Riggs and I walked in utter silence as we made our way down the hall to meet Gus. Even though we were eager to see what Shadow had gotten out of Terry, neither of us were looking forward to going into that room. It wasn’t that we felt sorry for Terry. Fuck that. He deserved everything Shadow dished out for playing his part in Runt and Lowball’s death. For me, it was just the thought of the torture itself. While it astounded me just how much pain and cruelty that the human body could withstand, seeing the end results would often turn my stomach. Something told me that today would be no different. When we got down to the holding room, Gus and Murphy were waiting for us by the door, and as we approached, I was surprised to see that none of the other brothers were there with them.

“What’s the word?” Riggs asked anxiously.

“Not sure yet. He asked for you three specifically, so I was waiting for you to get here before we went in.

When Gus reached for the doorknob, I took a deep breath as I prepared to go in. It was the smell that hit us first, each of us nearly gagging as we stepped inside. It took us a minute to collect ourselves, and then, we spotted Terry. He was bound to a chair in the center of the room, wearing nothing but a pair of soiled boxers, and he was surrounded by his own excrement and vomit. When I looked at him, it was as if I was looking at a shell of the man we’d brought in earlier. He was beaten and bruised with blood oozing from his wounds, and even though he was still technically breathing, there was no life in his eyes, no sense of awareness whatsoever. As I stood there staring at him, I couldn’t help but wonder what Shadow had done to him. When I glanced around the room, I first noticed the car battery and cables. I’d seen Runt’s handy work with those, so it was easy to guess how they’d been used. It was the other tools, like plyers, switch blades, buckets, and old, wet rags that were scattered along the floor that sent an eerie shiver down my spine. There was no doubt in my mind that Terry had been put through hell and back. I just hoped that Shadow had been able to extract the information that we’d need to get the motherfucker who’d attacked the club.

Shadow was standing over in the corner smoking a cigarette when Gus walked over to him. “You okay?”

He nodded. “I’m fine.”

Gus looked over his shoulder at Terry. “Looks like he’s barely hanging on.”

Shadow crossed his arms, making his muscles ripple as he snarled, “Yeah, but he’s alive.”

“Were you able to get anything out of him?” Gus pushed.

“I got plenty, but …” Shadow turned his attention away from Gus and over to us, and there was an urgency in his voice when he said, “I need you to bring me his sister, Kate Dillion.”

“His sister?” I asked with surprise. Suddenly worried that he was about to take things too far, I asked, “Why in the hell do you need his sister?”

His voice was low and threatening as he answered, “I need the sister. It’s important, and the baby, too.”

“Oh, fuck, man. The baby. You gotta be kidding me. Why do you need the baby?” Murphy asked with horror.

Anger flashed through Shadow’s eyes as he barked, “You want to know who’s behind all this shit? Who killed our brothers?”

“Of course, I do!”

“Then, go get the goddamn girl!” he roared. He raked his hand through his hair as he took several deep, agonizing breaths. Once he regained his composure, Shadow turned towards Gus and said, “You’ve gotta trust me on this, Prez”

Gus nodded. “Okay, son. Take it easy. We’ll get the girl, but we’ll need to know where she is first. You think you can get Terry to tell us where we can find her?”

Shadow nodded, then walked over to Terry. After grabbing a fist full of his nappy hair, he jerked his head back and forced Terry to look at him. “Your sister. Where can we find her?”

Terry’s eyes widened as he stuttered, “I … uh … at … the apartment … or the … Rose’s strip … club. I don’t … know.”

“We don’t have time to run all over town looking for her,” Gus complained. “Try having him call her.”

Riggs stepped forward. “If we do that, I’ll trace the call. Just to be sure.”

“Good idea.”

When Shadow started going through Terry’s things, searching for his phone, Riggs rushed towards the door. “I’ll go grab my laptop.”

Just as Riggs walked out of the room, Shadow retrieved the cell phone and made his way back over to Terry. He knelt down in front of him, and in a low, domineering tone, he ordered, “You’re gonna call your sister and find out where she is. If she starts asking questions, you tell her nothing. You got it?”

“I was … supposed to … watch the … baby,” Terry mumbled.

Murphy walked over to Terry and said, “Tell her you’re laid up drunk with some chick from the bar.”

Riggs walked back into the room, and once he had his laptop ready to go, Shadow reached down and released Terry from his constraints. As he handed him the phone, he growled, “Make the call and leave it on speaker.”

“Okay.”

Terry’s hands trembled as he dialed the number. It was just after five in the morning, so we weren’t surprised when it took her several moments to answer. “What the hell, Terry? Why are you calling me?”

“Where … are you?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Kate grumbled. “Why do you sound like that?”

“I had a few … too many last night. Still kind of wasted.”

“Of course, you are,” she groaned. “You shouldn’t be calling me. I heard about those Fury guys coming to the bar looking for you. I don’t need that kind of trouble, Terry,” she spat.

“That was … nothing”

“If Fury is looking for you, it’s never nothing, Terry. Just stay the hell away from me and Lacie. You got that?” she ordered.

“Don’t,” he pleaded. When Shadow gave him a warning look, he asked her, “You at … the apartment?”

“No. When I heard about what happened, I packed our shit and left. I’m getting the hell out of town.”

His voice was growing weaker as he asked, “Where you … going?”

“I’ll figure that out when Lacie gets up. Look, I’ve got to go, but listen, Terry. You need to get the hell out of Memphis.”

“But, where … can … I find you?”

“Dammit, Terry. Don’t worry about finding me. You need to get out of town, now!”

The call ended, and after listening to that conversation, I started to think Shadow was right about Kate. There was a reason she was so eager to get out of town. Hoping that he’d been able to locate her, we all turned to Riggs. He gave us the nod, letting us know that he pinged the call. “We got her.”

Gus went over to Riggs and asked, “Where is she?”

As he pointed to the screen, he said, “Here’s the address. It’s about three hours away in Paris, but if she’s leaving, that doesn’t give us much time.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Gus pulled out his phone and said, “But I’ve got someone who might be able to help us out.”

When Gus turned to make his call, Murphy glanced over at Shadow. As he watched Shadow put the restraints back on Terry, he whispered, “What’s up with the girl?”

“Got no idea, but there’s something,” I answered.

“Shadow hasn’t told us shit. I want to know what the fuck he found out from Terry,” Murphy pushed.

I patted him on the shoulder and said, “We all do, brother, but we’re just gonna have to trust Shadow on this.”

Before he had a chance to respond, Gus came over to us and said, “Bishop runs a club up in Paris. He and Goliath are gonna see if they can get to Kate before she leaves. If they get her, they’ll meet us for a drop off.”

“Bishop?” I asked. “From the Devil Chasers?”

Gus nodded. “That’d be him.”

There weren’t many bikers around the area who didn’t know about the DC’s custom bike detailing. They were the best around. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Gus had a connection with their president. There weren’t many out there who Gus didn’t know. “Good of him to help.”

After Shadow was done dealing with Terry, he came over to Riggs and asked, “Did you find her?”

“Yeah. We found her.”

“Then let’s go get her!” he demanded.

“We’re getting it handled now,” Gus assured him. “You go get yourself a shower and something to eat. Try to get some shut eye, and we’ll let you know when we have her.”

“And you’re getting the baby, too, right? It’s important that you get the baby.”

“Yes, Shadow. We’ll get the baby,” Gus promised.

“And you’ll let me know as soon as they get back?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“You know I will. Now, go,” Gus ordered. “Get yourself some rest.”

Once he was gone, we went to Gus’s office to discuss our next move. None of us had any clear thought on what was going on with Kate, and we were all eager to hear something back from Gus’s friend, Bishop. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long. In less than an hour, Bishop called Gus back, letting him know that he and his brothers had retrieved Kate and her daughter, Lacie.

When he hung up the phone, Gus turned to us and said. “They’ll meet you in Jackson. Figured it would be easier for everyone that way.”

“Mighty good of him to help us out like this,” Riggs told him.

“Bishop’s a good man. Did some running with him back in the day, but that was a lifetime ago.” Gus looked down at his watch. “You boys better load up. We don’t want to keep him waiting.”

We headed out to the truck, and after exiting the back gate, we took off to the main road. None of us spoke as we drove towards Jackson. Our minds were focused on the task at hand. As I stared out the window, I thought back to the conversation between Kate and Terry, and something about it just felt off. I just didn’t know what. We were getting closer to Jackson, when Murphy looked over to me and said, “We’re not going to let him hurt that baby, right? Like no matter what happens, that shit ain’t gonna go down.”

“No, Murphy. We won’t let Shadow hurt the kid.”

“Good. The sister … I’m not so sure about her,” Murphy started. “You reckon he’ll have to do all that shit to her?”

“Doubt it. Hell, all he’d have to do is show her Terry. One look at him, and I’d start talking.” Riggs chuckled.

“You ain’t lying. The joker looked like hell and smelled like fucking death,” Murphy groaned. When he noticed that our exit was coming up, he pointed to the sign and said, “This is where we get off.”

Riggs took the exit, and a few minutes later, we turned into the empty lot behind the airbase. It didn’t take us long to find Bishop. There weren’t many 1962 cherry-red Chevy pick-up trucks around, so when we saw it parked in the back of the lot, we pulled up next to it. A guy in his early fifties with salt and pepper hair and an athletic build stepped out of the truck with his Devil Chaser’s cut, I knew without a doubt it was him. “Bishop?”

“You Gus’s boys?”

“Yes, sir.” We got out of the truck and walked over to him. “I’m Blaze. These are my brothers, Riggs and Murphy.”

“Not every day I get a call to go chasing after a beautiful blonde so early in the morning.” Bishop chuckled. “I’m guessing you’re eager to get her back home.”

“That we are,” I replied.

“Goliath!” Bishop motioned his hand to the man sitting in the truck with Kate. “She wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of coming with us, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

“I imagine she wasn’t, but I can assure you … we wouldn’t have gotten you involved if it wasn’t important.”

“Son, I’ve known Gus long enough to know that he doesn’t ask favors unless … Fuck. Gus, never asks favors.” He chuckled as he waved us off. “I’m just glad I could help.”

While Bishop walked around to the back of the truck and got the car off the trailer, his brother helped us get Kate in the SUV. He was right. She was far from happy about going with us, but she didn’t try to put up a fight. Instead, the young blonde held the baby close to her chest and sat in the back seat of the SUV, never saying a word to any of us. Once I’d closed the door behind her, I looked back over to Bishop and Goliath. “Thank you both for your help.”

As he got inside his truck and started the engine, Bishop replied, “Not a problem, and good luck with little Ms. Sunshine.”

Once they had driven out of the lot, we messaged Gus to let him know we had the girl, then with Murphy driving Kate’s car, we started back towards the clubhouse. As we started down I-40, I glanced over at the girl who Shadow was so adamant that we must find, and I just didn’t get it. While she seemed pretty pissed as she sat there staring out the window, she looked like your typical stripper. I glanced down at her arms and was surprised to see no track marks. Her pupils weren’t dilated or red, so it was doubtful that she was into drugs. The baby had bright, blue eyes and little, pink cheeks and looked perfectly healthy and happy. None of it made any sense. What was it about this woman and kid that Shadow thought was so damn important?