By the direction the boat was traveling and the side of the boat the land was on, I figured he must be heading toward Mexico. Had he planned this all out, or was he winging it? Either way, I really, really didn’t want to end up in Mexico with this nut-job.

When the boat slowed further, the sound of the motor quieting, my heart rate tripled as I tried to find somewhere fast I would fit to hide. A hatch by my feet caught my eye and I pulled it open. A blast of engine noise filled the air, and without another thought, I slipped down the ladder, pulling the hatch closed after me.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

I cursed as my ears started ringing instantly from the noise down here. Pulling my phone out, I was surprised when the screen lit straight up. He hadn’t even turned my phone off? I hoped Nitro had been telling the truth when he’d told me about Keys being able to track it if anything did happen to me. I hit the flashlight app and shone the light around the space to reveal all sorts of machinery I’d never seen before in my life. The engines were easy to spot. There were two of the big bastards and they were both running. Hopefully he’d think the noise would put me off coming down here and not look for me here.

I moved further into the space. Making it to the back of the room, I noticed other hatches that, at a guess, would take me to the rear deck of the boat. Maybe if I waited for him to come down in the kitchen, I could rush out one of these before he reached me. But then what? We’d start a coyote and roadrunner race around the boat until one of us got tired? I shook my head. That was a shit idea.

Suddenly the engines stopped altogether and the silence was deafening. The sound of heavy footfalls above me had me panicking that he might come look down here. After a quick glance around, I noticed a small area behind what looked like a tank of some sort. Maybe the drinking water? I shook my head. I didn’t give a fuck what it was, so long as I’d fit in the space behind it and it would have me out of sight of the kitchen entrance. If he came down through one of the deck hatches I was fucked, but I had to go with the options I had available. Flipping off my flashlight, I curled up as small as I could and prayed if he came down and looked around, he wouldn’t be able to see me in the dark.

Then I waited.

The longer I waited, the tighter my chest got and the harder it was to breathe. And the more I started kicking my own ass. What the fuck was I thinking? How was hiding going to help? It sure as fuck wasn’t going to stop him from taking me to Mexico. I wasn’t a scared teenager anymore, so I needed to stop acting like one. I was a strong fucking woman who could handle this shit.

Standing up, I moved out of hiding, and now that my eyes had adjusted some to the darkness, looked around at what I had to work with. I figured the easiest way to prevent him from taking me anywhere would be to disable the engines somehow. If we were stuck out in the ocean, eventually the Coast Guard would come to check out the problem, wouldn’t they? Or Nitro would find me. He had to be tracking my phone by now, surely. I could maybe find a way to sneak into where the radios were and call for help. Although, that was two levels up from where I currently was, so at this point, that wasn’t my most realistic option. I did decide that basically, anything was better than simply waiting here like a sitting duck for him to find me.

Turning my flashlight back on, I glanced around until I spotted a small toolbox. Slowly, and quietly I went over to it and opened the lid, taking out an adjustable wrench and screwdriver. The hammer would make too much noise, so I left that behind. Then I turned to one of the now silent engines. I was no mechanic and really had no fucking clue how to best stop the thing from being able to start again, but I figured if I undid all the hoses and pulled off all the wires I could, it would cause enough problems to stop it from working. However, I didn’t really want to get covered in gas, so I figured I’d start with the wires. Putting down the wrench, and tucking my phone into my bra in such a way that the flashlight was shining past my top and out in front of me, so I had two free hands, I began to methodically undo screws and pull out wires. Praying all the while I didn’t electrocute myself. Once that was done, I turned my attention to the hoses. Figuring the smaller tubes would be for fuel, I focused in on the larger ones that looked like they’d be safe to take off. Grabbing the one closest to me, I set about unscrewing the hose clamps. I managed to get it loose, and then gave it a massive tug to pull it completely off. Which worked, and sprayed green water—at a guess, coolant—everywhere. I jumped back to avoid the spray and froze when a hand wrapped around my hair and held me in place. I threw my elbow back but another palm wrapped around it, holding it up behind my back.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Cindy?”

That voice! I knew that voice, but from where? He hitched my arm a little higher when I didn’t answer him and I snapped out of my shock. It didn’t matter who the fuck he was, I needed to fight. I’d put the wrench down unfortunately, but I still had the screwdriver. I switched my grip on it and using all my force, slammed it back into his thigh.

“You fucking bitch!”

He shoved me away from him, and I managed to retain my hold on the now bloody screwdriver. Not that it helped me as his shove landed me hard against one of the engines. I’d ended up going head first toward the metal but thankfully I’d managed to get my arms up before my head hit. Pain shot down my forearms at the impact, but thanks to so many years of roller derby, I was used to rolling with the pain after taking a knock. He threw a fist into my stomach, but I’d seen it coming and had clenched my abdominal muscles, preventing me from being completely winded by the shot. However, the punch did dislodge my phone, sending it to the ground where it landed face up so the flashlight filled the entire space with a dull glow.

Ignoring the pain, I made the most of the light and reached for where I’d left the wrench. I’d dropped the damn screwdriver when I’d hit the engine and I had no fucking idea where it was now. The moment my fingers wrapped around the handle of the wrench, I tightened my grip and swung that bitch with all my strength. Knowing I had to hit hard and fast if I was going to win here, I didn’t stop to plan out my shot, and the wrench was already in motion before I looked at my target. He was looking down at his thigh, as he held the injured leg with both hands. Obviously, he’d wrongly assumed his gut punch would have left me on the ground writhing. Fucking moron. Nothing kept a derby girl down for long. The tool hit his shoulder with a loud crack and he went down to his knees with a howl of pain.

I grabbed the cuffs out of my pocket and quickly slapped one on the wrist on his uninjured arm and the other on a metal pipe that was screwed into the side of the boat. Before he realized what was going on, I had that fucking thing as tight as I could get it around both his wrist and the pipe and was out of his reach. Snatching up my phone, as I stepped further away from him.

My lungs burned as my breath rushed in and out. I had more adrenaline pumping through my system than I’d ever had before. My hands started to shake, but I didn’t drop that wrench or my phone. Scanning the light around the walls, I found a switch. Flipping it up, the area filled with light.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, little girl? I’m gonna make you pay for this, mark my words. I’ll do more than burn down your precious shop.”

That had the breath catching in my throat but I refused to rise to his taunt. He couldn’t do a damn thing to me anymore.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket as he smirked at me for a moment before he went back to wincing. The shoulder I’d hit was slumped down, like he could somehow get away from the pain if he cowered enough, and the blood coming out of his thigh had soaked into the material of his jeans, and was forming an ever-widening stain.

“Yeah, you made me mad when you went out with that fucker Harris again last night. You knew you weren’t allowed. I lost my temper and when I drove past that little shop you love so much, I got this idea. It was fun, you know? The shatter of the glass, the whoosh of the flames. The smells and the heat. Thing of beauty, it was. You should have seen it. I stayed to watch for you, to see your reaction, but that bitch of an aunt of yours didn’t call you when she was supposed to, so I fucking missed seeing you. She was supposed to call you and cut your night short, you were supposed to fucking learn! I thought I made myself clear a long time ago about you not seeing that bastard.”

I shook my head in shock. I mean, clearly the guy had proved long ago he was a nut-case, but he was completely certifiable! And I still couldn’t fucking place him and it was starting to get annoying.

“Who are you and why the fuck have you made my life hell for the past two decades? What did I ever do to you?”

Before he could answer, a noise behind me had me spinning around with the wrench up, ready for action, and my heart, which was just starting to slow, kicked up a notch again. Would the day never fucking end? And how many people did I have to fucking knock out before I could go the fuck home?