Soldiers of Chaos- Chaos Abounds: Book 1 in the Soldiers of Chaos series (28 page)

Tex pulled up out the front of Barney's. The place was packed but he could see Bull's Harley front and center. He sauntered up to the door eyeballing the prospects standing out the front watching the bikes. He didn't bother to address them they knew who he was and if they wanted to be acknowledged they could approach him. "Becoming a regular Tex?" Rez was just coming through the door cigarette in one hand jacks and coke in the other. "Nah Rez. I just need to speak to Bull for a sec." "This about what went down over your way tonight?" "Sort of." Rez nodded and led Tex inside to Bull's table. Tex waited while Rez announced his presence to Bull. "What can I do for you Tex?" The big man's voice rose above the racket turning a few heads his way. "Just need a word" Bull raised an eyebrow at him but sent his crew away from the table. Tex took the now empty seat next to Bull. "What do ya need Son?" "Nikki." "Well you want a little advice from me I'd lock that down before Trace does" Bull grinned at him. Not exactly what he was after and Bull knew it. "Very funny. She been round here to see you?" Bull frowned at him "Why would she come round here?" "Maybe to cash in the favour you owe her." Tex watched the guy intently. "Nah man she hasn't been here since the other night with you two. You lost her or something?" Bull's laugh just added to Tex's anger. Bull stopped laughing as he looked at Tex's face "Oh shit you really did lose her. What the fuck happened?" Tex gave Bull the fast version of what happened.

"Fuck. Girl's a Soldier ain't no doubt she can handle her shit but I see why you'd rather she not do it on her own. We'll do whatever we can from our end. You tried everywhere?" Tex nodded "Her friends, Eros, here and Trace is checking the farm now but I doubt she'd be there." There was one more place they hadn't tried, somewhere that linked all this shit together. "Any movement at Roach's place?" "Boys would've called me if there had been." Not good enough, he had to be sure. "Can you get em to go in and check?" Bull looked irritated that Tex wouldn't take him at his word but Nikki's safety meant more to Tex than risking pissing Bull off. Bull pulled out his phone and made the call. While Tex waited his phone beeped. Trace had texted him.

* She's not here *

Of course not.
Shit couldn't just be easy could it? Tex hit him back with a quick update of his own. "Not at the farm I take it?" Bull tucked his own phone back into his pocket as Tex shook his head. "She ain't been to Roach's man. There's been no movement on that joint since the other night." There was nowhere else to look. "I think maybe you're looking for the wrong person." Tex frowned at Bull. "She's after Lenny right? So find Lenny find her." That was about as easy as finding Nikki. "That angles being worked." "Yeah but by who? Way I see it that guy tried to kill your girl and right now your girl is on a collision course with that end. You can't find your girl to keep her safe you find the threat to your girl and you end it, quick and brutal. You need to be looking for him, not that cop, not your brothers, you." He was right. Alex still had it bad for Nikki but he didn't have it the way Tex or Trace did. Alex didn’t have that girl buried so deep inside that if you cut him it would be her blood flowing from his veins. That’s how deep she was in Tex and that’s how badly he needed her not to die. She died, he died.  He dipped his chin in acknowledgement “I gotta go.” “Yes you do son. Yes you do.”

Tex pulled in to the yard to find Trace waiting for him. He dismounted his ride and took in the determined look on Trace’s face “You find something?” “No. But there was something we missed.” Trace nodded towards one of the security cameras against the far side of wall. It was close enough and high enough that they might get a view of Nikki after she went over the fence. Of course, why the hell hadn’t they thought of that? Both of them headed into the workshop office to check the footage. Tex pulled the tape out for the right set of cameras and played it on the TV in the back. They watched as Nikki climbed out the window on one screen and appeared around the corner of the building on the other. She stepped out from her hiding space and raised her Glock firing towards the courtyard. As they checked the other portion of the screen they saw a niner go down right behind Reaper who was focused in the other direction. Reaper turned and saw Nikki but said nothing and she dashed across the space between the building and the sheds. She disappeared over the other side till she hit the last camera which showed a small portion of the other side of the fence. They watched as she turned with her gun raised then lowered it and spoke to someone. A guy in a suit jacket and a buzz cut appeared in the bottom of the shot. Nikki turned and took a few more steps then halted abruptly. The head and shoulders of a large suit clad man stepped into view.

"Who the fuck are these two?" Tex was wondering the same thing. Nikki whirled around and the next thing they knew she was being tackled by the big guy and buzz cut was firing over them at the corner of the shot. "What's he shooting at?" Whatever it was wasn’t visible on the camera they were looking at. "Dunno. Is there another camera that might give us an angle on that?" Trace checked the other screens "The ones from the front might give us that shot." He grabbed the tape for that section and brought it in. One of the little squares showed the front corner of the yard and just outside the fence was Lenny. The sight of that bastard’s face brought forth a territorial growl from Trace. He was pointing his gun in the direction Nikki would've been standing then he was down on the ground. The bastard copped one that was for sure but he didn't stay down for long. He scrambled back behind the corner of the fence. Not long after they watched Lenny run for a car at the top of the screen. Trace pulled that tape out and put the first one back in. The big guy scooped Nikki up and ran with her out of the picture the smaller suit stayed between them and Lenny providing a barrage of bullets as cover. Seconds later cars whizzed past towards the front of the compound, that'd be Lenny's getaway ride. Then a small portion of a black SUV appeared in the corner of the camera from the direction in which Nikki and her two escorts had run. That was the only clue they had so far. A small glimpse of the front of what looked like a land rover or range rover, the footage was too grainy to tell. The rims looked flashy. Made Tex think it was more high end Range rover then Land rover. It was a shitty fucking clue that was for sure. "Fuck. How many black Rangeys you think there is in the city?" "With flashy rims like that?  Not overly common but still there's probably a few." Tex nodded his head. That's what he thought. Without a plate for Alex to run that lead was going nowhere fast.

"I don't recognize either of those suits. They are definitely not the usual crowd she'd hang out with." Trace leaned into the screen "Cops?" Tex rewound the footage. The smaller guy definitely moved like an operator but more ex-military than cop, then again plenty of ex-service men joined the force. But the suits were not your typical detective shit; they looked too well cut to be off the rack anywhere. And no cop or agent he knew rolled around in a high end custom range rover. So, definitely earning a pay packet far larger than that of your high level law enforcement. The big guy was definitely not a cop either. Something about the way he moved and the way he held himself put Tex on guard. He was looking at a serious predator. A below the radar smooth as hell crim who clearly thought Nikki was of some kind of value or importance to him. And he was a guy so he doubted that the value he saw in her lay solely in her gun toting abilities especially with the way he threw himself at her to protect her from Lenny's bullet. He'd bet his breakout the big guy was none other than Mister Corporal Punishment himself. So the spank happy boyfriend had showed up to play knight in shining armour. "Not cops. My theory?" rhetorical question of course he was offering his theory regardless "That's the handsy boyfriend and the other guy, bodyguard maybe." Trace continued to frown at the screen tilting his head this way and that. "Trace?" No reply. "You got something brother?" "Don't know. There's something familiar about that guy." Yeah like the way he was drawn to the same woman they were.

They could spend all night staring at the damn screen till Trace figured this shit out or they could get out there make some calls, break some skulls and get their girl back. He voted for the latter. "We aren't gonna get shit from this. Call Slick, get him down here see if this is the guy from the club. I’ll ring Rachael get her to run the plate on that ford and then I’m gonna call Alex see what he got?” “Good luck with that.” He was gonna need it. Conversations with Alex were never pleasant but this was not the time for that bullshit to get in the way.

Nikki woke with a mountain of questions running through her brain. Who were those guys Lenny was with? How the hell was she going to find him? What the hell did he have to do with Bridges? The smell of a cooked breakfast and the sound of music drifted up to her and her stomach growled loudly. She guessed her liquid dinner the night before hadn't been filling enough. She rolled over to find the other side of the bed empty. No Cole. Maybe he was the one cooking breakfast. She rolled out of bed and scooped up the robe that was hanging over the chair next to her. She checked herself out in the mirror as she wandered towards the door. The more she looked the less she recognized herself. Smoothing her hair she wandered out of the bedroom and onto the landing. As she moved towards the stairs she watched Cole cracking eggs into a pan in the kitchen. Holy shit, he was cooking. He looked up as she started down the stairs and his heated gaze had the devil inside her rearing its head. Stop that she commanded. "Morning Angel. Hope you're hungry. I know I am." The way he said it told her it wasn't the bacon and eggs he was hungry for. She sat down at the breakfast bar and watched Cole in silence as he moved efficiently around the kitchen. He slid the dish of bacon and eggs into the oven and picked up a bowl whisking what she assumed was pancake batter. The whole thing was bloody surreal. Then he started to unconsciously sing along with the music playing in the background and she couldn't hold back her laughter. "What?" He raised his eyebrows at her in amusement. The man who liked to whip her raw was singing along to the Sons of Anarchy theme song while he whisked pancakes. Fuck her life was totally bizarre.

"Are you serious? The Sons of Anarchy soundtrack?" He just shrugged and started pouring the batter into a pan "What? I like the show and the music's good." A fresh round of laughter burst out of her. "So what am I your SAMCRO fantasy with a dash of 50 shades of grey thrown in for good measure?" It was his turn to laugh and damned if the sound didn't warm her insides. Fuck. "No Angel. Christian Grey ain't got nothing on me." Nikki could and would attest to that. "And you don't really fit the mold for an old lady. My fantasy is you and you alone." He flashed a heated look at her that had her squirming in her seat then turned his attention back to the pan in front of him. She watched as he skillfully flipped a pancake and caught it in the pan. "I can't believe you can cook." "What you figured that because I'm some demanding spoilt rich boy who clicks his fingers and gets everything he wants that I wouldn't know how to cook. Whatever would've given you that impression Angel?" He grinned cheekily at her as he flipped another pancake. "I have no idea." She smiled right back at him. "You know I wasn't always like this." His sudden serious and quiet admission surprised her. "When I was younger I wanted to be a chef." He looked so at home in the kitchen that his statement didn't seem as ridiculous as it should've. "My father was never home so I spent my most of my spare time with my mother in the kitchen. She was the most amazing cook. I used to think it was magic the way she could take all these different things and turn them into the most incredible and delicious foods I had ever eaten." The wistful smile on his face made her heart ache. What the hell was happening to her?

"Do you see her often?" His face dropped immediately "No she died when I was fifteen." Well there was something they had in common, both their mothers were dead. Not that she was going to compare the two situations, chalk and cheese. "How?" His eyes turned cold the minute the question came out of her mouth "She was caught in the cross fire of a gang territorial dispute. Wrong place at the wrong time. She got shot and died." The anger rolling off him sent a shiver through her and not of the good kind. This was cold as ice, scary as hell Cole and the look of vengeance on his face was something she knew all too well. Definitely something they had in common. The smell of burning reached her nostrils "Shit Cole the pancake." He swore and quickly took the pan off the heat scraping the last pancake into the bin "Oh well maybe I'm not as good as I claimed." His smile had returned although not as brightly and she regretted asking about his mother. He placed food on the breakfast bar then came around to sit next to her "Eat up Angel. You're going to need you're strength for what I have planned for you today." And just like that the mood switched, him hungrily eating up her barely covered body with his eyes and her shivering with anticipation. The control this man had over her was dangerous but she couldn't forget the reason why she was in his apartment in the first place "I need to find him Cole. I can't let this shit carry on any longer." He looked into her eyes with steely determination "I have people on it and we will find him but for the time being I have you all to myself no distractions and I intend on making good use of the situation." With that dark gleam in his eyes she had no doubt that he would.

Nikki hovered on the edge of bliss. Her body was so weak from the constant sexual onslaught that Cole had her under that she couldn't move. She was currently tied to the bed in the playroom her legs having given out at some point between orgasm five and six. Three more orgasms later and she was sure he was trying to kill her with sexual pleasure. Not once had he let her touch him nor did he touch himself. She was vaguely aware of the wet material beneath her made so by the copious amount of juices Cole had coaxed from her body. "One more Angel. Give me one more." One more? She wanted to cry and sob at the suggestion. She hadn't thought she'd survive eight and nine never mind another one. She strained trying to concentrate all her energy on the small vibrator pressed against her clit. It built and built and then it drifted away from her. She whimpered with frustration. "You can do this Angel." She felt the brush of his fingers against her sex. God, she couldn't take much more of this. He slid something inside her and her muscles automatically clamped down in a desperate attempt for any sort of stimulation that would put her over the edge but then it was gone, sliding down her slippery skin and hovering over the tight pucker of her anus. God he wouldn't.