Page 82 of Charger

THIRTY-FIVE

Charger

My knuckles burn, throb, but I don’t care. With each blow to his face, he grows more and more tired. Dead, it’s only a matter of time before he dies at my hand.

“I-I swear,” he coughs, blood hitting the ground. “I don’t have any idea where they took her.” The chains that hold his wrists and body upright are clanking together as he tries to thrash against them.

I can feel the presence of the others behind me. “Son, let us take it from here.” Chain sets a hand to my shoulder. Rage is burning through my body, needing to be released and right now, this is the only way I can get it.

I shrug out of his grasp and make my way back to the asshole bound in front of me. I give Joe another punch but this time, it’s to his ribs. By the sounds of it, I probably cracked a couple. More blood hits the floor from his mouth. I lean down so he can see my eyes as his head hangs low.

“She trusted you like a fucking father.”

“I-I know. They wanted me to kidnap her tonight, drug her, and drop her off on the side of the road off forty-six. Then they would pick her up from there. I told them no. That I changed my mind, and that’s when they came in themselves. But I couldn’t do it!”

“Well, aren’t you a fucking saint. You did nothing to help her. You didn’t even warn her. You just sat back and watched while they took her. Am I right?”

“Y-yes, but I was scared.”

It’s funny. We run from what we’re scared of. Or we hide from it, ignoring those important to us because we’re afraid.

“I’m going to kill you, you get me?” I grip his chin in my hand and pull back for another blow, but Chain stops me.

“We got this. Go. Get some fucking air. And this time, I’m not asking.”

My eyes are still focused out in front of me. But I drop my arm and trudge upstairs, leaving the pit. It’s where we like to do our interrogations. No one will notice if we get blood on the floor; there’s always blood on the floor. I slam the door closed, spin on my heel and pound my fist into the brick wall. Did it hurt? Probably, but I can’t feel a fucking thing right now. I am numb from head to toe. The thought of Jules with them boils my blood. I have so much anger and hate right now I don’t know what to do. I run my hands down my face.

“Hey, killer.” Angel’s soft voice seems a tad calming. “You’re not going to have many functioning bones left if you keep that up.”

“Any word from Bullet?”

Bullet’s been trying to locate Jules since we found out she was gone. His brainiac tendencies are all we have right now.

She sighs. “He’s tapping into every security camera within a five-mile radius. So, if anyone can find her, it’ll be him.” She places a reassuring hand to my arm. “Hey, we will get her back. Okay?” I ignore her useless attempt at comfort.

“What about Chloe?”

“She’s still with Jules’s parents, who, by the way, are begging us to go to the cops, Charger. We’re running out of excuses as to why we can’t tell the police their daughter was kidnapped. Maggie is with them too. We’re hoping it’ll help.”

“And we’re going to keep it that way. Mags better make sure they don’t go to the cops.” I stalk off past her and into the club, which we closed down to the normal hang-abouts. Tell the cops? Nah, we want to handle it ourselves. And by handle, I mean slaughter every last one of them.

I head straight to the back, where Bullet is sitting with his laptop. “Anything, man?”

He takes his glasses off, tossing them to the side and rubbing his eyes. “Been at this for hours and the only thing I seem to get is a shitty-ass image of a van speeding off from the parking lot. No license plate.

“Fuck!” I run my hands through the longer part of my hair. “Is it one of the vans from the other night?”

“Yeah, but they had no license plates then either.” He clears his throat. “The prospect who was supposed to be watching her… they slit his throat, man. Found him next to the dumpster behind her bar.”

It should have been me. I should have been watching her. I should have been with her. I should not have been late. The rage slowly turns to panic. I’m scared… I am scared of losing her and I feel absolutely fucking powerless.

“I have to do something other than just waiting around. I’m going to their clubhouse.”

“Hush and Tank are already there, brother. They’re looking, but they haven’t found anything yet. Only a couple of locals hanging around, until they kicked them out.” Bullet leans forward, placing his glasses back on. “I’ll tap into the cameras from the day before.”

I straighten my stance. “I’m driving over to the Skulls’ club. I can’t stay here.” Already walking away, I yell back to Bullet. “Call me if you find out anything.”

“Roger that!”

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