Page 18 of Reacher's Ride or Die

Reacher was going out of his mind not knowing how his woman was or where she was. The only thing that any of the Bastards knew was that the Vipers had her, and he had a pretty good idea of how to find her. If Hurricane was right, his boss was in on the whole thing. He’d just have to persuade his boss, Tom, to tell him where Brandi was.

Not taking backup to his meeting with Tom might have been a big mistake, but he wanted his boss to think that everything was normal, and to do that, he needed to leave Hurricane and the other guys behind. If Tom was working with the Vipers and had Brandi, he’d rip him apart, and there would be no one there to stop him.

He walked into warehouse number two and found it empty. His guys were working over in the third warehouse. That’s why he asked Tom to meet him in the second one. He wanted privacy for their conversation.

Tom was standing in the back corner of the almost empty warehouse. “It’s looking good in here, Reacher,” Tom said. Healways blew smoke up Reacher’s ass, as though that would throw him off track from finding out the truth. He had done enough snooping around the warehouses over the past few weeks to know for sure that Tom was guilty as hell.

Reacher walked to the back to face the man who possibly had his woman. He wanted to look him in the eyes when he tried to lie to Reacher. Then, he’d tear him apart—just before he called Hurricane to bring him the Bastards.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Tom,” Reacher insisted.

His boss crossed his arms over his chest, staring him down. “Okay, what do you want me to cut to the chase to?”

“Where is my woman and the other women that you’re holding in one of the warehouses?” Reacher asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tom lied. He could tell by the smirk on the guy's face that there was something he was hiding.

“I know that you’re involved with the Vipers, Tom,” Reacher said. He was going to have to bluff his way through this next part because he honestly had no proof.

“I’m sorry, the who?” Tom asked. “Did you say Vipers?”

“Yes, you know what I’m talking about, so stop acting as though you don’t,” he growled. “You’ve had my woman for a week now, and I want to know where she is.”

“You’re too late, Reacher,” Tom insisted, “even if I told you where she is, you wouldn’t be able to make it across town in time.” Across town? Hurricane had intel that the women were being held in one of the warehouses, but if that was the case, why would Brandi be across town?

“She’s probably someone else’s property by now,” Tom spat. He pulled a gun from his jacket pocket, pointing it at Reacher. “You’re too late.” Maybe he wouldn’t be able to get across town in time, but Hurricane and the guys would be able to. He just had to figure out what to do about the gun that Tom had pointedat him. Reacher was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to help Brandi if he had a hole in his gut.

“You really fucked things up, Reacher,” Tom spat. “You and your club stuck your noses into Viper business where they didn’t belong, and now, you’re going to pay the price.”

“What price is that?” Reacher asked.

“I hate to do this, I really do, but I’m going to have to get rid of you. It’s a shame because I liked you, and you’ve done a really good job at cleaning up the Viper’s mess out of my warehouses. We have other needs for the spaces now that we’ve branched out in our enterprises.” Reacher caught movement out of the corner of his eye and realized that they weren’t alone. He just hoped like hell that whoever was lurking in the shadows was on his side, because if not, he’d never see Brandi again.

“So, the Vipers were dumping chemicals in your warehouses, and now, you’re letting them use them to traffic women. Since you’re going to get rid of me, how about telling me where you’re hiding them.”

“Not around here,” Tom said, his smile mean. “You see, I own a few other warehouses about a mile down the river from here. The Vipers are using them to hold the women that are awaiting auction.” Hurricane walked out of the shadows and two other men flanked his sides—Beast and Renegade.

“Thanks for the info, jackass,” Hurricane growled. He pushed his gun into Tom’s back and the guy’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Reacher would have found the whole scene comical if he wasn’t in a hurry to find Brandi and the other women.

“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my warehouse?” Tom asked. The idiot didn’t put his gun down and Hurricane shoved his into Tom’s back, practically making him take a step or two towards Reacher.

“Hey,” Reacher grumbled. “How about we take the gun, and then shove him in my direction?”

“Sorry,” Hurricane said, “guys.” One word from their club’s Prez had Beast and Renegade taking Tom’s gun from him and handcuffing him to the metal stair railing.

“You’ll be okay, Tom,” Hurricane soothed, “we’ve already called the cops.”

“They have Brandi at a different location,” Reacher said.

“I know, man. That’s why we came down here—to tell you that she’s being auctioned off at the Viper’s Den,” Hurricane said.

“Shit,” Reacher shouted, “we need to get over there.”

“Don’t worry, man,” Hurricane said, “Yonkers and a few of the guys went over there to get Brandi out. They’ll buy her if they have to in order to avoid a war with the Vipers. They have no idea who Yonkers is and I’m betting they won’t think twice about selling her to him. I’ve made sure that he has enough cash.”

“What about the other women?” Reacher asked.

“The cops are on their way to the Viper’s Den and here. With what Tom just told you, we’ll find the others soon.”

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