Mercy went straight to Abbie and lifted her in her arms, and he surrounded them both with his own. Neither spoke for a few moments, each processing how close they had come to dying.
“Do you think Rao did this?”
Her voice was strong, and he felt the anger tense her body before she lowered Abbie back to the bassinet. James walked to the door, waiting to answer until they could discuss it with the others.
Nick and King were in the lounge drinking coffee with Ian. He poured a cup for himself and Mercy, knowing caffeine was the only thing that would keep him awake tonight as the adrenaline crash and exhaustion dragged at him. “Has Imari come back to us on Rao yet?”
King shook his head. “Not yet.”
“You like him for this?” Ian asked.
“I don’t know.”
He’d taken his first sip of coffee in hours when his phone rang. Seeing it was Shane, he put it on speaker. “Shane, you’re on speaker.”
“There have been reports of a bar fight involving the Henchmen not five miles from your location.”
“You want us to see if we can pick them up?”
“Might be worth a try. In the confusion, one missing biker is nothing, but he could give us a lot of intel.”
“Consider it done.”
“Call me when you have a visual, and I’ll find a place for you to question him,” Shane said in such a way they all knew the questioning wouldn’t necessarily be legal.
James moved to Mercy. “Will you stay with Abbie?” He fingered her hair, twisting it in his fingers as she laid her hand on his chest and looked up.
“Yes. I’ll babysit this time while you have all the fun.”
He grinned, knowing she was the perfect blend of sexy and sweet, before dropping a light kiss on her upturned lips. Words would have to wait until later, but he’d say them and damn the consequences. He guessed Mercy would fight it, that was who she was, but he had no intention of letting her go, not when he could tell from the look she gave him as he left that the words were in her head too.
Minutes later, they were heading toward a local bar with Nick driving and King riding shotgun.
“This is a bit off the beaten track for bikers, ain’t it?” King said, looking around at the deserted road that only seemed to lead to residential homes and a quiet family run pub if the sign they just passed was any indication. The route itself didn’t lead anywhere except back on loop into town which made no sense to him unless they were just out to cause trouble. Except that felt wrong too because they may be a lot of things, but he didn’t think stupid was one of them and calling more attention to themselves after this afternoon was foolish.
The further they drove, the more the road became secluded, and with no street lighting the more James’ instincts began to twitch, the tension ratcheting up as each of the men started to feel it.
“This is a trap.”
James removed his weapon as King and Nick did the same, their eyes constantly scanning the area.
“I don’t like this, call Mercy,” Nick demanded as he rounded another corner and saw the pub car park was empty, no bikes, no cars, but the lights were on.
James dialed, his heart in his throat, his chest gripped with the hard hand of unease as he waited and waited but she didn’t answer. Fear began to replace anxiety, so he tried Ian, and the same thing happened. It rang and rang and eventually went to voicemail. He caught Nick’s eyes in the rearview mirror and shook his head. The terror and fury cascading through his blood almost making him tremble.
Nick nodded and turned the car around, his foot pressed to the floor as they raced back toward Ian’s home. Every mile they traveled felt like ten as he itched to see Mercy and Abbie while Mercy laughed at him for worrying too much. His gut rolled as he tried her number again, hoping she’d been in the bathroom and not heard his call, but as it went to voicemail again, the ugly truth began to worm through him.
Finally, he saw the street come into view, and he was urging Nick to go faster. “Hurry up, man.”
The car had barely stopped when he was out and running for the open door. His heart skidded to a halt as he noticed the front door was busted open, the frame splintered from the force of someone kicking it. Drawing his weapon, he motioned for King to go around the back. If these fuckers were still there, they weren’t getting away, although every instinct inside him told him they were long gone.
Stepping into the front entryway, he saw Ian crumpled on the floor, his wheelchair on its side, blood coming from the side of his head. He didn’t stop and kept moving into the house as Nick checked on Ian. James wanted to run through the home, screaming Mercy’s name, but he had to keep his shit together now, there was time to lose it afterwards.
He moved slowly through each room, looking for Mercy and Abbie, calling their names in his brain, but he knew they were gone before he’d finished searching the empty rooms. The devastation was evidence that Mercy had given them a fight and not gone down easy as she’d fought to protect herself and his niece. The thought of her being injured almost took him to his knees. Running back into the living room, he saw Ian had a wound on his head where he’d been cold-cocked, his ashen face and distraught eyes already telling him what he needed to know.
“I’m so sorry, son. I tried but I couldn’t stop them.” The tears in the older man’s eyes hit him hard, knowing he loved Mercy too.
Squatting down, he faced Ian. “Don’t be. There wasn’t anything you could’ve done. Can you tell us about the men who took them? Were Mercy or Abbie hurt at all?” James swallowed as he tried to get those words out without his throat closing up.
“Five men, four had Henchmen cuts on, but the fifth was wearing a suit. He seemed to be the one in charge. I didn’t see much after they broke in because they knocked me out.” He dropped his head as if taking the blame for this when there was none to be had. It was all on him—he was the reason his girls were now in danger.
Ian looked up sharply as King arrived in the room. “I did hear her voice as they left. I guess I was starting to come around, and the baby was crying, so they must’ve been okay then.”
James laid a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Ian.” He stood and glanced at King. “Anything?”
King shook his head. “Bike tracks that lead out the back and down the mountain but nothing of any real help.”
Nick walked back in, tucking his phone away. “Shane is talking to the FBI Director.”
“We need to call in all the CCTV we can in the area. They haven’t put Mercy and Abbie on a bike, so we need to find out where they went and who the man in the suit is. My bet is it’s Rao.”
“Imari is already on it, and Shane has offered us more backup if you want it.”
James nodded, trying to put all the bits together to make a whole, but he couldn’t help thinking he was missing a vital piece here. There was something at play he didn’t understand, and it was eating away at him. He couldn’t allow his mind to think of Mercy and Abbie, or he’d lose it and be no help to either of them. If only his sister had got in touch and told him what the fuck was going on. Was she safe? Why had she run? What was he missing and why the fuck would she do this to him?
Chapter Sixteen