Page 43 of Haze's Jewel

I clear my throat and all heads turn to me. I tell it to them straight, “We need to find her before these fools end up doing something I’ll make them fucking regret.”

Siege says soothingly, “Yeah, we’re gonna hunt this fucking bastard and his best friend down. Then you and Anna get to choose between a dirt nap or getting the police involved.”

I’m vaguely aware this is standard operating procedure for how our club treats people who come after our women and families. I’m reassured that these fuckers will get the kind of justice that our club is experienced at meting out.

Siege reaches out to give my shoulder a squeeze. “I know you’re fucking dying on the inside and want nothing more than to run those bastards down and save Anna’s life, but we need to quickly come up with a plan.

I whip out my cell phone and give it to Zen. “Something is wrong with her phone. I can’t get a call through and her location app isn’t working.”

Zen takes the phone with a grim expression, and thumbs through it as the rest of us talk.

“The plan starts with tracking her down,” Rigs states. “If we can’t locate her using her phone, maybe we can track her using the stepbrother’s phone? That’s assuming whoever took her will take her to him. Though even if he doesn’t, we can track down the stepbrother and question him.”

Zen tosses the phone back to me. “I think her phone has been turned off or the battery’s run down, or maybe she’s somewhere that’s blocking the signal.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

My club brother’s expression turns concerned and he looks like he doesn’t want to tell me what he’s thinking.

“What?” I repeat.

“Well, if someone was held in a place where electromagnetic signals can’t get through, like a faraday cage, that can block phone activity.” Seeing my confused expression he elaborates, “You know how when you’re in an elevator and you can’t get a signal? Or she could be held underground. Anyway, I’ll head back to my office see if I can get a location, and I’ll also get onto finding the stepbrother’s cell phone.”

He quickly adds, “Do not try to call Anna. Her phone might become operational, but if we call and her abductor hears he’ll make damn good and sure to destroy it.”

I open my mouth to tell him I’m not fucking stupid but decide against anything that will slow us down in our search for Anna.

Siege cuts in. “Find the stepbrother’s phone and zero in on his location, Zen.” Turning to Rigs who is our club’s road captain, he says, “Chart us the quickest route to where he’s headed by extrapolating his probable destination based on his trajectory. Send a text alert to all the brothers, instructing them to converge on the location but stay at least one klick back. I don’t want them to see or hear our motorcycles.”

“Understood,” Rigs answers before stepping away with Zen.

We fall back and I plonk my ass down into a chair. Suddenly, Vapor and Tracker claim seats on either side of me. I’m shocked that they’re here with me, when their women are in need of them. A hand lands on my back, and it’s Hark. He gives my shoulder a squeeze and I realize that since Vapor married Trix, my family has tripled in size.

I whisper to Vapor, “Are you sure about being here?”

His expression is grim, but he gives me one distinct nod. “Yeah, Trix fucking threw me out of our condo. She wanted to come herself but the last thing I need is my anxiety-ridden pregnant wife getting involved in a search and rescue.”

Tracker speaks from my other side. “Same thing with Mel. She told to come back with Anna or not at all.”

I gasp, because that can’t be right. If it’s true, women are fucking fiercer than I ever imagined.

“That’s similar to an old warrior’s saying, Spartan maybe. They used to say come home victorious or on your shield,” Vapor adds. “I think she was trying to be funny.”

Hark clarifies from the chair behind me. “I know my sister, and if Anna ends up getting hitched to Haze, they’re gonna be sisters-in-law. It’s family first for Trix. Mel knows that too, bro.”

Siege’s voice cuts through our conversation. He recaps the situation for the entire assembled brotherhood. He cuts right to the heart of the matter. Then when he gets to the part about rescuing her, he defers to Rigs and Tank. Tank’s just joined us from his lunch date with Ivy, but he’s fully clued in to what’s happened. A our sergeant-at-arms, he speaks first.

“This ain’t our first search and rescue. We’ve done this dozens of times and we’re good at it. Therefore, we stick to the plan that’s always worked for us. We gear up. Follow the driving directions Rigs sends you. Use the encrypted app. No communicating outside the encryption program. You’ll all be given individual instructions. Follow the instructions. Don’t think you know better. If everyone does their part, we have a high probability of getting Haze’s woman back. Any questions?”

Of course, no one has questions because every question is time wasted, and we don’t have time to waste right now.

I ponder Tank’s words, my woman… If we all get out of this alive, then I’m gonna do everything in my power to wife her up. The fact that something like this can happen, just shows me how you can’t waste time, because we don’t know what’s around the corner.

Rigs speaks next, “Zen found the stepbrother’s phone. He’s leaving Salinas County and heading back home. Looks like this one is going to be an urban rescue. If their current trajectory holds true, they’re probably taking her to the stepbrother’s family home. It’s in a densely populated part of Oak Ridge. That means lose your cuts. We don’t need to advertise to the entire fucking town that we’re there on business.”

Siege stands up. “Rigs is right about the cuts, depending on what happens we might get the local cops involved, or we might have to clean out the trash ourselves, this can’t blow back on the Legion, we’ve got enough on our plate with the Grave Diggers without catching the attention of any other local MCs. I’m giving you ten minutes to gear up with whatever you can lay your hands on. Anna’s clock is counting down.”

I jump to my feet and run to the armory. I key in the code to the door lock and step into the small room. Vapor and Tracker are right behind me. We pull our individual equipment bags from one of the shelves and step out of the room to gear up so others can get inside to access their stuff.

---