The Rising Sons Motorcycle Club (11 page)

Raven already had her phone out. She dialed Bear’s burner and waited. When it went to voicemail, she hung up and dialed right back. Bear was never far from his phone, and Raven wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

Bear picked up right away. "What is it?"

She tried to suppress her rage, but it was like putting a lid on a pot of boiling water. It found a way to surge over and hiss as it caught flame. "Let us get her. I don't know what Tanner asked you, but this is what I'm asking you. I know he's a cop, and I know we’re being watched, but this girl is dead without us. I don't know if appealing to your sensitive side will do anything, so this might be a waste, but Tanner is in love. Fucking
love
."

Raven could hear Bear start to speak, but she cut him off before he could get a word in. "Remember Faith. Remember the life that you took her from. That you
saved
her from. That's all we’re asking for: to save a girl from a life we know will kill her. You know what it feels like to save the woman you love. Give Tanner the chance to feel that, too.”

Raven waited, staring at the linoleum floor. It felt like hours. The silence made her think the call has been disconnected and it was all for nothing. She pulled the phone away from her ear and saw the seconds still ticking away.

A sound from the speaker made her bring it back to her ear in a hurry. Bear’s aging voice spoke, and his aging heart relented. "I ain't about this, darlin’. I want to be very clear about that.”

“I know. I know you aren’t, but let us do this. I know what we’re going up against, and I know what that could bring down on the club. Bear, if I could take the full responsibility on this one, I would, but something tells me a prospect that’s only passed one test doesn’t carry much weight in your book. I get it. I fuckin’ understand, but Jesus Christ. There’s a girl out there that’s hurting—bad. Maybe worse.”

Raven could hear Bear thinking it over. “I know what’s gonna happen tonight. I don’t care if the guy is a fuckin’ serial killer. He’s a cop, and that’s gonna fall back on us if there is one
single
shred of evidence. I’m tellin’ you right now, I’ll hang ya both myself if it comes to that. You get me, darlin’?”

“I get ya.” Raven smiled. She turned to her brother, and his youth came back to him in a flash. She nodded and choked back her emotions.

Bear sighed on the other end of the phone. “Go save the girl,” he grumbled. “But she is gonna owe us big. I don’t even know how big, but
big.
We aren’t a goddamn charity.”

Raven tried not to smirk. “You got it. Thank you, Bear.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He hung up.

She slid her phone back into her pocket and turned to Tanner. He looked strong again. That fiery look was in his eyes, and Raven knew it was time.

“Let’s go get your girl back.”

A block from the house, they killed their engines and coasted into the driveway. Kickstands down, they swung over and off their machines. Raven’s heart was pumping hard, but she was in control. Tanner removed a gun from the back of his jeans, pulled the slider back, and flipped the safety off.

Raven heard a TV on in the house, but couldn’t see anyone inside. Her brother pulled open the screen door and tried the heavier interior door. It was locked, but Tanner didn’t waste any time. He took a step back and planted his foot into the center of the door with all his weight.

The wood around the lock and handle splintered as the door buckled. The sound of the TV got louder as Tanner stormed the kitchen, Raven right behind him. As the cop came through the entryway to find out what the hell had happened, Tanner put his shoulder down and barreled into him.

Raven saw the cop’s maniacal smile as Tanner slammed him into the refrigerator. The cop had a taser in his hand, and Raven went for it before he could bring it down on Tanner’s neck. She grabbed the cop’s thick arm, trying to hold him back.

Raven was strong, but the cop was ripped, and she was already losing. Tanner pulled himself upright and threw a punch across the cop’s face. Raven heard something break in his nose and blood began to pour immediately. The cop swung at her and she caught it in the temple. She cried out but kept herself conscious, if only barely.

The force of the blow knocked her into the living room, and despite the haze from the hard hit, she could hear a woman screaming.

“I’m in here! Help!” It was faint and coming from the hallway. As Raven got to her feet, the two large men tripped and fell into the living room. They came down on a glass end table with Tanner on the bottom, taking the hard hit. The cop had his arm at Tanner’s throat. Raven looked around for the gun, but it was nowhere to be seen. Later she would find it buried under debris in the kitchen.

Hearing Tanner’s girl gave her a righteous feeling. They had been right, and the cop had to go down. Raven kicked the cop hard in the side, but he didn’t pull away from Tanner.
 

As she aimed a kick for the face, he grunted, “You fucking bitch,” and swung a leg of the end table into her ribs. Raven screamed, feeling the splintered wood rip through her shirt.

It gave Tanner the advantage and he cracked the cop in the jaw. It stunned him, and it was enough for Tanner to bring a knee up into the cop’s groin.

“Help me! I’m trapped!” Raven saw that Tanner had gotten the upper hand and went to find Charity. She stumbled down a hallway and saw the second door on the right was closed. As her heart sped to keep up with the adrenaline coursing through her, she turned the handle and threw the door open.

“Thank God. He’s had me trapped in here for hours. He’s a cop. I’m handcuffed to the bed. Please, please help me.” The girl sounded awful. Her voice was weak, strained, and Raven could see that she was handcuffed naked to the bed. The cuffs had cut into her wrists, and dark blood stained her skin.

Taking deep breaths, Raven stepped into the room. The woman turned her head away, overcome by the light shining in. She could hear Tanner and the cop still battling in the living room. Raven trusted her brother to take care of the job. She had to get the girl free.

“What the hell are you doing here?” The girl sounded disoriented. Raven could only imagine what had been done to her. She looked around for the key, but she couldn’t find it. Finally, she turned to help Tanner finish off the cop so they could free Charity.

“No,” the woman cried out. “Please, don’t go!”

Raven turned. “I need the key.” The cop had it on him, but he was still fighting hard.

The cop had blood oozing out of his mouth as he spoke. “Never would have figured you for jungle fever, Zane.” Tanner had him pushed up against the wall. He’d gotten in quite a few good shots. The cop’s face was swollen and bleeding from several cuts. Tanner brought his knee up again, this time knocking the wind out of the cop.

Raven ran and tackled the large cop. Hearing her brother’s real name scared her. How much did he know about them, about the club? She tried to wrap her head around the situation. It was something out of a nightmare. If the cop knew who they were, did another? If he didn’t show up to work the next day, would his partner know who to go after first?

Tanner stepped over the cop as he rattled off charges. “Assaulting an officer. Assault with a deadly weapon. Breaking and entering again, Zane.”

“Are you as good at shutting up as you are at lists?” Raven’s brother brought a fist down hard against the cop’s face. Teeth and blood leaked from his mouth, and he finally did shut up.

Raven looked at her brother. “Keys to the handcuffs.”

He looked at his sister and huffed. “Handcuffs?”

“Mhm. He’s got your girl in there cuffed to the bed.”

Raven and Tanner looked through the cop’s pockets. No keys. After searching through a few drawers, Raven spotted it underneath the TV. She grabbed it and ran back to the bedroom where the girl was trapped.

As Raven went to unlock the cuffs, the girl pulled away in terror.

“Hey, hey. We’re here to help.” She saw just how tight they were on the girl. They had cut into her all the way around her wrists. She needed the wounds cleaned up and bandaged. She turned back toward the door.

“Hey, Zane. She needs a med kit. The cop’s probably got one in the trunk of his car.” Raven knew they carried basic kits, but some of the Bakersfield PD were EMTs and carried larger ones. Looking at Charity’s wrists, Raven hoped this scum was an EMT. “We’re gonna get you all fixed up, Charity.”

From the living room, her brother called, “I’m on it.”

Raven turned her attention to the girl. She was beyond scared. The cop had done a real number on her face, too. A large bruise covered her cheek, partially swelling one of her eyes shut.

Raven could see that she was a pretty girl and had sweet eyes. Seeing her, even in the state she was in, made her realize that she meant a lot to Tanner. Her brother had fallen in love, and Raven couldn’t have picked a better girl.

Charity, real name Jenny, had thought that Raven was dating Tanner. Despite the grim circumstances, Raven laughed. It wasn’t the first time they’d been mistaken for partners, and it was always funny as shit. Raven assured Jenny that she was only there to help, and the girl relaxed.

They patched her wounds as best as the small med kit would allow, and Tanner took her outside. Raven waited inside and kept a watch over the asshole cop.

He wasn’t unconscious, but Raven could make a quick guess that he had at least three broken teeth, one broken hand, a major concussion, and at least one broken rib. He wasn’t going anywhere fast, that was for sure.

After five minutes, Raven heard Tanner’s old Mustang pull out of the driveway. The headlights painted an eerie glow over the destroyed interior of the home. Soon the rumble of the engine faded, and Tanner came back inside with a small gas can.

Raven’s eyes stared daggers at her brother, “Jesus, Tanner.”

“Put that back where you found it.” Raven shook her head. It was like talking to a child.

He took the can back out to the garage. While he did, Raven searched for the laundry room. When she found the trash can that was inside, she dug out a good handful of dryer lint.

Back in the living room, she told Tanner to close all the windows in the place. She situated the lint where it would do the most damage. She wedged it into the corner of the dining room, underneath a hutch that stood nearly as tall as the ceiling.

“You can smell gasoline even after the entire place has burned to the ground. It’ll get marked as arson right away. This way, we’ve got a week or two before they rule that it was suspicious.” Raven stood up and kicked the wall outlet next to the lint. The plastic cover shattered. She pulled the unit from the wall, leaving it dangling.

When she turned to her brother, he already had a lighter out and extended to her.

“Find me some olive oil or cooking oil.”

Tanner found some in the second cabinet he searched. He tossed the small bottle to her. Raven poured a few drops on the lint, then handed the bottle back to him. She bent down, lit the lint, and backed away.

For a second it looked like the flames wouldn’t catch, but then they began to grow, and the hutch and wall soon had the devil’s bright fingers climbing upward along them. Raven and Tanner backed away to the door. She headed out to the Harleys, but Tanner stayed in the doorway.

She knew he needed to be sure, but time wasn’t on their side. “Tanner, we gotta ride.”

She twisted the throttle back and he turned around.

Raven’s eyes were wide, and she ushered him away from the house. He finally took the hint. Tanner ran down the steps and swung his leg over the Harley. He brought it to life. They gunned it out of the driveway and cut to the right. Neither Raven nor Tanner looked back. There was nothing to see behind them.

A few miles away, they stopped speeding through red lights. The fire would be far behind them, and every cop and firefighter would be headed in the opposite direction.

As they sat there, bikes idling, Tanner leaned toward his sister. “I’m heading back to my place to take care of Jenny. Keep your head on a swivel, and keep the phone close.”

Raven nodded. “You good?”

“I’m more than good. You?”