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“You’d do that?” she asked.
“Of course,” Bowie said. “We don’t want to do anything to upset you, Amelia. You’ve already been through so much.”
“We just want to keep you safe,” Spider added. “Will you let me keep you safe?” he asked. She wasn’t sure that she trusted him, but she needed him. She needed all their help if she was going to get out of town.
“Yes,” she breathed, “thank you.”
“Great, I can be back here in fifteen minutes. Will that give you guys enough time to be ready to leave?” Ryder asked.
“Um, I was hoping to be able to run back to my place to pack a bag or two,” Amelia admitted.
“Like we’ve said, the Ghosts will be waiting for you there,” Bowie reminded.
“I won’t have anything to wear or be able to change out of these disgusting clothes,” she said, looking down at her body. “I just want a shower and clean clothes.”
“I’ll make sure that you get both of those things,” Spider promised.
“You look to be about the same size as our wife,” Savage said. “Bowie, can you run home and ask Dallas to get Amelia some things together?”
“Sure, I’ll be back in fifteen minutes too,” Bowie promised. “You need some things too, Spider?” he asked.
“No, I keep a to go back in my truck, just in case things go sideways,” he said. “I’m good.” Bowie nodded and left through the back door of the bar. Amelia shivered when the cool night air hit her and Spider wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.
“You cold?” he asked. She wasn’t wearing much in the way of clothes and the nights were getting chilly. She remembered being cold when she went to the club two nights ago. That seemed so long ago now, and it seemed silly to be complaining about something as trivial as being cold after everything that she had been through.
“I’ll be fine,” she lied. Amelia wasn’t sure if she’d ever be fine again, but she was trying to keep herself together. When she was alone, she’d break down, but not right now in front of everyone.
* * *
The guys had given her a few choices and she chose the one that would keep them closest to home, but still far enough that the Ghosts wouldn’t be able to track them. “Are you sure that Gatlinburg will be safe for us?” she asked Spider. He was sitting next to her on the private plane that Ryder was flying them to Tennessee on.
“I’m sure,” he promised. “One of our old club brothers, Repo, moved to Gatlinburg a few years ago. He’s a good guy and we can trust him. He’s arranged a house for us and will make sure that we have everything that we need while we are there.” That was the question hanging in the air between them—how long they’d be on the run. She was almost afraid to ask, but she needed to know.
“How long will we be away from home?” she asked.
He shrugged, “Don’t know, really. I’ve reached out to my boss at the CIA, but he’s just trying to figure out our next move. He’s planning on sending in a few new guys to go undercover with the Ghosts, but he can’t rush into that. If Hangman knows about me being undercover with the CIA, then he will be leery about taking on new guys right now. They will have to be inducted slowly and that could mean that we’ll be on the run for a while—a few months at least.”
“Months,” she squealed, “I thought that we’d be gone for a few days—maybe a week or two at most, but not months.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I know Hangman and I can tell you that he won’t just let my betrayal go and he’ll assume that you’re with me and his wrath will include you now too. We need to stay away from home until the CIA can bring down the whole trafficking ring, then, we’ll be able to go back to our lives.” She nodded as if she understood, but nothing about this horrible situation was understandable. “I just hope that they can come up with a plan soon. Why can’t they just go in, rescue the women in there, and arrest all those horrible men?”
“It’s not that simple,” he said. “You see, Hangman is just the current guy in charge. If he’s taken out of play, then Butch will just take his place and the problem right now is that no one knows where Butch is.”
“So, if you cut off one head, another just grows in its place,” she said.
“Correct, and there’s not much we can do about it,” he said, “besides wait for all parties to show up at the warehouse, and then, we can collect them all in one raid.”
“That could take forever,” she grumbled.
“Patience is a virtue,” he reminded.
“You don’t know me well enough to understand this about me, but I’m not the most patient person. I guess my virtue could use a little bit of help,” she teased.
“Somehow, I doubt that,” he said. Spider reached across the arm rest, putting his hand over hers and she thought about pulling it free from his, but having him touching her that way felt right. He made her feel safe, even if she didn’t want to admit it, she was beginning to see that she could trust him. When he found her on the sidewalk, she thought for sure that he was going to drag her back to that awful warehouse to be tossed back into her cage. But then, he took her to his club and got some help, whisking her out of town to safety. He had kind of become her savior and she had enough experience with knights in shining armor to know how to steer clear of them.
“You don’t seem like the type of girl that has to worry about her virtue,” he said.
“Again, you don’t know me very well yet.”
