Page 25 of Protected By the Bikers Next Door (Never Just One #4)

Harper

T he bar is crowded, the floors sticky with spilled beer.

I know there are people in here, blending in with the drunken patrons to make sure I’m safe, but I feel utterly alone.

They’ve deliberately chosen people I won’t recognize, just in case that would somehow tip off our man, so I have no idea who’s a friend or foe in here.

I sit in a booth in the far corner and order soda.

I pull out a book from my bag, pretending to read it.

“You’re doing great, Harper,” Hawk’s voice says in my ear. Knowing they’re listening in makes me feel bolder. I can do this.

A long time passes. So much that I think he won’t show. But then the door opens, and a stooped-over man wearing a dark hoodie walks in. He takes one look at me, sunken eyes with large bags under them, filled with panic, and bolts.

Shit. This wasn’t part of the plan.

Instinct takes over, and I race after him.

I can hear the footsteps of the others following close behind.

A couple of them overtake me, and I lose sight of them as they round the corner into an alleyway.

My lungs are on fire, and I have a stitch in my side.

I stop, bent over, wheezing, and cursing my lack of athleticism.

I can’t go on. I let the others race past me in pursuit as I try to catch my breath.

It breaks my heart not to be a part of this, but I need to think of the baby.

“What’s going on, guys? Talk to us,” I hear Wolf’s frustrated voice bark in my earpiece.

“He’s on the rooftops. We’re in pursuit.”

“Shit, he just disappeared.”

“Jesus, this guy’s fast. I thought you said he had a limp?” one of them pants.

“I think he’s circling back,” another cries.

“Shit. We’ve got company,” one of the men says, and I hear gunshots.

“Fuck, Viktor must have eyes on this guy,” Wolf snarls.

“Harper. Harper, where are you? Are you alone?” I hear Hawk’s panicked voice.

“I’m here. Yes, I’m okay.”

“Harper, you need to hide,” Bear says frantically. “We’re coming.”

I turn and run back toward the bar, hoping the throng of customers will provide some protection.

As I do, I collide with a shadowy figure dressed in black.

My stalker seems as startled to run into me as I am.

He’s a weaselly-faced man. I realize that the dark circles under his eyes aren’t bags but bruises.

With a haunted look, the word “no” tumbles from his lips.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” he says, his voice reedy and scared. With wild eyes, he looks around, listening to the nearby sound of gunfire and, further away, the distant sound of sirens. “If they find you, they’ll kill you, but if they find me, they’ll kill her,” he says cryptically.

“Who? Who will they kill? Who are you? What do you want?” I ask desperately.

“I’m sorry, Harper, I tried to protect you both,” he says, pulling something from his pocket.

I look down and see the gun in his hand.

It’s all over.

I close my eyes, but the shot doesn’t come.

There’s a thunk, the sound of a steel bat hitting the man across the head.

He crumples to the floor unconscious. Wolf stands before me, wielding the bat that knocked my would-be attacker out.

I rush into the safety of his arms. Hawk and Bear quickly get to work tying the man up and throwing him in the back of a blacked-out SUV.

I move on autopilot, allowing the guys to take the lead, still reeling from the sudden turn of events. I’m vaguely aware of them checking me over and confirming to each other that I must be in shock before discussing the ambush.

“Viktor must have men tailing this guy, or he was somehow onto us and tipped them off.”

“I’m so sorry, Harper,” Hawk says, over and over, like a mantra.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have chased after him. You told me not to if something like that happened. I didn’t listen,” I say numbly.

I zone out again as they discuss what they’re going to do next.

I rest my hand on my stomach and think of the life inside me, and of my little girl, safe with Pam at a sleepover.

I think of how stupid and reckless I was.

I put my unborn child’s life at risk and nearly left my little girl motherless.

***

When we arrive at the clubhouse, the guys carry the man down to the basement, where they tie him to a chair. “Why don’t you wait upstairs, Harper? You don’t need to see this,” Bear says.

“No. I want to be here,” I insist.

As always, I’m grateful that they respect my choice without argument.

Hawk searches his pockets, finding a phone and wallet.

Inside the wallet, the ID reads, Paul Henderson.

He’s only twenty-five, younger somehow than I expected.

The name isn’t familiar. With his hood down, revealing shaggy brown hair, I’m able to get a better look at the unconscious man.

As far as I can tell, I’ve never seen him before.

The guys strip off Paul’s shirt, whether looking for weapons or simply as a tactic to make him feel more vulnerable, I don’t know, and I don’t dare ask.

They’re consumed with a dangerous energy that radiates from them, a violent, barely controlled rage that I’ve not seen before, and I don’t want to risk unleashing it.

Paul’s bare chest is covered with cuts and bruises.

“Who did that to him?” I gasp, feeling a swell of sympathy for the man I should hate.

“We’ll find out,” Wolf says, slapping Paul to wake him.

When Paul finally opens his eyes, he doesn’t seem surprised or scared of his predicament, merely accepting, as if he had always known it would come to this. Or perhaps, based on his injuries, this isn’t the first time this has happened.

Wincing, the cut on his head bleeding, dripping close to his eye, he takes in the guys and me. When his gaze falls on me, Wolf strikes him hard across the face, the sound echoing off the walls. “You don’t look at her,” he snarls.

Paul hangs his head. “Please don’t hurt me. I’ll tell you everything.”

“Start talking,” Hawk snaps.

“I’m sorry, Harper, I was trying to protect you, to warn you,” Paul says, his pitiful eyes looking up at me.

Wolf punches him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him, and he doubles over, coughing. “I said, don’t fucking look at her, you creep.”

“Wolf, don’t. Let him speak,” I say softly.

“Thank you, Harper, you’re a good person, you don’t deserve this,” Paul says, being careful to avoid looking at me in case it provokes Wolf’s fury again.

“Then why do it?” I ask bluntly.

“I had no choice.”

“Enough riddles,” Bear growls.

“He told me that if I didn’t watch Harper, he’d kill my sister, Katie.”

“Who did?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“Viktor Volkov.”

Paul begins to tell us his story. He explains how close he and his sister Katie are, first describing how they lost their parents at an early age.

He describes his sister as beautiful and outgoing, saying that she was only nineteen when a modeling audition turned out to be a job at a strip club.

Lured by the promise of money and glamour, Katie took the job, and she soon fell in with the wrong crowd.

“A few months ago she started dating a guy called Vik. She became infatuated, would do anything for the guy, and I quickly realized he was bad news. He was controlling and manipulative. Violent, too. More often than not, when we met up, she had a black eye. But she said she loves him. But when she told him about me, about my computer skills, that’s when things got really bad.

Vik started asking me all kinds of questions, including whether I could find someone who was under witness protection. ”

I gasp at that, drawing everyone’s gaze. Shaking my head I gesture for Paul to continue.

“To begin with, I thought he was talking hypothetically, and I told him it was possible. When he started asking me to find you, I realized he was being serious. I tried saying no, honestly, I did,” he says, looking desperately at the guys.

“But then he revealed who he really was. He told me that Katie would be safe, that she would remain ignorant and under his protection. All I needed to do was find you. I should have known the demands would continue to come. Once I found you, he wanted me to watch you, to report your every move to him. He asked me to send that first note to you—he planned on kidnapping you shortly after that. But then you met these guys, and it became more complicated. He wanted to draw you out, away from the protection of the Shadow Pack. I tried to protect you by making my notes as scary as I could so you wouldn’t ever be alone for him to take.

I got so focused on following you, I didn’t think you might follow me, or that he might have been watching me. ”

“So it was his guys that jumped ours tonight?” Wolf asks.

“I can only assume so,” he says as a tear falls from his eye. “He must know you have me by now. Please, please, will you let me check my phone?” he begs.

“Why?” Hawk asks suspiciously. He turns to the others and says, “He’s a tech wiz. He could have rigged this thing to give away his location or call Viktor the second it’s unlocked. We should have destroyed it already.”

“Please, no, I promise it isn’t,” Paul practically screams in fear. “He’ll have taken my sister now as punishment, or to ensure I won’t speak. Please, the texts on my phone will confirm everything.”

Hawk moves closer, holding the phone up in front of Paul so the Face ID unlocks it. “Five new messages, unknown number. Shit,” he says softly. “There are photos of a man holding a woman with a gun to her head.”

He passes the phone over to me, and I recognize the man instantly. The slate gray hair, cool, indifferent blue eyes, and the deep scar that runs down one side of his face, pulling his mouth into a permanent grimace. “That’s him. It’s Viktor.”

“Is this Katie?” Hawk says, showing the phone to Paul.

“Yes, it looks like they’re in her apartment.”

“Can you take us there?”

“If you promise to help me save Katie, I’ll do anything.”