Page 101 of The Monsters Within
“Last time you were here you said you wanted no part of this,” King answered as he leaned back in his chair, unaffected by the malice in Bane’s voice.
“She’s my fucking daughter.”
“Then sit down and shut the fuck up.” King looked to Nav and Sypher. “Anything?”
“Not yet,” Nav said, the defeat in his voice apparent. I looked over at Sypher. Neither one of them knew what to do when there were no cameras for them to hack into.
Amber couldn’t be found with a computer. We needed good old-fashioned boots on the ground.
“I had Brandy call Jonah. Wanted to make sure the Death Dogs hadn’t gotten their hands on her. He confirmed she wasn’t there. He’s been all over the clubhouse out there and no new women,” King shared.
“That doesn’t mean they haven’t got her somewhere else,” Gunner pointed out.
“No, but we have to work with the information we’re given,” I reasoned.
“I’ve got something,” Jack said, looking at his phone. “I’ve got someone in Sydney who was at the bar when she came in. Said she saw Amber talking to a guy.”
“She?” Colt asked. “Your old lady know your contacts are women?”
Jack grinned at Colt. “In fact, she does. My woman trusts me.”
“As far as Mimic can throw you,” Blade mumbled.
“Fuck off,” Jack countered. “That kid is fucking scary. The more I get to know him, the more I want him with Charlie every fucking second. After what happened last year, as long as Mimic is with her, I can stop worrying about her.”
“Can we stay on fucking track?” Bane growled. “What about the fucking guy?”
“Nothing. Terry said Amber left alone,” Jack confirmed.
Every lead we had was a fucking dead end. Amber had disappeared.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve lost her,” Sypher said, his eyes on Val.
Val took a deep breath and nodded. “We lost her for five years last time. I can’t go five more fucking years not knowing where my daughter is.”
“What happened last time?” Bane asked.
“After we got her out of the hospital in Louisiana, I set her up in Chicago. She got a job working at a coffee shop,” Sypher explained. “Everything was fine until one day she up and disappeared. I didn’t know she had left the area because her bank account was still being used. She checked in regularly, and there were no red flags, so I never traced where she was calling from. I trusted her to tell me the truth.
“She had pulled out a large sum of money, but I assumed she was buying a car or something. I monitored the account and when I realized the money was dwindling faster than it should, I hacked into it and found one of the girls she worked with was using the account. When I questioned her, she said Amber took off and asked her to use it so no one knew she was missing. The girl must have called her because I never heard back from her after that.”
Sypher looked over at King. “We didn’t know where she was until Dante and I came here in December. She had found her way here and stayed.”
“As a fucking club whore,” Bane growled, glaring at King. If looks could kill, my president would be deader than Abraham Lincoln.
King leaned forward. His eyes locked on Bane; his stare equally deadly. “She’s not a fucking whore. You were here for months. You ever see anyone mistreat her? See her sucking a brother off in the bar? Amber was her own woman. She made her own fucking rules, just like every girl that lives here. She’streated a hell of a lot better than what I heard about how the Soulless Sinners buy off their whores for a month at a time.”
Bane stood, followed by King.
“August, please. This isn’t helping,” Val said, placing her hand on his arm. Bane shrugged her off and stormed out of the room. Val turned an icy stare in King’s direction. “Can you please not piss him off?”
“I will not be disrespected in my own fucking house. Amber, like the other women who live here, is treated with nothing but respect. She works for the club. If she chooses to sleep with a brother, that is her choice. It has never been fucking required. And I will not let that asshole say otherwise.”
“The guys that are out should be back soon. The next group will be going out. Let’s all get some sleep and meet back in the morning.”
“Cash is right,” Gunner agreed. “Emotions are high. We’re all worried about her.”
King slammed the gavel down on the table without a word. Val was the first to leave, followed by the officers. Sypher stayed with Nav; the two of them would probably be on their computers all night hacking into traffic cameras, looking for the tiniest breadcrumb that might lead us some fucking direction.
