WRECKED: CHOSEN FEW MC - BOOK TWO: OUTLAW BIKER/ALPHA ROMANCE (18 page)

Greg stared out over the desert feeling hopeless. “There are enough buildings out here we could spend a week searching.”

“We don’t have a week,” Tiny said. “It’s pitch dark, and even a bus is practically invisible. If we manage to find them, it’ll just be luck. I don’t care so much, but if we pass by the damn thing, we might never find it.”

“It’ll be light again soon.”

Greg’s phone rang and he grabbed it. “It’s Luc. What have you got, man? Please tell me it’s good news.”

“Another caller,” he said, chuckling. “Your clever niece just texted you to say hello and to tell you that the hide and seek game was getting boring. Besides, she’s cold.”

“She’s okay?”

“Seems so. She said to tell you to bring a pizza. I had her make a call and to leave the phone on.”

“You can find her?”

“I’m tracing it now, my friend, as we speak. And let’s see, yes, there it is, and triangulating on the signal, I’ve got her coordinates… I’ll just load that into the map app, and oh yes, there they are. You’re where?”

“We are coming back down the road from I-40 where it connects west of Ludlow. I don’t know the name of the road, but we are halfway to 247.”

“I see it. Damn, you must be almost on top of them.”

“Tell me!”

“Wait until the computer does its zoom thing. Yes, there’s an abandoned gas station and restaurant about two miles down the road, north of you. I think you’ll find the bus there.”

“I didn’t see any bus. It would be hard to hide one out here.”

“No, Luc’s right,” Tiny said. “I remember that place. The garage bay was closed. I should’ve suspected something.”

“Luc, call Cutter and tell him to meet us there as fast as he can get there.”

“Let’s kick ass,” Tiny shouted.

Greg’s heart pounded as he kicked his bike to life and blew out onto the road. Tiny glided into place right alongside him, like a practiced air show act.

Relief and worry tumbled together inside his head. At least Carly was all right. Jake and Willow were dealing with enough without something happening to her. And Melanie? He was just getting used to the idea that she might want to be part of his life and feeling dread wouldn’t help a damn thing.

He pushed the doubt and worry out of his mind. She was either still okay, or not, and he had to be focused on the job, on the here and now. If she was still alive and well, he had to be at the top of his game if she was going to stand a chance to stay that way.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

They had spent a cold night in the garage, the children huddling together in the corner, sharing some blankets that Innes had brought for them. The adults, including Melanie, shivered. Malcolm had stored a padded hunting jacket that he put on. None of the adults slept and Innes paced the floor as he kept watch until the first rays of light.

At dawn, he had Brian pass energy bars out to the children. As they devoured them greedily he untied Melanie and gave her three of the bars. “You feed the adults.” She unwrapped the bars and fed the handcuffed men each a bar, then ate the last one, happy to have something in her stomach.

As the sun rose, Malcolm Innes paced the garage in a figure eight, so that on every circuit he could glance at a cell phone he put on the workbench, ensuring it was still on, and had signal. “I don’t get these damn cops,” he said. “I told them eight in the morning. You’d think they would make the call.”

“You’ve given them your demands. Maybe they are still trying to see what they can do to meet them.”

“But they always use negotiation as a ploy. If they call they think they can trace the signal. They should want to know where we are. This makes no fucking sense.”

Melanie sighed. The reason seemed obvious enough. “What if they didn’t see your message, your demands?”

He stopped and gave her an astonished look. “I posted them on Facebook. You did, anyway.”

“Do you really think they look at every message posted on Facebook? They don’t bother.” His glare told her he thought that was a lie. “They couldn’t monitor it all in real time anyway. Even if they did that would be the federal agents and they wouldn’t know about the missing class yet.”

Malcolm rubbed his face. “Damned inefficient. Typical of government.”

“Why would they be so bad at everything else and good at doing what you want them to do?”

He looked at the bus driver. “Maybe I should video myself shooting him. That might go viral.”

“And you’d be a murderer, not a man representing a cause he believes in.”

“Okay, fair point.” He looked at Brian, who was still whimpering. “What the hell is the matter with you, Brian?”

“I’m scared.”

“I won’t let them hurt you.”

Brian gave him a teary stare. “I’m scared of you, what you are doing. You are hurting everyone. All the parents are worried and the teachers, and now you are talking about shooting people just to get people to listen to you. Of course my friends and teachers and the driver are all scared of you—you’re being crazy.”

“I’ve explained this to you. I know it isn’t fair, but freedom comes at a price, Brian. Someone has to stand up to them, and let the world know. The government needs to be shown that some people know what they are up to and in a way they can’t hide it.”

“But you are doing worse than what you say the government is doing. You have us all prisoner.”

“You’re my son, not a prisoner.”

“Then I can leave? I can walk out of here?”

“No, but only because we are miles from anywhere. You’d get lost or die of thirst or hunger.”

“So you will force me to stay for my own good?”

“Exactly.”

“And you say that’s the excuse the government gives for what it does. You are doing the same thing.”

Suddenly Innes hand lashed out and his palm caught Brian across the face. He fell to the ground. “Don’t you talk to me that way!”

“You bully!” Melanie screamed at him. “I thought the one thing that might be good about you is that you wouldn’t hurt children.”

Innes looked stunned. “You brainwashed him. You wanted him to provoke me, you bitch.” He waved his gun frantically. “I ought to blow your head off and take a picture of that. I bet that would get attention on Facebook.”

“They’d take it down, Mr. Innes.” This came from Carly. She sounded calm. “Ever since the terrorists posted videos of beheadings, they’ve cracked down on images of violence.”

“You brat.” He spun to face her. “You’re just trying to stop me.”

“Of course I am. You’re being creepy.”

He moved toward her and Melanie shot over to grab his shoulder. He spun, bringing his gun around so that the flat side caught her on the side of the head. The room spun and she crumpled to the ground. Innes pointed his gun at her, her face bright red. “You’ve interfered with me and my family for the last time. She looked up at the blurry figure standing over her and heard a familiar throaty roar.

“I think you’ve got company, Mr. Innes,” Carly said, coming over to where Melanie lay.

As a startled Innes ran to grab a rifle from the bus, Melanie felt an uncontrollable urge to laugh.

Carly squatted next to her. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ms. Wilford, because I hear Tiny’s bike and I think the shit is about to hit the fan.”

Melanie didn’t like to hear that sort of language coming from a twelve-year old, but she had to admit the girl was probably dead right and she did like the message.

* * *

Melanie stood transfixed, frozen in place, as Malcolm pointed his rifle out through a missing pane of glass in the door and fired at the bikers.

Greg!

Her heart fluttered. She couldn’t see what was happening, but Innes’s stern expression told her that at least they weren’t dead yet. He was sighting, getting ready for a second shot when suddenly he went flying to one side. Carly was all over him. She’d plunged into him from behind and fallen on him, swinging wildly with a wrench she’s found somewhere.

As he recovered, he roared with rage and swung an arm toward the side, knocking her away and scrambling to his feet. As Carly got up, he raised the rifle, holding it like a baseball bat. Melanie moved toward him, but Brian jumped in front of his father shaking his fists. “Don’t you dare hurt her,” he screamed. Seeing his son in the path of his swing, he checked the blow, hesitating. While he thought, Carly got up. Innes turned toward her menacingly and she stepped forward, bringing her foot up. Her foot caught him squarely in the crotch and he cried out and crumpled to the ground. Melanie grabbed the rifle and jumped back out of his reach.

She’d never shoot anyone, but if he didn’t have it…

She saw Innes trying to get up and shouted at the kids: “Everybody run for it. Through the office.”

As if they’d read her mind, all of the kids and the two adults were already heading that way. Melanie followed behind, casting glances back over her shoulder. As Innes struggled to his feet, he pulled out his pistol. She’d forgotten about the damn pistol and now he was waving it and shouting for them all to get back in the garage, but it was too late. They burst out into the hot desert sun, scattering.

Innes moved fast and was right on Melanie’s tail as she went out the door. A roar of a beefy engine told her that Greg and the other man were on their way again. Innes stopped and turned to face the oncoming motorcycles. “He’s got a gun,” she screamed, but Innes had already raised his pistol and was taking aim. The men closed fast and they moved apart, forcing him to aim at just one. Startled by the move, Innes pointed first at one, then the other, then snapping off a shot.

Melanie screamed as she saw both bikes go down. Greg was in the air, flying at Innes as his motorcycle spun on its side. He smashed into the man, knocking him down on the dusty asphalt and then rolling past him. Greg was up first and as Innes got to his knees, Greg lashed out with a foot, catching him in the ribs, and sending him spinning again. Before he could move, Greg was on him, pounding the man with his fists.

And suddenly he stopped. Melanie saw the man was senseless. Greg pointed at the gun. “Would you mind picking that up. It wouldn’t do for the prints of a convicted felon to be found on a gun.”

“Damn.” They turned to see Tiny staggering toward them, his white tee shirt turning red with blood. “After all that I missed out on the real damn fun and I got an owie.”

“Are you okay?” Melanie went to him and pulled up the shirt. “We have a first aid kit in the bus,” she said.

“Here it is,” Carly said, coming up with it.

A new roar filled the air as Cutter rode in with two other men. They parked and walked over to Innes’s inert form. “I think he’s alive,” Cutter said, poking him with the toe of his boot. “Want me to fix that?”

Greg laughed. “No. His kid is standing over by the building and he doesn’t need anymore pain. Besides, the guy is a whack job.”

“Okay. But do you know how dull it is to be the Enforcer when nobody needs serious hurting?”

“I think you have plenty to keep you busy. And Audra doesn’t like blood stains.”

“True. She often has better things to do than laundry and other ideas on how to keep me busy.”

Carly took Greg’s hand. “I knew you’d come.”

“Of course. You called me. Club members stick together, kid.”

“Luc said he’d locate my phone and I guess he did. He’s okay.”

“He’s better than okay. Your timing was great. Melanie did the same thing, but her phone died.”

She gave him a self-satisfied grin. “I waited until we got here, because I saw her make a call.”

Greg looked at them. “How did you all get free?”

Carly tilted her head. “When he was trying to shoot you, I clobbered him with a wrench. That didn’t stop him. Brian helped me, and then I did what you told me to do in an emergency. I kicked him in the balls.”

“Did you now?”

“Yup. It worked pretty good.”

“Just remember to reserve that for emergencies.”

Melanie managed to stop the bleeding in Tiny’s arm. “It looks like the bullet went right through, but you better get a doctor to check it out.”

“I’d rather have a pretty girl working on me any day. Thanks.”

Carly laughed. “That and Tiny doesn’t want to have to explain a bullet wound that a doctor would be legally required to report.”

“I’m on parole,” he said. “I’m supposed to avoid conflicts and hanging out with dangerous people.”

“And bikers,” Carly said, grinning. “I better go talk to Brian, let him know his dad is sort of okay.” She nodded her head toward the motorcycles. “You know, I can fix those for you if you need a hand.”

“I’ll let you know. It’s mostly cosmetic, I think.”

“Well, if it’s anything you can’t handle…”

“Go check on your friends, brat princess.”

As she wandered off, Cutter came over and handed Melanie a phone. “This is a pay as you go phone. I think it might be better for all concerned if you were the one to call the police.” He handed her a piece of paper. “This is the address of this place. I’m sure your guide neglected to tell you where you were.”

“What about you guys?”

“We’ll tie him up nice for you and put him in the office. Then, if you wouldn’t mind, it would be best if you were to say that some bikers came by and lent a hand without naming any names.”

She grinned. “That’s doable.”

He handed her some keys. “I saw some handcuffed men. The key is probably on here.”

She looked around. “But the men seem to be gone.”

Cutter grinned. “So they seem to be.” The kids took a head count and seem to all be there. I guess they all stood their ground.”

“I expect Carly told them she’d beat the crap out of them if they wandered off,” Melanie said.

“That’ll do it.”

She held up the phone. “We have water in the garage still, so put him in the chair. While you boys get some distance I’ll call Donna, and then the police.”

“Tell Donna I said hello,” Greg said.

“Half an hour would be lovely,” Cutter said. “By then we can be having a beer somewhere with lots of witnesses.”

“I can do that.”

“I like you. You think like a fine biker chick,” Cutter said.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”