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Looking down at the woman I love, I can’t find it in my heart to be angry at her. She looks exhausted. “We had a couple of prospects looking out for you. We thought you’d be safe with so many people around. We were wrong.”
“Evan?” she asks.
“Yep, and Gordon. We told them to stay out of the way and be subtle. We didn’t want you to feel like you were being watched, Rigs’ kid went off script with his coffee shop trips, but that’s what saved your life. His quick thinking and Gordon’s riding meant we were onto the assholes straight away.”
“They were going to kill you too,” she says as if that’s something important to tell. “The guy you shot was building some kind of contraption in the basement. It looked like a bomb but I’m not sure what it was.”
We all exchange alarmed looks, Rider had cleared the room, but he was looking for Serena or her abductors, maybe he missed something? “Someone go back to the basement and check it out. Everyone else clear back, just in case it’s set to go off.”
“On it,” Talon says as he runs toward the front door.
“It might not be a bomb,” Serena says weakly, “I just said it looked like one.”
“Better safe than sorry, princess,” I answer.
Suddenly, Siege was there pressing a bottle of water to her lips. We both know she’s in shock after what she’s gone through, and me shooting a man in the fucking face only inches from her, isn’t helping matters. Her eyes jump from Siege and then back to me.
“Should we tell him about the attic?” Serena asks.
I shake my head. “They’ll be time enough for that.”
We see Talon emerging from the cabin carrying something, “Was this what you saw?” he asks.
Serena looks over and nods.
“Panic over, gentlemen,” Talon says with a laugh. “Our man was repairing an old CB radio.”
“Does anyone other than neanderthals use those anymore? I thought they went out with the ark.” I quip.
“I resemble that remark,” Rigs says walking over. “I’ve been thinking about getting one of those. You might knock them, but it doesn’t hurt to have other means of communication when the Wi-Fi or cellphone network goes down.”
Talon throws the small oblong box over and Rigs wanders off to take a better look at his new toy. I gotta hand it to Talon, that brother sure has balls to run back in there —balls or a death wish.
Siege gestured for Serena to drink some more. “We were really worried about you, sis. Everyone in the club was freaking out. Marge called me when she couldn’t get through to Smoke. She was going to lose her mind too.”
Serena sighs and tells me, “You and Marge need to sit down and have a talk.”
“We can talk about it later. Right now, we gotta get you to the clubhouse.”
“I’m all for getting the hell outta here, but what about Stan?”
“Was he here?” I ask.
She nods, “The thugs he hired wouldn’t give me to him unless he paid up, and he refused to pay because he said they hadn’t finished the job, he wanted you as well. They agreed to let him keep me here, but he wasn’t allowed to touch me. It was good you came when you did, that tattooed bastard was gonna head back to Las Salinas and kill you. But then everything went crazy, they saw you approaching, and that’s when I was moved to the attic.”
I look around, wondering where the stupid bastard could have run off to. No vehicles had left since we arrived, and Stan didn’t look the type to take his chances on whatever wildlife lurked in the woods. “Maybe he climbed a tree or something to keep from being seen,” I muse out loud.
Serena slowly comes to her feet. I realize she’s staring at the dark colored sedan that we’ve already identified as belonging to her ex.
“What’s up princess? Are you having a flashback or a brainstorm?”
“Brainstorm,” she answers without hesitation. “Let me ask you something, babe. If you were trying to hide in plain sight, where do you think is the last place your enemies might look for you?”
As we both stare at the vehicle, it suddenly dawns on me what she’s thinking.
Turning to Siege, I ask, “What do you think the chances are that Stan has climbed in the back of his own trunk to hide out?”
“I would say that considering the lack of obvious hiding places, there’s a high probability our stalker might be in there.”
