Page 21

Tusk

I t doesn’t take me long to get to the clubhouse. I send a couple of prospects to my apartment complex and head to Siege’s office. Zen has already called the club officers together. “Glad you got here so quickly. We can get started planning.”

Tank is all geared up and says, “It’s about fucking time we got intel on the asshole who tried to abduct Brittany.”

Rider joins in, “Yeah, I say we remove his cock. He won’t need a wife if he can’t make God-fearing kids with her.”

I’m still kinda pissed at these two. I point to Rider first and say, “You’re the fucker who said Britt was playing mind games and being attention-seeking when she turned up missing.” Then I point at Tank and say, “And you said she was just being fuckin’ playful and would come home after a few days. Remember that fucking shit?”

Tex’s voice drifts from the doorway. “And the whole time, she was being stalked by religious fanatics.”

Rider just stares at me with an accusing expression on his face. “You hold a fuckin’ grudge like no one I’ve ever seen.”

Tank shoves his hands into his front pockets. “Alright, I’ll be the first to admit that we were wrong. But what else were we expected to think? You know how Brittany was. But we’re here now and willing to kick the shit out of religious bigots. So, we get points for that, right?”

“Yeah, let’s let go of that shit and get straight to the ass kickin’,” I tell them. I want to defend my woman, but I know part of what he’s saying is true. Brittany would be the first to admit that her past history with the MC wasn’t all smooth sailing.

Rigs chimes in, “I thought I was gonna have to start handing out demerits for ungentlemanly conduct for a moment there.”

Siege slams down the gavel he uses in church to get our attention. “What the fuck are demerits? We don’t have anything like that in the Savage Legion. That’s just some stupid shit you pulled out of your ass for the occasion.”

I snort a laugh, in a good mood because we’re finally going to get this fucker. “Plus, do you fuckin’ see any gentlemen in this room, ‘cause I sure as hell don’t.”

Siege throws his arm out and points at me. “Bingo. We’re not fucking gentlemen. We’re bikers who are about to deal savage justice to the man who messed with one of our women. Let’s fucking settle down and figure this shit out.”

We simmer down, and Zen launches into what he’s discovered. “This Silas Harper is just bad news all the way around. He’s from a family of hard-money lenders. They target religious organizations. I think he promised to turn Brittany’s old church into a megachurch, and that’s why they put him in charge. He’s known as Bishop Harper now.”

I jump into the conversation. “Brittany said he made her father a deacon in exchange for leveraging her into marrying Harper. But she ran instead.”

Rigs states in a monotone, “He’s sounding more and more like a dead man the longer you talk about him.”

Zen picks back up with his report. “Harper has been sending out flyers to every fundamentalist Mormon church regularly with her image and asking for help finding his Eve. He kept her search going for years and used it as a way to fundraise.”

“What the fuck is an Eve?” Dutch asks.

Zen explains, “Brittany thought it was some kind of religious reference he was using to build an image for himself. She said that if he could force her back into the church, his followers would see him as some kind of forgiving shepherd, protecting his flock and saving souls. Bringing fallen women back into God’s grace makes him seem powerful and charismatic.”

I tell them, “That’s the part that doesn’t make any sense to me. I can’t see a fundamentalist religious fanatic being interested in marrying a woman who spent five years as a club girl, hooked up with a biker, and ended up having his baby. I think he just wants to get revenge on her for rejecting him by coming up with some kind of humiliating punishment that she might or might not end up surviving.”

Everyone turns to Rigs, who used to be a chaplain. Siege asks, “As a man of God, which scenario is more likely in your opinion?”

“I’d like to say that Brittany thinking they want to save her soul is the more likely of the two, but I’ve seen religious zealots in action before. I wasn’t able to talk any kind of sense into them. They’re not like regular God-fearing Christians. So, I’m gonna have to agree with Tusk. I think she’s in danger of some kind of harsh punishment.”

Zen continues, “Harper was easy enough to track down. He was right where Brittany said he would be, at her old church, which is now a megachurch—maybe not as lucrative as some, but still a nice little earner for him. He was all over the local news sites, attending conventions, and serving on the mayor’s task force on lewd and improper behavior.”

“Like fucking kidnapping a woman isn’t improper behavior,” I mutter under my breath.

“Here’s the thing that threw me for a loop. Since the night those two idiots in Alaska tried to grab Brittany, Harper has been missing in action. No more sermons at his church, no more public appearances with the mayor, nothing. It’s like he dropped off the face of the earth.”

Siege frowns, “I thought you said we had actionable intel on where to find this guy.”

“It’s not the best intel, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Spit it out, so I can track this fucker down and beat the shit outta him.”

Zen tugs at the collar of his shirt. “I tracked his phone, and you’re not gonna believe where his last known location turned out to be.” Looking around from one to the other of us, he drops the bomb. “The last known location was at one of the most vicious one-percent MCs in the tri-state area. He’s with the Sons of Rage.’”

Shock rolls through my body. “He must have known we were coming for him, so he hired a one-percent club to protect him. You know, fight fire with fire. You gotta know he’s rolling in the money from that megachurch of his.” My hands ball into tight fists. “He’s still dead meat.”

Siege’s eyes narrow. “Here’s the plan. The Sons of Rage, being a one-percent club, only value one thing, and that’s money. And if there’s one thing shady men love, it’s cash. I say we find out where he keeps his cash, because a low life fucker like that is gonna have stacks of Benjamins in a safe or under his fucking bed, in case he needs to do a runner. We take his cash and use the money and other valuables we find to buy him from them. Then we’ll deal out the kind of club justice that we usually try to avoid.”

Rigs gapes at him. “You just came up with all that off the top of your head?”

Siege nods, his expression turning stormy. “It’ll work. I’m sure of it.”

I speak up because I’m raring to go. “Unless I hear a better plan, I’m all in.”

When we don’t hear any objections, I ask, “So are we headed to Utah tonight?”

Siege’s voice turns hard. “There ain’t no time like the present. Gear up. We leave in thirty minutes.”

Out come all the cell phones as we text our people and let them know we won’t be coming home—maybe for a few days. I wanted to call Brittany and tell her we were going after him, but I know she’s sleeping so I send a text instead.

Tex comes up to me. “How are you holding up, brother?”

“So far, so good,” I say. “I finally put Brittany in my property cut, and the only thing standing between me and a good life with my old lady is this Harper fucker. At first, I was thinking of giving him a good beatdown, but if any brothers get hurt wrangling him away from the Sons of Rage, I’m just going to tie him up like any other loose end.”

“Well, being a former law enforcement officer, I’m not a big fan of vigilante justice, but this might end up being an exception. We’ll just have to see how it all pans out.”

We continue to talk as we gear up and then head out to our motorcycles. It’s good to be back on my bike after being in a cage. My SUV is nice, but nothing beats riding the open road on my Harley.

***

The ride takes nearly twelve hours over two days, to get from Las Salinas to Cedar City, Utah. We arrive in the late afternoon, book a block of hotel rooms, and bed down for the next six hours. Tex and I share a room, like all the other brothers. Zen stays up fine-tuning his tracking on all things Harper. Right before we fall asleep, Siege sends out a text that we’re hitting his church first. The plan is to head out at midnight. Zen and Tex will go ahead to scout out the security. Then, once it’s dismantled, we’ll slip in, crack his safe, and look for information to help us figure out what he wants with Brittany. Me? I think it’s pretty fucking obvious what he wants with my old lady, and it pisses me off.

When our alarms go off, we head out, ten strong, in two different groups. This is how we normally operate when we are out of the area and don’t want to arouse suspicion. Also, we’re in Sons of Rage territory, so we need to be careful.

When I first wake up, my nerves are jangled. But something about riding my bike at night chills me right out. Maybe it’s the rumble of the Harley engines, the cool breeze, or the full moon overhead. By the time we pull into the rear church parking lot, I’m as calm as ever.

I’m taken aback by the sheer size of Harper’s church. It’s three stories high, with huge stained-glass windows and a massive parking lot out front. This spectacle is a true testament to the amount of cold, hard cash he drained from his congregation. I imagine that at least some of his congregation are poor and still giving religiously to the church every Sunday.

Siege gets off his bike, just as Zen and Tex race around him to have a look at the security system. We ease around in the shadows, casing the building, looking for the easiest entry point.

When we all meet up again, Zen reports, “They had a pretty basic system. I’m guessing that since churches aren’t very high-value targets for thieves, they didn’t think a high-speed system was necessary. In any event, Tex and I deactivated it.”

Siege says, “Great job. Let’s be careful anyway. Cover your faces, and wear your damned gloves.” Looking from one of us to the other, he lowers his voice. “We slip in quietly. Rigs and I will focus on the safe, and the rest of you fan out looking for anything that looks like it might be useful or valuable.”

We all agree and end up entering through a back window that had been locked, but we were able to wiggle the frame from its mounting hardware. We climb in through the gaping hole and begin making our way through the church, each on his own mission. I find his office and start going through his paperwork. This fucker has tons of information on my old lady. I grab every bit of it and shove it into a black trash bag. He has a stack of burner phones squirreled away in his bottom desk drawer, still in the boxes. They all go into my bag as well.

Fucker clearly isn’t security conscious as his draws and filing cabinets are all unlocked. I pull out the center desk drawer and find a piece of paper taped inside it. This idiot has all his passwords and what looks like three safe combinations scribbled on the paper. I take a screenshot and send it to the others via the encrypted text system Zen set up for us. Siege texts me back that one of them opened the safe in what looks to be their accountant’s office.

I keep searching this fucker’s office because it feels like someone as shifty as Harper would have more nefarious shit in his personal office than what I’ve found. I eventually realize this dude has a gigantic painting of himself, or maybe his father—the kind rich people hang over their safe in the movies.

One quick tug, and it unhinges from the wall. I take out the paper and try all three combinations since I don’t know which one worked for Siege. The last on my list allows me to open the safe door. I grin when I see what he keeps inside. There are stacks of cash, which I expected. But there are also five gold bars. They are almost exactly the size and thickness of my cell phone. I take a picture with my phone and send it to Siege and then load them piece by piece into my garbage bag. He’s also got antique coins, documents, flash drives, and what appears to be expensive estate jewelry. It all ends up in my bag. It’s so heavy that I pause for a minute to double-bag it all.

I stop for a minute to look around, and once I’m convinced that nothing has been missed, I move on. I’m particularly interested in documentation and flash drives. I grab everything I can get my hands on, not knowing what might be valuable.

When I meet up with the others outside, they’ve all found something to carry their loot. Zen is AWOL for so long, I start to get worried. He eventually climbs through the window with an armful of what looks like computer innards. He must have noticed my expression because he says, “hard drives.”

“Shit, Zen. That was smart,” I tell him.

“Yeah, I’m not just another pretty face.”

Wow, Zen is makin’ jokes and kicking IT ass tonight, I think to myself.

Siege says gruffly, “Secure the goods and let’s get the fuck outta here.”

“Where’s Rigs?” Once I ask about him, everyone starts rubbernecking around the parking lot.

Siege says, “Maybe he’s still inside. Tusk and Tex, you’re with me.”

We use the tracker on our phones to find Rigs. He’s in one of the rooms in the basement and we rush there in case he needs help. To our absolute shock, he is talking to someone. “Yeah, Harper is a sick bastard. I’ll have you out of here in no time.”

Siege growls, “What the ever-loving fuck is this?”

We hear a quiet voice mumble something, and Rigs turns to look over his shoulder. “They lock teens down here for bad behavior. He says he’s got a sister here somewhere. Break down the doors, look for her, and any other kids they might be holding against their will.”

I don’t even hesitate. Nope. I’m angrier than I’ve ever been, so I just start kicking in the basement doors and shining my flashlight into each room. On the third door I kick in, I see a little girl lying on the floor. She looks unconscious or worse. I rush over, drop to my knees, and try to find a pulse. Thank God, she starts moving around. When she scrambles back, away from me, I realize she’s not a little girl. She’s just really skinny and undernourished.

I hold both hands up in a placating gesture. “I’m not gonna hurt you. We’re here to rescue you.”

Her eyes are big and scared. She backs up even more and hides under a table. I feel like shit for frightening her. Finally, it dawns on me to ask, “Do you have a brother here? We found him, and he’s the one who asked us to look for you.”

She bolts out from under the table and races past me. Well, shit. I guess she’s gonna go look for him herself. When I step into the hallway, I see her go directly to the room Rigs found the other teen in. I walk down the room in time to see her throw herself at him.

Siege comes walking down the hall with another teenage girl. She seems more outgoing and less stressed than the brother and sister. Siege picks up his pace, and we meet him halfway.

Rigs asks, “Did you check every single room?”

“Yeah, this is the only person I found. Look, we need to get out of here, like right goddamn now.”

Rigs straightens up to his full height, his voice steely. “Agreed. We can take the kids and hook them up with their families later.”

The girl Siege found is quick to tell us, “We can’t go home.”

He glances over at her. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but once we get somewhere safe, you can tell us your story. We’ll do what we can to help you. But for right now, you need to trust us.”

The more outgoing teen puts her hands on her hips and says, “Why should I trust you?”

Siege pulls out his wallet and hands her a small wad of bills. “Suit yourself. However, unlike your idiot bishop, I’m not into abducting women. Take this and get a bus to wherever you want to go.” Shoving the money into her hands, he adds, “I’m warning you right now that if you hang around here, they’re probably gonna lock you back up again.”

Then he turns and walks out the door. The other girl reaches out, grabs her arm on the way past, and whispers, “We stay together. That was the deal, remember.”

The redhead stumbles along behind her because the girl I rescued won’t let go of her. When we get to our bikes, it takes us almost riding off and leaving them for them to pick a brother to ride with. The one I rescued comes to me, and I grudgingly let her ride on the back of my bike, although it feels all kinds of wrong to put her where my old lady should be.

As we ride off, I’m vaguely aware that Tank and Dutch have stayed behind to torch the church. I can smell gasoline and see smoke as we’re pulling out. It might take them days to put out a fire that size and figure out whether or not it was arson. I worry that they might think the teens got loose and lit the place up. But then again, Harper would be pretty damn stupid to admit to having teens locked in his basement.