AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Can you reply back and ask if they need help with the extraction?" Reaper ordered.
We waited as Skinny typed out the message.A reply wasn’t long in coming back.
'No help needed. You'd slow us down. The boy will be safe. Mother is dead. Tried to save boy from sale. Her boss will be punished for selling him.'
"Fuck," Draco said. "Who the fuck are these people?"
"What about the little girl?" I said to Skinny. "Find out about her."
Skinny again typed and we waited.
'Good family. Will drop back at house. I know hard. Patience, friends.'
The chat box went dead, but the video stayed up, showing the bids in the corner. I felt sick. What was wrong with people that they would hurt children like this? I’d seen horrific things during my time in the military, but the things that happened to children always hit different. They were innocents drawn into adult games that they had no chance of winning. It made me sick.
The room was silent. Whoever had sent us a link to the video had left it on so we could watch the children. I didn’t know if this was worse than the not knowing.
Seeing him so close but unable to hold him, it was killing me. I’d had to walk away when one of his captors had come in with water, had pretended to give it to them, then take it away teasing them.
Kaleb had only fallen for it twice, then he’d done his usual stare and ignored the twastard, but the little girl with him had cried and cried. I’d never been so proud of my son as I was when he put his arm around her and pulled her close, holding her tight. His lips moved so he must have said something to her and I wished I knew what. The pillick teasing them dropped the bottle of water through the bars of the cage once he stopped getting a reaction. We cursed as we watched Kaleb struggle to open the bottle, his little hand not quite strong enough.
Not being able to watch anymore, I walked away before I hit something. How fucking cruel could you be? I was walking up and down the road outside the clubhouse, glad that Avy hadn’t seen it.
Rubbing at the stinging in my eyes, my breaths coming thick and fast. Stopping my pacing, I stood in the middle of the road looking up at the blue sky, it was such a peaceful morning. A perfect spring day. Taking a deep breath of fresh air and then another one until my breathing evened out and the urge to cry and scream was contained. I counted blessings.
One - for now he was fine, we could see him. We’d handle dehydration and hunger when he was home.
Two – I had no idea who my friend was, but I was thankful for them.
Three - if whoever my friend was, was telling the truth, then Kaleb would be home by tonight.
Four - Skinny was still looking for him even if my friend had said not to. I had to have faith. Not many people were lucky enough to have the connections that we did or the support that we had.
With one last deep breath, I turned and walked back to the clubhouse, stopping when Navy walked out the doors. He held up a hand, “He’s fine. Not sure who your friends are, but once the fucker left, the cameras went dark for a while as if there was a glitch and when it came back Kaleb and the little girl were drinking from the bottle of water. My guess whoever the rescuers are, they are special forces or ex-special forces and are already situated waiting for the right moment. It’s what I would do.”
“Okay,” I acknowledge, huffing out a breath. “I wonder who they are?”
Navy shrugged, “I guess we’ll find out tonight. Praying their op goes according to plan and that they can extract the kids without any issues.”
Striding back to the clubhouse, I pull open the heavy wooden door and walk in.
Reaper came out of Skinny’s room. The rest of the brothers had left after we’d got the message about not interfering and were out running the businesses and dodging reporters. After the message had come through asking us not to interfere, Reaper had asked me what I wanted to do.
It seemed pointless for us all sitting around doing nothing, so I’d told them to go back to work but to put up a sign in the tattoo shop saying it was closed until further notice due to a family emergency.
“How you doing, Hawk?”
“Struggling, Pres. I know when he first arrived, I didn’t treat him like I should, but then he crept into my heart and under my skin. He’s mine and Avy’s son and … fuuuuck,” I breathed out through my nose, closing my eyes as tears welled up again.
Lifting my eyes, anguish deepening my voice, “I’m worried that I’m trusting whoever this is with my son’s life and that they aren’t being honest. What if it’s a mistake trusting them? But we have nothing. Skinny is still searching, and he’s not found anything new. What the fuck do I do if it all goes pear shaped? How do I tell Avy that I put trust in complete strangers on a feeling in my gut?”
Reaper grabbed me by the back of my neck, pulling me to him, pressing his forehead against mine. “Nothing I say is going to make any of this easier, Hawk. But I have faith that whoever this is will keep their word. Sometimes you just have to have faith.”
With one last clap on my back, Reaper let me go. I left him and Navy talking quietly in the common room. I entered Skinny’s room, catching him rubbing his eyes tiredly.
Clasping his shoulder, I told him, “Go shower, brother. Catch some kip. There’s not much else you can do for now.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I did find out why Kaleb was taken though, and I don’t think you’re going to be happy, although probably not surprised.”
