Someone approached her and Maggie tensed up as if it would protect her from being touched. Rough hands removed the black hood from her head and pulled out the cloth gag. Pain from the sudden brightness stung Maggie's eyes, and she squinted as she breathed freely for the first time in hours.

"h.e.l.lo there, darlin'. I sure am glad to see you."

When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, Maggie opened them to see Evan's cruel smile in front of her face. He bent down right in front of her, his gaunt face cut sharply in the harsh light. Around them stood a bunch of men with weapons, whose faces and shaved heads she didn't recognize. The blood drained from her stomach.

"I don't remember giving you the idea that our arrangement had an opt-out clause," said Evan, smiling, his tone suggesting everything was sunny. She supposed it was, for him. "You hurt me real bad when you took off, babe. You always thought you were so much f.u.c.king smarter than me, but not smart enough to realize I've had a low-jack on that car of yours since the first time I f.u.c.ked you." He reached out and ran a hand through her hair. When she instinctively tried to pull away from him, his touch became tangled talons yanking her back to look at his face.

"Now, now, you're coming home," said Evan, whispering close to her. He held her head still while he hovered over her, his lips brushing against hers with increased force. He licked his tongue across her closed mouth. "No need to fight it. I already have a long list of new friends for you to meet." Evan kept his face close to hers, breathing on her. His hot breath on her skin smelled like cheap beer. He panted on her while he trailed a hand down her jaw, her neck, and her chest, before crudely molesting her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He stared at her face when she tensed and sucked in a breath, wanting to fight but helpless to do so. He loved watching her realize she had no control.

Evan made a little moan against her and she felt sick. She closed her eyes when his hand dropped between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, snaking down her stomach towards her center. She felt his fingertips on her mound when one of the other men in the room interrupted. "We don't f.u.c.king have time for this."

Immediately Evan stood and removed his hands from her body. Maggie released the breath she realized she'd been holding and tried with great difficulty to hold back her tears.

"Fair enough," said Evan. He walked up to the man who had spoken. Maggie realized then that everyone in the room except Evan had his head shaved or buzzed down to nothing. "I just feel like a kid on Christmas, that's all."

The apparent leader of the other men seemed impatient with Evan. "There ain't gonna be a Christmas for n.o.body if her old man don't pay up like you promised."

"He will, he will! It's his only daughter, of course he will pay," said Evan.

Maggie listened with interest as the pieces began to fall into place. Evan must have trailed her from Eagleton somehow, and when he saw that Maggie had the protection of the MC, he probably did what he was best at: recruit someone else to do the hard work for him. Whatever ransom they were trying to extort from Henry and the MC would no doubt be the payment to the thugs he had hired.

And then Evan would drag Maggie away with him and disappear into the underground, and Henry and Jase would be left double-crossed, ransom paid with no hostage. Or worse-the thugs would simply murder them for the cash at the exchange.

Maggie began to cry at the thought that Jase, and her father, were about to meet their doom. "Evan, please. I'll go with you without a fight if you just promise not to hurt them."

Evan turned from his conversation to face her. His expression was one of cruel amus.e.m.e.nt. "Oh, sweetheart. Will you really?"

"Please, I'm begging you," said Maggie. Her vision blurred behind tears. "Just leave them alive. Don't kill them."

Evan leaned over in front of her again, face to face. "You keep getting these ideas that you're in some position to negotiate, and I just can't figure out why." He laughed for a few seconds, and then he whipped a vicious backhand across Maggie's face. The sting tore through her nerves.

He forced Maggie's head up again to look at him and said, "Leave them alive, to come find you and rescue you like some storybook princess? I don't think so. I made the mistake of underestimating you; I won't do the same with your old man. That life is over for you now, so just sit tight until this is finished and then I'll get you out of this s.h.i.thole." He smiled at her and gave a sharp yank of her hair before he stood. He left the room, followed by the other men with their rifles. The metal door shut and she heard the creaking of a big latch being dropped into place.

Maggie wept uncontrollably.

I'm sorry Jase. I'm so sorry.

~ Sixteen ~

Reports of a naked biker going on a chase through half of LeBeau understandably traveled fast, so Jase wasn't surprised to see half the sheriff's department, along with the entire club, waiting for him when his bike rumbled down the long drive. But they weren't there to arrest Jase so much as a.s.sist with what they knew was really behind the chase.

Jase had returned home long enough to throw on clothes, grab his weapons and phone, and see if the van had dropped any other clues he could use. He made a quick emergency call to Henry before he rushed to the clubhouse.

Jase hadn't even killed his bike when the group was descending on him. "Where is she? What happened?" Henry yelled as he stalked over.

"They f.u.c.king took her right out of my driveway!" said Jase, barely able to contain his growing rage. He met them halfway. "They didn't kill her, Henry, they s.n.a.t.c.hed her. This was a kidnapping."

"How the f.u.c.k did that happen?" asked Beck.

"You tell me. They had to have been waiting out there for us all f.u.c.king morning. She hadn't stepped ten feet from the house and they were on her."

"I thought I told you to keep her armed!" said Henry.

"She shot one of them in the arm, took out a rear window. It wasn't enough... I wasn't fast enough," said Jase. He put his hands on his waist and let his head hang, overwhelmed by the intensity of his pain and anger at that moment. "Henry, something is very wrong. These motherf.u.c.kers were staking out my house, and I didn't even know we were going to end up there last night. How did they know?"

Everyone fell silent and watched Henry, waiting for his reaction. Jase could see and well understand the storm of emotions brewing behind Henry's eyes. A kidnapping meant his daughter was likely still alive, and they all knew that meant there was a chance to get her back safely. But there were all sorts of things to go wrong between here and there.

"Where are we with the Afghanis?" said Henry.

Beck spoke, "Will's on the line with them now. They said they had some tracks from that burner Maggie found."

"Good, then we-" Henry stopped. Drake was coming up the drive in a rush, yelling over his engines. He stopped just short of the group and hopped off his bike. He had a padded brown envelope stuffed under his arm that had already been ripped open.

"Boss!" said Drake. "Boss, this was at the front fence, I didn't think before I opened it." He reached out and handed the envelope to Henry with a wide-eyed look on his face. Henry shoved his hand inside and came out with a note. He read it without speaking, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to send a text, reading the phone number off the note. Within seconds, someone on the other end replied.

It was a photo of Maggie, tied to a chair in some indiscriminate and beat-up concrete room. Her reddened face glistened, wet with tears; someone was holding her head up by the hair. Below the picture, a number: "$500,000".

Another text arrived a few seconds later: "One hour. Dirt road east of exit 9. No cops."

Before he could stop himself, Jase s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone from Henry's hand and stared at the photo in shock. The fear in her eyes shattered his heart. He had utterly failed her. "Oh my G.o.d..." he muttered to himself. Someone took the phone from him and got it back to Henry. Jase stumbled to the edge of the group to catch a breath of fresh air. He thought he might be sick.

"We need to open the safes. Get the money collected." Henry's voice came strong from behind him. Drake led several men into the clubhouse to fulfill his order.

"You're gonna pay it?" asked Beck, though it was without a lick of judgment.

"Not just," said Henry. He called for someone to bring Will to him. Jase took a few deep breaths and returned to the group to take part in the updates. Will trotted up from the clubhouse still on a call, which he ended just before he approached.

"Aamir had his men in Eagleton do some sniffing around with the numbers we found in Maggie's burner," said Will. "Two of them were still active. One led to a junkie who was a regular client of Maggie's ex. They couldn't track down the owner of the other, but only because they weren't in Eagleton-the signal is active in an area about ten miles north of here, west of Howlett."

"Evan's men," said Jase. "One of them hasn't ditched their phone in a while."

"That's what I think," said Will. "Aamir couldn't get anyone to pick up when called, but it seems pretty unlikely that it's just a coincidence the signal is so close to LeBeau. It has to be them."

"It might be where they're keeping Maggie," said Henry.

A rush of hope filled Jase's chest and he almost let himself believe in it. "We have to try for it."

"I'm with him," said Will. "Let's send a small team to these coordinates to check out the site while you answer the ransom call. Having two teams out means the chance is better one of us will succeed."

"It could get Maggie killed," said Beck.

"I don't want to make a single move that would give these a.s.sholes reasons to take it out on her," said Henry.

"Let me take Ghost and go in small," said Will. He put a hand on Henry's shoulder. "We can handle it."

The sheriff stepped up. "We can coordinate patrolmen waiting on the highway to stop the kidnappers once they leave the drop point."

"Only if they're far enough away that you won't get spotted, and you don't move in until I say," said Henry. The sheriff nodded and moved to give out orders to his own men lingering on the edges of the crowd.

"Head out," said Henry to Will. "Take Ghost. See what you can find." Immediately Will ran for his bike and hollered for Ghost to follow him. From the house, Drake and the rookies returned with a black zippered duffel bag stuffed with cash. Henry took a cursory look and then zipped it back up. "The full half-mil?"

"Right, boss, but that emptied every safe in the house," said Drake.

"Fine. Tommy, I want you to hold down the fort here with whatever men the sheriff leaves. I want two men along with the sheriff's checkpoints on either side of the highway as backup in case the sheriff can't stop them. Beck, Drake, and Jase, you're with me on the drop." Henry looked at him with steel in his eyes and Jase nodded sternly. No one was keeping him at the clubhouse waiting this out, regardless of what Henry's orders were.

No one argued, but scattered to their respective duties. Henry had one quick last word with the sheriff before he climbed on his bike, parked next to Jase's, and strapped his helmet on. Beck had already pulled out one of the panel vans from the side of the clubhouse; he would be transporting the money bag, and presumably Maggie upon her return.

The sound of bikes roaring to life filled the air. As a few began to buzz down the driveway, Jase looked over at Henry as he adjusted his helmet. A million thoughts exchanged between them without a single word being said.

"I'm going to fix this," said Jase. "I'm going to get her back."

"We will get her back together," said Henry. He clapped a hand on Jase's shoulder. Jase waited and followed a few meters behind, praying to himself that they weren't too late already.

~ Seventeen ~

Every mile of the ride to the drop off seemed to take a thousand years for Jase. He knew it was worse for Henry, though that was difficult to even fathom. He followed the president as he wheeled in and out of slow highway traffic, keeping his speed only low enough to prevent a slide-off. Drake kept pace beside him. Beck lagged behind in the van, but he had the location-none of the bikers needed to wait.

Jase felt a growing dread in his gut. Maggie's screams burned in his ears. He tried to let the soothing rumble of the bike beneath him spread and calm him, like it would calm Maggie if she were on the back, arms wrapped around him tight. Christ, he couldn't lose her again, not now. He felt like the hero in some Greek tragedy.

The drop-off point was northeast of LeBeau's limits, and at least five miles from the hideout coordinates they had received from the Afghanis. After a small detour down a gravel road, the bikers came to a flattened clearing that had likely once been the location of some pioneer homestead or ranch, though no buildings remained now. Two ugly black vans were already waiting for them, turned facing towards the gravel road to the highway. The bikers slid carefully onto the opposite side of the clearing and cut the engines.

"We go in cold," said Henry without looking at any of them. He stabilized and got off his bike. "No weapons out until it's necessary." They waited without moving until Beck came ambling down the gravel road in the van. Jase fetched the bag of ransom cash from the van and returned it to Henry, who led the march to the middle of the clearing.

The doors of one of the black vans slid open loudly, and four men hopped out with M4 carbine rifles slung across their chests. They were wearing denim jackets and jeans and black ski masks, like the men from his driveway. They had no cuts or patches claiming for a club, but the way they moved together betrayed that these were likely members of the Rebel Cross. Henry's contact had told them that Crosses were no different from other clubs and members often took side jobs for money. Whoever these Crosses were, they didn't want the Black Dogs recognizing them. At least a few of them probably lived in LeBeau. The thought made Jase's anger bubble hotter.

"You her old man?" one of the men asked, pointing at Henry. His voice didn't sound familiar, especially as he shouted across the clearing from behind the cotton mask.

"Where is she?" Henry demanded.

The men ignored him. They conversed among themselves for a moment and then moved to approach the center of the clearing. Only one walked all the way to face Henry, with the others falling back to defend on either side, much as Jase and Drake had done themselves. Everyone had casual hands on their weapons.

"Do you have the money?" asked the leader as he walked up to Henry.

"Do you have my G.o.dd.a.m.n child?" said Henry.

"She's safe, old man, don't worry. We just hear you've got a reputation for not paying your dues so we need to make sure you actually brought that money with you. Else she might not be safe very long," said the masked leader.

Jase's rage exploded inside and it took all his strength to keep his feet planted and his gun holstered. He wanted nothing more than to tear over and end this negotiation by ripping some heads off. He tried to keep calm by reminding himself that Maggie would probably die if he didn't keep it together.

Henry flared in anger as well, at the threat, and at the insult. They were working very hard to keep him emotionally compromised. Henry lifted up the bag in silence and opened the zipper far enough to show the piles of cash waiting inside. "It's all here, you f.u.c.king coward. I want to see my daughter."

"Throw that G.o.dd.a.m.n bag down so we can count it first!"

The bad feeling in Jase's gut transformed into a roaring air-raid siren. Something was very wrong. He suddenly doubted that anything was in that second black van at all except more men with automatic weapons. Before he could figure out how to talk to Henry without interrupting the deteriorating negotiation, he felt the shocking buzz of his cell phone from the pocket in his cut. Common sense told him to ignore it, but something else inside him knew he had to pick it up.

Everyone's eyes seemed to be watching Henry and the leader as they fought. Jase carefully slipped the phone out of his pocket. It was Will.

He accepted the call. Immediately the sounds of loud popping and screeching metal poured through the earpiece. Jase put the uncomfortable noise to his ear and whispered Will's name as loudly as he dared. "What's happening?"

"Drake!" Will's voice screamed into the phone, and then came angry roaring followed by the unmistakable sound of 9mm gunfire from very close range-Will firing his weapon.

Jase listened to the sound of a gunfight as his eyes widened. He turned away from the group. "Will, this is Jase, what the f.u.c.k is going on?!"

Jase waited a few tense seconds, listening to the chaos, before Will's voice returned. Jase had never heard Will so loud, so angry. "It's Drake! It's f.u.c.king Drake! He's working with the Rebel Cr-" Pop, poppopopop.

Jase turned and looked across the clearing where Drake stood, bored, watching Henry argue with the masked men. As if he felt Jase's gaze, he suddenly looked over and met it. Even behind the sungla.s.ses, Jase could see Drake's expression drop when he saw the look on Jase's face, phone pressed against his ear. He knew what was on the other end of that line.

"Stop Drake! Jase!" screamed Will.

Suddenly from the call, automatic gunfire erupted like a volcanic explosion, drowning out all other sounds. Jase could make out the faint faraway attempts of Will yelling but couldn't understand another word. He stared at Drake, his breath quickening with every shot. Will and Ghost were stranded in a war zone.

Then as fast as it had come in, the call cut out.

~ Eighteen ~

For a few seconds, Jase could only stare at his phone while the shock processed in his brain. Everything else was faraway and m.u.f.fled. Jase felt something inside him awaken. It spread a new rage throughout his veins and suddenly he was aware of everything in sharp, crystal detail.

Before he realized it, he had stalked halfway across the clearing. Henry's arguments with the hostage-taker suddenly ceased as the men in the masks shouted, questioning, hoisting their guns up in alarm. But Jase wasn't after them, not at that moment. Henry shouted his name but he didn't turn, didn't even slow his pace.

Drake watched him approach like a deer frozen in headlights. The cigarette in his lips fell to the ground as he tried to get out a cry of fear, or surrender-Jase didn't care which.

Jase had a good four inches, and fifty pounds, on Drake's more slender frame. With full force, he shoved his fists into Drake's chest and sent him flying into the dirt with both feet upended. Drake tried to scramble away, but Jase was on him quickly. He lowered a rib-crushing knee into Drake's chest and pummeled his face with punches. The second one shattered his sungla.s.ses, cutting his face and Jase's knuckles, making every hit a b.l.o.o.d.y mess.

The clearing erupted into confused chaos. Henry and Beck rushed over, yelling Jase's name. The masked men yelled at each other, jumpy, waiting for orders.