“I just knew I couldn’t fail.”
“Where the fuck were you?” My eyes go to Grinch and answer his question.
“I had no fucking idea. Would you believe the asshole’s phone had smashed when I attacked him, and there was no form of communication in the house? No laptop, no nothing. So it was down to me to escape. At first, I just rode. When I joined a highway, I began to see signs. I was somewhere north of Flagstaff. All I did was focus on coming home.”
“You made it,” Snatcher says. “Fuck knows how, but you made it.”
My eyes close. Once again, I feel water leaking from them. My head swims and I grow dizzy. It must be the effort of talking, of fighting the pain, but I fear I’m going to faint. Keep it together. Cat’s depending on you.
Weakness? Pure fucking horror? All of a sudden I’m done as I wail, “And I spent three weeks in the hospital when Cat needed me. I failed you, I failed myself, and worst of all, I failed her.”
I feel my head dropping.
27
Swift…
Stormy’s passed out with his head resting on the table. Fuck, but I don’t know how he made it so long. I’d even had a bet with Pip he wouldn’t be able to make it through church, but fuck it, he did.
Snatcher’s calling in Brute and Igor and instructing them to get Stormy back up to his room and into his bed and once he’s there, to summon our on call doctor.
No one says much until the door closes behind the prospects and the wheelchair.
“Fuck.” Snatcher smooths his hands down his cheeks. He takes a moment, then looks back up. “I’ve got three takeaways from that. First, we’ve got to find Stormy’s woman. Next we find Gun and see whether Stormy’s right and whether he was the mastermind behind the kidnap of Swift, and third, we decide what the fuck we do about Stormy.”
Pip raises his hand. “I can only think it goes back to what happened when I offered a place in the Satan’s Devils MC to Stormy.”
Prez directs a hard stare down the table at his predecessor. “I suspect there were things you weren’t telling me at the time, Pip. I was your good little VP who nodded in all the right places. Let’s go back a step, remind me how you knew about Stormy. He was horrified when he found out what he was being invited into. The approach came from you.”
“It did, didn’t it?” Pip half smiles. “He wanted to run when he found out we were an MC.” Seeing Snatcher’s unrelenting gaze, he hurriedly continues. “I’ve got friends and contacts all over the military, one of them Admiral Hillier. I first heard about Stormy before he was kicked out. The Admiral didn’t like the way the wind was blowing, and he ran the situation past me. I kind of got involved behind the scenes, and, well, it’s down to me that Smythe was removed from the line of fire. He was offered a desk job in the US, even before Stormy’s Admiral’s Mast.”
“And this Gun had been part of Smythe’s team at the time?” Thor asks, picking at a tooth.
“He would have been, yeah. He served with Stormy.”
“Do you think this could go up the chain? That Gun was working for someone?”
Pip sighs. “Undoubtably. Gun’s not got resources to do this himself, or a reason, I’ve never come across him. I dismissed Smythe as an incompetent ass, now it seems I’ll have to dig deeper. Perhaps I was wrong.”
Road’s eyes have been flitting between whoever’s talking. I notice his face becoming set. It doesn’t surprise me when he asks, “How are we going to find the woman? Isn’t that our priority?”
“It is,” Snatcher agrees. “But finding Gun, and who if anyone is behind him, could be the key.”
Honor’s frowning. He leans in and whispers to Duty, who nods. “Stormy said her photos were taken and obviously advertised to find a buyer. We’re volunteering to try to tackle that angle first.”
“And I’ll look for Jeffrey Morgan, or Gun as he calls himself,” Bolt offers. “Between us we should come up with something.”
“Want someone to go try and find the place where he held Stormy?” Goofy asks.
“Nah. He’ll know Stormy’s gone and will think the place has been compromised,” Thor dismisses the idea.
“I’ll help wherever I’m needed,” I put in.
Snatcher’s been following the discussion closely. Again his eyes stare straight ahead. “Pip, you going to start with your contacts?”
“Sure, Prez. There seems to be a link between what happen to get Stormy kicked out of the SEALs, and Kincaid’s attempt to get me. I’ll start asking questions.”
Snatcher raises and dips his head, then frowns. “I think it’s time I put a call into Drummer.” No one disagrees, but I doubt anyone envies him.
When he picks up the gavel to end the meeting, Mystic raises his hand. “I’ll get the plane ready and fuelled, and Prez, it goes without saying. Whatever you want us to do,” he glances one side to Grinch, then at his other to Goofy, “We’ll be there.”
Grinch butts in. “What are we going to do about Stormy?”
“Find his woman,” I say sharply. “Take things from there.”
Snatcher raises his chin toward me approvingly. “The woman comes first as always.” When Bolt snorts he glares at him, and without missing a beat continues, “Just like in every mission. We concentrate on the victim.” This time he does bang the gavel. “We’ve got work to do. Let’s fuckin’ get to it.”
“Road?” I ask as he passes by my chair. “Could you check in on Stormy? See that he’s okay?” I know it’s a big ask. There was never any love lost between them, nor to be honest, between Stormy and me. But I’d picked up that Cat was a woman about whom he really cared. Maybe it’s because I know how much loving Road has changed me, that I’m now feeling some sympathy toward the man.
“Sure.” Without me saying a word, Road seems to understand. Briefly his hand cups my cheek. “Loving a woman can change a man.”
And a woman. I’m not weaker by admitting how much Road means to me. It gives me hope that a new improved Stormy has come home—as long as we find his woman unharmed. If we don’t, who knows what version of the ex-SEAL we’ll end up with.
I go to the comms room, sit myself in front of my laptop and two monitors. Checking with Duty and Honor, I start delving into the horrors hidden in the depths of the internet ordinary people never venture into.
Some of our work is distressing. While Bolt and I had been out in the field in San Diego, Honor, Duty and Piston had spent their time watching paedophiles abusing children in order to track the users and photographers down. I’ve a strong stomach, but even mine often turns at some of the things we have to see.
Bolt shoots me the photo from Catherine Beeswick’s driver’s licence. I check where the others are searching, and start putting some feelers out of my own.
It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re delving into the dark web. One thread you’re following may start to unravel, and you commence another with more expectation. I lose all sense of everything as I click my mouse and my fingers tap out commands.