Ice held up his arm in front of over eighty bikers. They heard his voice in the back. “Predators, we ride.”
* * *
Monday
Lily rushed to unlock the church store. She was late because she had stopped at Shade’s office on the way to work, keeping her promise from Friday night. She almost spilt her coffee when she unlocked the door.
Carefully closing it behind her, she walked to the counter, putting her purse underneath.
Pastor Dean came in with a smile. “I called Shade to see if you were sick. You’re never late. He hung up on me.”
Lily turned red. “I’m sorry I’m late. I was…” Lily didn’t know what to say. She certainly didn’t want to tell the truth, but she didn’t want to lie either.
“Busy?” Pastor Dean’s grin widened.
“Busy.” Lily nodded her head. “I’m sorry about Shade. He’s a rude man. I’ll have a talk with him.”
“You do that, Lily. If anyone can straighten him out, you can.” Lily’s doubtful look had him laughing. “Lily, you brighten my day, which is a good thing since I’m doing the church accounts this morning. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“All right,” Lily responded, looking over the paperwork on the bikes that Train was donating.
When the door opened, Lily smiled as a customer came in; a tall, broad-shouldered man with jet black hair.
Her smile began to fade as he came closer to the counter.
“Hello, Callie. Remember me?”
* * *
Shade was sitting at his desk when the first call came.
“You have something of mine and I want it back.”
“And would this be Ice or Jackal?” Shade replied.
“You know?”
“I know something is going down and you know what it is. And you’re going to tell us what we need to know, or you’re going to have one less brother under your command.”
“We need to meet.”
Shade gave him the address.
“Bring my brother.”
Ice could demand all he wanted; he wasn’t getting anything until he produced the information he needed.
“You’ll see Eightball when I decide you get him back.” Shade emphasized Eightball’s name to let Ice know they were aware it was as fake as shit and it had been a stupid fuckup to get caught by.
“Oh, you’ll bring him and I’ll bring that pretty little sister of yours.” Shade didn’t lose control of his temper. He had fucked-up himself; he should have expected the move.
“I’ll bring him.” Shade had no choice other than to relent.
“Now that’s more like it. We’ll be there in an hour.” The line disconnected.
Shade got up from behind his desk, opening his door. “Jewell, take over. Rider, Train, you’re with me.”
They were halfway across the parking lot when the second call came in. Shade paused to answer it. “Later, Dean. I’m busy—”
“Shade, it’s Lily. She’s gone. I was on my way to my office when someone knocked me out. When I came to… she was gone. I called Knox; he’s on his way over.”
Shade disconnected the call.
“Shade?” He looked at Rider.
“We’ll talk in the house. Gather all the brothers and meet me in the kitchen.
They ran up the flight of steps. Shade found Viper in the kitchen. It took very little time to have the brothers gathered in the kitchen and the television room. The door stood open toward the living room so all the members could hear.
Shade quickly explained about the meet with Ice and that Lily was missing from the church.
Viper took control. “Razer, call Beth. Tell her to get here and stay here. Train, call the brothers in Ohio, tell them to haul ass here, then call Stud and tell him the same thing. I’m calling in my marker. We’ll meet the Predators, we find out what they know and then we’ll find out how to find Lily.
“We have to shut the town down so that whoever has Lily can’t get away. We have to have someone that knows every way in and out of town. Call Knox and tell him to call the Porters for help. There’s no place in town or the mountains they don’t know. Everyone’s got five minutes to get dressed and packed for war. We’ll meet at our bikes. Move.”
Shade went to his house and came back carrying a canvas bag. When he got to the parking lot, everyone was getting on their bikes. He threw his bag into Rider’s back seat with Nickel. Unzipping it, he took out his .50 caliber Desert Eagle, shoving it in the back of his jeans. Then he reached in, taking several mags and putting them in his jacket pocket, zipping it back up. Slamming the truck door, he went to his bike, climbing on. Only then did Shade cut on his motor, ready to ride.
The brothers were all moving their bikes behind Viper and Cash at the beginning of the parking lot.
Viper’s voice sounded strong and clear over the roar of the bikes. “Last Riders, we ride!”
Chapter 39
Lily sat back against the wooden chair, staring at the man who had dragged her from the church store. He had shoved her into the backseat of a car before getting in beside her while a huge man drove out of the parking lot.
Lily didn’t try to talk to the silent man, too busy watching out the window to see where they were going. She had to watch so that she could find her way home. They had driven several miles out of town toward Jamestown before pulling off the road and taking a small dirt road for a couple of miles. The car had then pulled inside a garage. Lily almost screamed when the light disappeared. Thankfully, another light flickered on.
The man had brought her to a room and told her to take a seat.
“Who are you?” Lily asked, staring at him.
The room was empty of furnishings except the chair she was sitting on. He stood, leaning back against the wall. He certainly didn’t fit the house with his expensive suit and shoes.
A memory came back, reminding her of Rachel describing a man like him. She knew the answer before he spoke.
“My name is King.”
“Why have you kidnapped me?”
“Now, Callie, kidnapping is such a harsh word.” The man should know about harsh. It fit him. There was nothing soft about him. His body and face projected a ruthlessness that he seemed more than able to carry out.
“Don’t call me Callie. My name is Lily. How do you know me?” Lily made herself sound more confident than she felt.
“Don’t you remember?” He looked at her quizzically.
She did. God help her, she did. He was the man who had killed her mother, Marshall and the man who had been raping her and then set the apartment on fire, leaving a whole apartment building to burn down.
“You’re the one who took me from my mother and gave me to my adoptive parents.” She wasn’t going to mention that she had seen him murder them, too, afraid that h
e would kill a witness to a crime he had committed years ago.
“That bitch was no mother to you. That slut should never have been allowed to have any children. She was evil incarnate.”
“How did you know my mother?” Lily asked.
“She grew up in my neighborhood. We grew up together. I would see her around every now and again. I have several businesses; one of those businesses was to provide entertainment to men. She worked for me for a while until she started stealing extra cash out of the customer’s pockets.”
“My mother was a prostitute,” Lily said, her face pale.
“Your mother was a slut. She would give it away for free as often as she sold it.”
Lily winced at his cruel words.
“This is interesting, but I’m trying to understand what this has to do with you kidnapping me. If you’re worried I was going to talk someday, I won’t.”
“I didn’t think you would, Lily. It wouldn’t be much fun testifying, would it?” King said mockingly.
His words let her know he also remembered why he had killed her mother and the other men.
Lily shrunk in on herself, reminded of the treatment she had received as a child. She knew herself well enough to know that she would never be able to testify to what had happened to her when she was a child.
Lily heard King sigh, his hands going to his pockets. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories for you, Lily, but I have no choice. I have an enemy who is determined to destroy me and he plans to use you to accomplish that goal.”
“How? I don’t understand. I don’t want to understand. I just want to go home to my husband. He’ll be worried about me. I want to go home.” Lily refused to cry in front of this stranger. She had stopped crying all the time. She wasn’t weak anymore; she had Shade, Beth and Razer, and she had The Last Riders. The weak woman she had been was gone.
“I can’t let you go home until I kill Digger. He escaped a couple of days ago, and he’s not far from Treepoint, if he isn’t already there. I couldn’t take a chance. I had to put you where he couldn’t find you until I can find him. Don’t worry; it won’t be long then you can go home.”