Duke: Fallen MC #1 (18 page)

“Baby, take some deep breaths. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He kept eye contact with her, as he saw her nod slightly and do as he said. She trusted him to rescue her and he wouldn’t betray that trust. He had to find a way. “That’s it, baby. Keep calm. What do you want, Fletcher?”

“Not anything you can give me.” Duke gambled a step forward but stopped as Nicole’s renewed cry of pain cut through his heart. “Get back! Take one more step and I pull the trigger.” Nicole whimpered so loudly that a surround sound of growls released from him and his brothers. “Nicole has somewhere to be and if you want any hope of seeing her alive again, you’ll close these gates and go to the back of the yard.”

“Not happening.” He wasn’t taking one step away from Nicole.

“You think I’m joking?” He dropped the gun from Nicole’s temple and shot her in the arm.

It was so close range that he could see the mist of blood that followed. Nicole’s agonising scream filled the air. Her knees buckled but Nole held her up and pointed his gun back at her head. Duke let out his own cry of gut wrenching pain at seeing Nicole shot. She was shaking badly as blood ran down her arm, dripping onto the ground. Her eyes were pleading with him to save her. How was he going to do that?

He still didn’t have a clear shot and neither did his brothers. Nole, the scrawny fuck was hidden well behind Nicole’s bountiful new form. Did he back off and do as Nole said or attempt a shot in the vain hopes of being quicker than Nole? Adrenalin swam through his veins, leaving him pumped and his mouth dry. He’d never felt more helpless or desperate in his life.

“Shut the gates!” His head snapped around to Prez who had issued the order. Duke trusted his life to his brothers but Nicole was worth more than all of them. Prez better have a plan or Duke was going rogue. His breathing accelerated again as another barrier was put between them. He promised himself, he’d never give up, never let her go, he’d find and save her no matter the consequences or the cost. As the gates clanged shut, Nicole mouthed ‘I love you’. He felt his heart splinter.

“I love you, baby! I’m going to get you back, I promise!” Her eyes closed as she nodded. He saw her shoulders sag slightly in relief – she knew he never broke his promises.

“Everybody back up. You’d better watch your back, Fletcher, we’ll be coming for you!” Prez ordered.

“I’m counting on it.” He responded with an air of sadness in his voice.

Every part of his soul screamed that moving away from Nicole was wrong. His feet were so heavy he couldn’t see how he was going to move. He absorbed Nicole’s green gaze that shined with her love for him while he was pleading with his to have faith in him and to stay strong, for him and their babies. He felt Razor and Slam grip his arms and urge him back. His feet moved but his eyes and soul remained concentrated on his woman. He was now only about forty feet away but it felt like the Grand Canyon separated them.

A loud whistle from Nole temporarily distracted him. A blacked out truck pulled up behind him and the back doors flew open. Nole dragged Nicole to the back and she disappeared from his sight behind the open door. He swore to himself he’d see her very soon and forced his mind to concentrate on the truck, he needed every clue to be able to find her. One of the doors shut. Taking a chance, he started to slowly move forward. A head and shoulders quickly emerged from the one door still open.

Recognition slammed into him. Wrath flipped the bird to them before manically laughing as the truck sped off, closing the last door as it did. His feet took on a life of their own as he ran to the gates. He forced his way through the small gap that had started to open and he ran off in the direction of the truck. He frantically searched the surrounding area for it for a good twenty minutes. It was gone. The power went out of his legs and he fell to his knees in the road. Grasping his hair tightly in his hands, he let his grief momentarily over take him as he yelled, screamed and cried for Nicole and his unborn sons, who was now at the mercy of Riot MC.

He was pulled to his feet by Razor who embraced him and supported his weight.

“Come on brother. Keep it together for Nicole. We need to get back. Prez has called us to church and I know you need to be part of that. We’ll get her back bro. We’ll get her back.” Razor rasped while gripping him tightly.

He drew strength from his brother and forced his focus to the task in hand. Razor was right, he was no use to Nicole kneeling in the road. He needed to get her back and he knew they’d unleash the full fury of Fallen MC to do it. Running back to the compound, he kept going over the last half an hour in his head, making sure he hadn’t missed anything important. Nothing came to mind. He powered through the club with Razor on his heels and into church, which was now packed with all his brothers. He made his way to his seat beside Prez silently appreciating the supportive slaps on his back as he passed by everyone.

Prez stood bringing order to the room and banged his gavel on the table to start the meeting.

“You’ve all heard by now that Riot have taken one of our own. Nicole was held at gunpoint by her own fucking father, shot in the arm and then taken away in a truck. There is no doubt that we will find her and take Riot, as it stands, out for good. The war has started brothers.”

Hollywood stood next. “This happened only forty minutes ago. I believe Riot have done this in the hopes of starting the war while we are unprepared. They’re hoping that by taking Nic we’ll fall over our asses and attack with no plan. We are not them. We know our plan, we stick to it. We play this smart. Our main objective is to get Nic out safely and secondly, to make Wrath and everyone loyal to the fucker bleed. The good news is Wrath thinks all his brothers support his agenda. There are some true brothers in their club that just want to live and ride free. They’re not going to be happy that Wrath took an old lady, let alone one that’s pregnant. That’s our in. We know who they are and Slam, you contact them as soon as church ends.”

Prez issued his orders, “Razor, you take three brothers to their strip joint, Heat, and don’t discount the dancers. Those bitches overhear everything. Someone will know something. Hollywood, take four brothers to their first known hideout and Musketeers, you go to the second. Try to keep a few alive, we’ll need someone to question if Nic’s being hidden elsewhere. Throw their rancid asses into the outhouses till we get back. The rest are with me and Duke, we going to hit their club fast and hard. It’s kill or be killed brothers. Show no mercy, they sure as fuck won’t show you any. We meet back here in three hours.”

The bang of the gavel blasted through the room. Every brother had a face of thunder and were fired up for this war. They left the table, grabbed their guns and knives and passed through the club to the exit looking like hell’s soldiers. Duke passed Shel and Jewel, they would be in lock down with the other old ladies and kids. They tried to catch his eye but he didn’t want to see their devastation. Nothing was going to distract him from his goal. Nicole. He was laser focused now, sending silent thoughts to Nicole to stay strong, he’d be with her soon. The rumbles and vibrations of bikes firing up fuelled his fury. Nicole was his everything, there would be no rest and no end to this until she was safe again.

Sat on the rusted floor in the back of the truck, Nicole was in complete despair. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her bump. Her only pitiful form of protecting her sons. She couldn’t get her mind to accept what had happened. She wanted to be angry, shout and scream at her captors but she didn’t have the energy for it and the lump in her throat was making it hard to breathe let alone make a scene.

She kept the last image of Duke in the forefront of her mind, his eyes flashing with determination and reassurance that he would save her. She knew in the very depths of her heart that he’d come but she couldn’t cope with the guilt if anything happened to him or his brothers. She was holding herself so stiff and still that her muscles ached with exertion. She wanted to curl into a ball and weep. Her own father had done this to her, to his grandsons, she felt like such a fool. He had no excuse for his actions in her mind. He could have called it off or at least told her to stay back when he saw she was pregnant. But no, the self-serving bastard had carried on regardless. If she’d only listened to Duke when he said to stay away she wouldn’t be in this position.

Nicole had always thought she was brave, could face anything head on but at the moment she couldn’t lift her head or open her eyes. She feared seeing her Dad or Wrath. She felt sick to her stomach at her Dad’s betrayal. What kind of father shoots his own daughter? She knew he was selfish but this was something else. There wasn’t a word strong enough to describe what he’d done, betrayal seemed too weak. The painful pulse from her gunshot wound was timed perfectly to her rapid heartbeat. She stayed focused on that, not allowing her mind to contemplate what she might be about to face.

The truck started to slow and came to a sudden stop. Her shoulder slammed into the side and she swallowed the added pain. She could have braced herself but her arms were fixed around her sons and that’s precisely where she would keep them. No matter what. A heavily scarred, familiar hand skimmed down her hair and tucked it behind her ear. Her skin itched with revulsion yet she held herself still. She refused to give him any reaction.

“I’m leaving you now. Don’t be too upset, you’re going to be seeing me again, soon. Maybe we’ll get to know each other better this time around.” His hand skimmed around her neck and held her nape tightly. “Don’t give my men any hassle or I’ll be sending that baby to Duke in pieces.” Wrath spoke above her before patting her on the head and quickly tearing her vest off her. The small amount of comfort she had from wearing it disappeared.

The truck door opened and closed. Nicole prayed that he was gone. His last words rumbled through her mind. She could still feel his touch on her, she shuddered and her stomach rolled, repulsed by the images that now haunted her mind. She turned her head to the side just in time to vomit. She couldn’t draw breath. Her lungs were seizing and her body felt too heavy. Dizziness disorientated her. Panic made it worse. Nicole knew she was about to pass out but she couldn’t allow it. Who would protect her babies? With that last devastating thought Nicole slumped away from the vomit, her body and mind becoming too overwhelmed; she blacked out.

Nicole woke expecting to find herself still in the back of the truck - this was much worse. It was a cell. Three exposed brick walls and a barred cell door enclosed her. She was lying on a thin, stained mattress on a cement floor that emitted a strong smell of sweat, vomit and urine. A red bucket sat in the corner with toilet paper by the side of it. She oped it was empty. A paper bag sat just inside the bars, she wasn’t ready to explore that yet.

She pushed herself up to a sitting position and closed her eyes again. She hoped that blocking out the view would let her collect herself but it didn’t. Layers of crusted, dried blood stained her arm and her side, her headache thumped loudly and pain seemed to envelope her entire being. She couldn’t stop the sob that escaped her. She ran her hands over her bump, relieved to feel her babies moving around and kicking against her hands.

She tried to distract herself by picturing what she thought they would look like. They would be darker haired for sure as hers was black and Duke’s a rich, deep brown. Maybe they’d have her pale, creamy complexion with his brown eyes. She hoped they grew to be tall and broad like Duke. She smiled at the idea of three stocky toddlers wrestling with Duke as she watched on, loving seeing them play together. She prayed to God that that would come true. The idea of never holding her babies made her heart fracture. She had to get out of here and soon.

Nicole had no idea how much time had passed sitting on the mattress. There were no windows and all she could see through the bars was a corridor with strip lighting, the odd one flickering, irritating her. She’d been listening for any movement but had heard none. The cold wall her back rested on was getting very uncomfortable and she needed to move about. Her body was too stiff. She tried to stand up without making any noise. It wasn’t easy or elegant with her bump and an arm out of commission but she eventually managed it.

She walked slowly towards the bars to investigate beyond her cell. She pressed her face into them and could vaguely see there were two more cells on either side of hers. One end of the corridor was a dead end, while the other had a large steel door. She wasn’t brave enough to call out to see if any of the other cells were occupied. She hated the idea of being down here alone; she could be forgotten and just left to die. Her thoughts were turning more and more morbid. She had a feeling she was underground. The air was stale, warm and heavy. All manner of disgusting smells continued to assault her nose. She felt like she was in a horror movie and was just biding her time until the monster showed itself, in this case, Wrath.

She bent to pick up the paper bag and was surprised to find a peanut butter sandwich and a bottle of water. At least they didn’t intend her to starve. The crinkle of the bag sounded thunderous in the silence. She ate quickly, her aching stomach protested but she knew she’d need the energy at some point and who knew when the next meal would come, so she forced it down.

A small sound caught her attention. Nicole strained her ears, sure that she’d just heard something. Suddenly, the sound of crying and a bolt being unlatched rang through the air. She stumbled away from the bars and pressed herself tight to the back wall. The corridor door opened and slammed into the wall, letting in a new stream of light. The crying was loud and clear now and just heart wrenching to hear. It was definitely a woman and she sounded in a lot of pain. A huge bald man wearing a Riot MC cut dragged a small blonde woman by the hair swiftly past her cell. She wished she could call out or help in some way but she couldn’t. Terror had frozen her in her position and her chest was heaving to pull in air. She didn’t want the man’s attention to waiver to her.