Rod (23 page)

“They have all received large sums in
their bank accounts within the past three days.
 
Lester got fifty thousand, Boris got thirty, and Ken got twenty.”

“Yeah, but what does that tell us?”

“Considering that all of these deposits
lead back to Seth Vinton, it tells us a lot, actually.”

His face is immediately red and angrier
than before.
 
The sound of the name Seth
Vinton sends fire and ice through his veins and he’s instantly pissed off.

“Seth Vinton?” he reiterates my statement.

“Yeah, Seth Vinton.”

“Did you find out anything else?” he asks.

“Yeah, that Boris has a white van that was
probably used to transport Sasha to wherever they’re hiding her.
 
As of earlier, they weren’t hiding her at
Lester’s place.
 
Rodney and I checked it
out and found nothing.”

“They are all going to pay for this,” he
says matter-of-factly.

“Rodney was looking into Boris’ van so
that we can have it followed,” I tell him.

“Good idea.
 
Someone knows where Sasha is being held and
now it’s just a matter of time until we squeeze it out of one of ‘
em
.”

“Lester used to be Seth’s right hand man
back in the day.
 
And I found this old photo
of Boris together with Seth on the internet.
 
It’s all too much to just be a coincidence.”

“You are absolutely right,” he says,
looking me in the eyes.
 
“You really are
valuable to the club, Trish.
 
I can’t
even tell you how stupid I feel for all the things I said before.”

“No worries, dad, we’re all on the same
team here.
 
With the exception of those
two idiots,” I say.

“When I get my hands on either of those
two assholes, I’m going to send them to the hospital.”

“We need to get them put in jail so they
don’t do this to anyone else, dad,” I plead.

“Yeah, but why do it to us in the first
place?” he asks.

“Rodney said that it was apparently all
part of his father’s sinister plan to take over our club.”

“Well, fuck Seth Vinton and his sinister
plan.
 
He’s going to rot.
 
You knew Lester Samson had something to do
with this right from the start,” he says.

“I just got this really strange vibe from
him, that’s all.”

“You’re really coming into your own,” he
says.

“Thanks,” I say shyly, looking down.
 

“No, really, Trish.
 
When this is all said and done, I’m going to
appoint you the club’s official Investigator.
 
If I would’ve listened to you from the start, we would have Sasha back
home by now.”

“Is that really an officer’s position?” I
ask.

“No, but it will be,” he says.
 
“You’ve earned it.”

“Thanks, that really means a lot to
me.
 
Oh yeah, and don’t forget Rodney’s
contribution.
 
He really was helpful in
putting all of the pieces together.”

My father scribbles a note to himself that
I assume is a reminder to reward Rodney for helping.

“Sounds good.
 
Let’s get down to business; there is a lot
for us to do.”

“Don’t forget Jason Maple, he helped with
the bank accounts.”

“Duly noted,” he says, scribbling down
another note on his paper.

“Here’s what I think happened,” I tell him
as he looks at me intensely.

“I think that Lester approached her out of
Boris’ white van on her way to school that day.
 
He probably told her he was a relative or offered her candy or video
games or something.
 
He could’ve said he
was a friend of the family and she didn’t know any better, so she went with
him.”

“Go on,” he says.

“I think he probably told her that
something happened and he was asked to keep an eye on her until one of us got
there.
 
When nothing happened with that,
Lester had to have called in Boris or Ken – or both – to come help him.
 
Lester is pretty frail; I busted his nose
when Rodney and I went there.
 
I’m pretty
sure that Sasha could probably get away from him if she didn’t feel safe.”

“Makes sense,” he says.

“He probably sniffed me out when I got
close that one night so he figured that they had no choice but to move her to a
different spot.”

“For their sake, she better be okay,” he
says fearfully but with force.

“My guess is that she’s probably tied up
somewhere in Boris or Ken’s house and that Seth Vinton and his goons are going
to strike soon while we’re all caught up in the investigation.”

“That makes so much sense, it’s
scary.
 
I know what I need to do know,”
he says calmly.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“I need to call an emergency meeting of
the Dragons where I’ll announce that you’ve been kidnapped.”

“What will that do?” I press him.

“That’ll give you and Rodney time to
search both Ken and Boris’ houses.
 
Even
search that asshole’s van, just to be sure.”

“Perfect!” I tell him with a gleam of hope
in my eyes.

“Let me know what you find.
 
I’m going to call Mickey and get a meeting
organized for tonight.
 
Get your bike out
of sight and I’ll tell everyone that I have Rod out looking for you.
 
That’ll be your cover.”

“Good, good,” I say, rubbing my hands
together.

“I bet Boris and Ken both are going to be
panicking when they hear you’ve turned up missing.
 
They will probably fret because it wasn’t
part of their original plans.”

“We’ll let you know what we find when we
get to both of their places,” I tell him.

“Good, now call Rodney and tell him the
plan of attack before he gets here.”

“Got it.
 
I’ll talk to you soon, dad.”

“Be careful, Trish and just know that I
love you and your sister more than life itself and I would die to protect both
of you.”

A tear escapes from his eye, but I don’t
mention it.
 

“I love you too, dad,” I tell him.

I yank my phone from my pocket and dial
Rodney’s number.

“I’m almost to your house,” he says on the
other end.

“Yeah, well stop wherever you are and meet
me at the gas station three blocks down from the Corkscrew.
 
My father has a plan.”

“Alright, I’ll see you there,” he says as
we hang up.

I stuff my phone back into my pocket and
run out of the door and to my bike.
 
I
rev it up and take off like a speeding train.
 
Fifteen minutes later, I pull up quietly to the gas station around the
Corkscrew.
 
I see a figure walking toward
me, but upon closer inspection, I see that it’s Rodney.

“I’m
gonna
park
this thing out back, out of sight,” I tell him quietly.

“Good, then you can let me in on the
plan,” he says.

I quietly ride my motorcycle to the back
of the gas station where I park it and hop off.

“Alright.
 
What’s the plan?” He asks.

“My father is calling a meeting right now
for everyone to meet him at the Lair.
 
He’s going to tell them that I’ve come up missing so that he can
question them all for information.
 
He
says that will give us time to explore Boris and Ken’s houses to see if we can
find Sasha.”

“How will he explain my absence from this
meeting?” He asks.

“He’s going to tell them that he has
already sent you out to look for me.”

“That is brilliant,” he says.

“Let’s hope it works.”

“I just hope we find some clue to lead us
to Sasha.
 
We have to find her; the
longer it takes, the worse the outcome becomes if we don’t find her soon.”

“I know, we have to move quickly.
 
I’m going to call my dad and see if they’re
all there yet.”

He paces, watching me make the phone call.

“Hey dad, I’m out here with Rodney almost
outside of town.
 
Is everyone there yet?”

“No, I’m waiting on Alex Maple and Boris
Cardov
.
 
Ken’s here,
though.”

“Alright.
 
Why don’t you send me a text when Boris gets there and then we can get
started on the search?”

“Sounds good.
 
Later, kid.”

“Bye,” I say as I hit ‘end’ to hang
up.
 
I shove the phone back in my pocket
as I look up to see Rodney’s curious face.

“Boris isn’t there yet, but Ken is, so
dad’s just waiting on him,” I tell him.

“We can go ahead and search Ken’s place if
you want,” he suggests.

“Let’s wait for the all clear, just in
case Boris is at Ken’s house for some odd reason,” I say.

“Good idea,” he says.
 

While we stand around waiting, I tense up,
but Rodney closes in on me to offer some comfort.

“This could all be over and done with
tonight,” he says with a hand caressing my chin.
 
He kisses me and I feel guilty when we are so
close to finding Sasha.

“I hope you’re right.”

He pulls me in closer to him and his scent
intoxicates me.
 
I think back to our
intimate times together and I get wet all over again.
 
I convince myself that I will have to wait to
enjoy his touch and only after we find my sister.
 
I push the sensual thoughts to the back of my
mind and embrace the moment.

Fifteen minutes pass before my father
texts me.
 

“They’re all here.
 
Go and be careful!” He says in the message.

I put the phone back in my pocket and tell
Rodney, “Alright, let’s hit Ken’s house first.
 
I’ll ride with you.”

“Let’s do this,” he says as he gets on his
motorcycle to steady it so that I can hop on the back.
 
I hold myself close to his back, taking in
all of the warmth and security he provides me.

He revs up the motor and we tear through
the dirt roads and to the paved areas of the city.
 
Winding our way throughout Hinton Township,
we find ourselves at Ken’s door.
 
He parks
the bike, but waits for me to get down first.
 
Then he hops off and we walk quietly to the back of Ken’s house.

It’s a secluded looking area without a
neighbor to speak of.

“I don’t think Ken lives with anyone,” I
offer.

“Okay, but we’ll scope out the place
before we go in just to be sure.”

We walk around the house and look through
a lit window.
 
After a few minutes pass,
he convinces me that the place is empty.
 
He pulls a metal bar from his inside jacket pocket and pries the window
open.

It makes a creaking noise and I gather if
anyone is going to hear it and be afraid, it would be at this moment.
 
He looks inside as he slowly lifts the window
open.
 
He sticks his head inside and
listens quietly for any movement.

“Alright, there’s nobody home,” he tells
me.
 
“I’ll give you a boost in the window
since you’re tiny and then you can unlock the door.”

“Okay.”

He holds his hands down so I can place my
foot inside and get a leg up to the window.
 
I tumble to the floor once inside, but quickly get up and listen for
myself to see if anyone’s home.
 
The
kitchen light is on and the place is empty.

I walk to the front door and let Rodney
inside.
 
Together, we move through each
of the rooms, making sure to check for hidden passages or anywhere someone
could hide a twelve-year-old.

“I just don’t think she’s here,” he tells
me after we get done with the search of the house.

“You’re right, she’s not here,” I say in
return.

“Let’s leave from the front door and I’ll
put the window back the way I found it,” he tells me.

We walk outside, locking the door behind
ourselves.
 
Once back to the window, he
shuts it tightly.

“There.
 
Now let’s get to Boris’ house.
 
She has to be there,” he says.