Page 44 of Lost Soul

The van comes to an abrupt halt, and daylight bursts through the back doors seconds later when it’s swung open. I hold my hand in front of my eyes while they adjust to the brightness, but soon a much larger shadow blocks out the light. Two gigantic men stand side by side between the doors, each of them holding a gun that’s pointed directly at us. A third man appears, pushing between them, a huge, dirty grin on his face as he looks in on us.

“Ladies.” His arm stretches out in an overly sarcastic welcome. I’ve never seen the man before, but I’m already praying to god that I’ll get the chance to watch my daddy and his brothers rip the ugly head off his shitty tattooed neck.

Me and Maddy scramble onto our feet and step out of the van. I try to take in our surroundings, figure out where we are. Derelict buildings stand tall around us. Massive warehouses with missing roofs, smashed windows, and unsteady brickwork.

The armed men make sure the barrel of their guns dig hard into our backs as they urge us to move forward and follow the guy who seems to be in charge. Neither me nor Maddy argue, but I’m Jimmer Carson’s daughter… I will not let them see my fear. Unlike Maddy who’s a whimpering wreck.

We’re led into one of the warehouses, the echo of flapping wings makes me jump when we disturb the nestling birds from the rafters.

I look up and count at least four half ripped out floors, between the ground and the roof. Old, rusty machinery suggests this place must have been some kind of factory when it was functioning. Now, it’s just a barren building in the middle of nowhere, the perfect place to take two girls who have been kidnapped.

Daddy and Jessie will find us though. I know they will, I just have to buy us the time we needed until they do.

There’s a single chair already waiting in the middle of the room, and the guy with the gun against Maddy's back gestures for her to sit down. Tears stream her cheeks as the one with the awful tattoos uses rope to strap her arms around the back of the chair. Then he steps off and picks up a plastic chair from the floor and places it beside her.

“Sorry, sweetheart, we were only expecting one visitor.” He grabs at my arm, his fingers bruising my bicep before he throws me at the chair.

He ties me to it the same way he has Maddy, and I snarl at him when he purposely brushes his dirty hand over my chest.

“Boss is here,” a voice calls out from the door we entered through, it seems so far away. Even if I could get us out of the ropes, it’s a long run to the exit and a bullet travels fast. My eyes begin to scan for another way out.

The sound of bike engines gives me hope, and for a wonderful moment, I think that Daddy and Jessie have already found us. That hope is shattered into teeny tiny pieces when a few minutes later another man walks in. This one is older, like Daddy, he wears a cut like him too, except his doesn’t bear the Dirty Soul’s hooded skull. He has a smiling devil stitched into his leather.

A Bastard.

He’s followed inside by several other men, all of them nasty looking fuckers who wear the same cut. They are the men responsible for killing my mama. The Dirty Souls' enemies, which means me and Maddy are in deeper shit than I thought.

“What the fuck is this?” the older guy speaks first, close enough now for me to read his ‘president’ badge. He stands a little taller than Daddy, and is much rounder. His salt and pepper colored hair is similar too, but his light covering of stubble is nothing compared to Daddy's beard.

He carries the same presence though, and where Daddy has never scared me, this man most certainly does.

“You told us to get the girl, Prez,” the guy who tied us says.

“Yeah. A fucking girl. You wanna tell me why the fuck I’m seeing two of ‘em?”

“They were together, Prez, we didn’t want to leave a witness behind,” he explains, transforming rapidly from cocky, arrogant asshole, to brown-nosing weasel.

“Maddy.” The president smiles at the quivering mess beside me. “Always good to see you…”

My heart slows, as my brain tries to absorb what my ears have just heard. He knows her name? Always good to see you, what would she have ever had to do with these people? I don’t have time to think on that anymore, not when his attention turns to me, his forehead creased, as he leans closer and studies my face harder. His wrinkles iron out and his mouth upturns into the grimmest of smiles.

“Well, will you look at what we have here,” he chuckles.

“Boss?” the weasel asks, clearly stumped by his Prez’s change in reaction.

“Looks like our witness belongs to someone we know boys.” His eyes don’t move from mine, and I refuse to show weakness by looking away from his first. “This pretty little thing here is Jimmer Carson's daughter.” He grips my chin in his hand.

“Jimmer Carson, as in…” one of the men holding a gun starts to speak.

“Yes, Spider. Jimmer Carson, President of the Dirty Souls.” The old man's finger flicks the end of my nose. “Well ain't this lookin’ to be a beautiful day.” The laughter behind his voice is faint, but it still shakes through my bones, while fear screeches inside my head.

I say a silent prayer that Daddy and his brothers will find us before it’s too late.

We’re just about done loading the cage with AK’s ready for our run tomorrow. Squealer and Screwy have collected them from our safe place in Denver, me and Grimm have checked and repacked them ready for transportation over to the Utah Charter.

It was gonna be good to ride out, I was looking forward to hitting the road and catching up with some familiar faces at my pa’s old Charter. Maybe when I come back, I might even grow the balls to take Maddy out for that ride.

It’s been over two weeks since I asked her. She probably thinks I’ve changed my mind. The girl couldn’t have been more wrong. She’s on my mind every minute of every god given day.

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