Claiming the Knights (20 page)

             
He called Drifter and told him. All of them as a group, made their way down to the car. Scooter pulled his keys out, and hit the button to unlock all the doors. The others kept a look out. He slowly opened the door, and there was her purse, sitting on the seat. He was sure it was a trap, but it was Nikki, his Sunshine. He couldn't walk away. Sticking out of the purse, was a notepad. He carefully removed it and read the message.

Northwest Knights.. you think you can take my brother and not get retaliation. I have your Sunshine and when I get my brother back you get your bitch back. She isn't hurt too bad. Stay tuned for the next text for the trade.

Fuck you!

              It had a bloody fingerprint smeared on the bottom of the notepad. Scooter's blood was boiling and his heart was cracking. He couldn't help but second guess himself in that moment. Letting her go to the house alone, re-claiming her in the first place. At least he knew she was still alive. Now, who the fuck was this brother that the dead man walking was talking about?

              Nikki opened her eyes, but everything was dark. She panicked for a second, trying to reach for her face, but her wrists were tied to her ankles. She stilled. That is when she felt it, the headache that was throbbing. She heard a quiet laughter close to her, in the same room, or area.

             
“Oh, our little Sunshine is awake is she?” an unfamiliar woman's voice said. “You been out for hours. Starting to wonder if I let you breath in too much of that shit.”

             
Then there was a man's voice, “Nah, I knew she would come to. Just had to let her sleep it off.”

             
They both laughed and then she heard them leave, and shut a door.

             
Nikki whispered, “Hello.” She could hear breathing, but didn't know if anyone was there.

             
She was on her side, and could barely move. Her head was still covered with a hood and she was tightly bound, wrists to ankles. She did her best to sit up on her butt. Her shoulder and arm were killing her and she needed to relieve the pressure of laying on them. She also felt pain on the end of her index finger. There was a bandage there and she could feel that she had been cut.

             
She heard muffled voices in another room. The voices seemed to be arguing, and then something hitting a wall or floor, something hard. Then quieter voices, and the woman sounded like she was crying. Then there was silence, until she heard the grunting and moaning. What the fuck? Are they fucking? The behavior continued throughout her kidnapping. She could tell that they didn't know what the hell they were doing. They seemed to have no plan. Just acting on the fly.

             
Nikki was afraid, but knew that Scooter had to be flipping out, and looking for her. He would save her. That is what he did. He took care of her and he would come for her.

             
She continued to hear the breathing next to her, but was afraid to explore. She thought about the girls. How long had she been here? Were they ok? Did anybody know that she was missing? What about Kim, the real estate agent? Was she in on this? Is that why she was acting weird at the house? As she became more and more awake, her mind went faster and faster. This had to be Club related. The woman had called her Sunshine.

             
An hour later, Nikki heard Kim's voice. “Hello,” she whispered.

             
“I am here, Kim,” she said back to her.

             
They whispered back and forth. Nikki learned that Kim had been contacted by them several days before and they threatened her. They said they would go after her, and her family if she didn't give up info on the next home Nikki would be looking at alone. They told her no cops. They got their point across by reciting her home address to her over the phone. That scared her. She did what she had to do to stay safe, and keep her family safe.

             
Kim apologized over and over. She told Nikki about the phone call with Scooter that they were in on, telling him that she had left the property.

              Scooter had the car towed back to the club. He and Drifter went through it looking for clues. He arranged for the girls to stay at Kate's house. He and the guys went out to the house she had gone to, to take a look around. They found tracks from the Camaro, and 2 other cars. The barn door was open and when they went in, then could clearly see where a struggle had taken place. Foot prints and drag marks were on the dirt floor. There was a car in the barn. Looking in the glove box they discovered it was Kim's car. Scooter had the Charlie tow it to her house.

             
So maybe the agent knew more that she was letting on. What. The. Fuck. Who would do this? Maybe the hit in Seattle? Raw was so thorough though. He wasn't sloppy and he assured them that nothing would come back down on the club. He drilled Drifter on what had happened there to see if there was anything he'd missed. He said it all went well, without a hitch. A long walk off a short pier, so to speak. With a suicide note and all. The obituary said it was suicide and there was even an article in the paper about how he wasn't handling his rehab very well. The paper had interviewed his sister that was caring for him. Raw had done his research, and done a great job.

             
As much as he hated it, there was nothing he could do but wait and that’s when it hit him. Call Raw and get some feedback from him.

             
He grabbed a burner phone and he made the call.

             
Scooter told Raw the whole thing, and wanted his opinion on what he should do next. He wanted this guy dead, and most of all, Nikki back alive. If only he had gone on this showing for the house. Fuck. He had to be more careful.

             
Raw said he would do some research, and then get back to him. Within hours, he was back on the phone with Raw. Raw had questioned Joel, who he was still pretty much holding hostage while they worked together on some small time hits. It was important that he keep a short leash on Joel and get him right in the middle of the hits, so Joel was witness to the killings. It would keep him loyal in the long run. You can't partake in hired killings, and walk away, or worse yet, snitch.

             
In his discussion with Joel, he didn't learn anything about the hit man in Seattle that he didn't already know on his own.

             
Raw offered his services and Scooter accepted.

             
The next morning, Raw and Joel were front and center at the clubhouse, opting to fly out, instead of drive on such an urgent matter.

Chapter 14

             
Scooter didn't sleep at all. He had called the girls to tell them goodnight and let them know that he promised to get their mom back, safe and sound. As he hung up, he felt the heaviness of what was going on and what he had just promised to do.

             
When the darkness of the night started to turn light, he gave up and got out of their bed. He went to the kitchen to made coffee. Tears filled his eyes. He remembered his mom telling him when you cry about losing someone, is when you know that you love them. Boy, was she right. He sure did love his Sunshine and not knowing where she was, who she was with, or for fuck sake, what they did to her to make her bleed, was filling his head and pushing him over the edge.

             
Upon arriving in Vancouver, Joel had asked to get a hold of his dad. Raw had told him not to contact anyone during the visit. He didn’t think Joel was where he needed to be yet and until he was satisfied, Raw wasn't allowing outside contact. Joel was very agreeable and just happy to still be breathing.

             
Raw also asked the club to stay quiet about him being there to Raven. They had said one year and he wanted to keep that promise. Drifter had told Anne, but knew that she would keep it from Raven. Anne was still not ok with any of that, and was anxious that Raw was back in town.

              Scooter pulled into the club lot early. He had to get out of the house and do something. He figured if Raw was up, they could start hashing things out and figure out what to do to retaliate when 'the trade' happened. At this point, they didn't even know who the trade was.

             
Until the asshole got in touch with them, there was no way to make any major plans. No who, what, when, or where were available to make plans. Raw assured Scooter that he would come up with something on the fly to make this shit right.

             
Scooter paced and tried to stay busy with anything, working on bikes, picking up around the club, he even did some invoicing at Nikki's desk. Being at her desk, although hard, made him feel closer to her. He even found himself walking over to the coat rack and smelling her sweater that hung next to the hook that her purse usually hung on. He looked around to make sure that no one was looking. It smelled like her, and he breathed it in.

             
Thoughts of losing her swirled through his mind. He had just found this amazing woman. He claimed her and then reclaimed her, and now, because he was being a whining bitch about looking at houses, she was gone. If anything happened to her, he would not be able to live with himself.

              Nikki and Kim continued to whisper to each other through the hoods, listening to the arguing and the sex that kept up throughout the day and into the evening.

             
Both the man and the woman came into the room. “Here are some blankets and pillows so you two can sleep a little,” the woman's voice said, as both women were hit by the pillows and folded blankets.

             
“How are we supposed to use them when our feet and hands are tied? Can't you help us?” Nikki suggested.

             
Then another bout of arguing ensued.

             
“I told you the pillows and blankets were a stupid ass idea,” the woman said.

             
“I just thought it might help them sleep. Just trying to be nice, Sissy,” the man's voice said, revealing a name.

             
“Oh, is that because you think they’re hot? You wanna fuck'em, is that it? Sissy said, totally oblivious that he had just said her name.

             
Nikki took note of how stupid they were. Scooter was going to have no problem rescuing them and she had no doubt he would be there soon.

              Night came and went, and still no Scooter, no Club. Neither woman had eaten or had anything to drink. They had let them use the toilet, but only untied their ankles for that, and retied them right away. The hoods remained on and they gave them no food or drinks.

             
It was well into the second day when the man came in with a bottle of water for each of them. He untied their hands, but told them to drink through the hoods. He said he had a gun and he got his point across by pressing the barrel into each of their temples, through the hood. They both drank all the water and he retied them, and left the room. The women heard more arguing, and more fucking. Kim was starting to lose it, but Nikki kept assuring her that they would come for them, and everything was going to be fine, although she herself was starting to wonder what was taking them so long.

              Scooter managed to get some sleep. He had a prospect on stake out where the car had been left, but still nothing. No clues as to where his Sunshine was. He wanted to kill, rip someone limb from limb. He didn't know what to do with this sense of helplessness. He was the badass President of the Northwest Knights. Nobody fucked with him, and yet someone had stolen his woman, his love, and he would do nothing short of knocking on every fucking door in Vancouver, and turning homes upside down, to get her back.

             
He knew they would call. They would call for a trade, but then what? Who the fuck did they want? What if it was a dead man? How were they going to get his Sunshine back? There was so much shit swirling around in his head. And then there were the girls, Nelly and Jen. What the fuck was he supposed to tell them? Both girls kept texting and calling. He just kept promising to get their mom back, and asking them to be good for Kate until it was safe for them to come home.