Page 55 of Blade's Boo

I turned to Savage. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to take my anger out on you.”

He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I get it. I’m the same way when it comes to Janessa and the kids. No hard feelings. We’ve done worse to each other messing around in the ring.”

He was right about that. We had a ring set up in the basement gym where we liked to get in and hone our fighting skills as well as blow off steam. Over the years, plenty of blood and sweat had been spilled in it. I’d done my fair share of both spilling it and donating it. He took my hand and yanked me in so he could give me a back slapping hug. I returned it.

Just like that, it was all good again. Like a real family we might fight, but we didn’t stay mad for long and always had each other’s backs. Actually, we were better than a blood family, since they didn’t always get over shit. So far, we always had. Deciding Smoke had enough time to find her or at least get his computers up and running or whatever it was he did, I gave them a chin lift then headed down the hall toward his space. I heard footsteps following me. I had no idea how many.

His door was open, so I walked right in. He was behind one of his computers, staring at a screen in concentration, typing away. He glanced up for a second then back down. “I got her number running and it should give me the trace any second now. He hasn’t had enough time to get far. According to what Lance said, it’s been just over two hours. They’ll be roughly within a hundred-and-fifty to two-hundred-mile radius of Dublin Falls, unless they took a private plane, which I doubt. Nothing I found indicates Tully has that kind of money or knows anyone who does.”

He kept typing as he continued. “I got a hold of Anderson. He’ll have a private plane waiting for us out at the local private airfield outside of town to take us to Utah, if by chance they did fly. He also offers it to us when we decide to go after Tully. All we have to do is let him know.”

Anderson was Smoke and Everly's former and sometimes current government boss. No one knew for sure which agency he worked for, except Everly and Smoke and they wouldn’t say. He was this shadowy figure, who seemed to have connections everywhere—both legitimate and those on the wrong side of the law. The fact he now had an even bigger tie to the Warriors was a big plus for us. Our brother Demon over in Hunters Creek was married to his great-niece, Zara. There was very little he wouldn’t do for us, short of allowing us to kill innocent people. We knew he’d never allow that nor would we do it.

A smile spread across his face as he looked up at me. Terror, Savage, Voodoo and Jake were behind me. I’d checked to see who had followed me. “I got it. They didn't take a plane. They’re actually not far. It looks like they’ve stopped outside of Sevierville. It’s a more residential area that has those vacation homes where you can have privacy from your neighbors and enjoy nature. Let’s get the guys together, make our plan, and go. I don’t know how long they plan to stay.”

This motivated us all to get our feet moving. We filed out and back to the common room where the rest of our brothers were gathered. Terror whistled to get their attention and told them to head into church. All I wanted to do was get on my bike and go, but I knew we had to have some kind of plan. We couldn’t go in all crazy and get her hurt or worse, killed.

I sat through the longest twenty minutes of planning I’d ever endured in my life. They weren’t wasting time. They knew it was of the essence, but we did want to make sure we had the best chance of getting all of us in and out safely, especially her. Finally, we got our weapons and headed out. Only six guys were going with me—Voodoo, Ranger, Jake, Menace, Savage, and Devil Dog. More than that and we risked attracting too much attention. Besides, it was unlikely he’d brought that many or more men to back him up. Smoke was adamant that Reuben hadn’t left Utah, so that left his hired man, Heath, or maybe Heath had taken her on his own and this had nothing to do with her ex. There was always that possibility.

The drive took less than an hour, but it seemed four times as long. We’d agreed to stop on the opposite side of the woods that backed up to the cabin we were aiming for. Again, Smoke amazed us with the data he could get in no time. We had examined aerial views of the countryside around them. On the backside of that woods was an old barn. No one currently lived close by the cabin or barn. We could leave our bikes there, hike through the woods and up on the cabin then sneak back the same way. Hopefully, we wouldn’t attract any attention.

Ranger and Devil Dog took the lead. I was behind them with Savage. Behind us were Voodoo, Menace and Jake. We’d brought Jake in case we might need to talk our way out of something if we were caught. It might not be his jurisdiction, but cops tended to stick up for their own. Plus, he was a prospect and he had driven the crash truck. That was in case we needed to haul anyone back to the compound, whether it was Cassia or Heath. I was all for killing him and leaving him there, but we might need to question him and that would be best done at our leisure back home.

The cabin was a decent sized one that had two entrances, not the typical one. We split up to breach both of them at the same time. I was lucky that Ranger, Devil Dog, Savage and Menace all had prior military experience and Jake was a cop. That left me and Voodoo being the odd men out. We let them take the lead. Even though we’d done this a lot over the years, it was still good to have the experts breach first.

It was quiet. I couldn’t hear any movement or other sounds coming from the cabin, which scared me. My mind tried not to play all the horrible scenarios of what could have happened to her in the past few hours. God knows our club had seen it all. Regardless of what she experienced, I’d make it my life goal to help her heal and to give her all the love and happiness in the world. All I needed was for her to still be alive. Together, I was convinced there was nothing we couldn’t overcome, as long as we loved each other and stuck together.

When we finally crashed through the doors, we ended up in the same area of the cabin. It was one of those one room deals with multiple areas of use in it. We all came to a halt as we surrounded them and took in the scene in front of us.

Sitting around the small kitchen table was Cassia, Heath and another man who I didn't recognize. All three of them looked surprised. The men more so than Cassia. She jumped up and ran to me. I wrapped her up tightly in my arms and hugged her as I kissed her. I could hear my brothers telling the two men to keep their hands on the table where they could see them. When I stopped kissing her, she smiled at me.

“I knew you’d find me. I told them you would. They wouldn’t listen. See if you can talk some sense into them, will you? They won’t believe me.”

I set her aside and marched up to the table. I grabbed Heath and yanked him to his feet. I shook him hard then I punched him in the face.

Cassia cried out, “No, don’t Blade. It’s not what you think. Please, hear them out.”

I whipped around to stare at her in astonishment. “You expect me to listen to what the man who kidnapped you and this other guy, who I have no idea who he is, has to say. Are you crazy? All I want to hear is their bones breaking and their screams of pain. They were trying to take you away from me. God knows what they would have done to you. All I want to know is, are they working for Reuben, themselves or someone else?”

She came hurrying over and tried to get between me and Heath. I gently pushed her away. Voodoo came over and secured her in his arms. She struggled to get away from him. What the hell was going on here?

“Stop! I mean it, Blade. It’s not what you think. Please, let them explain. I know Heath was wrong to take me like that. He should’ve told me who he was and why he was here. I think him and Benedict have learned that lesson.”

“Benedict, is it? And just who the hell is Benedict? You seem to be on a cozy first name basis with your kidnappers. What the hell has been going on here? I’ve been going insane with worry and you’re making friends with your kidnappers,” I snapped.

She let out a frustrated scream that startled me then she stomped on Voodoo’s foot. He didn’t let her go, but he did shake her lightly. “Stop,” he said to her.

“I’m not going to stop until this big idiot and the rest of you cavemen listen to me. Heath and Benedict aren’t here to hurt me. There’s been a big misunderstanding. I just need for you to listen to them,” she huffed.

“What in the world can they say to prevent me from killing them and burying the bodies where no one will find them?”

“Wow, sis, you really can pick ‘em, can’t you? I thought you said Blade and his club were good men. It doesn’t sound like it. To me, it sounds like we did need to save you after all. You need protection from them, Dad and Reuben,” Benedict said with a glare in my direction.

It took a second or two for what he said to sink in. When it did, I marched closer to him. I gave him credit, he wasn’t cowering away from me. He stood tall and met my gaze.

“Sis? You’re one of her brothers?”

He nodded.

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