Page 119 of Paladin's Hell

“Yup. 1969 Dodge Charger. Keep it in here out of the rain.” He picks up the tarp and looks as if he might find it underneath. “Where the fuck is it?” he roars, his eyes flaring. “You could be fuckin’ right Taser’s got it in for me. Stolen my fuckin’ car.”

That’s only an assumption he’d jumped too. And whether Taser is responsible or not, in my head it’s neither here nor there. “Car’s one thing, Brother. But where’s my girl?” Cars can be replaced. She can’t.

“Pal?” I exit the garage as I hear Shooter’s voice. Mace is right behind me. “Don’t know if this means anything, but the fire escape door at the end of the corridor where your room is, was open.”

Mace swings around to face me. “Would Jay try to leave the club?”

“She’s not stolen your car if that’s what you’re thinking.” I snap back. “She can’t even drive.”

He scoffs. “And unless she knows how to hot wire it, she wouldn’t have known where the keys were.”

“Jay wouldn’t have gone off by herself.” I’m trying to keep my panic under control. “Mace, she’s been living with threats all her life. She’s more used to being on lockdown than not. She wouldn’t put her life at risk. She wouldn’t.”

Shooter’s arm is around my shoulders. “We’ll find her, Brother. We’ll fuckin’ find her.” He looks at Mace. “Paladin’s right. Jay would not leave the club. Not when there’s danger on the outside. Not voluntarily.”

“Someone took her.” My eyes go wide. “Who the fuck? And how would they get her to fuckin’ leave?”

The enforcer’s face tightens. “I’m the one Taser wanted to kill to get me out of the way. But you’re the one he’s had it in for, Brother, ever since you arrived. He’s one of the few who would know where I keep the keys.”

“You think he stole your car and took Jayden?”

Mace shakes his head. “I don’t fuckin’ know, Pal. But where else can we point the fuckin’ finger?”

Shooter looks from Mace to myself. “If that’s the only lead we’ve got, I reckon we’re wasting time. We’ve got questions to ask Taser.”

A sharp nod, then Mace starts running back toward the clubhouse, I’m only a couple of steps behind him.

Unlike me, he doesn’t knock politely on the door to the basement. He hits it running and smashes it in.

“What the fuck?” Hell turns around.

I have a split second to take everything in. It looks like Taser’s already put up a fight. Demon’s mouth is bleeding, but it’s Taser who’s strung up, with Thunder’s fist hitting his stomach.

Hell gets right up in front of us. “Thought we’d agreed you two should stay out of this.”

“It’s Jay, Prez. Jay’s gone missing.” I sound curt, I can’t help it. “Taser might be behind that too.”

Prez’s eyes widen, then he turns. I look at the man hanging by his wrists, and don’t miss the slight smile on his face. As if what’s playing out in front of him is causing him amusement.

“You know anything about this,” Hellfire snarls.

Taser says gloatingly, “Enough so I can prove my innocence.” Then the motherfucker looks at Mace and myself, and barks a laugh. “That’s the asshole you should be after. Fuckin’ Mace. He’s a lunatic. Didn’t join the dots up til now, but I saw him take your girl off somewhere, Pal. In his fuckin’ car. I’m not the person who’s been fuckin’ with the club. Mace is.”

I look at Taser, then at the man by my side whose head is shaking side to side in obvious denial. I go cold, not knowing who to believe. I’m too new to this club.

Shooter’s hand’s gripping hard on my shoulder. “Focus, Pal, Focus. Think who can find out if Jay went off the compound?”

“Cad. Cad can check the cameras.”

Mace is staring at me. “I had no hand in this, Paladin. That fucker’s setting me up. Lying.”

I just run. Now we know Jay’s been taken off-site, Cad has to be the place to start.

Cad’s in his spot at the corner of the clubhouse. There’s no privacy, but right now I don’t give a fuck. Quickly he calls up the footage on his laptop and goes through it. Starting at the most recent and moving back in time. There’s Shooter and I arriving back, then noting until… Taser’s bike leaving. He’s not alone. Jay riding behind him.

“Motherfucker!” I yell. Why would she go off with him? I can’t think of a reason. He had to have tricked her.

Demon’s come up from the basement. His fingers dig into my arm. “I’ll get the fuckin’ truth out of him, Pal.” He turns and heads back to downstairs fast.

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