Page 7 of Striker's Yield

“How do you figure again?” Brass asks cautiously.

“She was taken from outside her café. Someone had to know her schedule for them to get her. They had to watch her. And you two might have missed it, but I haven’t, Autumn is stunning.”

I hadn’t missed it that day. Her wearing that shirt with the club’s logo on it. The way it fit her tits, yeah, I didn’t miss it.

“And?” Brass speaks up before me, waving a hand, motioning for her to keep going.

“Well,” Athena takes a breath and lifts the remote, pointing at the screens, “this was this morning after we left.”

On the screen, two men moved up the steps and to Autumn’s door. One seems to be on the lookout while the other unlocks and opens her door. I glance at another screen that shows the inside of Autumn’s apartment. For the most part, the place looks bare, with only essentials. But my attention sticks to the men who were in her apartment. They were looking around, and I saw one pick up what looked like a vase. He reaches into his pocket, pulls something out, and then puts whatever it is in the vase.

“What did he put in the vase?” I find myself asking, eyes glued to the cameras. My gaze shifts to the other guy who was in Autumn’s bedroom. He opens a drawer, pulls out a pair of Autumn’s underwear, a thong, and brings it to his nose, sniffing it. “Fuckin’ hell.”

Athena fast-forwards until it’s playing live. “She’s up and in the shower,” she says, turning the camera off to the bedroom. “I went in and got what was planted in that vase. It was a listening device. I also was able to get a still image of them. I sent the image to both Gadget and Lark just a bit ago. I’m guessing they work for ‘Marionette’ guy. He up and disappeared when we got those girls back.”

That he did, he all but vanished. “You’re thinking he’s back at it?”

“A hundred percent so, and I think he’s after her,” she says, nodding at the cameras.

I nod and watch the screens, seeing her come into view as she leaves her room, then leaves the apartment.

“She needs help and doesn’t even know it. More so, she needs to heal,” Athena remarks softly.

“She’s the only one who can heal herself,” I tell her, not liking the way she’s looking at me.

“She’s into you, Striker. You could help her. If anything, maybe you can keep her safe.”

“We’re not talking about this.” I’m not about to discuss something like this with Athena. She’s out of her mind if she thinks she can play matchmaker. I get Autumn needs protecting. This shit with ‘Marionette’ guy, it’s serious business and can’t be dismissed. “We need to talk to Twister and Horse about this. They need to know what’s up.”

“Agreed,” Brass nods curtly. “We’ll do it later today after we both get some sleep.”

“Meet you at the clubhouse at noon?” I suggest.

“Works for me,” he agrees.

“Good, I’m outta here.” I look to the cameras and watch as Autumn makes her way out of the building and into the night.

Something twists inside me, not liking the fact she’s leaving so early. If she were in my bed, there’s no way in hell she’d be going to work this early. She’d be too damn exhausted. I’d have her worn out to the point she wouldn’t be able to have nightmares.

I leave the office and make my way out of the building. My mind going over all of this new information about a woman I didn’t even want to know at first.

Now, I find myself wanting to know more.

CHAPTER 4

Autumn

One Week Later . . .

“If this weather doesn’t make up its mind what it’s going to do, I’m going to lose it,” Tiffany rants, coming through the front doors and closing her umbrella. “It’s colder than hell out there.”

“Oooh she just said hell.” Lila giggles, making us all laugh. It’s a joke that started a few days ago after she first started, and she cursed by accident in front of Tiffany, who told her ladies didn’t say bad words. This started Lila on the action of her calling us out whenever a bad word was said.

To say Lila fit right in working with us is an understatement. Even Chris thought so. Chris is my other full-timer, who will come in closer to lunch and stay past dinner. He’s an older guy who doesn’t even take shit from no one. He’s funny and onery at the best of times. But he’s a good cook.

Lila started working on Tuesday after I set the schedule to add her on. She’s been following mostly to learn the ropes, but today, she’s going to be doing more.

It’s Friday, and she didn’t have school. I find it weird, but her schedule is funky. Evidently, the school doesn’t have students in school every other Friday, and the ones they are in school, she’s out before eleven. So . . . I put her on the schedule. She works after school for three hours, part of Friday, and gets more hours on Saturday.

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