Page 1 of Her Avenging Angel

Chapter One

Raven rode beside Dieselin front of the pack of motorcycles composed of most of the Fallen Angels Motorcycle Club as they made their way back to Craven’s Creek after their run to Bozeman. He enjoyed the wind in his face as he let it carry away all his worries as they cruised along the back roads, taking their time, but also avoiding the attention of both the local law enforcement and the Iron Demons, whose territory they happened to be in. The Iron Demons were a rival club that ran in the county next to Walker County, where the Fallen Angels called home. The Angels and the Demons weren’t at war, but they weren’t allies either. And as long as neither tried to move in on the other’s territory, it would stay that way. At least until something else came along to fight about.

Staying out of the cops’ spotlight was a habit for the Angels, as they didn’t want the scrutiny even for the rides that were just rides. If they happened to get stopped, all the cops would find, should they search, would be cash. But there was enough that it would make them look deeper at the club and their business. No one wanted that. If they’d been stopped on their way to Bozeman, they could have gotten into a lot more trouble, but it hadn’t happened, so no need to worry about it.

They had almost made it to the county line and back to Angels’ territory when movement off the side of the road ahead caught Raven’s eye. He signaled he was pulling off, then slowed and pulled onto the shoulder. The rest of the club followed suit, pulling off behind him.

“What’s up, prez?” Diesel asked.

“Saw something. I want to check it out.” Raven propped his bike on the kickstand, pulled off his helmet and dismounted, leaving the helmet with his bike as he walked along the shoulder, trying to spot the movement again. He’d gone maybe a hundred and fifty feet when he heard a soft whimper coming from a cluster of bushes a short distance from the pavement. The sound was quiet, but Raven would swear it had been a woman.

“Panther! I need you. Bring Freud.” Raven didn’t wait for his sergeant at arms nor the club medic to catch up to him but stepped off the pavement to investigate. Maybe he’d been wrong and it wasn’t a woman but an animal. Because really, what would a woman be doing out here, in the middle of nowhere, all alone and with no transportation?

He approached with caution, as he was always aware that any unknown situation could be a trap, or if it was an animal, who knew how aggressive they might be if they were in pain. When he reached the thicket, he stared for a moment. It took his brain several seconds to make sense of what he saw. It was a woman all right, but she was naked and beat all to shit. He doubted even her mother would be able to identify her right now.

“What did you find?” Panther asked as he stepped close enough to see the girl for himself. “Holy fuck.”

That about covered it.

“Where’s Freud?” Raven glanced around for the medic who acted as the club’s doc and spotted him only a few steps behind his sergeant at arms. Turning back to Panther he started giving orders. “Get a hold of Bear, have him bring a cage. One with a back seat so we’re not hurting her more than we have to. And bring me the bedroll off my bike.” Then he turned to Freud. “See what you can do for her and figure out how we can move her. We need to get her out of here ASAP, even if we only go a few miles so we can wait for Bear in our own territory.”

“I’ll do what I can. Moving her is going to hurt like a bitch, though.” Freud bent down to get a closer look at the girl.

“I’m guessing if we were to give her a choice between hurt and dead, she’d take the pain.” Raven turned and looked up and down the road, checking to see if anyone was coming.

This had been a body dump. Whoever had dropped her either thought she was dead or as good as. The last thing they needed was to be discovered rescuing her. If she was someone the Demons had dumped, and they found out that the Angels had rescued her, it would lead to fighting at best and war wasn’t out of the question.

It also occurred to him that maybe a different club had dumped her there, just inside the Demons’ territory, in hopes that when her body was found, it would be blamed on either the Demons or the Angels. But who hated either club enough to do that? Who had they pissed off enough to target them like that?

Even if this had been a roundabout way to target the Angels, Raven wasn’t going to leave her there to die, so they needed to not be caught.

“She’s in rough shape, but I don’t think it’s life threatening,” Freud said after checking her out for a couple of minutes. “I’ve got some meds in my kit we can use to knock her out for a while. But we don’t want to use it if you’re going to take her to the hospital.” The medic looked at him, waiting for his decision before doing anything.

“Give it to her. We’ll take her to the clubhouse for now. You can get a better look at her there and decide if she needs the hospital or if we can hold off.”

Panther jogged up, Raven’s bedroll tucked under one arm, Freud’s medical bag off the back of his bike in the other hand.

“Thought you might want this.” Panther handed Freud the medical bag, then gave the bedroll to Raven.

“Do what you can, Freud, then we’ll wrap her up and I’ll put her in front of me so we can get out of here.”

“Prez, you should let me—,” Panther started to say he should take the girl. Raven knew him well enough to know he would, but he shut him down with a shake of his head.

“No, I need you to keep your eyes open and your gun hand free, just in case. Some useless fuckers dumped her here. They didn’t intend for her to survive. Whoever they were, if they find us with her, they won’t be happy. I need you covering our asses.”

Panther didn’t respond, but nodded and turned and stood with his back to Raven and the doc. He scanned the road in both directions and anyone who approached would know he was guarding the people at his back. Raven trusted his brother to let them know if he spotted anything. He was the sergeant at arms for a reason, and it wasn’t just that he could wield a pair of knives as if they were extensions of his hands.

“Can we move her onto this?” Raven unbuckled and unrolled the bedroll, tossing the blanket over his shoulder while he flipped out the tarp he kept wrapped around the whole thing in case he needed shelter, then lay out the blanket on top of it.

“Give me a second.” Freud said as he tapped the air out of a syringe, then injected her with the contents. Raven didn’t ask what it was, and he didn’t care. Freud didn’t give things he didn’t think would help, and while he might use a little weed now and then, he wasn’t into and didn’t recommend the use of harder drugs, unless there was a specific reason. From what Raven knew of the doc, whatever was in the syringe was more likely morphine than heroin.

Raven didn’t watch the time, but it seemed like an hour passed before Freud spoke again.

“All right, she’s out. Let’s move her.” They worked together to pick her up and put her in the middle of the blanket without hurting her any more than they had to. “There doesn’t appear to be anything life threatening, as long as you don’t push one of these ribs into her heart or lungs.” Freud indicated the woman’s left side.

“Are they broken?”

“I’m not sure. They’re at least bruised, possibly cracked, but they don’t feel out of place, so that’s good. If I was sure they were broken or they were displaced, I would insist on calling the ambulance. It’s too easy to kill someone with injuries like that if you’re not trained, careful, and have the right equipment.” He met Raven’s gaze, as if he was making sure he was understood.

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