Page 25 of Liberator (Serpent Sinners MC #2)

Chapter 25

The punishment was harsh, worse than I’d endured when I’d actually been a prospect. Over the years I’d earned the respect of my fellow Serpent Sinners and grown used to being treated as an equal among them. Now, I was nothing again. It hurt far worse to be on the lowest rung of the ladder when I’d once been near the top. The brotherhood I’d counted on was determined to show me where my quick temper had gotten me. They were cruel despite the friendship and family feelings they’d once declared.

I knew deep in my heart they were trying to teach me a valuable lesson about what my rage was doing to me and to the club, but I wasn’t in the right mind to learn it at first. Everything they did just seemed to make my rage worse, so the punishments and humiliation got worse too.

Each degrading thing I was commanded to do held a trap within it. Something was always planned to humiliate me further than the actual task did by itself. Yet, through all of it I never stopped worrying about Vikki and wondering what horrible things she was enduring.

She was on my mind while I carried a bag of kitty litter into the garage space where all the work was done on our bikes and trucks. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I tore open the bag and lifted it to dump on the oil spill it was intended to soak up. A sudden shove from behind was such a shock that I lost my balance and the control of the big bag. I landed face down in the oil spill and sent the entire bag of litter in an arc across the garage where its dust and pellets covered the floor and all the vehicles inside the large area.

“Sorry, the bike got away from me,” Rod said from behind me. “It looks like you have a bigger mess to clean up now. You’re going to have to wash all the bikes and trucks as well as clean the mess up off the floor. I’d hurry if I were you. Prime expects to inspect the garage in about three hours. Good luck, bro.”

I stood up quickly. Oil was running down my face and I was spitting it out of my mouth. I raised a fist ready to rumble before I realized Rod wasn’t alone. Doc and Colt were with him. All three were more than up to the task of taking me down to prove a point, so I backed off, kicked a nearby tire, and punched the side of a truck knocking off the side mirror.

“You’ll be fixing that as well,” Rod declared.

So far my temper wasn’t any better, nor was it doing me any favors.

Two days later I was scrubbing the grout of the bar’s bathroom floor with bleach and a toothbrush on Stretch’s order when Ditch came in to use the urinal. Instead of choosing one at the end of the row and as far from me as possible, he chose the one right over my head. Even though I was expecting him to miss and let his urine puddle on my clean floor, I didn’t expect it to spray all over me.

I came roaring up off the floor, but practically knocked myself out when I hit my head on the porcelain urinal and fell back into the nasty mixture of piss and bleach.

“What’s it going to take to make you understand that rage only makes the situation worse?” Ditch asked.

I wasn’t sure I knew how to answer that or even if there was an answer. I only knew that my quick temper had gotten me into this mess and unless I learned how to stop it from rising I’d never be given back my privileges or my rank. Without those I had no chance of rescuing Vikki which was why I didn’t try to put Ditch’s head in the toilet.

I realized I was making some progress at controlling myself when I was forced to do grunt work at Colt’s boxing gym. It was my job to empty the buckets of spit and blood from the ringside while the boxers were fighting. One particularly large mouthful of bloody spit landed in my face as I was switching buckets. It sickened me, but somehow I held back my anger, wiped my face on my sleeve, and only glared at the man who’d dared mark me. My normal reaction would have been tossing the entire bucket into the fighter’s face.

Not even the hoots and hollers of the bikers in the bar when they spied me acting as a server set me off that same night. After a week of suffering at their hands I’d finally gotten a grip on my temper, at least as far as my punishment was concerned.

However, at night when I was alone in my room the rage resurfaced. It had nothing to do with my humiliation, but everything to do with how long Vikki had been gone and in the hands of the filth who’d damaged her in the first place. I’d used thoughts of what she was enduring in order to shut off my own despair when the Sinners said or did something I hated just as Prime had told me to.

Every day I asked Prime what he knew about Vikki, and I was never any closer to learning much of anything. She was alive. That was the usual report. He believed she was safe because she continued to send in snap shots and videos on a regular basis. That wasn’t as reassuring to me as it appeared to be to him and Petrov. She could have been beaten, starved, and living in squalor for all they knew. My strong, brave Vikki would still send the information even if she was on her death bed.

Three days later as Doc was checking my ribs which had been bruised after I’d been kicked down the stairs while scrubbing them there was an argument in the hallway. Zoe had returned and she was shouting at Prime.

“She ditched the phone. I know and so do you! Why else would it not have moved for twelve fucking hours? Did you see how much video she dumped right before she went dark?” she shouted.

“We can’t be positive of that. She might be laying low to keep from getting caught,” Prime replied.

“You sound just like my father! He says we have to wait a few more hours since eight of the twelve her phone has been in the same place could be attributed to her sleeping. You are both wrong! She does not sleep much, and she always sends something every four hours even if it is just a message to say she is okay. Get your head out of the sand, Prime!”

I stumbled out into the hallway and saw Prime standing stiffly in front of Zoe. For once his gaze wasn’t worshipful. It was full of concern. His jaw was tight, and his cheek twitched, meaning he was desperately trying not to show how upset he was.

“We’ve got to go in and get her,” I demanded. “She was promised she’d be rescued if she dumped the damn phone!”

Prime ran hand through his hair and tugged at it in frustration. “I can’t go in without Petrov and he’s not ready. My hands are tied until he gives the go ahead.”

“I knew this would happen!” I screamed. “You trusted that asshole to keep his word and now he doesn’t give a fuck about one woman who means nothing to him!”

“My father can be trusted. He does give a damn. He is being cautious. It makes me angry too and freaks me out. I want to rush in and get her, but he says if she is still doing her job we could get her killed and some others as well,” Zoe explained.

“So now you’re defending him? Just a second ago you said she was in danger, now you’re suddenly on Daddy’s side. Of course, you are. You’re Daddy’s fucking darling! What he wants he gets because he holds the damn purse strings! Grow up little girl. Your daddy doesn’t care about anyone but himself and it seems you’re the same,” I declared.

“You better back off, Rage,” Prime said in a steely voice that was far more dangerous than a shout. “Zoe came to me for help. She’s been watching over Vikki as closely as she can. She feels responsible for her. Don’t you dare challenge her motives. She’s here despite her father’s demand that she not tell us anything yet. She sent me all the videos from Vikki’s last communication so I could watch and see if there was anything in them that would help us know where she was and how to get her out. She’s defying direct orders. If you want to view them with me then I suggest you show her some respect.”

“I’m sorry, Zoe. I know this isn’t your fault. I’m scared, that’s all. Vikki could be dying while we’re standing here doing nothing. I’m sick of feeling helpless. She deserves better than what we’ve given her. Right now, I don’t think we’re any better than the fucking cartel. We’ve been using her the same as them. I’m as guilty as anyone. I should have known something was wrong the last night she was here, but I missed it. Otherwise, I’d have stopped her,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t have allowed you to stop her. This assignment was too important. You’d have fought me, but I would have locked your ass up if necessary. This would have happened no matter what,” Prime answered solemnly.

“I pushed for her to go. We all share some of the responsibility, including Vikki. After all, she did listen to a private conversation and then volunteer. I do not think any of us would have considered her for the job if she had not. She was a prospect, and you do not give them assignments like this,” Zoe expressed.

“Don’t say she ‘was’ anything as if she’s gone or dead! She’s alive and coming back. I won’t give up on her and neither should you!” I demanded.

“We’re not giving up. We promised we’d protect her and get her out when the time came, and we will. We just aren’t certain the time has come. Get in my office and help us watch for clues in the videos she sent, then we can make a decision,” Prime ordered.

There were fifteen videos in all, three times the amount she usually sent at one time. They were longer and the pictures were less clear than others she had sent. We figured it was because she was hiding and farther from her target then ever before.

Some were of places we’d never seen, and we couldn’t have known about. How she had gotten the footage was a mystery to all of us since many of them had nothing to do with prostitution. There were videos of children toiling on a farm and others of more kids packaging what appeared to be marijuana and cocaine.

Her previous information had all been about the trafficking for prostitution, but it appeared the cartel was into something new. It was information that was needed, and Petrov was going to be thrilled, yet none of it showed Vikki was in any danger, or whether she’d been noticed filming it.

“We have no definitive answer,” Prime sighed. “I can’t go against Petrov without some kind of proof that she’s in trouble.”

“It is possible that the phone was discovered and taken without anyone knowing who it belonged to. Hopefully she sent the videos and then deleted them from the phone before it was found. She says she always deletes them once they are sent. If they did know it was hers, she may have been punished for having a phone but not because she was spying,” Zoe said.

“No one has communicated with us about her, and I think the cartel would have taunted Father with the information if they had discovered she was spying,” she added after we didn’t comment.

“It’s a good point, but I wouldn’t count on it,” Prime replied.

Nervously, Zoe took out her phone and made a quick check of something. She was upset by what she saw and tossed it onto Prime’s desk as if it offended her.

“It has been another half hour and the phone still is in the same spot. I do not like it,” she stated.

I glanced at the phone which was unlocked and lit up. I caught sight of what was on the screen. It showed information from the tracker on Vikki’s phone. An address was showing as clear as day, beckoning me to run out and find her.

“I’ll give your father his time, but only until morning. Vikki belongs to my club, and I won’t continue risking her without some knowledge that’s she’s unharmed. I don’t want to screw up our relationship, but a woman’s life is hanging in the balance and that overrides his authority as far as I’m concerned,” Prime declared.

Zoe nodded her agreement.

I stormed out. If I hadn’t I would’ve had a tantrum. I was already on precarious ground since I’d punched Prime. I couldn’t afford to lose it around him again.

I tried to relax and sleep, tried to believe the hogwash that Prime and Zoe spouted about Vikki’s safety. After tossing and turning for four hours I gave up. That was the limit of my newly found patience. I didn’t believe she was safe at all, and I wasn’t going to wait on the fucking mafia to allow me to do what I figured needed to be done.

I stopped by the weapons room and took everything I thought might be needed to get through the security at the address shown on Zoe’s phone. Knowing I couldn’t do this alone, I went to the prospects’ quarters and woke up three of the more seasoned men and ordered them to stand with me. They didn’t like what I was ordering them to do, but they didn’t dare argue with an officer.

We quietly slipped outside where I stopped to hand over guns, knives, and even a hand grenade each. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a deep voice came out of the shadows beside the building.

“What the hell is this? What do you think you’re doing, Rage?” Sweet demanded.

“I’m done waiting. It’s been close to seventeen hours since anyone has heard from Vikki, and her phone hasn’t moved in all that time. Petrov is being hardheaded and refusing to allow us to go in and get her despite the promise she was made. I won’t let her die. You’d do the same if it were Jemma and you damn well know it!”

“If you live you won’t be a Sinner anymore. Prime won’t be so lenient this time,” Sweet reminded me.

“I’ll chance it,” I shot back.

“Hell! So will I. I’m the fucking enforcer, the guardian of the club. This spying shit is payback for rescuing Jackson, my kid. I owe as much of the damn debt as anyone. If Prime corners me though, I’ll say I went under duress, that you fucking used my family against me or something. I’ll take Doc’s van in case she’s hurt. Let’s get the hell out of here,” he replied.