Page 3 of Reaper Released

Blade put his arm on his shoulder. “Hey, we’ll get her back, okay?”

Uncle Bernie clears his throat and waits for all the attention to be on him. Everyone’s staring daggers with their arms folded across their chests, and Bernie’s smiling, fucking smiling.

“How much do you guys know about Ray?”

The Fucked Up Five look around at each other, nodding. “We’ve just been away with Ray for the weekend. She told us… enough,” Tank says.

“We’ve seen the tattoo!” Viking points to his back.

Priest adds, “She told us enough of the story!”

Ares looks confused. “What the fuck are you talking about? What tattoo? What story?”

Bernie starts with, “Right, it’s not my story to tell. I’m sure when she gets back she’ll fill you all in. Until then, all you need to know is Ray isn’t like other girls… She had an… unconventional upbringing… Me, her dad and her three other pas, we raised her differently.

“Ray has certain skills. What you heard then was an act for their benefit. So she told me she’s under constant armed guard by between three to five men. There’s a boss who’s around most of the time and a few that are around sporadically, but they're not an issue. She’s there of her own free will. She can escape, and she will once she’s got the information she needs, she's not hurt.

“There’s a rat in this club, maybe two. That must be how they got to her in the first place, so if they phone back, just agree to whatever, because she will be back Friday before the so-called drop-off.

“Scar, you heard the last bit, so you know what she means by that.” I nod, but don’t elaborate. “I need to get Scar out of here, and you need to set up some kind of hunt without letting the guys know they’re not looking for Scar. They need to think it’s her they’re looking for!”

“Fucking hell, this is messed up. How the fuck do we get Scar out of here without anyone knowing?” Ares asks, pacing along the edge of the desk.

“Hey, Brother!” Steel growls, his voice vibrating through my chest, giving me an uneasy feeling. It's almost like being stood too close to a loudspeaker. It vibrates through every cell of my body. “We’ve got this, okay? Dozer, can you and Viking go to my room? At the foot of my bed is a foot locker. Dump everything out of it onto the bed, and bring it back here. I think Scar will fit into it, and we will carry her right out to Bernie’s truck. You do have a truck, right, Bernie?”

“Yes, son, I have a truck!” Bernie smirks and Steel smiles back, although it doesn’t meet his eyes.

Ares glances around the room. “Only use our encrypted chat log. Dice, can you add Bernie to it? Guys, get the box. Let’s get Scar out of here. Can you all give us a minute?” All the guys and Bernie move out of the room. Ares sends a text to the whole club.

Pres: Church! Thirty minutes!

Ares pulls me into a hug. “Stay safe. Stay with Bernie, okay? I will burn the world down if anyone hurts you or your sister. When she gets back, we need to have a talk, okay?”

I nod, and a little whimper comes out. “Ares… Fuck, I’m scared. What if she doesn’t make it? What if something bad happens? What if they find out it’s not me they have and they kill her? I can’t lose her.”

“Let’s hope Bernie’s right, and Ray’s as capable as he seems to think she is, and is just biding her time to gather whatever information she thinks she needs. But while there’s a rat around here, I need you gone, okay? I need you fucking safe. I will break if anything else happens to you!” He kisses me like it might be our last. When the knock comes at the door, the guys come back in with the foot locker and I lower myself inside.

“Bernie’s already outside bringing his truck to the front doors. We’re gonna load you onto the bed of it and strap the box down, okay?” Steel’s looking at me like I need to trust him. I hope I can. I know the other guys a little and know that Ray trusts them all, but Steel? I haven’t seen him before today, and that makes me uneasy. I’m not in a position to be picky. I nod. I have to trust Ares knows who to trust.

They take me outside and strap the box down in the back of the truck, and Uncle Bernie drives away. He doesn't stop till he drives in his garage and lets me out of the box.

I can’t stop crying. “Uncle Bernie, this is all my fault. What the hell am I gonna do?”

“Hey, don’t worry. You know better than anyone what Ray is capable of. Anyway, I thought you could use some company.” As we walk into the house, Demi runs at me and we both sob. Bran scoops us both into his arms and tells us not to worry. This is Ray, after all.

Ray

After I’m unceremoniously tied up and shoved in the van, the binds on my wrist feel like they’ve been tied by a blind two-year-old. They haven’t bothered blindfolding me, so they are either really stupid, or they fully intend on killing me. Well, trying, at least. We drive for only about twenty minutes, and we’ve gone past the campsite I just stayed at with the boys, but not by much, so I know vaguely where I am.

We come to a stop. I’m led from the van into a barn. There’s a chair near the centre, and they take me past it. There’s a hook overhead, and they hang my arms from it, tiptoes touching the floor. Looking around the room, there’s an old tractor in the corner, various old farm tools like a pickaxe, spade, a pitch fork, and random hooks and various lengths of rope. There's a barrel of something in one of the corners, and a couple of jerry cans. Maybe they will have fuel in. There’s so much here I can use.

It’s obvious the guys who have taken me have been working with Shay. I know from the garage she was Boyband’s ex, the one who trashed his bike. Reading between the lines, her and Scar had a run in while I was away, so number one on my mental kill list is definitely Shay. These guys are Mexican, and although I won’t say I’m 100 percent fluent, I do know more than most, so I’m able to listen in, because they haven’t bothered to check if I actually know Spanish.

I keep up the sniffles and sobbing while they are near and listen to every word. They’ve given me some water, and they called Ares earlier, and I managed to give them a cryptic message that I knew Pa Bernie would understand. We used to see how much information we could tell each other without the others cottoning on, so we came up with our own system. Hopefully I remembered it properly, as it’s been a while since we’ve used it.

I know they will keep Scar safe, so now I have to play my part. I’m going for the idea that these guys are stupid, because they have just let slip that the guy running the show, Miguel Lopez, is one of the higher-ups in the Castillo Cartel, and they are going to double cross the leader Carmen Castillo and take over the cartel. She also has a daughter, Catalina, who’s around fifteen, who the sick fuck’s gonna marry. I mean, the bastard has to be in his forties.

Turns out he’s fucking Shay, and she’s fucking Boyband and sharing the club’s secrets. Then they are gonna frame the club for wiping out the Castillos. Well, we’ll see about that.

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