When I pull up at Annie’s, she’s waiting on the front porch. More energetic than a woman her age should be, Annie meets me on the sidewalk before I fully get off my bike. For an older woman, she shows no signs of slowing down.
“It’s over there,” says Annie as she points to Lola’s red Chevrolet Malibu parked a little up the street.
“Thanks, Annie, please wait here.”
“I’ll do no such thing, Kyle MacKenny!”
With a shake of my head, we both approach the car.
“I didn’t touch anything, save for pushing the door closed with my foot.”
Peering in the front window, Lola’s handbag is on the front seat, and the keys to the car are on the driver’s side floor.
Shit.
“Did anything happen today?”
“No, Lola was on time. Unlike some of your men, she did come in and sit with me in the church as Annette couldn’t come today. Did you know my girl’s been spending time with Lochlan?”
With eyebrows raised, I shake my head. “No, he hasn’t mentioned it.”
Mainly because I warned the bastard off Annette. Lochlan is my youngest brother, a model who uses women like I change my underwear. I specifically told him not to pursue Annette. She’s Annie’s only granddaughter and precious to her. More than one member of my MC has made a move on Annette, and I’ve had to shut that shit down before it went any further.
I glance up and down Annie’s street searching for something, anything.
“Kyle, Mr. Beetson, who lives in this house…” she points, “… has a camera. Maybe he filmed something?”
“Worth an ask.”
I move to walk up to his porch, but Annie stops me with a soft touch of her hand.
“Let me. Arthur is a good neighbor, and he likes me, has for years. You get more with sugar than you do with vinegar.”
“Are you saying I’m not nice?” I ask teasingly.
“Oh, Kyle, I know you’re nice. But, well… you don’t look it.”
Annie goes up the path by herself. The sound of Harleys, signal that my men have arrived. Not only did Cutter get Wheels and Rocky, but my brother, Sean, is with them.
He’s the first to me. “What’s happened?”
“Purse is on the front seat, car keys on the floor, and Annie said the passenger door was open when she came out to check.”
“What are we doing?” asks Sean.
“Do we think it was another MC?” Cutter questions.
I hold up my hands and point to Annie, who’s talking to a man I assume is Arthur Beetson.
“Mr. Beetson up there has a camera, and Annie is asking if we can watch the footage.”
Annie gestures for me to approach her and the gentleman. I jog up the path toward them, and Mr. Beetson takes a step back.
Annie pats his arm. “Arthur, this is Kyle… Kyle MacKenny’s grandson. It’s him who takes me to church on Sundays. Now, could we please look at the footage? I got home around eleven.”
Annie ushers him into his own home with a smile. I hold up my hand to the others, and they wait outside. Arthur takes us into a small room, I assume is his study. There’s a desk with a laptop, a single chair that he offers to Annie, and two huge bookcases filled with books.
Arthur opens the laptop, pushes his glasses back up his nose, and types on the keyboard. Within moments, he has the footage on the screen and stares over his shoulder at me.
“This should be it. I can fast forward if you like?”
I nod as I move closer to peer at the small screen. “Stop! There’s someone near Lola’s car.”
Arthur hits play, and we watch as Lola comes into view. Whoever he is, Lola isn’t happy to see him. Hands on her hips and lots of gestures, she points further down the road. The guy turns and shakes his head. Lola throws her hands in the air and goes around to the driver’s side of the car. As she unlocks the doors, he opens the passenger side. Lola walks around to him, yanking the door out of his hands then throws her handbag on the passenger seat, and slams the door shut. There’s more conversation between the two, and eventually, Lola heads to the driver’s side of the car. He once again opens the passenger door, and Lola bangs on the roof of the vehicle. My woman knows this man, and she’s not happy. A dark van comes into view, it stops, and the driver talks to Lola, who appears to wave him off. She has her back to him when the side of the van opens, and someone with a hoodie hits her hard from behind. I watch as my woman crumples, then the guy who was driving gets out, picks her up and puts her into the van. The first guy comes around the car, picks up what I assume is Lola’s keys, re-opens the driver’s door, and tosses them into the car, then he too gets into the van and drives away.
“Oh my!” whispers Annie, clutching her chest.
“We need to call the police,” states Arthur.
I glance at Annie and give a shake of my head. “Mr. Beetson, we can’t.”
Annie stands and touches Arthur’s arm, shaking her head at him. “No, Arthur. Kyle here has a way of dealing with these situations. Our best bet on finding Lola is to give him the footage and let him and his men handle it.”
“But, but—”
“No buts, Arthur. I need you to trust me, not him.”
Arthur looks from me to Annie and reluctantly nods his head. “I don’t know how to give him the footage. It’s all recorded on my laptop.”
“Mr. Beetson, could we please borrow your laptop? I promise, sir, we’ll return it tomorrow.”
Arthur glances at Annie, who’s nodding. He nods once and unplugs it, closing the lid.
As he hands it over, he says, “The password is death comes for all, one word with a capital D.”
I’m hoping the ominous password isn’t a sign of things to come. With a dip of my chin, I take the device from him.
“Thank you, Mr. Beetson.” I glance at Annie, who takes one of my hands.
“You go. I’m going to have a coffee with Arthur and catch up. But you let me know what you find out, you hear me?”
There’s a strength to her words, and if I don’t find out what’s happened to Lola, she and Arthur are going to go to the police.
“I’ll find her,” I state with confidence I don’t feel.
Annie smiles, then turns to Arthur. “Coffee?”
I turn and jog down the stairs to my men.
Sean is studying me, hands on his hips and eyebrows raised. “Well?”
“Lola’s been taken. Ring Angus, tell him we’re coming, and we…” I pause, searching for the right words, “… I need him.”
Kyle
This isn’t a club problem. As much as I want to rain war on whoever took Lola, I haven’t made her my old lady. Of course, I don’t share what’s mine, but I haven’t taken that leap. To be honest, I didn’t see a need. I love Lola, and Lola loves me. It’s not something I’ve ever questioned. For me, marriage is about children, and that’s not something I’ve ever been interested in. As the head of my family and the MC, I take care of a lot of people, and adding children to that felt redundant. My brothers will carry on the family name, so what’s the point?
I’m in the club meeting room, the place we hold church. I’ve watched the video of Lola’s abduction at least twenty times. Waiting for Angus to arrive is torture. The things he does with a computer baffle me. He’s like a savant with code but looking at this, what can he do? It shows a guy arguing with Lola, another guy knocking her out, and I’m assuming an unknown person driving the van. So, at least three people.