Unplugged: A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance (38 page)

~
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 t
he
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 hi
m 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 wi
thout
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 of
ten
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 goddamn 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. Els
e 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 of
f. 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 t
he bag in silence and
opened the zipper far enough to show the piles of cash waiting inside.
“It
’
s all here, you fucking coward. I want
to see my daughter.
”

“
Throw that goddamn 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 ne
gotiation,
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 h
e 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 fuck 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 fucking 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 lo
oked over and met it. Even behind the sunglasses, 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 t
he
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. Wi
ll 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 muffled. 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 d
idn’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 sunglasses, cutting his face and Jase
’
s knuckles, making every hit a bloody
mess.

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

Over the din, Jase heard one of them
yell:
“We
’
re made, let
’
s get the fuck out of here!
”

“Trigger go!”
said another.

Jase looked up and saw the
masked men retreating towards the first van. The second
van
’
s sliding door popped and began to open.

“
Get down!”
yelled Jase to Henry. He pulled his
sidearm and started firing off shots at the second van. Someone inside stopped
the door halfway and tried
to push it closed again,
shouting and cursing. Two of the masked men opened fire with their M5s, and
sent Jase scrambling off of Drake
’
s beaten body to take cover behind his
bike. He saw Henry and Beck hunkered down on the side of the MC
’
s van, guns out, t
rying to keep the gunmen in the second van from emerging.
Jase
’
s instincts had been right. They didn’t
bring Maggie; they brought a kill squad.

“
Get the money, get the money!
”

From the side of the rear tire, Jase
watched one of the mask men make a despera
te sliding
run for the bag of money Henry had dropped. Jase wriggled onto his stomach and
took a few clean shots at the runner. One round pegged him in the carotid
artery and the man dropped, blood gushing out of his neck.

Reloaded, the masked men opened f
ire again and pressed Jase down hard enough that he
couldn’t come out from behind the bike. One of them must have grabbed the money
bag, because suddenly the rear doors slammed shut and the van
’
s engines roared up. On cue, all three
of the Black Dogs came
from around their cover and
began to open fire on the vans as they spun out in the clearing, trying to
escape.

Jase jumped to his feet and fired off
the rest of his mag as he followed the van on foot. He heard a few desperate
pings against the metal of th
e second van
’
s body.

A motorcycle revved up behind him, and
Jase turned in time to see Henry speed by him, chasing the vans down. He came
up hard and fast on the second van, lagging behind almost four car-lengths on
the dirt road. Jase heard the pop of He
nry
’
s gun over the roaring engines, followed
by the unmistakable blast of a tire blowing out. He watched as the van began to
fishtail, brakes squealing as someone stomped them with a heavy, panicked foot.
It swerved hard left into a shallow embankment on t
he
side of the country road, and then flipped twice side-over-side with a
cacophony of crushing metal and shattered glass. The first van didn’t even
slow, disappearing beyond the trees towards the highway.

Jase ran over to Beck, already on the
phone with t
he sheriff.
“
Out the way they came. Money should be
on them. We need troopers down here, too.
”
He hung up and looked at Jase.
“
What the fuck happened?
”

His heart still racing, Jase
’
s voice came out shaking with
adrenaline.
“Drake.
He
’
s working with them.
”

“Oh Christ,”
said Beck. He looked around Jase
’
s shoulder to ensure Drake hadn’t moved
from where Jase left him bloodied in the dirt.
“
Pick him up and get him in the van
before the sheriff comes, we’ll deal with him.
”

“
I have to go after Maggie,
”
said Jase.
“
Will and Ghost are pinned down at those
coordinates. That has to be their hideout. I have to get there before
…”
He didn’t finish.

“Go,”
said Beck with a pat on his shoulder.
“We’ll
be right behind you.
”

While Jase revved up his bike, Beck move
d the MC
’
s van to the site of the crash. He and
Henry waited like vultures in case any of them survived it and tried to make a
break before the sheriff arrived. Jase slowed his bike down as he approached,
but Henry only shook his head wildly and waved for
Jase
to move on. Jase gave a confirming salute before he lay on the throttle and
tore up the dirt road towards the highway.

Jase followed the coordinates Will and
Ghost had been checking out and found they led to an old industrial facility in
the hills jus
t off the interstate, tucked in a gully
with steep faces on three sides. The main building was a monstrous thing of
dusty concrete and faded paint. Two relocatable trailers sat on its perimeters,
windows broken out, shingles flapping in the breeze. He didn
’t see a single car or person roaming around outside.

Jase wheeled his bike as close as he
dared to one of the relocatable trailers before shutting it down and continuing
on foot. His stomach went cold when he realized he didn’t hear the sounds of
gunfire
which had been on the other end of Will
’
s call.

Weapon out, Jase sneaked around the
first trailer. He saw no movement. The second trailer was offset and too far
over open ground to make a run for safely. Instead Jase crept for a small
one-car maintenance
garage. As he approached he saw
movement within and decided to go in hot.

Jase plunged into the garage with his
weapon raised and found two similar 9mms pointed in his own face. Behind them
were Will and Ghost, eyes wild, but alive.

“Jase!”
said Will and lowered his gun with a
deep exhale.
“
Fuck, I was hoping it was one of you
when that bike came up the canyon.
”

“
Things have gone to shit real fast,
”
said Jase.

“
We wouldn’t know anything about that,
”
said Ghost with a sardonic laugh. The
pale
, bald-headed rookie showed a lot of promise for
the MC
—
mostly due to his skilled applications
of violence. Will accepted but didn’t enjoy battle; Ghost couldn’t
stop smiling.
“
You have any extra ammo on you?
”

He handed them both two mags from the
six he h
ad brought from his saddle bag.
“
Did you both just threaten me with empty
guns?
”
said Jase. 

Ghost just chuckled to himself and
reloaded.

“
Are you the only one coming?
”
said Will.

“Calvary's
on the way. The drop went bad after
your call. One van is down, the other was making a run for it. They didn’t have
Maggie with them. She has to be here,
”
said Jase.
“
Have you had eyes on her?
”

“
No, but there is only one working
entrance to that big build
ing, and thank Christ for
that. It
’s
the only reason we didn’t
get flanked,
”
said Will.
“
We rode up and there was nothing
—
no cars, no guards. We thought we had
the wrong place, or maybe they had moved shop. We got inside about a hundred
feet and someone sa
w our cuts and called out for
Drake.
”

Jase
’
s teeth ground in anger.
“
They were waiting for that little prick
to come back. No wonder they’ve had the drop on us at every turn. Drake has
known where to find Maggie since she got here.
”

“
Bet our little wheeler
and dealer was going to get a sweet cut of that ransom,
”
said Ghost.

“
Well, the dude who spotted us inside was
just as shocked as we were
—
at least enough that we got off a few shots and made it out
of the building. Then shit just
… got crazy.”
Will shook
his
head and reloaded his gun.

“
Had us pinned for a bit behind some
dumpsters by that other trailer,
”
said Ghost with a point.
“
Dudes only ever came out of that door,
so it left us room to retreat. They holed up back inside after.
”

“
How many?
”

“
I only coun
ted
four that came out after us,
”
said Ghost.

“
By now they might know the drop is
fucked and try to leave. If the first van lost the cops, though, they would be
on their way here with more gunmen,
”
said Jase.
“
We should go in now while there
’
s a chance we
can
overtake them. We have to get Maggie out of there.
”