Game Changer (Hell's Saints Motorcycle Club) (27 page)

“When you told me that’s all I could see was a
dead you
. I didn’t want to lose you, Raine. Fuck babe, I still don’t want to lose you. I want you. I want the baby. I want it all. I want the white picket fence and the tire swing in the yard. Cookouts on Sunday and fucking family vacations. I want this baby and a few more like it if you’re game.” He looked at me then, straight in the eye with his heart on his sleeve.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I just know I wanted and needed to feel myself in the arms of this big beautiful bad man. I made my eyes meet his and in them I saw the love that I was looking for. I knew by the way he smiled down at me that he saw that same love reflected in my own. Everything was gonna be alright.

It was all going to work out.

I was going to get my happily ever after

Diego and me and baby makes three.

I stretched up to him as he reached down to me.

I was singing that happy tune in my head right up until the time I saw my man do this weird little full body dance then crumbled down in front of me.

I was singing that happy tune right up until I felt something hard hit me on the back of my head.

Fall back. Fall back. Protect the baby, I thought to myself just before it all went black.

“I’VE BEEN FUCKING TASERED” Diego was shouting into the phone.

“AT THE FUCKING DOCTOR’S OFFICE.”

“THEY TOOK RAINE. THEY FUCKING TOOK HER.”

“YEAH, IT TOOK THREE FUCKING TIMES TO GET ME THE FUCK DOWN BUT THE MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKERS FUCKING SUCCEEDED.

Then louder.

“NO FUCKING IDEA.”

Then at a pitch that could be heard two towns away.

“DO NOT! DO NOT FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN. I NEED YOU TO GET HERE NOW. FUCKING YESTERDAY. MOTHER FUCKERS BLEW OUT MY TIRES.”

Diego was gonna fucking kill his brother if he asked him one more fucking question.

“NINETY-EIGHT FUCKING LIBERTY STREET YOU FUCKING MORON. I JUST FUCKING SAID IT.”

He hadn’t said it. He knew he hadn’t said it.

“YOU FUCKING TELL ME TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME I AM GONNA RIP OFF YOUR BALLS AND SHOVE THEM DOWN YOUR FUCKING THROAT.”

He took a deep breath because Jules was right.

He had to calm the fuck down and figure out what the hell had just happened. His hands were shaking and he felt like he was going to be sick. He put his hands on his knees and took three deep breaths.

“Jules?” He croaked out.

“Yeah, brother. I’m with you. Right here man. Right here.” Jules was working hard to keep his voice steady. Because if they had any hope of finding Raine, they had a very short window of time and they had to keep their shit straight up and fucking
think.
The club had to start putting it out, calling in favors, taking out marks, doing whatever the fuck they had to do to get D’s woman and baby back to him.

Everyone in the club had a job to do and when it worked, it worked like a fine tuned clock. Jules had no doubt, no doubt that they would find out who did this. Finding out in time, well that was another story.

And they all knew it.

Diego was losing his shit
. Losing his shit
. Jules could hear it in his voice.

“Stay with me brother. Look around, you see anything? Doc have cameras up? You got anything?” Jules had a pencil in his hand.

Diego looked to the eaves of the building. “Yeah, brother. He has cameras up. Lights fucking flashing.” Then with a little hope in his voice, “Looks like they are recording and trained right on the lot.”

“Good man, that’s great. I’m calling the doctor right now, we’re gonna get him over there with that tape. Now, anything else? Look at the ground man, you got anything?” Jules was already on the other line to Dolly getting Gideon’s number.

Diego heard the calm in Jules’s voice and it brought him back to where he needed to be. He could not, could not, could not fucking fall apart right now. Everything. Everything depended on him not fucking falling apart.

Diego was looking at the contents of the spilled purse lying next to the open door of Raine’s car.

Then he said with deadly calm. “Brother?”

“Yeah, D right here man.” Jules heard the calm and felt a hell of a lot better.

Until he didn’t.

“You better call Reno. Looks like they got Claire too.” Then Diego turned off the cell and waited.

The doctor showed up not fifteen minutes later. His black Mercedes escorted by four of Prosper’s crew. He was out of the car before the bikers had pulled their bikes back to park.

Dr. Gideon went quickly to Diego and putting his and on his shoulder forced him to look him in the eye.

“You okay son?” Dr. Gideon’s concerned face came into focus.

“Yeah, yeah….They must have hit her…I don’t know. I think they hit her. On the head. The baby? Raine…I don’t know.” Diego was looking into the Doctor’s eyes.

Doctor Gideon had been dealing with Prosper’s crew for years. He had delivered half the babies born into the MC. He had done his homework. He knew not one of those kids had ever wound up in an emergency room with any unexplained bumps or broken bones, none of them had ever ended up in foster care. While he knew all that, he also was not naïve enough to think that most of them would end up to be pillars of the community either. However, the way he figured it, the grown up part was not his concern. He knew Prosper made sure his crew treated those kids right, and that was enough for him.

He also knew that having a waiting room filled with the hard women and their hard men from a disreputable motorcycle “club” would be cause for most doctors to turn their heads the other way at accepting these new patients. This was one of the reasons Gideon had stayed in practice for so long. And one of the reasons he worried about getting out. But his wife had laid down the law, and he grudgingly had decided she was right. Forty years was long enough.

He had dealt with many a hard man in his days, but the look of fear and panic on the face of a man like Diego scared the hell out of him.

“Okay. I’m going in to get that tape for you. But first I want you to listen, I doubt very much whoever this was, would hit Raine hard enough to do any permanent damage. My guess, is if they had wanted her dead, she would have been killed on the spot. You know better than I do, but I think it is safe to say that for now, Raine is okay.”

The doctor held Diego’s eyes.

“Now for the baby.”

He took a breath and went on.

“A fetus needs adequate oxygen and nutrition. A blow to the head is not going to interfere with these vital necessities. Not even to a small degree. Nature has provided a very well protected environment for fetuses, otherwise the whole race would be too fragile to survive.” Doctor Gideon smiled faintly, hoping he had gotten through to Diego.

Diego looked into the doctor’s eyes and took a deep breath. He had heard him. Raine and their child were okay for now. While it made him sick inside to think of Raine being hit like that, Diego agreed that if whoever did this had wanted Raine dead she would have been. If Raine had been dead from that blow, they wouldn’t have taken her. No, they hit her just hard enough to knock her out, he was sure of it. But he hadn’t known if Raine being unconscious for even a short time would hurt the baby. He felt only a little better at the news. But he would take it.

“Let’s go get that tape. Doc.” Diego was back.

Because Dr. Gideon was not only a good doctor but a good god fearing man. He looked into the blackness that reflected back to him from Diego’s eyes and said a silent prayer for whomever it was that had abducted Raine. Because no matter what the outcome, Diego was not only going to kill that someone. He was going to make him suffer unbearably first.

The next few hours served to prove why Prosper was one of the most influential and feared men on the eastern seaboard.

Within twenty minutes of hearing of the girls kidnapping Prosper had made contact with three federal agents and four congressmen, all of whom were in his pocket. They were all on standby waiting for information that they could use their extensive influence to act upon.

Twenty five minutes after viewing the tape Prosper had ordered a sit down with the heads of three of the most feared crews in the outlaw nation.

He had been spending a good deal of his time in the last few months putting together a very lucrative deal involving the crew of the los Rojos, the Mob and the Aces. The Mexicans, Italians and Blacks all coming together was unheard of. But Prosper was getting on in years and was a very smart guy. He had worked hard on this deal and while being extremely profitable, it would not work without the cooperation of the heads of the other crews.

It had taken him months to get them all at a table. Months. Once there he had laid out his plan. If properly executed there would be little risk involved. But only if done right. Each organization was a cog in the wheel of the plan, with the Saints being the beginning and ending cog, therefore taking on most of the risk. That and the promise of all the green made the other head members of their crews want in.

Prosper had spent many hours finessing the deal. Easing tensions, soothing egos and dancing the fucking dance. No one wanted to see it go down the toilet.

But that was exactly where it would be if both his girls weren’t found safely and fast.

Prosper sat at the table. Jules to his right. Diego to his left.

Prosper had just finished showing the tape of Raine and Claire’s abduction. He was looking straight at the head of Los Rojos.

“So this fucking shit, your play Ese?” Prosper’s eyes were shark black.

“No man.” Lucius was shaking his head. “No fucking way this falls back on us.”

“Fucking member of your crew did the deed.” Gianni was pissed. Who the fuck took a pregnant woman?

Lucius was looking around the table. He was thinking he was pretty well screwed. Either he was going to look like he couldn’t handle his crew or he was going to look like he put a hit out on Prosper’s family. Either way this was bad. And Lucius did not like looking bad under the best of circumstances. This shit was epic. This shit was so incredibly fucked that unless he handled this right, Lucius had little hope of coming out of it alive.

“Yeah, my crew. But not my order, friend. The stupid mother fucker acted on his own. He’s a dead man. That I promise you.” Lucius was looking around the table.

Prosper looked at Lucius. “I really hope that’s true, motherfucker. Because as of right now, I have two men at your house pointing .45’s at your woman and your three fucking kids.”

Lucius’s face showed no emotion, but he chin nodded to his man to make the call to his house. When Lucius’s second came back to the table, he nodded once at Lucius.

Lucius said nothing.

Prosper’s face was grim. He looked at the bosses.

“This tape shows a prospect from Lucius’s crew taking my girls. He acted against my man to do it. With no provocation.”

Prosper delivered those words with dead calm.

Then he slammed his hand on the table so hard it sent a splinter through the wood that ran half the length of the slab before it stopped.

Prosper’s eyes flashed red. His gravelly voice delivered a message straight from hell.

“WITH NO FUCKING PROVOCATION. MY GIRLS. RAINE IS EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT. HER SISTER CLAIRE, SWEETEST GIRL ON THE PLANET. HIT ON THE HEAD. PUSHED INTO A VAN. MY MAN TASERED. NOTHING. NOTHING MAKES THIS RIGHT EXCEPT BLOOD. NOTHING.”

He looked around the table. He was shouting at the top of his lungs.

“EVERYTHING IS ON HOLD. IF MY DAUGHTERS ARE NOT FOUND WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS YOU PAY LUCIUS. AND YOU PAY WITH BLOOD.”

“I AM GOING TO START WITH YOUR KIDS FIRST. I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU WATCH WHILE I PUT A BULLET IN THEIR HEADS. YOU FEEL ME ESE?”

“THEN YOUR WOMAN. THEN YOUR MOTHER. YOU ARE GOING TO FUCKING WATCH THEM ALL DIE. I DON’T GIVE A SHIT. EVERYBODY YOU EVER LOVED IS GOING TO DIE FUCKING SLOWLY.”

“IF MY GIRLS GET HURT. NO ONE IS SAFE.” Prosper was leaning in and pointing his big thick finger in the face of Lucius.

Then with dead calm.

“Raine and Claire are returned safely first. That’s first. Passed that, I want that fucking piece of shit who could be swayed by that crazy snatch dead. And I want that snatch dead
.
Anyone got a problem with that you can fucking get up now and leave. I want a bullet through that bitch’s throat. I am going to kill that prospect myself.”

Then he continued. “Any man at this table not seeing this my way leave now and know I take that personal.

“Ain’t got no problem from black.” Demetrius said “Shit’s fucked up. I got a woman carrying a baby myself. No way I’m gonna want to worry about her when she goes to the goddamn doctor’s office because some bitch who was blowing me gets a bug up her ass.”

Then he added nodding around the table. “Bitch has got to go.”

Gianni leaned in. “Lucius you better contain this now. Bring in your prospect and find out what the fuck. Family, we don’t touch. You know it. I know it. Everybody around this table knows it.”

Gianni paused to nods all around. Then he continued,

“I’m telling you right now, my boys’ ain’t got no beef with the Rojos, never have. You and me we don’t dabble in the same pond. But this shit goes down with Prosper’s family and I am with him. Nowhere to hide man. You need to contain this. For a lot of fucking reasons. Word gets out you can’t control a prospect, you lose your cred. You lose your cred, we don’t want to go into business with you, capisce?” Gianni finished.

“Yeah I understand” Lucius was rubbing the back of his neck. “Manny’s my sister’s kid. Took him on as a prospect as a favor to her. Kid addicted to bad snatch. Just like some women addicted to bad men. Manny did time for his love of pussy. Bitch fingered him for a deal few years back. He just got out. Hooked up with this gash. Crazy chick. But my nephew, he loves that shit. I’ll find him. Got his mother on it now.”

“His mother? You got his fucking mother on it?” Diego had been quiet up until this point. Following protocol, giving Prospect respect, knowing he would handle it. But now he spoke up.

“Yeah man, my sister.” Lucius was looking at Diego. “Raised four brothers when our mother died. Then married a man and raised four more while he did time. She one tough mamma, man. Her boy hoping right about now that you find him first before his mother does. She threatened to rip off his dick if he pulled this shit again because of pussy and she is good to her word”

“Okay then. We’re fucking done. You all know what’s at stake. I suggest strongly Lucius that you call in every favor owed you and take as many markers as you can to find this piece of shit family member of yours before I put them all to ground looking for him. You hear me, Ese?” Prosper was sick of dicking around with these assholes. He needed to get out there and find his girls.

“You sitting here threatening my boss’s family, man? Los Rojos don’t take kindly to that.” Lucius first hand was sitting to his left and spoke up.

“Shut the fuck up.” Lucius said to him.

“Yeah that’s a threat and a promise.” Diego spoke quietly but not one man mistook his tone.

Prosper brought down the gavel three times and it was done.

Reno had been leaning against the bar watching the door for the past hour. The ashtray next to him was full but the shot glass next to that had stayed empty. He wanted to be clear when he heard what had gone down in the meet. He wanted to be clear to do what needed to be done to get Claire back.

Because he loved her.

Yeah, he fucking did.

He loved her.

He loved the way she laughed and how her smile made the freckles across her nose dance. He loved how she twirled her hair when she was tired and how her clothes always seemed to be one size too big for her, as though she was hiding in them. He loved how she avoided being too close to him. But how, when she thought he wasn’t looking, would stare at him with a sort of wonder and longing in her eyes that even she was not aware of. He loved, fucking loved, that she did not look at any other man that way.

He loved how shy she was.

He loved how brave she was.

He loved the way she teased Prosper, easily the biggest baddest dude in a club of very big bad dudes, and made him laugh at himself in ways nobody else, even Pinky, dared to do.

He loved that he hadn’t kissed her yet. Because that was worth waiting for.

Yeah he fucking loved her. And the thought of her out there with some psycho bitch and love crazy prospect spic was making him crazy.

Crazy enough to kill.

The meet was over and Reno pulled himself away from the bar, watching the heads of three gangs and their seconds walk out. The faces were grim but they were all moving to the bar, as was custom, to raise a class in solidarity.

Well, that was something.

Diego and Prosper flanked each side of Reno. They drank their shots down quickly and let the men see themselves out.

Then Diego and Prosper took Reno, Jules and the rest of the executive branch of the Saints and filled them in.

Lucius’s second was allowed to go. But Lucius was being held in one of the rooms on the compound. His life and the life of his woman and children hanging in the balance.