Call Me...Vengeance: Book 1 in the Vengeance MC Series (28 page)

Determination threads Boss’s tone when he replies.

“On my life, my heart, and my soul, I fucking promise you I’ll bring them home. And I’ll also guarantee you that whoever’s responsible will pay in rivers of blood.”

I notice immediately he didn’t say anything about bringing them back safe. But he can’t, can he? We don’t know where they are. We don’t know if someone’s taken them. And we don’t know what state they’ll be in when we find them. All I do know is that I won’t stop until we have. Until Beth, Avery, and Bec are found I will not rest. That’s my vow.

Three hours later…

After Boss had sent Bella to find Sarge, he called church. And for the first time in the club’s history, an outsider was invited to sit in. Jay might be a friend to all of us, but his presence wasn’t necessary, at least, I hadn’t thought so. Now, I know better. We all do.

According to Boss, who was forced to explain Jay’s inclusion, Jay has history with Rebecca. How long ago, how long for, and how deep that ran wasn’t shared, but it wasn’t relevant either. All we needed to know was that the third woman had a connection to Vengeance. Albeit a tentative one, but a connection nevertheless.

For the last three hours, we’ve been going in circles. Brothers offering opinions, them being rejected, and plans made and discarded before they can get off the ground. We know who took them, that much was fucking obvious from the outset. What we didn’t know was how or why? It wasn’t until Sarge made a chilling observation a few minutes ago that another puzzle piece slotted together. A puzzle that was, even more, complicated than we’d first anticipated.

A high pitch whistle echoes off the walls of church as Sarge signals for quiet.

“Not gonna beat around the bush here, brothers, but I’ve gotta ask. Any of you notice someone’s missing? You’ve all been coming and going for the last three hours so you’ve gotta have picked up on the fact that someone who should be here fucking isn’t.”

We’ve been using church as a war room since we first stepped through the doors. Brothers leaving to collect food, call home, and take piss breaks but that’s about it. It’s not usual, I don’t think it’s ever happened before, but nothing about the situation we find ourselves in is normal.

Diesel, our absentee VP who only made it back an hour ago answers,

“Who? Headcount says everyone’s here and accounted for.”

“Son, you’ve been neck deep in your woman’s pussy for days. You’ve been gone more often than you’ve been here so I wouldn’t expect you to notice, but we’re one short,” Sarge volleys angrily.

“Fuck you, old man. I put in my hours in at the garage, I’m here for church, and do my job as your VP, where I go the rest of the time is no one else’s fucking business but mine.”

Done with this back and forth bullshit, I bellow,

“Enough. E-fucking-nough. I’ve had it with this shit. Sitting around waiting for someone to say something worth listening to isn’t gonna bring them home. Jesus, we’re here because three women are fucking missing. They’re not on an extended trip to the spa getting their nails done and shit, they are fucking
gone
. As in, they’ve been taken from us. Now, unless you’ve got something useful to say, shut your fucking mouths.”

“I’ll second that,” Boss’s deeply irritated growl sounds from my left. “Haven’t left this room since I walked into it, Sarge so you’re gonna have to enlighten me.”

Motioning him to take the floor, Sarge places two weathered hands flat on the table before saying only one word.

“Laura.”

What. The. Fuck? Laura hadn’t even peaked my radar when I was considering all the ways this might have gone down. A flat tire, car trouble, sure. But someone close to the club being involved, fuck no.

Laura’s intense dislike bordering on hatred for Beth isn’t a secret. After all, she was part of Boss’s life for years, so some jealousy was to be expected. But enough to have something to do with three women’s disappearance? One of which she had never even met, the other she only recently came into contact with after years of nothing? I wouldn’t have thought so. I
didn’t
think so. Not until Sarge spoke her name.

“Might be old, but I’m not blind,” Sarge interjects. “While you boys are watching out for each other, I’m watching all of your backs. Laura’s been stirring shit with those women and anyone else she could sink her fangs into and has been doing it since she set foot on Vengeance property. Hasn’t let up once either. Had no idea she had an ulterior motive, but can’t say I’m shocked she did. There’s always been something not right about that girl. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I’m thinking whatever’s been eating at her for years led her to do something fucking stupid. Something to do with our girls going missing. And my guess is this wasn’t a crime of opportunity. This was planned, and has been for a good long while.”

Glancing at my President, I take in his look of defeat. Shoulders slump forward, hands raking through his hair, Boss’s face is disfigured with rage. But behind that, a glimmer of sad realization shines through. Learning that your ex-bitch, which is more of a bitch than you ever gave her credit for could be at the center of your old lady’s abduction has got to be killing him. He might not have loved Laura, still or ever, but he cared about her once. Fuck, they were going to have a kid together if they hadn’t lost her before she took her first breath.

“You sure, old man?” Boss rasps, knowing the answer before asking.

“Checked everywhere, then double checked, son. She’s not here,” Sarge concedes wearing the same look of disappointment.

“Call, Brookes,” Boss orders looking to Sly. “There’s a file on Laura, second drawer, right side of my desk. Give him everything we’ve got on her. I want her movements for the last eight years accounted for. Where she went, who she visited, how long, if she got an out of state fucking parking ticket, I want to know about it. Tell him to get on her phone records too. Internet service, websites she frequented, emails sent and received, even who she talked to over fucking Facebook needs to be looked into. Jump and Cash, I’m gonna need to take a ride out to her place in Wyoming. Talk to her neighbors. Ask them if they’ve seen anyone coming or going. Find out who her friends are and see if she was dating. She worked as a receptionist for a doctor in Cheyenne. Talk to him, her colleagues, the nurse there too. I don’t give a fuck who you’ve gotta squeeze to get me the intel, just do it and get back here ASAP. Check in on the hour, and call if you get anything,” Boss commands harshly.

Looking around the room, his gaze traveling between his brothers, he continues,

“There’s not a man sitting here who’d challenge me when I say there is no doubt in my mind Hells Riders have Beth, her friend Bec, and Avery. We knew they were planning something, we all felt it. At the Vasquez drop, Jump mentioned seeing bike tracks on the service road leading to the meet point. We didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now we’ve got to consider the possibility that wasn’t a coincidence.”

Taking a shuddering breath, Boss acknowledges the confused expressions by saying,

“Nothing about Black Widows patching over into Hells Riders at the same time we did our last job with the Vasquez Cartel sits right with me. There was an opportunity to make some real cash opening up, and Nix isn’t fucking stupid enough to overlook that. Not when it was something that has the potential to net them some serious green. Oscar Vasquez isn’t a man you underestimate, he’s an important player and Hells Riders know it. There’s no way in fuck, Oscar would have taken Nix seriously if he’d come to him with an offer while we were supplying him, especially not with the numbers Hells Riders had at their table. With a patch over that would have opened doors for him, no doubt it. It would’ve made what a risk, a more viable option for sure. How that shit relates to our women being taken, and how Laura factors in that is unknown. All I can figure is that Nix and his boys need a way to keep us in line, out of the game and his business, and under his boot. I highly doubt Oscar Vasquez has the first fucking clue about what his new supplier is up to. If he did, I hazard a guess he’d cut him loose, but not before he cut off a few body parts to teach the motherfucker a lesson.”

“That’s a pretty big leap, Prez,” Maddox remarks. “I get the timeline fits and it’s fishier than a two-dollar hooker, but the link’s weak.” I can see his point, but I’m not so quick to dismiss Boss’s suspicions.

Jackson ‘Boss’ Carr didn’t make it this far as Vengeance’s President without good reason. The man is insanely intelligent, determined, a shrewd, and highly successful because of it, businessman, cunning, and fucking merciless when it came to bastards who crossed him.

Diesel echoes my sentiments, declaring,

“Not the way I see it, it isn’t, Mad. We bow out and we always knew someone else was gonna step up and take our place. Cut the head off the snake and all that. Hells Riders are the only other club this side of Boulder now that Black Widows have been absorbed by them, and it isn’t a stretch to say Vasquez wasn’t gonna want to lose his supplier west of Denver. Nix offering his club as a replacement was expected. Casing out our drop and doing it without being detected is the only part of this we didn’t see coming. Nix, deciding he needs collateral to solidify his position as the Cartel’s new bitch has legs, but I’m not thinking that’s the only reason he’s made this play. There’s more to it.”

Rubbing the back of his neck he adds,

“While Jump and Cash are looking into Laura’s angle, and Sly gets with Brookes on the searches, we’ve got to explore every plausible reason for Nix to force war. Because there’s no mistaking, that’s what he’s done, and he fucking knows it. No way he couldn’t. I’ve got a gut feeling this is all interconnected. Your women play a bigger part in Nix’s overall plan than insurance,” he finishes earnestly.

“Hate to bring this up, boys,” Sarge interrupts, echoing Bella’s earlier concern. “But someone’s gonna have to call, Saint. The longer that call gets left unmade the harder that boy is gonna take it. And mark me, he’s not gonna take this news well.”

“We need more time. We don’t have shit to tell him other than his daughter’s gone missing on our watch,” Cash reminds him.

Narrowing his eyes on Cash dangerously, Sarge warns,

“I’ve known that girl since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. Watched her grow, taught her how to fire a gun, strip an engine back and rebuild it, and tie her fucking shoelaces. In that time, I watched Saint and his daughter build an unbreakable bond, not many men will ever be lucky enough to have with their kid. Shit, I’ve never seen a man so close to his little girl than he is to her. Avery mightn’t be his baby, but she’s his heart. You don’t tell the man his heart's in danger of being ripped out of his chest, you’re running the very real risk that he’ll tear you apart on his quest to get it back safe and unharmed. Mark me, Saint will fucking destroy whoever stands in the way of him getting her back. That goes for any man who had the knowledge she was in danger and didn’t share it with him.”

He’s not fucking wrong. Saint is as lethal as he is devoted to Avery, which makes him exceedingly more deadly than his norm.

For the first time tonight, Deke speaks up.

“This isn’t something you three are gonna want to consider, fuck, I don’t want to,” he says through gritted teeth directed at Jay, Boss and myself. “But when you make the call to Cage, you might wanna think about asking him to send Adelyn our way. There’s no chance in hell Cage will let Kendall out of his sight even though she’s the only other woman I know outside, Ade, who’s gone through anything similar to what your women are. But Reaper, he’ll get why his old lady’s needed here. Doesn’t hurt that we saw her to the other side of her situation either. I’m not saying Reaper won’t tag along because no fucking doubt he will, but having him here won’t be a hardship. The man’s fucking gifted with anything that fires bullets, trained in hostage rescue, and loves the shit out of Ree.”

Deke’s statement has every thought I’d been trying to bury come to the forefront. My mind is now focused on Avery and only Avery. Everything we’ve fought about, argued over in the last month seems so inconsequential now that I’m facing a lifetime without her. And honestly, I’m not stupid enough to know that’s one of many outcomes to this situation. A very real, fucking terrifying outcome at that.

Until now, I haven’t been scared a day in my life. I’ve jumped out of planes, navigated minefields, been in close quarter combat, unarmed, with men who’d sooner kill me so as to save themselves and I never felt an ounce of fear. I’ve taken a twelve-inch blade to the gut. Survived three bullets, one that entered and exited my shoulder above my clavicle, one to my left bicep, and the other a through-and-through to my right thigh. I’ve been in fights where I was outnumbered five to one and haven’t blinked at taking every last one of the motherfuckers out. And through all of that, not once, not fucking ever did I feel anything remotely akin to terror.

But now? Now, that the five-foot-four woman at the center of every good dream I’ve had for the last ten years has been taken from me, I feel nothing but all-consuming, gut-wrenching, paralyzing fear.