Lost MC (The Nighthawks MC Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Book 4

  Leader Lost

  Seekers

  Finders Keepers

  Aftershocks

  China Trip

  Expansion

  Danger Zone

  About the Author

  Lost MC

  The Nighthawks Motorcycle Club

  Bella Knight

  Book

  4

  Edited by

  Natasha Lind

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  Contents

  1. Leader Lost

  2. Seekers

  3. Finders Keepers

  4. Aftershocks

  5. China Trip

  6. Expansion

  7. Danger Zone

  About the Author

  1

  Leader Lost

  “Don’t be stupid enough to kick the anthill.”

  Lily passed Ace a walnut bagel. “Regular cream cheese or strawberry?”

  “Strawberry,” he said. He smeared it on.

  “Lion King?” asked Ivy.

  “Wonderful show, from what I hear,” said Ace. “But it’s Disney originally, and they may think that we think they’re still little boys.”

  Ivy snorted. “I’m not taking them to see Chicago.” Ace waved his ‘jazz hands,’ and Lily snorted again.

  “Cats, Aladdin, Wicked. Phantom of the Opera.”

  “Phantom,” said Ace.

  “I’ll book the tickets,” said Lily. Her phone buzzed in her hand. “Henry,” she said, opening the text. “That’s weird. It’s four in the morning there.”

  “I guess he figured we’d be up all night.” He rubbed her bare feet.

  “It’s been five days!” she said.

  She pulled up the text. Her feet hit the floor. “He says Keiran and Pavel are alright. My brother has been kidnapped. One dead, one injured.”

  Ace leaned forward. “Henry is the only one who knows where your brother is. How could anyone else?”

  Ivy stood, went over to the closet, pulled out the suitcases, and threw each one on the bed.

  Ace called Henry. He answered.

  “Ace here,” said Ace. “When did it happen?”

  “An hour ago,” said Henry. “Just found out.” His voice was low and gruff, very unlike the cultured teacher.

  “Going back now,” said Ace.

  “Ride safe,” said Henry. The line went dead.

  “Call the airline,” Ace said to Lily. “Move our ticket back to right now.”

  “Las Vegas? Isn’t my brother in Oregon, or Wyoming, or something?”

  “Devlin wasn’t kidnapped,” said Ace. “Henry was. They’ve got Henry.”

  “What the fuck?” asked Lily, calling the airline.

  Ace went to the bathroom, coming out with both of their toiletry kits.

  “One, he doesn’t sound right. Two, he said, “Ride safe,” and we flew here. Third, he didn’t use our code word.”

  “Salmon,” said Lily, calling up the airline’s website. “He didn’t text it, either.”

  She typed in their return ticket codes, and changed them to the next flight to Vegas with one thumb all while throwing her clothes into the suitcase with the other hand.

  Ace called the school, making sure the boys were safe. He threw his clothes in his suitcase, then ran around the room making sure they had everything. They both zipped up their suitcases. “Let’s roll,” he said.

  While Lily checked them out of the hotel, Ace texted the group, Henry OOP, which meant, Henry Out Of Pocket. He used his own code, a series of numbers, that said, phones stolen, 0506. Everyone would now communicate on burner phones or in code.

  He went to the concierge. “Is there a place that sells burner phones near here?” he asked. “I need two and two chargers.”

  “Ten minutes,” said the concierge. She was a woman with bright-red hair and a black coat with a gold emblem on it. “Fully charged, both of them.”

  He handed her a C-note and a fifty. She made them disappear.

  “I also need a cab for ten minutes from now to the airport,” he said. “JFK.”

  “Excellent, Sir,” said the woman.

  He realized they hadn’t finished breakfast. “And the food from our room, bagels, and cream cheese. Can it be packaged and brought back down? And two cups of coffee.”

  “Room number, Sir?” the concierge asked.

  “2112,” said Ace.

  “Yes, Mr. Dolan,” she said.

  They wolfed down the food and took turns going to the bathroom to wash up while they waited for the phones. The phones arrived, and the concierge showed them how they worked, and that they had been charged with twenty dollars each of calls, which wasn’t much. The concierge suggested they text or use Skype.

  The bell person helped them load their suitcase in the trunk; Lily gave her a five. They got in the taxi, and the taxi driver said, in a Brooklyn accent, “Where to?”

  “Kennedy,” said Ace, “and make it as fast as you legally can.”

  “On it,” the man said, pulling out. Ace pulled up Skype and sent out their new numbers to Gregory, Ivy, Alicia, and Bella. He also sent the Henry OOP and 0506 codes as well.

  “I’ve got Ivy,” said Lily, “she’s leaving Callie and the girls in San Fran and catching a plane back.”

  Bella called Ace. “I know,” she said. “They took Inola, too.”

  Ace felt an ugly roiling in his gut. Henry, he could understand. Henry was the head of the Nighthawks. But Inola?

  “From the ranch?” he asked. Bella lived there with Inola in the tack house, on Henry’s farm.

  “Came home from Butterfly, around one.” Butterfly was a new bar and grill aimed at women only. “His truck was there. I saw the window open. The corgi’s fine, by the way, just locked in a laundry room. Blood, glass. I called 911. Idiot routed me to Boulder City, not the tribal police. I went in back, and my girl… Inola wasn’t there, but the pati
o furniture was broken, and that pink, shell necklace I gave her was smashed, like under feet; boots I reckon. I hung up on the idiots and called the tribal police myself. They were here in six minutes. They sent David Red Eagle, and he was all over calling in the crime techs. The yahoo from Boulder City, Gunther Ochan, came in half an hour later, saw David, and left. I got his badge number and car number then I called his superior officer.”

  Her voice filled with tears.

  “Blood. In the house, on the lawn, on the necklace. They’re both hurt, Ace.”

  “We’re coming,” he said. “Ivy’s on her way. Call Gregory, set up a command post at the clubhouse. Call Nina, tell her to help you take care of the animals. We’ll be there as soon as we can. Take the dog and get out of the way of the police, get the horses fed and out.”

  Bella’s breath steadied, “On it,” she said. She hung up.

  Gregory called on Skype from his phone after Ace told Lily about Bella’s conversation. His voice was scratchy from lack of sleep.

  “I’m on my way back. Elena and Katya are having a spa day at the hotel in Sedona. I’m going to stop at a Wal-Mart and get a burner, and a charger, and a car charger.”

  “Did Bella tell you what was going on?”

  “Nope,” said Gregory. Ace gave Bella’s report. “Fuck me,” said Gregory. “I can’t get pulled over, so it will take a while. I’ll get ahold of Vince Redtail… and the Iron Nights.”

  “Yes,” said Ace. “I’ll be on an airplane, so don’t know how available I’ll be.”

  “That’s what they wanted,” said Gregory. “For us to be far away, with communication blackouts; unable to move quickly.”

  “Bella is stuck at the ranch until Nina gets there.” Ace thought some more. “Tito is ex-military, get him in there.”

  “On it,” said Gregory, and hung up.

  They made it to the airport. They traded to an earlier flight that would board in forty-five minutes. Ace waved a credit card around and upgraded from business to first class. They moved as quickly as possible to the gate, dragging their suitcases on their rollers behind her like dogs on leashes. They scanned their tickets, went onto the plane, put away their suitcases, and turned off their phones for takeoff.

  “It’s hard, isn’t it?” asked Lily.

  “What?” said Ace.

  “Giving your power over, letting others do things, being blind as to what is being done and what isn’t.”

  “Powerlessness sucks,” said Ace. They hooked up their seat belts and tried to relax. “Tito will know what to do, and Gregory isn’t in an airplane. And I’ve met David Red Eagle. Guy’s smart and is ex-military himself. He’ll work slower than we want, but he’ll do it right.”

  Once they were allowed to turn on their phones again, Lily showed Ace a text from Ghost. “Killa n I on plane. We over FL. Home soon.”

  “We’ll be together soon,” said Lily. “Let’s eat and rest. We’ll probably be on the run for days.”

  “Marathon, not sprint,” said Ace. “Got it.”

  They kept off the alcohol, wanting to stay sharp. They’d had sex for days, and it actually felt good to have a nice meal of basil chicken and parmesan, potato gnocchi, shredded carrots, and a side salad. They both slid into sleep, with their phones by their ears, holding hands.

  They woke refreshed, ready to take things on. Ace asked Tito for a report.

  Tito replied, “Early stages of investigation. Have timeline. Questioning everyone. Res people saw nothing. Very upset. Iron Knights checking out Blacksnakes. They’re scattered, broken up. Couple of them dead in fights. Idiots.”

  Ace texted back. “Excellent work. Feeling kind of useless.”

  Tito texted back. “Hurry up and wait.” Ace burst out a laugh. He showed Lily the text.

  “On the ground,” texted Ivy to Lily. She showed the text to Ace.

  “Ivy’s on her way,” he texted Tito.

  “That’s kicking the anthill,” texted Tito.

  They landed. They grabbed their suitcases, thanked the flight crew, and went out to the airport. Jackson, an Iron Knight, met them with a 4x4.

  “Hop in,” he said.

  “Thanks,” said Ace. They put their suitcases in. Lily climbed in the back, and Ace in the front.

  “Investigation’s ongoing,” said Jackson. He showed photos of the crime scene. “They hit him as he was entering the house, my guess is they chucked him on the head. Inola ran out the back, and there’s a 911 call that got cut off and no one investigated. We’re looking into that. And that stupid fuck Gunther Ochan’s been fired. They were in the process anyway. Turns out he was fucking a prostitute in his vehicle at the time.”

  “He take a checklist on how to be stupid?” asked Ace.

  “Nope, drinking and gambling problems. They tried to offer hospitalization. He threw both his badge and gun at his commanding officer’s head.”

  “Idiot,” said Lily, taking the phone and looking at the pictures. “Henry put up a fight, and Inola was a wildcat.”

  “Yep,” said Jackson. “Been checking out hospitals and urgent cares, even vets. No joy, not yet.”

  “You guys are good,” said Lily.

  “We try,” said Jackson. “If it is the Blacksnakes, the DEA will try to horn in. They’ve been working their way up, person by person. There’s chatter that a Mexican cartel was involved.”

  “That’s not good,” said Ace.

  “We trip over that, we’re going to take you all underground,” said Jackson. “At least the kids. You do not fuck with those people.”

  Lily sighed. “I’m not moving to Canada. Next problem.”

  “Every single one of you people is strong-minded,” said Jackson. “I like it.”

  Ace texted Gregory that they were on their way.

  “Figured that one out already,” texted Tito.

  They entered into a hotbed of activity. Ivy was standing at a board with pins in it. There was a grid, starting from Henry’s farm. They had sticky notes and flags on them. There was also a whiteboard. Tito was listing their assets and assignments. He saw them come in, and wrote a line through, “Jackson—P/U Ace N Lily.”

  “You is the man,” said Ace, coming up and looking at the board. “I think I’ll just stand here and do nothing.”

  “Fuck that concept,” said Tito, throwing his arm around Ace’s neck.

  He hugged him, while pointing to something elsewhere on the whiteboard.

  “See here, Ace, you got work.”

  In Ivy’s careful script, the sticky note read, “Ace/Jackson —Get food/supplies for long haul.” Tito unstuck the sticky note and stuck it on Ace’s nose. He texted a file to Ace.

  Ace took the sticky off his nose, stuck it to his shirt, and opened the file. “Long, but doable,” he said.

  He went over, hugged Ivy, kissed his wife, and headed towards Jackson’s truck, with Jackson a half-step behind him.

  Round Up the Troops

  They got back with: the cases of drinks, the coolers (actually scavenged from Gregory’s and Jackson’s houses), ice, assorted nuts, trail mix, Chex mix, Doritos, M&Ms, paper plates, cups, plastic silverware, board pens, two new white boards, pins, flags, sixteen burner phones, chargers with cards, and two maps for both the city and Nevada.

  Ghost and Killa rolled in. “Why the fuck you here so early?” asked Ace, giving each of them a hug, a burner phone, and a charger.

  “We waz on dis beach, an’ we got real bored. Heard from Bonnie, got da new 3-wheeler for Killa in, said, hell, let’s go back.”

  “Glad you did,” said Gregory. He gave them a full update.

  “Fuck,” said Ghost. “We gone.” They each snagged a soda and some chips, and then they were gone.

  Ace walked up to the list, and marked through, “Get Ghost and Killa on the street.”

  “So that’s them,” said Jackson. “Wondered who they were.”

  “Newlyweds,” said Ace, “don’t ever piss them off.”

  “Were they in New Orle
ans with you?”

  “Absolutely,” said Gregory.

  “I heard about them. Some girl was beaten up, the guy who did it was beaten up by some women and died, and his brothers tried to take out Ghost and Killa there because they thought those two did it.”

  “Yep,” said Ivy, coming over and swiping the pins, flags, and maps.

  “Rock told me about it.”

  “Rock talks?” asked Ivy.

  “No, but his partner does. He talks for two.”

  “Less jawing, more finding Inola and Henry,” said Ivy.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” the men said.

  They worked the checklist, getting reports on hospitals and urgent cares. They spent time working with Lily’s friend Daisy Chain to illegally access vidcam records, including getting computers up and running, hanging a giant screen, and hooking up HDMI cables to the screen. They used Ivy’s master laptop, getting reports from law enforcement —it was Henry and Inola’s blood; no other blood at the scene so far, and charging the burner phones.

  People called in, and Ivy moved flags around, red from not done shading into orange, and yellow to green for done. Lily stole a case of Mountain Dew and some snacks and went to her own home to work real-time with Daisy Chain, afraid her daughter in the classroom next to their ‘clubhouse-turned-data-center,’ would distract her.

  Framing was going on at the end of the building, adding much-needed classrooms; the workers got their own snacks and sodas and a cooler at a picnic table outside. Everyone inside ignored the banging; some went out to help in between. Utilizing tasks to work off their anger. Henry and Inola were both missing and hurt, and they could only work through checklists.

  Data flowed in and out. Hideouts of the now-incarcerated Blacksnakes were searched, to no avail. No one had been there since the arrests. The meth lab no longer existed, as the chemicals were a hazard. Blood from dying dogs was still on the floor at the dogfight pit; Gregory and Ace came back even more disturbed and angry. They brought pizza, then went next door to pound nails.