Page 35 of Lockout (The Vikings MC: Tucson Chapter #11)

Keely

“ D id he just say bomb?” I whispered, looking in horror at the other women.

Demo had gotten a phone call from Warrant, so we thought they’d be coming home soon. But now Demo was pacing, talking quietly to whoever was on the phone.

It was lucky for me that I had excellent hearing. Or maybe unlucky. “He did,” I said. “He said bomb.”

All the women froze, staring hard at Demo. The man kept his back to us as he walked out of the room.

“I’ll be right back.”

Billie grabbed my arm. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to get that guy to tell me what’s going on,” I said.

“Doubt he’ll tell you,” Isla said, but she didn’t look happy to be left out of the loop either.

“Oh, trust me, Keels can break anyone,” Dani said, looking pale, but smug. “She’s a legend in the courtroom for getting testimonies.”

I hurried out the door, following behind Demo. By the time I caught up to him he was finished with the call. “Who was that?”

“Uh…” His gaze shifted away from me.

“Was it Warrant?”

“Yeah.”

A lie. The way he wouldn’t meet my eyes told me that. I was glad this guy never got caught by the enemy, because no one would believe his lies. “It was Lockout.”

He flinched, and gave me a startled look. It wasn’t hard to figure out though. Not when you knew Lock the way I did. Knew the kind of man he was. If something had gone wrong, he would step up and take charge. He always did.

“Demo.” I tried to swallow back the tears. Because deep down, I just knew something was wrong. And that was making me feel a little panicked and a whole lot like sobbing. “I need to know what’s going on.”

“He’ll fucking kill me if I tell you, Keely,” Demo muttered. “He’ll be back soon, just-”

“I can’t,” I told him. “Please.”

“No. I can’t,” he insisted. “It’s not safe for you anywhere but here.”

I didn’t get the chance to grill him for more information because Seek, Dani, Billie, Auron, and Jecht burst out of the clubhouse door like a group of superheroes.

Seek was carrying a familiar plastic bag with a zip top and there was cloth in there.

“It’s like four-thirty in the morning,” I said, staring at the bag. “You didn’t get a call, did you?” I asked. Winter was Seek’s slow time. People hiked here in the winter, but without the scorching summer heat there just weren’t as many emergencies.

“Keels,” Dani said, her eyes welling up with tears. “Hush called.”

“What’d he say?” Demo asked. The other Berserker’s Rage guys were starting to gather around too.

“There was…some kind of accident,” Billie said.

“They can’t find Lockout,” Seek added. “And the cops just showed up on scene, so they can’t keep searching.”

I frowned. “Why wouldn’t they be able to find him?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Seek said. “Hush didn’t give many details, just told me to get over to Keno Parkway and to bring both Auron and Jecht.”

“I’m driving,” Demo said. He pointed a finger at Dani and Billie. “You two are staying here. Don’t need a flock of women out there when I don’t know what the fuck is going on.”

Billie bit the insides of her lips, but nodded and kept quiet.

Demo looked over at me. “I’m guessing I can’t convince you to stay here?”

“Not a chance.”

We piled into one of the cage rides. Seek’s truck didn’t have space for all of us since the backseat had been removed to make room for the dogs’ crates.

I was in the back between Auron and Jecht.

How I’d managed to still get the middle seat when it was two dogs back here with me wasn’t something I could speculate on at the moment.

“By the way,” Demo said, pointing a thumb over at Seek. “Is that Lock’s drawers you have in that bag?”

“I grabbed the first thing I found in the hamper, Demo,” Seek replied.

“Seems fucked up to search for a missing man by using his skivies. Just sayin’,” he muttered when Seek scowled at him. “Use a shirt or something.”

Seek and Demo continued talking, but they were muted after that.

My brain couldn’t focus on them. I couldn’t stop worrying enough to pay attention.

My hands clenched in my lap as I tried to hold it together.

Missing didn’t mean dead. God. If he was dead, I didn’t know what I was going to do.

I swallowed hard as tears clogged my throat.

We might have just gotten together, but I’d basically been in love with Lockout from the first time I saw him. It’d just built slowly as I lived at the clubhouse and saw him daily. And now that things had screeched off the tracks, I could admit my feelings. I never even told him that I loved him.

A whine sounded next to my ear and then Auron shifted on the seat until he was laying with his head in my lap. He licked my chilled hands until I buried them in his fur.

I couldn’t lose it now. Lock needed me. Well, he needed Seek and her dogs, but damn it, he was going to get me, too.

The drive passed in a flash, and before I knew it we were pulling up in a lot that was filled with flashing lights. There were cop cars everywhere.

My gasp was ragged when I got out of the back of the SUV and saw the building in front of us.

It was like a tornado had ripped through the area.

Or…well, like a bomb had gone off. Parts of the building were on fire, other parts were decimated, and still more had sheet metal barely clinging to the frame.

I watched a piece swing back and forth in the slight wind before it detached and crashed to the ground.

The guys met us before the cops even noticed us. “I told you to leave her at home,” Hush said to Seek.

Seek glared at him. “Sure. You tell her to stay home. Tell me to stay home if you’re missing.” Hush just shook his head. “What happened?” Seek asked, looking over at the building.

“Fucking bomb,” Priest said. “Lock was still inside…”

That was when I lost it. Dropping to my knees, I started sobbing. Arms that were identical to Lockout’s picked me up and brought me over to the bed of a truck, sitting me on the tailgate.

Idaho just held me while I cried. I was doing my best to keep it together but this place looked like hell reincarnated. Who could have survived being inside that building?

“That’s why I wanted you to leave her at home,” Hush muttered. “She doesn’t need to see this.”

I buried my face in Idaho’s chest, pretending for just a minute that he was his twin. Then I pulled on all the strength I had and shoved everything I was feeling deep down. “I’m sorry,” I said, a small sob escaping on the end of the last word. “I’m okay.”

Idaho looked like hell. He was pale and the panic in his eyes matched the feeling building in my soul.

“Take all the time you need,” he told me, sitting on the tailgate next to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

It was obvious that sitting here and not searching for his brother was ripping him up inside.

“We can’t get in there to keep searching because of the fucking cops,” Rip said.

“I can,” Seek said, understanding dawning on her face.

“I’m going with you,” I told her, hopping off the truck before Idaho could pull me back.

“Like hell you are,” Hush said, shaking his head.

“Actually,” Seek hedged, “I could use her.”

“How?” Priest asked.

The rest of the guys, Hell, Smoke, Static, Ricochet, and Warrant were standing there quietly, just listening. It was clear that they were wrecked about this. While Rip, Hush, Priest, and Idaho seemed manic to find Lock, the others were just…defeated.

“Can’t get around back either,” Butcher said as he and Toxic walked up.

“You shouldn’t be here right now,” Toxic said, wrapping me up in a hug.

It was all I could do to keep from breaking down again. I bit the insides of my cheeks until I tasted blood. “I’m okay.”

“She keeps sayin’ that,” Hush said, scowling at me. His voice was gruff, but I saw the worry on his face. He was trying to protect me from seeing something that might sear itself into my soul for the remainder of my life. But I needed to help. Needed to find Lockout.

“She’s coming with me,” Seek said. “I’ll tell them that I’m training her. Explains why I have both dogs out and working when I don’t normally do that.”

“One of us could do that,” Rip offered. His eyes landed on me. “You don’t have to go.”

“Yeah, I do,” I choked out.

Rip sighed, swiping his hand over his mouth. “Fuck, this seems like a bad idea, but alright.”

“Come on,” Seek said, taking me by the arm and walking me toward a line of cops.

“Thanks, Seek,” I said. “I can’t stand there doing nothing.”

“I know,” she replied. “If it was Hush… Even if he was… I’d need to help, too.”

“Seek?”

“Hey, Rodney,” she said, smiling at one of the young cops standing around. “I got a call that you need a search of the building.” She wrinkled her nose. “Doesn’t look like much of a building.”

“I didn’t know anyone had called you,” he said. “Hang on.” He tilted his head and hit the button on his radio mic clipped to his shoulder. “Sergeant. Search and Rescue is here. Want me to send her over?”

Static sounded from the radio. “Yeah, send her back.”

“You heard him, head on back there,” Rodney pointed north toward where the fire was the worst.

“Thanks. See ya, Rodney.” As soon as we passed the cops, Seek’s fake smile disappeared. “Sorry. Gotta keep up pretenses. If they think the guys are involved they’ll haul all of them in for questioning.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“Right. Of course you do,” she said with a shake of her head, as if she just remembered who I was and what I did for a living.

My eyes scanned the wreckage as Seek spoke with a Sergeant Morris.

“She’s with me. Needed help running a second dog,” Seek said with a tight smile at the Sergeant.

“Smart,” Morris said. “The firemen are about to show up and once they start spraying water everywhere this place is going to turn into a shitshow.”

As if it wasn’t already.

His eyes narrowed on me. “You crying?” he asked, sounding both worried and disgusted.

I sniffed and shook my head, waving my hand around. “Smoke messes with my allergies,” I said, giving him a tight smile.

He nodded, then went back to speaking with Seek.

It seemed to take forever before Sergeant Morris waved us forward and we were on our own. “Let me know if you find anyone. We think the place was empty, but we gotta check.”

“Will do,” she said. Then she turned and squatted down, taking the bag out of the side of the khakis she wore. She opened the bag and let both Auron and Jecht have a sniff. “Search, Boys. Go find Lockout.”

I wasn’t sure anyone could dream up a worse nightmare for me. This was pretty much it. Someone I loved missing, maybe hurt, or dying, or even already dead, and I was walking around what felt like aimless circles trying to find them. This had to be one of the levels of hell. I was certain of it.

But the dogs were moving quickly, noses down as they sniffed around the debris. They were our best hope of finding Lockout. I just prayed that he was in one piece—literally—when we found him.

The fire trucks arrived, blaring their sirens and horns as they moved through the line of cop cars. At least that was taking the cops’ focus off us. In fact, with Seek and her dogs here the cops didn’t seem to be searching very hard anymore.

Jecht disappeared into the smoke one way, Auron another, and before long high pitched barks sounded.

Seek frowned, looking back and forth. “They’re both alerting.”

Oh God. If he was split in two or something, I was going to lay right down and die. “Which one do you want me to go to?” I asked, barely keeping calm.”

“Go to Jecht,” she said, pointing to the right. “I’ll go this way.” She paused, her eyes meeting mine. “I can go to both if you need me to…”

“No,” I said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “I’ve got this.”

She returned the squeeze and then disappeared into the smoke.

Turning, I picked my way through the rubble, following Jecht’s barks. I didn’t want to think about what I might find. All I could do was hope he was alive.