Old Ghosts: Gypsy Riders MC (21 page)

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The sound of knocking pulled me out of my nap.  I jumped up and opened the door.  Sam was standing there, a half smile on her lips.

“I think we’ve made a turn for the better, Mike,” she said.  I smiled and hugged her.

“That’s wonderful news!”  I said.

“His vital signs are steady, his breathing is good.  We aren’t entirely out of the woods yet, but I’m much more hopeful than I was a few hours ago.”

“Fucking fantastic.  Thank you so much again, Sam.”

“Of course, Mike.  My pleasure.  You know I love all you guys.  Do you want me to go tell the others?”

“Yes, that’d be great, thank you!  I have a phone call to make.”

I couldn’t wait to give the good news to Daisy.  I knew she was worried sick about Reaper.

Her phone rang to voicemail and I dialed it two more times before I hung up and tried Sonny’s number.

When he didn’t answer either, I knew something was very wrong.

I flew out of my office, yelling at Sandman to come with me.

“I can’t reach Sonny or Daisy, Sandman.  Something’s up.  I’m going home. I need you to come with me, brother.”

“You got it, boss.”  Within a minute, we were roaring down the road next to each other, my heart pounding once again with fear.

****

I saw Sonny as soon as I pulled up.  Sandman rushed to his side and I jumped off my bike, flying into the house as fast as I could.  

It was completely empty.  No sign of Daisy or Rosie.  Breakfast dishes were still on the table, and the two empty chairs were sitting in the middle of the living room floor.  The note was taped to the seat of one of them.

Dear Sinner:

Atonement for our sins is essential in pleasing the Eternal Father.  
Daisy is slathered in her sins, and she must attempt to purify her soul before God before she can 
be accepted into his Heavenly Kingdom.  
God has chosen me to save her.  
His Heavenly Spirit will guide us home.  
When the clock strikes midnight, Daisy and I will be reunited in his light and bathed in his glorious love.  
You can have your daughter back, if you can locate us before then.

“What the fuck is this shit!?” I was dumbfounded.  I had barreled in here ready for anything.  Ready for a gun fight. A knife fight.  A bare knuckles, knock-down drag-out.  But this shit?  What the fuck was I supposed to do with this ridiculous fucking note?

My stomach churned when I realized I had no idea what to do, or where to find the girls. 

At first, I thought this was payback from the Cretins, but after seeing the note, I was going on the assumption it was from Todd, considering all the other religious bullshit he had been sending Daisy.

I stumbled through the house, looking for any signs as to where they might be and came up completely empty-handed. When I opened Rosie’s bedroom door, lil’ Mike came flying out of her room, growling and barking. 

“So much for your guarding abilities,” I said to him as he sniffed around the apartment frantically.

Nothing was out of place, except for the chairs.  

I looked at the clock over the mantle and saw that it was seven o’clock already.  I had till midnight, apparently.

The sun was starting to go down outside, and I had only five hours to save the two most important people in my life.

There was only one problem.

I had no fucking clue where to begin.

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“Drive,” Todd said, pushing us into the front seat of my pickup. He had retrieved a suitcase from his black sedan, the same black sedan I had seen earlier, but it was now parked on the street.  He placed the suitcase in the bed of my pick-up before we got in. 

I eyed my backpack on the floor under his legs, thankful I had decided to bring my gun with me.  If only I had decided to bring the fucking thing in the house with me when I first got there, I might not be rolling away from Mike’s house with this fanatical freak at my side.

“Where are we going?”

“Don’t fucking worry about it,” he said.  He had made Rosie promise not to run or cry when he untied us and I watched as he, surprisingly gently, pulled the duct tape from her mouth.  She was being so brave, and I couldn’t believe it.  She quietly obeyed his commands, her fear filled eyes constantly darting back and forth between Todd and me.

“It’s going to be okay, Rosie,” I said as we walked out of the house.  “Just do what he says.”

Luckily, I was able to shield her so she didn’t have to see Sonny’s lifeless body on the ground in front of my truck.  I didn’t give a shit what Todd did to me, but I had to make sure Rosie came out of this as unscathed as possible.

 “Turn left,” Todd barked.

I took a deep breath, turning the truck as he told me to. I contemplated everything I could do to get out of this.  Todd had his gun out and pointed directly at me, but out of sight of the other drivers around us.  I could ram the car into a wall or another car, I could wave down someone, I could swerve and try to get the gun away from him — but all of these things would have put Rosie at the risk of getting hurt.  It was too much.

I would just have to follow along with him, and hope that some opportunity would come up to take him down.  

“Go south on the 101,” he said.  I looked over at him, and saw small beads of sweat popping up on his forehead.  His eyes looked wild and panicked.  He looked nothing like the man I had given five years of my life to.  Now, he was some gun-waving lunatic that had obviously gone off the deep end.

“What’s your plan here, Todd?” I asked, as I merged the truck onto the freeway.  He had written a note before he left, but I didn’t get a chance to see what it said.  I could only hope Mike would be there soon and that it held some clue of how he could find us.  My phone had been ringing off the hook while we were tied to the chairs, and I knew it had to have been Mike calling.

“My plan is to cleanse your filthy soul, Daisy,” he replied. 

“Where are we going?” I said, sighing.  How was I ever going to get through to him?

“Drive towards Santa Monica, and take the Overland Avenue exit.”

“What’s in Santa Monica?”  I asked.  I wanted to try to get him to talk, to somehow find a kernel of an opening to penetrate his insanity.  Surely, the man I used to know was in there.  Had he snapped completely?

“The Temple.”

Oh, shit.  Of course! He was taking us to the Temple.  

“What are we going to do there, Todd?”  I asked, halfway knowing his answer.

“You’re must be saved in the Kingdom of our God and Father, Daisy,”  he said, his eyes glassing over.

“Todd, listen.  You hit me.  I left.  I have done nothing wrong here, please just let us go!”  I pleaded.

“Sinner!  You’ve defiled your flesh and you must confess your sins before we can be sealed in the name of the Lord.  Then we can enter the eternal light of our Lord together,” his voice rose over the din of the traffic, high and frantic.  

“Todd, okay, listen.  Let’s just go into the Temple, and I’ll confess to the Bishop, and then you can let us go, okay?”  He was out of his mind.  I had no intention of being ‘sealed’ to him.  And I certainly wasn’t dying with him.  

“No. I have other plans.  Just shut up for now,” he said.  His leg was twitching, his hand resting on the trigger of his gun, and I felt my heart racing in my chest and my palms begin to sweat.  He wasn’t kidding around, that was for sure.  But if he was taking us to the Temple, then maybe I could get help there.  

Traffic began slowing down around us, and the movement on the freeway slowed to a crawl.  There were people so close to us, if I reached out I could probably touch them, and yet I could do nothing to alert them to the danger we were in.  I sat quietly behind the wheel, and reached over and took Rosie’s hand.

She had been completely silent, and I looked down at her now and saw tears flowing down her cheeks.  

“It’s okay, baby.  We’re going to be okay,”  I said to her, squeezing her hand.

For the next half hour, we sat on the 101, going no more than half a football field’s distance.  The sun was setting in the distance and I would have enjoyed the view if I wasn’t being held at gunpoint by a madman.

I thought of Mike, and Reaper, and my heart sank with the realization that if I didn’t find a way out of this, we would never see them again.  The darkness slowly descended on us as the truck creeped along.

“Dammit!”  Todd said, hitting the dashboard with his right hand.  “It’s getting too late.  The temple is going to be closed by now.”

“Yes, it is,” I said.

“Take this next exit.  I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands.”  The graveness in his voice frightened me even more.  

He had obviously gone so far off the deep end that there was no turning back for him.  I could only hope he didn’t drag us down with him.

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I called Kelly’s cell phone and breathed a sigh of relief when she answered on the first ring.

“Why, hello there, Mr. Fuck Machine,” she said, her voice slightly thickened with intoxication. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I need your help.  I need your help now.  Where are you?”  I asked.  I had no time for her flirting.

“I’m at Joe’s bar around the corner from the precinct. Wanna meet me?”

“I’ll be right there. Don’t move.”

“Not till you get here, darling.”  

I groaned, and hung up the phone.  I called Demon and told him to go into my office at the clubhouse and find the envelope of pictures and meet us at the bar.

“Let’s go.”  I said to Sandman.  We were there in five minutes, and I was happy to see Demon pulling up just as we arrived.

“Here you go, boss,” Demon said as we walked to the door of the pub.

“Thanks.  You two stay here. This won’t take long,” I said.

Kelly was sitting at a booth in the back, with three empty shot glasses and a pint glass full of beer sitting in front of her.

“What a pleasant surprise!” She slurred as I sat down across from her.

“This isn’t a personal visit, Kelly.  It’s business.  I need your help, it’s about Rosie.”  I said.  My heart was pounding in my throat, and my voice cracked when I said her name.  If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t survive.  I had to find her.