Resonance (Marauders #4) (24 page)

“It was a pleasure to meet you, too, Eliza,” Mom said. “Make sure to let me know when the play premieres.”

“Definitely.”

“Bye,” I said, but I wasn’t sure she’d heard, since she was already heading towards the door.

“She’s all over the place,” Mom laughed once she was gone.

“You’re not kidding,” Mel answered. “This theater thing has been great, though. It lets her be the complete drama queen as much as she wants. She’s actually calmed down a lot.”

I tried to imagine Eliza even more all over the place and ended up laughing.

“You’re laughing,” Mel said as if she’d read my thoughts, “but let me tell you, someone like that in combination with Brick’s bad morning mood doesn’t give you relaxing mornings.”

We moved on to the next house, which was pretty good, but the one after that seemed perfect from the outside. The yard was big and open, and from what I could tell it continued far behind the house, too. The house was completely empty, and had belonged to someone Mel knew, so I was allowed to look at it without a broker hanging over my shoulders telling me why it was so goddamn perfect for me. Violet sat down on the stairs and waved dismissively with her hand when Mel came up to her to ask her how she was doing.

“I just need to sit for a while, and the AC in this house seems perfect for that.” She looked at me. “Take it from a pregnant women: great AC.”

One of the bathrooms upstairs was nice, but it had an uncovered window, and part of the charm with the bathroom was how bright it was. I looked outside to see what houses could possibly see me while I was having a shower unless I covered it up. My eyes fell on two men walking down the street towards the house I was in, and I vaguely recognized them. But they still probably wouldn’t have caught my interest if it hadn’t been for one of them signaling to someone out of my eyeshot to go around back and attack at his signal about three minutes later.

It took me a few seconds before what I’d seen made any sense to me, but as soon as it did, I ran downstairs.

“Vi and Mel, get upstairs, lock yourself in the bathroom and call Brick. Now!” I turned to Mom. “Do you have a gun?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course I have a gun. You don’t have a gun?” Mom asked as she pulled her gun out of the fancy handbag. “How long do we have?”

“Two and a half minutes maybe,” I muttered and went into the downstairs bathroom. I’d noticed the curtain rod earlier, and I pulled it down. It was a bit long, but it was better than nothing. When I came back outside, Mel was still there. “Mel, get upstairs. Please.”

“No, I can help,” she said and kicked off her shoes.

I looked at Mom, who nodded.

“Two at the front,” I said. “I don’t know how many at the back, but at least one, probably two.”

“Weapons?” Mom asked as she moved towards the back door. The house had an open layout, so we’d be able to keep an eye on each other without moving around too much.

“Guns.” I looked at Mel. “If you’re going to panic, it’s better for us if you’re upstairs. It’s easier for us to keep you safe than it is to save you. Do you understand?”

“Yes. I have a Taser.”

“Okay, but stay out of the way as much as possible, and use it by sneaking up on them from behind not from the front. Wait for a clean shot. You’ll probably only get one.” I searched my pockets to find my keys. “The main objective is to get them running, not taking them out. If we’re harder to catch than they’d planned, they’ll leave for long enough for Brick and the others to get here.”

I wasn’t actually so sure of that, but it was better for them if they thought that was the case. Mom probably didn’t believe me, but Mel might, and Mel was the weak link.

“And yell,” I continued. “As much as you can, keep yelling to get them disoriented and scared. They don’t want to be noticed and the louder we are the quicker they’ll leave.”

I went to the front door. I couldn’t worry about Mom and Mel. I needed to make sure I stayed on my feet because that was my best chance of helping them once I’d gotten rid of the two people coming through the front door. Two armed men didn’t give me a great chance, and my only asset was the element of surprise. I needed to take full advantage of that. I had keys and a damn shower rod against armed, apparently military, men. I just hoped Violet had gotten hold of someone and that they were on their way. If nothing else scared these assholes off, it would be the sound of bikes, and for the first time I was glad their bikes were ridiculously noisy.

I needed room, and I needed to be able to hide while still having a view of them, so I simply stood around the corner from the door with my eyes on a wall-mounted mirror, giving me full view of the hallway. I’d hated the mirror when we arrived, and it didn’t look like it was easy to remove, but right then, I was glad it was there.

Then they came. From far away I heard Mom and Mel yelling from the backdoor, and they’d obviously taken my words about being loud to heart. When the front door was pushed open, my adrenaline kicked in full force, and things seemed to happen in slow motion. The noise from the back of the house startled the two men at the front door, and I slid around the corner staying low, and threw my keys towards the face of the man to the left. I was using a reflex that everyone had: if things comes flying towards our face, we raise our hands, and there’s no way to train that reflex away. At the same time I slammed the end of the shower rod in the solar plexus of the other man. A direct hit at the solar plexus makes the diaphragm spasm, and besides being extremely painful, it makes the opponent lose their breath. Another nifty reflex is that if we can’t breathe, our brain won’t let us think about anything else until we can.

While the man with the keys in his hand was looking surprised, I kicked his balls. It might be considered cheating, but it was oh so effective. I almost smiled when I heard Dad’s voice at the back of my head, ‘You might fight like a man, Sparks, but you’re a girl, so don’t hesitate to kick fuckers in the balls. Not like you need to worry they’ll pay you back in kind.’

Around that time, the main bulk of my initial adrenaline rush was over, and I kicked into normal gear again.

“Honey!” Mom yelled. “Talk to me.”

I looked at the man was who holding his sternum while trying to catch his breath. I took his gun and clocked him over the head with the grip before directing it at the man holding his balls. I took his gun, too, and put it at the back of my pants. With my eyes directed at both of them, I started backing up before answering.

“I’m fine. You?”

“We’re good,” Mom answered.

“How many?”

“Just two. I shot one.”

“Dead?” I asked, really surprised.

“No. The knee.”

“Are you in control?” I asked.

“Oh, yes.”

“Mel, go check on Vi and let me know if we have an ETA on the guys.” I didn’t hear anything. “Mel? Mel, are you with me?”

“Yeah. Fuck… Hang on.” I heard the muffled footsteps as she went upstairs; she still hadn’t put her shoes back on. She was soon downstairs again. “They left as soon as she called. Maybe five minutes. Should I go out and wait for them?”

“No. Wait here until we hear them right outside.”

“But—”

“We don’t know if these guys have more men waiting outside. So we sit tight. In here, we’re in control. Okay?”

It felt like forever, and as the last of the adrenaline left my body, the gun in my hands was getting heavier. They needed to be here soon, and that was when I heard them. About the same time, I heard a shot.

“Mom,” I yelled. “Talk to me. Are they still out? Are you in control?”

“I’m fine. He got scared when he heard the bikes, I just demonstrated that I don’t often miss when I pull the trigger.”

I couldn’t help laughing. Mom didn’t care about a lot of the ‘military crap’ as she called it, but she loved shooting. On their first date, Dad had taken her to a shooting range, and she’d loved it ever since. She was right—she didn’t often miss. Hardly ever, actually.

When the bikes were closer, I nodded for Mel to go outside, and I laughed again when she took the shot and kicked one of the men on her way out. Ten seconds later, Tommy came running through the door.

“Babe, fuck! How… Shit…” He looked around, and then he looked at me with a big smile. “Did you do this?”

“With some help,” I answered. When Mac followed him inside with wild eyes, I pointed to the stairs. “She’s upstairs in the bathroom.”

“Oh,” Bull said with a laugh when he turned one of the men over and started tying him up. “Served up and ready, and it’s not even my birthday.”

I directed a few of the others to the back to help Mom. Brick came with Mel under his arm. He looked at the men on the floor and then me.

“Guess they thought that four men was enough for five women.”

“Four women,” I corrected him. “And probably would have been if I hadn’t seen them.” I handed Tommy the gun and sat down on the floor. “I’m gonna panic now, if that’s okay.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

You’re With Me

~oOo~

BULL, MAC, AND SISCO had taken the four men to the warehouse, while Tommy drove the women back to the clubhouse. Billie had panicked for a few minutes but then she stood up, took a deep breath, and announced that she was fine again. He was so fucking proud of her.

The call had come while they were in the bar talking to Dig and Crank. Once again, Tommy had somehow ended up with Dig. Not that he minded, but it did feel a bit like it was by design. If it was Brick or Crank’s design, he wasn’t sure. It felt like it was his job to get Dig into the club.

Finding out someone was attacking their old ladies had made everyone move extremely fucking fast, though, Dig included. Bear, Dawg, Mech, and Mitch had gone in one direction to pick up their old ladies, but judging by the reports, no one had been close to them. Whoever it was had gone after one group only, and Tommy had a feeling it had more to do with Mel and Eliza than Billie or Vi. It was Brick’s family they were after.

Because until they’d arrived at the house, they’d thought Eliza was with the other women, and the relief that everyone was okay died the second they realized she wasn’t. Or at least that no one knew where she was. It could also explain why there had only been four men at the house, because it didn’t seem much, but they might’ve split up into separate groups when Eliza left the other women.

“She turns off her phone while she’s rehearsing. I’ve told her a million fucking times to not do that,” Brick had muttered while still making calls. “I’ll go get her.”

She wasn’t at the community center, though; she’d left about half an hour earlier to get everyone coffee before the rehearsals—or whatever it was they’d been doing—started, and Brick came back to the clubhouse in a complete state of panic. Bear had called the cartel the second he came back to get their help to find out what the fuck was going on. Bull was already working on the four men to find out where they’d taken Eliza.

As soon as Bear came out of the office, he took one look at Brick sitting next to a crying Mel. Brick gave him a nod Tommy interpreted as Bear being in charge, and Bear turned to Billie.

“What can you tell me about them?”

“Military, I’d say Mexicans. I didn’t get a chance to tell much about their training, but they seemed well trained. Like I said earlier, if it hadn’t been for the element of surprise and the fact that Mom had a gun, I’m not sure we would’ve been able to take them out.”

“Thanks,” he said with a hand on Billie’s shoulder. Bear didn’t need more info than that it was Mexican military, because they all knew what that meant. Bear turned to the others. “Get everyone in. We’re going into lockdown.”

Tommy handed Billie his phone. “Get your Dad and Felix here.”

“They’re already on their way,” she answered. “I’ll go sit with Mom. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

Tommy was relieved he didn’t have to tell her to leave him alone, that she understood, and he gave her a kiss before watching her cross the room to where Leah was waiting.

“I’m calling the cartel again,” Bear said as soon as she was out of earshot. “Military Mexican adds up to cartels, so we need to know what it is they know.”

Dawg said what they were all thinking. “If a cartel has Eliza… That’s bad.”

“Really fucking bad,” Mace muttered. “Didn’t think having my old lady in an African war zone would ever make me feel calm. Are all the other old ladies and kids accounted for?”

“Yeah. They’re all here or on their way,” Dawg answered.

“Someone will meet us at the warehouse in thirty minutes,” Bear said after he’d hung up the phone. Then he turned to Ahab. “The cartel contact you have in New York?”

It came out as a question, which meant Bear didn’t know who the NY charter were dealing with, or at least hadn’t met him, but the explanation to Bear’s surprise came with his next question.

“Isn’t that a woman?”

“Yeah,” Ahab said with a big smile. “Niu.”

“Isn’t that…” Dawg started.

“Yeah,” Ahab said again.

“What?” Bear asked.

“He’s got something going with her,” Dawg answered.

“I don’t,” Ahab said to Bear. “Not really, but if she’s coming, we’ll find out what we need to know. She’s generally straight, says it like it is, but don’t trying playing her. She won’t fall for it, and…” he smiled.

“What?” Bear asked.

“She’s a tiny woman, early thirties, so you’ll probably think you can lure things out of her. You won’t be able to. But if you treat her well, pay attention, and follow her lead, she’ll do what she can to help you. And she’s got resources to call, so you want her to help you.”

“Follow her lead?” Bull asked.

“Yeah,” Ahab nodded. “Follow her lead.”

When they got out of the chapel, Clyde had arrived with Felix, and he came up to Tommy. Tommy half expected him to throw a punch, but he didn’t. Instead he turned to Bear.

“Sir, I respect that this is your domain, but if I’m going to be here with my wife, daughter, and grandson, I need a weapon.”

Bear turned to Tommy, who shrugged, “Doubt you’ll find anyone more capable with a gun anywhere in Arizona.”

“Get him and Shooter guns,” Bear said to Sisco. “We leave in five.”

Billie was sitting on a couch with the kids around her. He motioned for her to follow him outside.

“Are you all leaving?” she asked.

“No. There’ll be people here and we’ve called other charters, too. We have three Nomads who’ll be here within a few hours, and… Sisco’ll give you and your dad guns. If there’s trouble—”

“I’ll be fine,” she smiled. “And you don’t have to worry about me. Let Dad do that while you’re away. I know this is your club and all, but you should really let him… do his thing. He can keep people here safe. He’s good at that.”

She’d only just mentioned him when Clyde came walking towards them wearing a ball cap and holding a sniper rifle. Behind him he had Roach.

“Young Samuel and I will be on that roof,” he declared as he walked past them. “We’re gonna get a scope of our surroundings.”

“I’d say he’s on top of things,” Tommy smiled. He wasn’t sure he’d even known Roach’s name was Samuel. He was slightly surprised Clyde had managed to get Roach to follow him, but then he remembered what Clyde sounded like when he gave orders. He watched them climb the ladder up to the roof. “Literally on top of things.”

Twenty-five minutes later, they sat outside the warehouse and watched as a big, black Jeep pulled up. The first person to exit the car was a huge black man. He barely acknowledged the bikers before turning to stand next to the door and holding his hand out. A tiny woman in black pants, blouse, and a white suit jacket took the big dude’s hand and stepped out. Tommy was trying to figure out where she was from—she didn’t look Mexican—when the next massive man got out of the car. Obviously they were her bodyguards.

She walked directly up to Bear, and her tiny size got even more evident when her hand disappeared in Bear’s big fist. Tommy wondered how the hell she did it, but even if Ahab hadn’t warned them, it was pretty fucking obvious she was in control, and he doubted she’d have any problem with getting them to follow her lead. She didn’t exactly invite doubt.

“Niu Ortega,” she said when she took Bear’s hand.

“Ortega?” Bear asked. “So you’re—“

“Yes, one of his
many
children. We all get his name,” she explained with a soft smile.

Tommy had heard rumors about their main cartel contact Roberto’s attempts to singlehandedly populate the US with mixed race bastards—he had a thing for exotic women—and this was apparently one of them. Her coloring was dark, but with light skin, and her slightly slanted eyes made him think she was part Asian, it was hard to tell, and seemed like a pretty fucking rude question to ask. Whatever the mix was, it was a good one, because she had a fragile beauty about her, but the steel was right under her surface. If she’d grown up in the cartel, she’d probably learned from an early age to take control. He’d seen it in some guys in the military, those who’d basically been bred to become leaders—men like Zach.

Tommy seriously doubted a woman like Niu would have any interest in a guy like Ahab, though. Besides, if he’d understood it correctly, the road name ‘Ahab’ was from ‘Captain Ahab’ and referred to Ahab’s fascination with white wales—as in fat white women. Niu was the very opposite of a big white whale. It was likely it was just Ahab bragging. It seemed like the kind of thing he’d do.

“Are they in there?” she asked with a nod towards the door.

“Yes,” Bear and took a deep breath when she started towards the warehouse. “We’ve worked on them a little.”

“Not enough, if I understood correctly.” She turned to her two bodyguards. “Stefano, wait outside. Nmembe, you’re with me.”

The massive Latino nodded and pulled out his gun, and the even more massive black man went to get something in the trunk, and then ran up to walk into the warehouse next to Niu. She didn’t even reach his shoulder. Tommy hurried after them.

“I want the three men Nmembe isn’t working on to see what he’s doing,” Niu said after a quick look around. “I understand that the main objective is to find out where they’ve taken a missing girl, is that correct?”

“Yes,” Bear answered. “And just generally what the fuck is going on.”

“We have men on that,” Niu said. “You’re not the only one who’s been hit, and you can rest assured that we are on the case. We’ll do what is needed, but right now, we need to find the girl.”

“Good,” Bear said with a firm nod.

Niu didn’t even flinch when she walked up to study a man hanging from the ceiling. She looked at him, and then at the other three men as if she was evaluating them, but Tommy had no idea what she was looking for. Finally she pointed at one of the men.

“That one, Nmembe.”

While Nmembe started to unpack his bag, Niu found a chair in the corner of the warehouse and placed it about ten feet from the man she’d pointed at. The three others were staring at her in horror, so Tommy had a feeling they knew who she was. There was no other reason to be even slightly worried, and Niu seemed to think the same.

“I’m sure you all know who I am. The first one to tell me what I want to know, which is where the girl is, will be shot in the head. The other three will be at,” she held out a hand towards Bull, “this man’s disposal. If that’s okay with you?”

“Yup,” Bull answered.

“Splendid. I’m sure Nmembe here can teach you a few tricks. You’re welcome to watch.”

Bull nodded and walked up to stand closer to Nmembe.

“Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting here having a smoke. I won’t even bother asking questions, because as I said, you know what information I want. Please start, Nmembe.”

And that was what she did. The tiny, fragile looking woman watched as her massive bodyguard subjected a man to some of the most gruesome torture Tommy had ever seen. Somewhere in the middle, Bull walked in a half circle around the man to get a better view, and Niu’s only reaction was to cross her legs and give Bull a sweet smile when he looked at her. It was as if she was watching a children’s play, or a half-interesting TV-show—she wasn’t affected at all, and that actually scared Tommy more than what Nmembe was doing.

It took Nmembe twenty-five minutes, and then the man broke and yelled at Nmembe to stop.

“Stop, please. She’s in a house outside Phoenix. 27 Oak Street.”

Niu nodded. “And who are you working for?”

“I can’t.”

Niu turned to Bear. “I’ll stay here until we get the rest of the details, but I suggest you go and get the girl.”

“Thanks,” Bear said. “Bull?”

“I’m with you,” he answered. “Eliza is all I give a shit about right now. I’ll deal with these assholes later. Just gag them if you leave,” he said to Niu who nodded without looking at him.

~oOo~

I FOUND IT HARD to think about anything but the lively young Eliza and what she was possibly going through as I sat on my ass completely useless. I didn’t think I was the only one, though.

And I felt lost. Usually, I was at my best when I was under pressure, but not this kind of pressure. And not when I was in the state I was. I’d felt okay after my slight panic attack at the house, but I realized that the panic was still lingering. It wouldn’t let go of me.

Thinking about what Eliza was most likely going through was obviously not helping. And that, in return, fed another problem, which was something I’d thought I was over. There were a lot of people at the clubhouse, most of them men, and most of the men were big guys who’d made it their business to look as threatening as possible—successfully so. It made me uneasy, it made my skin crawl, and I was on high alert the entire fucking time. It was exhausting. And the more tired I got, the harder it was to keep the panic at bay. I tried to think of it logically, that the panic was feeding more panic, and that if I just calmed down, I’d be fine. It didn’t work.

The fact that I had ‘saved’ Melanie and Violet didn’t make it easier. It meant people knew who I was, wanted to come up and tell me what a good job I’d done, and so on. Something I hated. I hated talking to people I didn’t know, especially when the topic of conversation was me. Or… I didn’t hate it, I could handle it in small doses, but not like it was here. And not when I was in the state I was in.