Page 15 of Maddog

“And before you ask, I’ve already made sure she knows to bring things like that to one of us in the future. I’ll go a step further and tell her to keep going to someone in the club until she gets someone to listen and help her investigate until she’s satisfied she has the answers she’s looking for.”

Fury smirked, lifting his chin at me. “Always knew you were smarter’n this lot.”

El Diablo clapped me on the shoulder. “He’s always been perfect for our little Holly Sweetness.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “Rycks and Warlock have secured a, shall we say, safe area for these two.” He indicated Chris and Andrea.

“My… father… will ruin… you.” Chris Alistair was beaten and bloodied. I’m pretty sure his testicles were singing a very sad song. More than one of the women had been slightly disgruntled at how he’d played them.

“Senator Christopher Alistair the Second won’t be interested in fighting me for anyone. Even his own son.” El Diablo’s mocking chuckle let me know exactly what was going to happen to Christopher Alistair the Third.

Alistair smirked -- or tried to. He wasn’t in shape to spar with anyone. Verbally or physically. “My dad will do anything to protect me.”

“He won’t protect you from this. Not if he wants to continue his cushy life as a United States Senator.” El Diablo gave the man a false sympathetic look. “I’m afraid having his son disappear on a relief mission to Columbia plays far better in the news than having him imprisoned for human trafficking.”

“Just because I have a few girlfriends doesn’t mean I was trafficking them.” There was still the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Besides, I’m sure this will all have disappeared by the time my dad gets here. He’ll take me home and yell at me a little, then I’ll have to behave for a few months.”

“Hmm…” Fury raised an eyebrow. “Maybe bring Archangel in to question him? Sounds like there’s a pattern of bad behavior here.”

El Diablo waved him off. “Archangel will be especially valuable in questioning Andrea, but there’s really no need for him to talk with this one. Unless Shotgun finds something compelling on his phone to explain this to my satisfaction, there’s nothing he could say to justify what we’ve found so far.” He shrugged. “We’ll give it a few days. See if Shotgun and Eden find anything that tells them the phone data was manufactured in any way. Until then, we’ll see to it Mr. Alistair here has the best accommodations.”

“You’re bluffing.” Alistair looked from El Diablo to me and back. I hadn’t said anything to the motherfucker, so I had no idea why he was looking at me.

“About what?” El Diablo’s crisp British accent made him seem more civilized than he actually was, but that was all part of the mystique that was El Diablo.

“You can’t keep me here. I have rights.” He was sounding stronger now. Probably because there was just that inkling of doubt. El Diablo was good at this kind of warfare. Mental torture. There was no doubt Alistair was guilty. El Diablo wanted to ferret out everyone Alistair knew to be involved in the supply chain. Once he did, he’d destroy them all. I wasn’t being dramatic, either.

“All evidence to the contrary.” El Diablo smiled brightly. “I can honestly say that I’m not sure I’ve ever looked forward to an interrogation more.” The bastard sounded cheerful.

Samson and Tank walked up the ramp, both of them looking grim. “Got a place all picked out for ‘em.” Tank and Samson were both big motherfuckers. If nothing else, their sheer size was a deterrent against shenanigans. Samson spoke for both of them since he was the vice president for Black Reign.

“Ah, good.” El Diablo rubbed his hands together in glee. “You and Tank see Mr. Alistair to his new accommodations. Me and my lovely wife will escort Miss Andrea.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Andrea spat out.

Jezebel grinned. “Sure you are. Only question is, will you be coming conscious or unconscious?”

Andrea shook her head, looking at each of us, her gaze resting on me. “You can’t let them do this to me. I’m Holly’s best friend.”

“Why do women always think those big, pleading, doe eyes will get them anything they want?” I frowned at Andrea. “You’re not Holly’s friend, Andrea. You lost the right to claim that protection when you helped your boyfriend hurt her.”

“But I didn’t mean for anything to happen.”

“You didn’t mean…” I took a step toward Andrea. Woman or not, I was about to beat the shit outta her.

Jezebel stepped between me and Andrea. I thought she might have pushed me back or warned me to not hit the woman. Instead, she lashed out herself, landing another open-handed slap across Andrea’s face. “Now.” Jezebel smiled down at the other woman like they were having a pleasant conversation. “You’re going to come with me. We’re going to have a talk. It’s not going to be pleasant and you’re not going to enjoy it. But you will give me what I want, or I’ll see to it what was going to happen to Holly, happens to you.”

“You can’t do that!” Andrea looked more than a little scared but still defiant. “You’re lying to get me to cooperate.”

“Oh, you’re going to cooperate.” Jezebel practically purred her words. “The only question is how long it takes to break you. Now personally, I’m looking forward to the task. I’m not sure you’re going to feel the same way. Oh!” Jezebel grinned as though she had a big surprise and had almost forgotten to tell the other woman. “Shotgun found out the cartel leader you promised your… merchandise… to put out a capture order on you and your lovely boyfriend. They’d like to know what happened. Also, there was something about showing the greedy Americans what happens when they crossLa Familia Rosa.”

Andrea paled and shook her head, fear etched in every line on her face. “Do you know what they’ll do to me?”

“Yep. Absolutely. You might want to consider what they’ll do to you, too, baby girl.” Jezebel grabbed Andrea’s upper arm and forced her to her feet. “Because what they will do is a bit tepid compared to what I’m gettin’ ready to do.” She gave Andrea a wicked smile. “You think about all the horrible things you imagine they would have done to you and multiply by… oh, say five. Ten, if you piss me off further.” Jezebel’s expression hardened, and I began to understand now why she and El Diablo were so perfect together. “No one messes with my family and gets a happy ending. Every person inside these walls is my immediate family. My brothers and sisters. My children. My husband. The people in the city around us are my extended family. You’re in deep shit for what you did to young women and children in the community. For what you did to Holly, the rest of your life will be miserable and way too long, and if you don’t understand what that means, you soon will. When the miserable part starts.”

Andrea sobbed loudly as Jezebel dragged her off the plane with a handful of the other woman’s hair to a waiting Explorer. Hardcase was driving while Iron was in the passenger side. He got out and opened the back door for Jezebel who, instead of going around to the other side and getting in, shoved Andrea over and pushed her way inside the vehicle next to Andrea.

El Diablo’s lips thinned into a hard line. “My lovely Jezebel is feeling a bit vicious this afternoon.” After several seconds as he seemed to think about something, a slow, eager smile spread across his face. “I love it when she gets vicious.”

“And that’s my cue to get my jump kit ready.” Fury turned and headed to the door. “Go see to Holly, Jax. I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave for the interrogation. You can ride with me and Noelle.” Fury was the club doctor. During intense interrogations, he was called on to keep their subject alive. Sometimes it worked, others not. Fury told me once the theory was, if they didn’t need to be taken apart, El Diablo wouldn’t take them apart. I hadn’t really understood what he’d meant back then. I believed a person needed to think for themselves and not blindly follow orders. Now, I realized no one in Black Reign MC was blindly following El Diablo. They trusted their president to do the right thing because he’d proven time and time again he wanted what was best for the members of Black Reign. Not just the club in general, but the individual men, women, and children within the compound walls. They trusted him to say someone needed to be tortured because he’d earned their trust. So yeah. Dad was going to be OK with what was about to happen. I was too.

---