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“Sorry, but I don’t go by Parrish. I had my name legally changed when I left the Church of Converts. I wanted nothing to tie me to my father. I took my mother’s maiden name, Madris. That’s spelled M-A-D-R-I-S. I’ve been with the Army for the past eleven years.”
Smoke got back to typing. While he checked into it, I asked Benedict a question. “Why did you send Heath here to find her and not come yourself? You could’ve walked right up to her and let her know you’re alive and explained.”
“I wanted to, but I’ve been out on assignments. I couldn’t get away. Heath had gotten out and was at loose ends. He said he’d come and find her then keep an eye on her until I could get leave to come speak to her in person. When he found out she was connected to an MC, we knew it might make more sense to get her away from you first. He’s been waiting for his chance, but you kept an annoyingly close watch on her. Every time he got her alone, you or someone in your club showed up. Having her living at this compound was something we didn’t expect.”
“Yeah, I bet that was a surprise. I knew the moment I met your buddy that he wasn’t who he said he was. I told Cassia to stay away from him.”
“You sure were annoying. I told Ben he should just let me kill you, but he said no. He didn’t want to start something we’d have to deal with for a long time,” Heath said with a grin.
“That would’ve opened a can of worms you wouldn’t ever get clear of. It’s not just my chapter or club you have to worry about. There’s four chapters of Warriors and five other clubs plus a black ops group you don’t want to mess with who’d come looking for your asses. You wouldn’t stay hidden for long,” I told him with glee.
They exchanged looks at the mention of those many people. I think the black ops thing surprised them the most, even though they kept all expressions off their faces.
“Got it. It says Benedict Madris, age thirty-three has been in the Army for eleven years. He’s attached to the 10thSpecial Forces Group, 4thbattalion out of Fort Carson, Colorado. He’s single and has no listed family,” Smoke suddenly said.
“Ahh,de oppresso liber, to free the oppressed. I’ve always loved that Green Beret motto,” Terror said with a smile.
“What do you know of our motto and our unit?” Heath hissed.
“Well, as a former Army Ranger, I know a lot. As do several of my brothers. Lots of us have served in the various branches. Menace, Gunner, and Ranger were all in the Army like me. Savage, Ghost, and Viper were Navy and Devil Dog, Sniper, and Bandit were Marines. We know a lot about all branches and especially special ops units,” Terror answered him.
This did get a reaction. They both shifted in their chairs and I saw them tense. Terror continued, “Yeah, between us, we know all the tricks to break a man and get the information out of him. Marines, D-Boys, and SEALs get a lot of training and practice. Those skills get used often so we don’t get rusty.”
“Let’s cut out the intimidation tactics. It’s obvious we didn’t know enough about your club. We didn’t exactly have the resources to investigate all of you. The simple fact is that I’m not here to hurt my sister. I want her to be safe. She can be that with me. I’m planning to get out of the Army soon and we can go anywhere in the country. Until I get out, Heath will look out for her and keep her far from our father and that prick, Reuben. Come on, she’s nothing more than a fun time for you. You’ll soon get bored and move on to the next woman. Why don’t you let her go now and we can all walk away?” Benedict asked, as he stared at me.
I stood up and walked over to him. I got in his face. “I’m going to say this once. The next time you mention me using Cassia for a fun time or that she doesn’t mean anything to me, I’ll knock your teeth down your throat, brother or not. Cassia is my old lady. She’s engaged to marry me and she’s carrying my baby. I love her and she loves me. Nothing you can say or do will change that. She stays with me. Period.”
I saw my revelation about her being pregnant had taken both guys by surprise. Oh well, the cat was out of the bag. I had to make her brother see that we were serious and her ties to me were stronger than hers to him. As I moved away from him, I felt a clap on the back. I turned to find Voodoo smiling at me. He was my cousin and knew what having a baby would mean to me. I grinned at him.
“Well damn, what the hell do we say to get them to let her go now? You said she’s not one to walk away from family. If she’s pregnant, that might trump a brother. You saw the ring we found in her purse. I thought that was all for show, to play her until he got bored with her,” Heath said to Benedict. I swung around to face him.
“You thought wrong. She’s mine. Right now, we’re deciding if her family will include a long-lost brother or not. Tell us how you tracked her here. She’s been here for three years and no one has ever found her.”
“It was by accident. Ben has been trying ever since he found out she left and the church was broken up to find her. It was pure luck that we came across an article about your town and a wonderful recipe that was submitted to this online forum for bakers. One of our friends’ wives is an avid baker. She’s always online looking for recipes to try. She made this killer dessert for one of our command parties. Everyone loved it and asked her for the recipe. She printed it out and handed it out. We just glanced at it. When we did, the name of the baker who contributed it caught Ben’s eye. It was Cassia Parrish. Figure the odds there could be that many women with his sister’s name. Cassia isn’t a common name. Add that to Parrish and he thought it was worth checking out. He had to go back out on an operation, so he asked me to come check it out. Her profile said she lived in Dublin Falls, Tennessee.”
Such a simple thing to get someone caught. I knew she never thought that would enable her to be found. Who would? The internet allowed people to be anonymous, but it wasn’t as anonymous as we’d like to believe. That’s why I didn’t have any social media accounts. I don’t think any of my brothers did either.
“So you think your dad or her ex, Reuben, might be able to find her the same way?” Menace asked.
“I don’t know. Doubt our dad will be online and he never lets his wives or children on it either. As for Reuben, I assume he’s the same, but I don’t know. I didn’t really know him when I was growing up. He kept to the older men and the ones closest to Hiram. Thank God he’s dead along with his sicko lieutenants. Regardless, there’s always a chance and I don’t want her to be taken back by either of them.”
He sounded and looked sincere, but I knew his training would make him able to pull this off. I hated the idea of torturing him if he was telling the truth. Cassia would hate me for it and might not forgive me, even if I let my brothers do it.
“We know that you have no reason to believe us. I get it. Just like I have a hard time believing you want nothing but the best for her, although she swears it’s true. She begged us to let her contact you and clear this up. I’m not willing to leave her safety in the hands of bikers. I’ve never heard anything good about clubs like yours. You steal, sell drugs, hurt people, maybe kill them and you treat your women like shit. Although, while I’ve been here, I have to give you kudos for fooling so many people in town into thinking you’re not that kind of club,” Heath said, with a slight sneer. He was glaring at me.
“What’s your real problem with me? The fact I’m a biker or the fact you have the hots for my old lady? Benedict, I think your buddy has overstepped his protector role. He might have been sent here to watch over her and verify she was really your sister, but he sure gave off the creepy stalker vibe. She was scared of him.”
I saw Benedict glance at his friend then frown a tiny bit. Heath shrugged. “I’m sorry if she got scared. That wasn’t my objective. However, I won’t lie and say she’s not a beautiful woman and I’m attracted to her.”
“We’re getting off topic. Regardless of your intentions, she’s not going anywhere. Like I said, we’re engaged and she’s having my baby. I can promise you that Reuben and your dad won’t be a threat to her.”
“Why? Are you planning to kill them? Are you the ones who killed Hiram and his inner circle?” Benedict fired back. I didn’t say anything and neither did my brothers. All we did was stare impassively at them.
“Come on. You got what you needed. Let us go,” Heath stated.
“Not yet. What’s your name? Heath what?” Smoke said out of the blue. The whole time we’d been chatting, he was still typing away on his laptop.
For several moments he said nothing until Benedict nodded at him. He sighed. “It’s Heath Rugger. R-U-G-G-E-R. I was in the 10thwith Ben. I got out two months ago.”
