Page 32 of Hell & Back

They all shared a look, knowing there was nothing further the Phantom was going to tell them. Race nodded, giving Dagger the okay to end it. He pulled his gun from behind his back, took a step back and fired one shot into Slip’s forehead, ending his pathetic life. In anticipation of what Dagger was going to do and having witnessed it many times before, Jackson and Trick had pulled on two ropes on either side of where Slip hung, raising a sheet of plastic to catch the splatter. It kept the clean up to a minimum and the DNA from showering every inch of space behind their victims.

Race, and he imagined the rest of the club, didn’t feel sorry or have regrets for taking this man’s life in the least. He’d planned to do the same to them and their wives. As far as the Sons were concerned, it was justice.

“Get him down and take him out to the tree.” The tree was one they often tied their enemies to when it was necessary to let the wild hogs eat them. It took care of any evidence left behind.

“You know, we really should look into getting an incinerator. Then we could take the ashes to the river and get rid of them. We keep feeding the hogs and they’re going to eventually find their way here, and we don’t need them around the kids,” Trick thought out loud.

“That does sound like a good idea. Why don’t you look into it and bring it to the table?” Race said.

Now that this was dealt with, it was time to go home. It pissed him off they still had no leads as to where Darren would havebeen taken. He worried for his friend and brother and what the Phantoms might be doing to him.

7

DARREN

Darren woke to find himself still locked in a cell. He flung an arm over his eyes and sighed heavily. How much more time had passed since he’d been taken? Since he’d been drugged? Long enough for his dick to be hard and aching. He was horny as hell despite the dire circumstances he found himself in. He supposed that was the point Crockett was trying to make. Fucking message received.

He rolled to sit on the side of his bed and dropped his head to his hands. What he wouldn’t give to be with Kylie right now. He ached for her and only her. He dreamed about her and wished he was home. In his dream he and Tuck were pleasuring her, getting her worked up and begging for them to fuck her. The image was so vivid it made his dick twitch in excitement. He chanced a glance at his lap and swore under his breath. Crockett had been right. His head was telling him he didn’t want to have sex, but his body was telling him he did. And lots of it.

He heard the guy in the cell to his right moving around. Knowing he was going to regret it, he turned his attention there. He had a lot of questions and he needed some answers. Hopefully, he would be more lucid than the other two.

“Hey,” he tried to get his attention.

The man looked to be in his early twenties, fit but built like a runner. His hair was blond and it looked like he’d been running his fingers through it repeatedly.

Darren turned a little more on his bed. “Hey. What’s your name and how long have you been here?”

The man frowned and seemed to think about it. “My name is Joe and I’m not sure. I came after Otis, but before Henry there.” He pointed at the man to Darren’s left. Finally, the masturbating man had passed out. “Best guess, nine days?”

Shit. That sucked.

“Were you a volunteer?” Crockett had said Otis volunteered. He wondered if all of them were there of their own choosing or if, like himself, were taken.

“No.” Some of the defeat he’d noticed in Joe earlier left with his anger. “I was standing in a parking lot next to my car outside this bar, texting my friend to see where he was at. The next thing I knew I woke up here.”

“You from Taos?”

“Yeah.” Joe scrubbed his face with both hands. “My family has got to be freaking out by now.”

Had the Phantoms taken him to Taos? That would be his best guess. Take the enemy to their home turf and they wouldn’t have to fear the Sons ever finding him. With Kylie’s superb research, they now knew the Phantoms were based in Taos and if given enough time she’d track down the place they were holding him, wherever it was, and they’d come for him. Watching Joe pace his cell, he made himself a promise to take the kid with him when the Sons broke him out and get him back to his family.

“Have they given you a dose of Euphoria?”

“Yes.”

Darren looked from Otis to Henry to Joe. He was missing some pieces to this puzzle. “Why aren’t you a mess like these guys?”

“I think the reason I didn’t get as bad as them is because they gave me a woman soon after they dosed me. From what I’ve seen with Henry, and I’m guessing they did the same with Otis, they gave them a dose and have been waiting to see how far gone they’ll get.”

He was afraid to ask, but, “Why?”

Joe shrugged a shoulder. “To fuck with them. They think it’s funny to watch them suffer.”

Huh.To fuck with them. If they tortured these men they likely didn’t know like this, what would they do to him, a sworn enemy?

“This woman they gave you, did they give her the drug?”

“She said no when I asked her. I didn’t want to think I was taking advantage of her. I was starting to hurt, but I would have held off as long as I could before I touched her. She said she was supposed to fuck me so they could see how long the drug took to clear my system.”

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