“You damn well better.” Before I started my engine, I told him, “I’m on my way back. Call me if you hear anything.”
I shoved my burner in my pocket and took off for home. My mind was racing a mile a minute, wanting to do something, anything, but I was fucking stuck. I had no idea where the hell she was, and there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do about it. I didn’t have my laptop with me, so I couldn’t use it to track Aubrey’s phone. I tried not to think the worst as I sped out of the parking lot and out to the interstate. I knew my brothers would do everything they could to find her, but sadly, it did little to ease the blood boiling through my veins. My mind drifted to what Jagger had said about Rossi. Even though I felt certain that Gary was behind their disappearance, there was part of me that wondered if he’d seen through our scheme and had gotten to her. If it was Rossi who had managed to find her and had gotten his hands on her, it would be the last fucking thing he did. Same for fucking Gary. If either of them touched a hair on her head, they were as good as dead.
As soon as I got back into town, I went straight to the clubhouse to find Lynch and the others. When I pulled through the gate, I found him standing in the parking lot with Viper and Axel. “Any word?”
“Sorry, brother. There’s been no trace of them, but we’re still doing what we can to track them down. Country and I went over to Gary’s place, but there was no sign of him or the girls.”
“Damn it!”
Viper placed his hand on my shoulder. “I know you’re worried about your girl, but we’re gonna find them, Menace. You have my word on that. We just need to take a breath and think this thing through.”
“I’m trying, but it’s hard to think straight when I don’t know what the fuck is going on.” I knew Viper was right. Me freaking out wasn’t doing anybody any good, so I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to slow my racing mind. “Maybe I can track Aubrey’s location with her phone.”
“Hold up,” Lynch told me as they all followed me inside and down the hallway. “Her phone and Mazie’s were in Aubrey’s car.”
“Damn, where the fuck is her car?”
“Parked over at Mazie’s apartment.”
“Fuck!” I felt like I was running in circles and wasn’t sure which direction to take next. I thought back over what we knew: Aubrey and Mazie were at Mazie’s apartment, her car was still there, and her phone had been left behind. I couldn’t imagine how Rossi could’ve found her, but the thought was weighing on my mind as I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer. “You think this is Gary bullshit, or this has something to do with Rossi?”
“This isn’t Rossi. Not after everything Billy did, but this isn’t the time for a guessing game. You’re here now. Do what you can to track them down.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to do that without her fucking phone?”
“How about checking the security feed from Mazie’s apartment complex?” Lynch suggested. “At least then we could see who we’re dealing with.”
Without waiting for him to say anything more, I plugged in Mazie’s address and located the name of her apartment complex. Once I had the name, I was able to search the company running their security, and it wasn’t long before I’d hacked into their security feed. It took some time to find the camera closest to her apartment, but when I spotted Lynch in the parking lot, I knew I’d found it. I pointed to the screen. “Got it!”
“Okay, let’s see what the fuck happened.”
I sped through the day’s feed, watching as he talked to Aubrey, then headed back over to his bike. Aubrey went into the apartment, and it wasn’t long before she and Mazie came rushing out the door and to the parking lot. They went straight to Aubrey’s car and were putting something in the back seat when a man with a baseball cap and glasses came up behind them. I watched in horror as he took the butt of his gun and slammed it against the back of Aubrey’s head. He aimed his weapon at Mazie, then ordered her to help him get Aubrey into the back of his fucking, white Toyota. I pointed to the screen once again as I said, “It’s Gary. That’s his fucking car.”
“Okay, that’s good. Now we know who we’re dealing with.”
“Yeah, but where the fuck is he?”
“Hawk and Shotgun are headed over to the Pink Pony to see if they’re there.”
Thinking I could check the security footage there, I turned back to computer, but stopped when I remembered I’d killed the power. “Fuck, I can’t get eyes on the inside.”
“I’ll send word to Hawk to keep a look out for the white Toyota.” Viper took out his burner and said, “If it’s at the Pony, I’ll tell him to hold up until we can get there.”
“Yeah, that’s good.”
After Viper sent the message, we all headed out to Lynch’s SUV. Seconds later, we were pulling through the gate and on our way to the Pink Pony. I was feeling tied up in knots when Lynch looked up into his rearview mirror and said, “I’m sorry about all this, Menace. I should’ve never left them alone like I did.”
“What’s done is done, man. Let’s just get the girls home safe and put an end to Gary’s bullshit for good.”
He nodded, then turned his focus back to the road. I knew he felt bad about what happened, and to be honest, it was a mistake that any one of us could’ve made. Unfortunately, that didn’t change the fact that Aubrey’s life was in danger. She’s already been through so much, and it gutted me to think that we’d let someone like Gary fucking Patterson get his hands on her. And I could tell from the tension in the truck radiating off my brothers that they felt the same way.
We were only a few blocks away from the Pink Pony when Viper turned back to me and said, “Just got word from Hawk that Gary’s car is there, but no lights are on in the building, and it’s too dark to see if they’re inside. Don’t want them going in without backup, so I told them to hold tight until we got there.”
I nodded, then leaned back in my seat and tried to calm my racing heart. I couldn’t imagine what the fuck was going on inside that damn place, but I had a feeling it wasn’t good. I tried to keep my unease in check as we pulled into the Pink Pony’s parking lot. With the power out and no cars in the lot, the club looked completely abandoned. As soon as Lynch parked, we got out of the SUV and rushed over to join Hawk and Shotgun at the back of the building. When we approached, Hawk stepped over to us and said, “Back door is open. Not sure about the front. I didn’t want to take the chance on our friend picking up on the fact that we were here.”
“Have either of you been inside?”
“No,” Shotgun answered. “We were waiting on you.”
Viper motioned his head toward the door as he ordered, “Keep your eyes open. We have no idea what this guy’s got going on in there.”
“Understood.”
With Shotgun in the lead, we all slipped through the back door and started inside the bar. As soon as I saw how dark it was, I immediately regretted cutting the power off. It would’ve been nice to be able to see where the fuck we were going. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins as Shotgun used his small flashlight to lead us down a long, narrow hallway. When we rounded the corner, we spotted a glimmer of light shining up on one of the stages. There was a faint sound of a song playing, like one would expect to hear from a cellphone or a small radio, but with it being so dark, I couldn’t see much until we got closer. That’s when I spotted Aubrey up on the stage.