Hunted (Dauntless MC Book 1) (12 page)

“What the fuck is going on out here,” Scooter asked getting in between Derrick and Talon.

Talon’s face looked like a contorted and demonic mask of hatred as he held the agent up by his throat, causing his feet to dangle. The men just stood around in a circle with their arms crossed over their chests and watched.

Talon never saw Derrick’s hand retrieve the gun from his holster.

“There’s one in the chamber, motherfucker.” His voice was raspy from lack of air and he knew he was going to be rendered unconscious if he didn’t get out of the large man’s grip.

The sight of Tiny’s gun caused everyone’s head to turn in the Prez’s direction. Derrick didn’t need to see it though. He could feel the cold metal of it his against the back of his head.

“You have the audacity to come up in my fucking club and pull a gun on one of my boys? Not smart!” He directed his next statement at Talon. “Let the dickwad go. I want to hear what he has to say.”

Talon dropped him like a sack of potatoes and then reached down to take his gun which Derrick didn’t resist giving up. If not being armed was what it would take to get through this meeting and get the help he needed, then so be it.

“This lying motherfucker is trying to tell me that Red is missing and he thinks the same guy who took his old lady is responsible.” Talon spouted out after disarming him.

“Red is missing!” Scooter interrupted. “Who’s got your old lady?” He directed his question at Derrick.

“The convict who broke out of jail and he’s a serial killer. I’m sorry for all the shit I’ve put your club through,” Derrick stated, looking at the club president, Tiny. “I need your help. If we’re going to rescue these girls and get them out alive, it’s going to take all of us pooling our resources together.”

“He’s right boys,” Tiny answered. “How do you know he has Justine?”

Derrick pulled a note from his pocket and read.
“She’s going to pay for the way you sullied her purity and you are going to have to live with it.
He left the note with flowers he dumped on my doorstep. I was on a job and evidently she mistook him for a flower delivery man.”

“Didn’t she know what he looked like,” Tiny asked.

“Not with that big ass bouquet in front of his face is what I’m guessing.”

Tiny addressed his next question at Scooter. “How do you know Red is missing?”

Scooter looked at Talon and shook his head. “She got pissed off when Talon wouldn’t let her dance for him. I guess he doesn’t want to do anything to piss off lawyer lady.”

“I don’t,” Talon growled.

Tiny looked at Scooter, “Dude, you’re going to have to get past that being shy shit. You’ve been that way since we were kids. Why didn’t you claim her or at least tell me you wanted her as your property?”

“Yeah, I’ve already been told that but it’s easier said than done, guys.”

Tiny’s face took on a sardonic expression as he once again addressed the ICE agent, Derrick. “That means no more fucking with my club or anybody in it.”

“You have my word. Just please help me get my woman back alive.”

Derrick sat in his boss’ office, agreeing with everything he said but having no intentions whatsoever of following his commands. If his boss knew he had already met up with the boys at the club, he would be so mad he would bust a vein in his head. Hell, if he knew half the shit Derrick did on the down low, he would have already suffered a stroke or cardiac arrest.

“I’ll have everyone in this office working nonstop until we find your partner. This is one of our own. This guy has crossed the line by taking Justine and that isn’t going to happen in my agency. Now isn’t the time for you to go all rogue on me, Snyder. I know how you think so just get it out of your head and get that note down to the lab for processing.”

Derrick looked at the balding, pot-gutted, head of ICE and noted that his chest puffed out in pride whenever he spoke of his agents. He was glad the boys accepted Justine as one of their own. He knew how hard it was for a woman. That had been the whole reason she had opened up and talked to the convict. His mind wandered back to the things she had said about it being a boys’ club. He was glad he had never treated her like she was anything but on his level and capable when it came to the job. His bedroom antics had nothing to do with his personal thoughts or opinions of her capabilities. He had nothing but the utmost respect for her.

“I already took that note down to the lab, boss.” He failed to tell him that he had taken it by the club first as proof to the members of her abduction.

“All right, well… keep me abreast on what’s going on.”

“Will do, boss.”

Derrick had to continually push away the guilt he felt in feeling responsible for the abduction of his partner. He couldn’t shake off the thoughts of what that fucking convict might do because of the way Derrick had treated him. He could only hope the convict wouldn’t take his hatred towards the agency, and Derrick’s sadistic visits with him, out on her. She didn’t deserve that.

Derrick was quickly learning that there was much more to his relationship with his partner than just good sex. He actually cared about her. He wasn’t used to feeling any emotions towards his sexual partners who took part in his depraved escapades of pain and pleasure. Whether he liked it or not, he cared about this girl and the thought of being without her was unthinkable. He had to find her, he had to rescue her, and he had to kill the convict who abducted her so the bastard could never hurt her again.

He had no intentions of adhering to the agency’s protocol. This wasn’t about justice or righting a wrong. It was about exacting revenge and avenging the honor of the woman he loved. The problem was that he needed the Dauntless MC club to help him out and he wasn’t one of their favorite people right now. It was going to take more than just working with him to find these girls to convince them that he could be trusted.

For the first time since he had tried to muscle the club into paying him off, he found himself regretting it. He really needed to get past the penchant he had for blackmailing people. It never was about the money; it was about control. Though he regretted trying to blackmail the club, he would never regret blackmailing his little pet. It only added to the dangerous intrigue they experienced in their sex life. He was a man who was all about sadistic control. This was the first time he had ever experienced this kind of connection with any woman and that was something he would never regret—ever.

Scooter eyed Talon as he stood in front of Red’s locked apartment door. “I’m going for it.” He crashed his large frame into the door and it opened, offering no resistance due to its weak framing and flimsy lock. Why the fuck hadn’t he taken her away from this place? He was paying for his painfully shy personality trait; it had plagued him throughout childhood and now he was paying for it as an adult. She had never been safe here, not in this God forsaken neighborhood. If only he would have been like the other brothers and just taken the woman he wanted. He could only hope that it wasn’t too late now. He would never forgive himself if he didn’t save this girl.

They entered into the small, yet tidy, efficiency apartment. Scooter made his way over to a photo she had taped on the dresser. It was a picture of him and Talon and he wondered which man had made her want to put it up. He guessed it was probably his brother in arms, Talon.

He fingered the cheap colognes on her dresser and vowed that if he got her back, he would buy her department store perfume for the rest of her days.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Talon questioned.

“I thought she wanted you and figured she wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

“She just wants to belong. You’re going to have to get past that crippling shyness you deal with when it comes to women. They don’t read minds, bro.”

“I can assure you if we find that girl alive, I’m going to sweep her off her feet.”

“That a boy. That’s what I want to hear. We’re going to find her alive. We’re Dauntless and that means we don’t quit until the job is done.”

“I hope so. God, I fucking hope so.” Scooter swallowed the lump in his throat and continued looking around.

“Should we grab some of her clothes for when we bring her back to the club?”

“Nah, we’ll have one of the guys drive Raven and Grace over here in a truck and they can pack her stuff up so you can bring her back to the compound with you.”

“You think working with the cop guy will help?”

“Yeah, I do. If anyone knows that crazy convict motherfucker, Derrick does. Combine that with the fact that his woman is one of the abductees, and we may just have those girls home by nightfall. That convict may be crazy, but that agent is crazier.”

Justine opened her eyes and immediately closed them again, unable to bear the pain that even the dim lighting brought to her throbbing head.

She hadn’t noticed her roommate in the small, concrete room until she spoke.

“My name is Rita but you can just call me Red. That’s what they call me at the club.”

“What club?” Justine talked in a low voice as if it would help to alleviate the pain she was experiencing.

“Dauntless MC club.”

“Okay, now some things are piecing together. My partner and I have been working on a case against you guys.”

“So, you’re a cop? Great, well normally I wouldn’t fucking speak to anyone who was causing them problems, much less a cop. Being that we’re prisoners at the hands of a crazy man, I’ll break that rule. How crazy is this guy?”

Justine pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke, “He’s a serial killer.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck no. Oh, my God. We’ve got to get the fuck out of here.” Panic immediately set in. Unlike her cop counterpart, Red wasn’t used to dealing with the criminally insane.

It was evident the poor girl was well on her way to a full-blown panic attack and Justine knew that was the worst thing she could do. Level heads prevailed and they were going to need to work together to get out of this mess alive.

“Look, you’ve got to calm down. Were you able to get in here with anything?”

“He took my cell phone but he didn’t check my boots and I made it in with this.” Red held up the scout knife she carried with the various tools.

Justine chuckled, “Girl scout, huh? Always prepared.” Red laughed and it seemed to ease some of the panic that had been present only a moment before. “Start working on that metal plate that’s screwed into the floor. There isn’t anything I would love more than to bust this asshole in the head with it when he comes through that door.”

“Geez, for a cop you’re a badass aren’t you?”

“No, I’m scared… which is infinitely more dangerous.”

The guys sat in the compound surrounding a computer as Derrick worked his magic. One of the members named Preacher spoke up and said what they were all thinking but none had addressed yet.

“Motherfucker, you look like a biker, you act like a biker, and you can’t tell me that you haven’t crossed the line a time or two. Are you corrupt?” After Preacher’s comment, the boys burst out laughing but now Derrick held their attention as they awaited an answer they already knew.

Derrick turned and eyed the biker who looked more like a gladiator than an ordinary man. What the fuck did they feed these guys? The guy looked like a wall of muscle that couldn’t be penetrated and would need to be shot down by any enemies he might’ve procured in his chosen lifestyle. His thick, black hair fell scraggly around his chiseled facial features. Derrick did the only thing he knew to do while on the spot in front of a group of men who could not only get away with easily beating his ass, but killing him. He was honest.

“I’m the most corrupt motherfucker you’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting; I’m also the most loyal.” He stared into Preacher’s face, meeting his gaze with indifference.

The room erupted in laughter once again as the men expressed their pleasure in his answer. It was the best one that he could have given them.

Tiny spoke up and addressed Preacher, “That’s why we call you Preacher, because you always say what everybody is thinking. You tell what God loves… the truth.”

“That I do, Prez, that I do.”

Derrick’s voice cut through the jesting. It was time to get serious and rescue these girls.

“This convict doesn’t have a lot of resources. He is going to be forced to use whatever he had before he went to jail or what he’s been able to steal since he escaped. He managed to steal a vehicle but he’s already dumped it so I have no idea what he’s presently driving. In the past, he had a warehouse he worked out of in the warehouse district of Portland. The girls aren’t just in danger with him because that area is a bad area for huffers. It’s overrun with kids who huff paint thinner on a daily basis. It’s one thing to deal with a man crazy enough to abduct somebody even when he’s a serial killer. It goes to a whole new level when you throw a pack of boys on drugs in the mix.”

Derrick took a moment to turn and look at the men he was addressing. “I meant what I said about loyalty. If you boys are willing to stand by me while we get these women back, I’m willing to do any killing that might need to be done. If I shoot this bastard between the eyes, I can get away with murder. If one of you guys does it, it will mean prison time. If there is going to be any killing done, it will be by my hand.”