Unplugged: A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance (37 page)

He forced Maggie
’
s head up again to look at him and said,
“
Leave them alive, to come find y
ou and rescue you like some storybook princess? I don’t
think so. I made the mistake of underestimating you; I won’t do the same with
your old man. That life is over for you now, so just sit tight until this is
finished and then I’ll get you out of this sh
ithole.
”
He smiled at her and gave a sharp yank
of her hair before he stood. He left the room, followed by the other men with
their rifles. The metal door shut and she heard the creaking of a big latch
being dropped into place.

Maggie wept uncontrollably.

I
’
m sorry Jase. I
’
m so sorry.

~
SIXTEEN ~

Reports of a naked biker going on a
chase through half of LeBeau understandably traveled fast, so Jase wasn’t
surprised to see half the sheriff
’
s department, along with the entire club, waiting for him
when his bike rumbled down the long drive. But they weren’t there to arrest
Jase so much as assist with what they knew was really behind the chase.

Jase had returned home long enough to
throw on cl
othes, grab his weapons and phone, and see
if the van had dropped any other clues he could use. He made a quick emergency
call to Henry before he rushed to the clubhouse.

Jase hadn’t
even killed his bike when the group was
descending on him.
“
Where is she
?
What happened?
”
Henry
yelled as he stalked over.

“
They fucking took her right out of my
driveway!
”
said Jase, barely able to contain his
growing rage. He met them halfway.
“
They didn’t kill her, Henry, they snatched her. This was a
kidnapping.
”

“
How the
fuck
did that happen?
”
asked
Beck.

 “
You tell me. They had to have been
waiting out there for us all fucking morning. She hadn’t stepped ten feet from
the house and they were on her.
”

“
I thought I told you to keep her armed!
”
said Henry.

“
She shot one of t
hem in the arm, took out a rear window. It wasn’t enough
…
I wasn’t fast enough,
”
said Jase. He put his hands on his waist
and let his head hang, overwhelmed by the intensity of his pain and anger at
that moment.
“
Henry, something is very wrong. These
mothe
rfuckers were staking out my house, and I didn’t
even know we were going to end up there last night. How did they know?
”

Everyone fell silent and watched Henry,
waiting for his reaction. Jase could see and well understand the storm of
emotions brewing behi
nd Henry
’
s eyes. A kidnapping meant his daughter
was likely still alive, and they all knew that meant there was a chance to get
her back safely. But there were all sorts of things to go wrong between here
and there.

“
Where are we with the Afghanis?
”
said
Henry.

Beck spoke,
“Will
’
s on the line with them now. They said
they had some tracks from that burner Maggie found.
”

“
Good, then we
—“
Henry stopped. Drake was coming up the
drive in a rush, yelling over his engines. He stopped just short of the group
and h
opped off his bike. He had a padded brown
envelope stuffed under his arm that had already been ripped open.

“Boss!”
said Drake.
“
Boss, this was at the front fence, I
didn’t think before I opened it.
”
He reached out and handed the envelope to Henry with a
wide-eyed look on his face. Henry shoved his hand inside
and came out with a note. He read it without speaking, then pulled his phone
out of his pocket and began to send a text, reading the phone number off the
note. Within seconds, someone on the other en
d
replied.

It was a photo of Maggie, tied to a
chair in some indiscriminate and beat-up concrete room. Her reddened face
glistened, wet with tears; someone was holding her head up by the hair. Below
the picture, a number:
“$500,000”.

Another text arrived
a few seconds later:
“
One hour. Dirt road east of exit 9. No
cops.
”

Before he could stop himself, Jase
snatched the phone from Henry
’
s hand and stared at the photo in shock. The fear in her
eyes shattered his heart. He had utterly failed her.
“Oh my god…”
he muttered to himself. Someone took the
phone from him and got it back to Henry. Jase stumbled to the edge of the group
to catch a breath of fresh air. He thought he might be sick.

“
We need to open the safes. Get the money
collected.
”
Henry
’
s voice came
strong
from behind him. Drake led several men into the clubhouse to fulfill his order.

“You’re
gonna pay it
?
”
asked
Beck, though it was without a lick of judgment.

“Not just,” s
aid Henry. He called for someone to
bring Will to him. Jase took a few deep br
eaths and
returned to the group to take part in the updates. Will trotted up from the
clubhouse still on a call, which he ended just before he approached.

“
Aamir had his men in Eagleton do some
sniffing around with the numbers we found in Maggie
’
s burner,
”
said Will.
“
Two of them were still active. One led
to a junkie who was a regular client of Maggie
’
s ex. They couldn’t track down the owner
of the other, but only because they weren’t in Eagleton
—
the signal is active in an area about
ten miles north of her
e, west of Howlett.
”

“
Evan
’
s men,”
said Jase.
“
One of them hasn’t ditched their phone in a while.
”

“
That
’
s what I think,
”
said Will.
“
Aamir couldn’t get anyone to pick up
when called, but it seems pretty unlikely that it
’
s just a coincidence the signal is so
close to LeBeau. It has to be them.
”

“
It might be where they
’
re keeping Maggie,
”
said Henry.

A rush of hope filled Jase
’
s chest and he almost let himself
believe in it.
“
We have to try for it.
”

“I
’
m with him,
”
said Wi
ll.
“Let
’
s send a small team to these coordinates
to check out the site while you answer the ransom call. Having two teams out
means the chance is better one of us will succeed.
”

“
It could get Maggie killed,
”
said Beck.

“
I
don’t want to make a single move
that would give these assholes reasons to take it out on
her,
”
said Henry.

“
Let me take Ghost and go in small,
”
said Will. He put a hand on Henry
’
s shoulder.
“
We can handle it.
”

The sheriff stepped up.
“
We can coordinate patrolmen waiting on
the highway to
stop the kidnappers once they leave
the drop point.
”

“
Only if they
’
re far enough away that you won’t get
spotted, and you don’t move in until I say,
”
said Henry. The sheriff nodded and moved
to give out orders to his own men lingering on the edges of the
crowd.

“
Head out,
”
said Henry to Will.
“
Take Ghost. See what you can find.
”
Immediately Will ran for his bike and
hollered for Ghost to follow him. From the house, Drake and the rookies
returned with a black zippered duffel bag stuffed with cash. Henry too
k a cursory look and then zipped it back up.
“
The full half-mil?
”

“
Right, boss, but that emptied every safe
in the house,
”
said Drake.

“
Fine. Tommy, I want you to hold down the
fort here with whatever men the sheriff leaves. I want two men along with the s
heriff
’
s checkpoints on either side of the highway as backup in
case the sheriff can’t stop them. Beck, Drake, and Jase, you
’
re with me on the drop.
”
Henry looked at him with steel in his
eyes and Jase nodded sternly. No one was keeping him at the clubhous
e waiting this out, regardless of what Henry
’
s orders were.

No one argued, but scattered to their
respective duties. Henry had one quick last word with the sheriff before he
climbed on his bike, parked next to Jase
’
s, and strapped his helmet on. Beck had
a
lready pulled out one of the panel vans from the
side of the clubhouse; he would be transporting the money bag, and presumably
Maggie upon her return.

The sound of bikes roaring to life
filled the air. As a few began to buzz down the driveway, Jase looked
over at Henry as he adjusted his helmet. A million
thoughts exchanged between them without a single word being said.

“I
’
m going to fix this,
”
said Jase.
“I
’
m going to get her back.
”

“
We will get her back together,
”
said Henry. He clapped a hand on Jase
’
s
shoulder.
Jase waited and followed a few meters behind, praying to himself that they
weren’t too late already.