Captivate Me (12 page)

Commotion comes from every which way in the clubhouse. Any time there is a lockdown, we have more bodies here than beds, but we make do.

I greet those I know, and the very few I don’t, I lift my chin in acknowledgment.

I come up next to Rhys. “Have you seen Buzz?”

He turns toward me, his face impassive. “Down with his computer.”

“Look, I know you’re pissed. Everyone is. I get it,” I tell him, already moving away.

He halts me with his words. “You know you won’t be able to save him. He’ll need to pay.”

I clear my throat. “I know.” What I also know is that I’d do anything for my brother. I’ve proven that more than once in my life.

I move down the stairs to the back room where Buzz sits, typing away. I knock on the door, and he turns to me, lifting his chin.

“Anything?” I ask, hopeful he can find something to lessen his punishment.

Buzz points at the screen as I move closer.

“What is that?”

“It’s a cabin. Very secluded. About two years ago, Ransom went there on a vacation.” He shrugs. “Don’t know if it’s anything, but since I’ve got nothin’, I’ll take it.” He slaps me on the shoulder. “I’ve gotta go get Pops.”

I nod as he takes off.

The building looks as if it’s one room, maybe two at the most. The boards are old and warped from years of no one taking care of it. The roof looks as if some of the shingles are completely gone while there’s a hole in it on the other side. Weeds have grown up around it. I’m pretty sure it’s a dead end.

“Show me,” Pops barks, making me spin in the chair. I rise and move back, not knowing if he wants to take a seat.

“Here. I don’t think it’s anything. It looks like no one’s been there since Ransom two years ago, but it’s a crack.”

“We need to widen that crack.”

Fifteen minutes later, we’re holding an impromptu meeting in Buzz’s small computer space. The room is seriously small with all these men in it.

“Found a house.” Pops points to the screen. “Buzz.”

“It’s about thirty-five minutes from here. Secluded. And as you can see in the picture, I’m pretty sure nothing is there.”

“Need to check it out,” Pops says, eliciting grunts from the brothers. “Everyone but Dagger, so saddle up. We ride in fifteen.”

“Fucking hell,” Dagger grumbles. “One fuckin’ rod in my arm and stent in my heart, and I’m missin’ all the fun.”

“Yeah. You’re gonna sit your ass by the screen and give us a heads up if we need it,” Pops says, an order that makes Dagger begrudgingly back off.

Fifteen minutes later, we are rolling out.

After thirty-five minutes, we arrive at the dilapidated cabin, and a stark feeling hits me in the gut. I can feel something isn’t right here. And the feeling doesn’t subside as we come to a halt down the gravel road from the place. I can see it through the trees, and it’s the shit horror movies are made from.
Go in there, and you’ll get yourself killed.
Fuck me.

“Pops, something’s off.”

His fierce eyes turn to mine. “Yeah, this whole fuckin’ thing is off. You check everything?”

Looking at my phone, I lift it to Pops. “Nothin’s showin’ up.”

“But we go in with eyes open,” Pops orders as we climb out of the van.

I reach back and pull the gun out from the back of my jeans. There are two more on me, as well. I don’t come unprepared. None of Ravage does.

The brothers stick together, and I watch the ground, looking for anything that may be rigged. I see nothing, so I nod to Pops.

He motions Cruz, GT, and Rhys to the back of the house, leaving Tug, Breaker, and me with him. Then Pops nods his head to Breaker, who reaches out and turns the door handle. It gives no resistance or tension whatsoever.

The feeling in my gut grows. Ransom wanted us to find this place. He has a message, but fuck if I know what that is.

Tug goes in first, gun raised and ready. I follow with Breaker behind me.

The smell surrounds us as Tug looks at me with a knowing expression. Something in here is dead, about to be dead, or both.

I turn to Pops as he steps across the threshold and mouth “
dead
” to him. He nods.

Turning back toward Tug, I see him lift his arm for me to go left while he goes right. As soon as I turn the corner, I find the cause of the smell.

A woman is tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Her head hangs as if she can’t hold it up a second longer. Her hair is matted to her face with dirt and blood everywhere. Her hands are tied behind her back with rope tied to the chair. Her feet are tied to each leg. Her entire body is battered and bruised and maybe even burned a bit. Not to mention, she is skinny as hell. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t have any food while she was here.

I scope out the room. Dingy walls that were probably white at one time now are caked in dirt and mud and what looks like bloody handprints. Fucking hell. Otherwise, the room appears clear.

I take one step back from the door as the brothers come around.

“Clean,” Tug and Rhys call out at the same time.

“Found the smell.” I jerk my chin toward the room, and we all move in off to the side.

“What in the fuckin’ hell?” Cruz bellows as he takes in everything in the room.

“Is she dead?” GT asks.

I shrug. “Haven’t touched her.”

“Hey!” Rhys booms out, and the woman slightly twitches but says nothing, which is something because, when Rhys speaks, people listen.

Rhys steps forward and pushes her leg with his boot. This time, a groan comes out.

“She’s alive,” he says unnecessarily.

We step closer as he lifts her chin with his hand.

“No …” The word breaks out through cracked lips. Her face is so sunken in she’s practically blue.

“Fucking hell!” Rhys says, looking closer at her. “It’s fuckin’ Flash.”

Pops steps closer. “You’re fuckin’ shittin’ me.”

“Nope.” Rhys taps Flash on her face, and her eyes slowly open.

Flash, fuck. Flash was Dagger’s ol’ lady for a very long fucking time… until Mearna came back in his life. Then he kicked her out. She was a bitch who tore Dagger’s shit up. That was when Dagger laid down his bike from a heart attack that he is still recovering from.

“Flash, wake the fuck up,” Rhys says, slapping her hard.

Her glassy eyes slowly open.

“She has to have been here for a while,” I tell Rhys.

“Bitch should have been long gone with all the fuckin’ cash I gave her,” Rhys replies, looking down at the woman. “Why the fuck are you here, Flash?”

She moves her mouth only a twitch. Her cracked lips open so damn slow it’s like watching it in slow-mo. Her tongue darts out and runs over her lips. She winces. “Wat …” is all she can get out, and from the looks of her, she isn’t going to give us much else.

“Breaker,” Pops snaps, and my brother takes off. We have a stash of water in the van.

“Gettin’ ya some,” Rhys says a little more gently. “Now, why are you here?”

Fuck, looking at her is like looking at a dead body. I swear her entire frame has a blue tint.

“Let’s untie her,” Pops says.

I go to move, and I hear it. The small, almost imperceptible tick.

“There’s a bomb,” I tell my brothers, who still.

I search the floor, looking for it. If I had set it up, I would make the trigger detonate if she was removed from the chair.

I kneel down on the dirty, wet carpet and brush some of the debris away. Sure as shit, there it is.

“If you move her, this place blows,” I tell them, reaching into my cut’s pocket for my small set of tools. Checking the other legs of the chair, I find the front right is the only trigger. I look at Tug. “Bust that floor over there. See if you can see under to where this shit is connected.”

The sound of wood cracking happens a second later. Good thing we Ravage men are good when it comes to destruction.

Eyeing the detonator, I see it is standard and not sophisticated at all. But for its intent, it doesn’t have to be.

“Under her chair,” Tug says, shining a flashlight into the hole. “Looks like the wires run directly there. No alternate.”

“If we bust the boards here, does it look like it’ll set it off?”

He shifts. “I’d go about a foot. The wires run tight.” Thank Christ Tug knows his shit from his time in the Army with me.

“Need your knife,” I say, and Tug tosses it to me. “You guys may want to move out for this,” I tell my brothers. There’s no way in fuck I want us all to die today.

“Everyone out except for Buzz and Rhys. Get far back in case this shit blows,” Pops orders, and a small bit of myself feels relieved that they will be safe. Now, to keep the brothers with me safe.

“You got this,” Pops says, nodding toward the carpet. “Don’t want you blowing up your president and all.”

Nothing like a little more pressure to add to the heaps I already feel.

Shaking all that off, I cut through the dingy carpet, pull it back, and hack at the wood. Being thin, it doesn’t take much hammering to get it apart.

“Yeah, Pops.” I blow out a breath. “Light,” I call out, and one is placed in my hand.

Simple set up. The package is secured to the top of the floor with duct tape. There are two wires coming out of it, pushed up into the floor. That is the connector.

“What’s going on?” Breaker asks from above me.

I pull my head out of the hole in the floor, a little pissed the guys didn’t tell him to stay outside. “Bomb. Rhys, don’t let her move.”

He grunts, and that’s as good an affirmation as I’m going to get.

“Fuck,” Breaker says, kneeling down. “Whaddya need?”

“My kit. Grab the small needle noses.”

He hands them to me. They’re much smaller than I like, but I can only fit so much in a small kit.

I gauge the wires and find the right one. Sucking in a deep breath, I retrace my thoughts to make one hundred percent sure I’m right.

“Wait,” Pops calls out, and I pull my needle nose pliers away, looking up at him. “First, she talks.”

I remove the pliers.

Rhys holds the bottle of water to her lips and some dribbles to the floor, but I’m already disgusted, so who gives a shit?

“Flash, tell me what’s going on,” Rhys says, taking the bottle away.

“More,” she demands.

“No, a little at a time,” Pops tells her.

“Talk, Flash,” Rhys orders as Pops moves to stand next to him.

I sit up on my ass, seriously not comfortable with the fact that there is a huge-ass bomb below me that could take my president and brothers in a heartbeat.

“Nothin’ ta tell.” Her voice is so damn raw it grates on my skin.

“Fuckin’ talk, bitch,” Rhys orders, yanking her hair back.

She screams out in pain, but the scream isn’t as loud as I think she intended it to be.

“You’re all gonna blow.”

Flash tries to move in the chair. Luckily, two things are on our side: one, Rhys has a great grip on her so she can’t move, and two, she’s so fucking weak she can’t do much. Regardless, it’s her damn intent that has me up on my feet.