We’ve been at the park for close to an hour when someone sits down on the far side of the bench I’m sitting on. I look over to give a greeting to the person when I see who it is. It’s the same creep who barged into my office and caused everything with Madison and her little one. He gives me what could only be described as an evil grin, and it gives me chills. I feel like something bad is about to happen, and I’ll be damned if he hurts my babies. “What do you want? Why are you here?” He leans back against the back of the bench. “Well, see, I still haven’t gotten what I came for all those months ago in your office. I’m thinking that sorry excuse for a club you’ve aligned yourself with needs a stronger message. I think that stronger message has to do with the three kids playing out there.” Oh, hell to the fuck no. He’s not getting my babies. There’s no scenario where I’m gonna let that happen. “I don’t know what you want, but my kids won’t have anything to do with it. You might want to rethink your options.” He leans forward slightly and reaches behind him. Isee the gun he pulls out and holds it next to him, facing me. “Now, why in the hell do you think you’re calling the shots? If I decide to take one or all of your kids, you ain’t going to do shit.”
Ohhh. This man doesn’t get how far a mom will go to protect her babies. I think I need to call his bluff and see if he’s as dumb as I’ve suspected from the things I’ve overheard some of the guys talk about. “You do realize I’m not some dumb blonde? That I’m a doctor? That I know how to get your DNA from the bench you’re touching right now and that I’ll have every cop in this state looking for you if you take my kids. I’ll help the DA with all the evidence they need to put you away for life. And people who hurt kids? They don’t tend to do that well in prison.” I’m really hoping I sold that line of bullshit I just spewed at him. He looks pissed off, but can’t seem to tell if I’m lying about the whole DNA bullshit. What? You know you’d say whatever you had to if you were in my spot, too. This isn’t the time for worrying about telling the truth.
I watch as it looks like he’s thinking about what I said. That or he’s coming down from his last high, I’m not sure, and it could go either way. He tilts his head and looks at me again. “Well, lucky you, we have a need for a doctor at the moment. I’ve got some guys that need patching up. So this is what you’re going to do. Unless you want me to grab one of your kids who would do sooo well on the market, you’re going to stand up, not say a word to them, and walk with me to the van we have waiting.You’re going to come with me and fix up my brothers. Then we’ll see what kind of bargaining chip you can be. I’ve seen one of my formerbrothershas taken a shine to you, so you might be more useful than I thought.” Damn it. How the hell do I get out of this or not leave my kids completely stranded? I feel my phone in my far pocket, and it gives me an idea. The asshole is looking back out at the playground, so I quickly slip my phone out of my pocket and slip it into the pile of the kids’ sweatshirts next to me.
“What you’re going to do is stand up and walk next to me over to the parking lot. You try anything, and I won’t shoot you. I’ll change my mind back and take a couple of your kids, and you won’t be able to stop me.” He stands up, and I do the same. He gestures toward the parking lot, and I start walking with him quietly, trying to not get the kids' attention. Please let Branson or Bentley find my phone and get help. They’re both so smart.Please let them be okay.
Branson
I hit the last ball in this set, and I fouled it off. I must have been hitting balls for over an hour because my hands are yelling at me. I’m done for the day. Maybe we can get Mom to let us stop for ice cream on the way home.
I look over, and some guy is sitting with Mom. He has a cut on, but definitely not one in Ben’s club. Mom stands up andstarts walking away with the man. Something’s not right. She’s not getting Bent or Bailey’s attention and not calling me over. I hurry out of the batting cages and start to move quickly toward Mom. She looks over and sees me coming and shakes her head just slightly but looks over at the bench. Something’s very wrong. I think she wants me to go look at the bench, but everything inside tells me to go help her. She’s my mom, and I can’t let someone take her! I hear Bailey laughing on the slide, and I know Mom’s doing this, so we aren’t hurt. She always does stuff for us and to make sure we are happy. I know she even tries to get Dad to listen to us.
I hurry over to the bench, and I see a pile of our sweatshirts. I pick them up and something drops. I look at the ground and see Mom’s cell phone. I think this is what she was trying to tell me. I unlock it and turn on the camera, taking a couple of pictures of the guy. I try to zoom into the van that he’s pushing Mom into. I can’t just let him take Mom and say nothing. I yell out, “Hey! What do ya think you’re doin’?” He looks over after he slams the door shut on the van with Mom inside. He lifts his hand up and has a gun in it. “Don’t go calling the fucking cops, kid. You do, and I’ll find you and use this on you.” Jerk doesn’t know I’ve recorded everything since I yelled at him. I watch him get in the passenger seat, and the van takes off. As soon as I can’t see it anymore, I call Ben. It rings and rings and goes to voicemail. I know when he’s working on cars, it can be loud. I try him againand no answer. I look and see who Mom called besides Ben. I dial the number, hoping they pick up. It rings twice, and then a voice I know comes over the phone. “Kimbra, dear, to what do I have this pleasure?” Anna’s voice is always so cheerful. “It’s Branson. I need help. We’re at the park, and some mean-looking man had a gun and made Mom get into a van with him. I tried to get him to stop, but he aimed it at me.” Anna’s voice turns serious, and she sounds like Mom when she’s mad. “What? Do your brother and sister know?” I look and see that Bent has come up next to me. I bet he heard me when I yelled at the guy. “Bent knows a little, but Bailey is still playing.” I hear her talking to someone in the background. “You let her keep playing, and me or someone you know will be there in just a few minutes.” I nod. “Okay. I tried to call Ben first, but he’s at the shop working, and I think it’s too loud to hear the phone.” Anna tells me she’ll get a hold of Ben and to try and stay calm. Someone is on their way to us. I’ll be calm when I see Mom is okay and back with us.
Ben
I am just tightening the last bit to get this car done when I hear a commotion outside the bay door. I stand up and look over and see Jackson and Wyatt talking to Rory. All three of them, at the same time, turn and look in my direction. Immediately, there’s a pit in my stomach. I walk to the doorway, and Jackson is thefirst to speak up. “Anna just got a call from Kimbra’s phone. It was Branson. He said he tried to call you first.” He keeps going, but I grab my phone out of my pocket and see a couple of missed calls from Kimbra. Jackson continues, “Branson said they’re at the park, and some man came and took Kimbra away in a van. He had a gun.” Equal levels of rage and fear course through my body, but Jackson adds, “Anna should be at the park by now. She’s going to get the kids and—” I interrupt him because I need to see them and see they’re okay. “Have her take them to the clubhouse, at least for now. I need to see them and make sure they’re okay. We need to see if Branson saw anything that can help tell us where they’re goin’. We all know Taz is fucking behind this, but we can’t just go up the mountain because he could be taking her there, or to their clubhouse or hell, to that property they have in Watson.”
By this point, Jon and the rest of the brothers have all come out and heard what’s going on. Jon starts giving directions. “Ben, Wyatt, Jackson, Ror, and J go to the clubhouse. Call Ry and Samson on the way and have them get there and start getting locations. Jameson, Mario, and Shane, you guys close up shop and have Shandy call any customers this affects. Then you know the drill. Get a hold of the rest of the brothers and get the family to the clubhouse.” I can’t stand here listening anymore. I need to see my kids and find my woman. Taz is a fucking dead man walking.
I hurry over to my bike and take off the second I get it started and in gear. I hear bikes and trucks starting up behind me, but I can’t slow down and wait for them. I make it to the clubhouse in just a few minutes, breaking every speed limit between the shop and here. I pull in and park right at the front door, barely getting the stand down. I hurry to the door, and as soon as I walk inside, I see that Anna has the kids occupied with tablets. She’s getting them a snack, though Branson looks upset. He looks up from the table he’s sitting at and sees me. He gets up and hurries over, holding up what I’m guessing is Kimbra’s phone. “I took video and pictures. You need to see them.”
Bentley and Bailey look up at the same time and see me. Bailey, still completely unaware, gets a big smile on her face and holds up a spoon. “Anna came and got us ‘cause Mommy is busy, but we gets ice cream! I even promised I would eat my vegbatles tonight!” Hopefully, the smile I give her looks genuine because I don’t want her to be scared. “That’s great, princess. You hang out with Anna for a bit, okay?” I look at Bent, who looks a little worried but doesn’t say anything as he takes another bite of ice cream and looks back down at his tablet.
The clubhouse door opens up, and more brothers come in, including Juan and Samson. I nod to Branson. “Come with me for a couple minutes so you can show them what you got, okay?” Branson nods and starts to follow me when the door opens, and Logan, Ry, and Leif come through, all of them carrying laptops.We all head into church because the room is big enough for all of us since the tech room really only has Samson and Juan’s desks.
Branson follows me into the room, and I think he’s surprised it’s just a big room. I’m not sure what he thought this room would look like, but from his face it must be different from what he pictured. “Okay, so Branson is here ‘cause he said he took some pictures and video of the guy taking his mom away.” The guys all look at Branson, but Logan is the one to speak up. “Can you show us what you’ve got? We might be able to pick up some clues that will help us find your mom faster.”
Branson unlocks the phone and hands it to Logan. He plugs the phone into a cord on his computer and brings up the pictures and video. “I tried to get pictures of the guy, but I’m not sure how good they are ‘cause they were moving pretty fast and were already across the park when I started taking them.” I set my hand on his shoulder. “You thought to get them in the first place, which is awesome, son. Anything it caught will be helpful.” Jon speaks up from the doorway. “Branson did fucking great to think to hit the video on the phone during the whole thing. That kinda initiative is what we look for in future prospects.” I watch Branson’s eyes widen with excitement, but then he shows me that he’s more grown up than I realized. “I wanna talk about that, but right now, I just want to get Mom back. Pretty soon, Bails is gonna realize something is wrong, and Bent is already figuring it out.” I give his shoulder a squeeze. I want her back asmuch as he does. She’s everything. I think the kids being here is the only thing keeping me just a hair on the sane side. Jackson speaks up. “Branson, you did amazing. Would you mind going back out to the main room and helping Anna with your brother and sister?” He nods to Jackson and walks out of the room. I must have a questioning look on my face when Jackson looks at me. “If you are like any of us, when you watch the video, your reaction ain’t gonna be something he needs to see. For as grown up as he sounds, he’s still a kid.” Well, shit. I just nod and wait for Logan to get it queued up.
Logan starts the video and turns his laptop around so everyone can see. The first thing I see is fucking Taz standing by a van. Branson’s voice rings out, calling to the bastard, and we all watch him turn toward the camera and aim a gun at Branson. Several growls echo through the room.
This fucker. This cunt of a motherfucking loser dares to take my womanandthreaten my kid with a gun? Eternity with Hel would be too good for him.
Logan is typing away and speaks up, bringing me out of my thoughts. “I think I might be able to get a partial plate and the make at least of the van. We know the color. Actually, we know more than he realizes.” I look at him, waiting for him to continue, though I must not be the only one because Juan, who’s typing away at his laptop, speaks up. “What do we know? Gotta finish your thought out loud there, littlest brother.”
Logan rolls his eyes at Juan. “We basically know the three places he could be taking her. He wouldn’t be going anywhere else because we know he’s outta fucking money. I don’t know that he would go up the mountain because he’s got nothing to gain at this point by going up there other than it’s not that far from here. He’d either go to their clubhouse or to that farm with the warehouse they bought. He knows that you three know where the clubhouse is since it used to be your club, but he doesn’t know that we know they bought that abandoned building on that farm.” Huh, he makes a very good point. “Do we think he’s smart enough to not go back to the clubhouse?” I look over at my brothers to see what they think. Erik speaks up first. “Well, he’s not doing this shit alone. You notice that he hopped in the van on the passenger side? Someone else was driving it, and knowing the little I do about them, there’s gonna be someone else in the back with Kimbra. We only killed the guy named String Bean up on the hill, according to Braxton. He saw him go down before he was shot.” I must not be the only one looking at Erik in surprise. He shrugs his shoulders. “I went up to the hospital to visit him a few times and went to the rehab place to check on him. He’s the reason I came out of that as good as I did. The kid is going through some kind of identity crisis, and I know what that's like. He could give us a list of all the members. I can call him.” Well, shit. I look over at Pres. “Think the Norse Rebels would be able to check things out for us? The fucker has at leastan hour head start on us, and if he’s flying down 84, they could be almost past Hood River at this point.” Jonah walks into the room just as I finish speaking, and he’s got his phone out. “I just called Noah-er Riff. He’s getting some brothers together to go check out the clubhouse first since it’s closer to them, and they would get there first. If they don’t find Kimbra there, he’ll have another group head over to the abandoned farm. They don’t want to hunt the van down on I-84 because that will bring the attention of the state police, and they try to stay off their radar as much as possible because they are most certainly not willing to follow anything but the letter of the law and aren’t like their local sheriff who gets when things have to happen for the greater good.” Fucking shit. So we have to sit around and wait for an answer? “Do they expect us to just wait here and sit on our hands waiting for word? If we think the likelihood is that they’ve gone either back to the clubhouse or to this property, can’t we fucking head out that way? I mean…” My words escape me, but all I can think about is my woman being with those fuckers. Those fuckers who did what they did to Erik, not to mention his ex-wife, though she might have deserved it from what I know.
Mike, looking at me, says the words I can’t. “It’s a few hours away from here. What about getting ready, and some of us head out here shortly? They’re gonna find Taz first no matter which place he’s at, and if he’s not at either place, the brothers that stay here can head up the mountain. What do you think, Pres?”
Thank the gods that Jon isn’t a slow thinker because I’m a hair away from losing my shit and going without his okay. “Yeah, let’s do that. I think it’s pretty solid thinking that he’s gonna be at one of those three places. Anywhere else, he would’ve had to break in, and that would leave him open to getting caught. This is more information than the last couple of times someone in our family has been taken, which, by the way, I’m really fucking tired of. We need to find the fucker Taz and end him. This shit needs to end now so we can have our family feeling safe again.” I couldn’t fucking agree more.
Jon spends the next few minutes figuring out who’s going and who is staying to go up the mountain if needed. I don’t think he even thought about making me stay back. In fact, he wants Mike and Tripp in the group that goes since we all know the old clubhouse and the area around it. He’s got Logan with us and Saxon staying, so there’s someone with medical knowledge in both groups, which is smart, but I’m praying it’s not needed. If she’s seriously hurt, the eastern part of the state is going to burn because I will torch everything to get rid of Taz and his fuckers. This ends fucking now.
After everyone agrees on the plan, Jon gives one more order. “Those of us going, be ready in fifteen, I want to head out quickly. We’re gonna ride our bikes, but Logan? I need you to bring up the rear in a truck. Make sure you bring your med kit.”Ry says he’ll ride with him so he can still work on his laptop to see if he can find out anything more while we’re traveling.
Walking out to the main room, I’m bombarded by Bailey running full tilt at me and almost taking me out at the knees. “Daddy! I got two ice creams! Gamma-er Anna and Ma said it was okays!” I pick her up, and I know she’s got a serious sugar high going on. “I have to go run an errand. Are you going to be good for Anna? I think Jane is on her way over, too.” Bailey nods, gives me a raspberry on my cheek, and wiggles in my arms, so I let her down. She takes off like a rocket across the room.
Bentley and Branson walk up as I’m about to walk out to my bike. Bentley gives me a hug. “I don’t know what all happened, but you’re going to get Mom back, right?” I pull Branson into our hug. “Yes. I’m going to go find out where that man took her and get her back here where she belongs.” I can feel both of them nod and hug me before they let go. I start to head to the door when I’m stopped by Anna. “I’ll take care of them. If it gets late, I’ll take them to our house and make it a sleepover.” I nod. “Thank you for taking care of them. You don’t know how much that helps.” I swear she gets a look on her face that’s a little scary, and with her voice quiet so just I can hear her, she scares me even more. “You just make all those fuckers pay and maybe make them pay for a bit before you dispatch them to Hel.” I’m not sure what to say to the expression on her face, so I just nod and head for the door. I hear chuckling behind me. I lookback, and Wyatt is chuckling and shaking his head as he follows me out. “My woman can be scary when she gets like that. Even scarier knowing she has the capability of doing that dispatching herself.” Scary but impressive. I see the rest of the brothers who are coming with me come out, and within a couple minutes, we’re heading out.Kimbra, I’m coming for you. Please be okay.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I just had one of those mornings where I look at my kids and think, ‘Damn it, these are my monkeys and it is my circus.’
~Text from Kimbra to Ben~
Kimbra
