Creeping closer to the closed door, I silently waited. It sounded like the rustling of clothing and a faint squeak. It was probably just a rat judging by the condition of the place. The Disciples were disgusting fuckers. Just as I was about to turn back to the Road Captain’s room, I heard another noise that had goosebumps breaking out over my skin.
I heard a moan, or maybe it was a sob. It didn’t matter; it was decidedly human. Fuck! I kept my gun trained on the door and walked backwards down the hallway. When I made it to the common room, I whisper-yelled, “Tiny!”
He appeared seconds later from another hallway. I motioned with my gun, “There’s someone in Aim’s room.”
“You sure?” he whispered.
“No doubt, brother.”
“Let’s go check it out. We know it’s not Aim or Asp. Probably a club whore left over from last night.”
We quietly, but quickly, made our way back to Aim’s room. Tiny motioned for me to try the door. This time, the door was locked and, judging by the look on Tiny’s face, that wasn’t a good thing.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my lock picking set. I wasn’t as good as Edge, and none of us were as good as Reese, but I could handle a basic bedroom door lock. I would never admit it, but it took me a little longer than usual because my hands were shaking. I wasn’t scared, per se, but not knowing what was on the other side of the door had me on high alert. I had no interest in being shot again.
Tiny counted to three with his fingers. On three, I pushed the door open and dropped to one knee. Tiny stepped forward with his hand cannon leading the way. “Fuck!” he roared and ran to the bed. “Shit! Are you okay? We’ll get you out of here. Oh, fucking hell,” Tiny continued to ramble.
I stepped up beside him to see what was going on. There was a woman chained to the bed by her wrists. She had a gag in her mouth and was only wearing her bra and panties. After scanning her for any possible weapons or injuries, my eyes landed on her face and everything stopped.
She looked like my mother, my biological mother. Her hair was covering part of her face, and the eye I could see was swollen and bruised, but there was no mistaking the resemblance. Hell, she looked like me and Ember. If it weren’t for her flat stomach, I might have initially thought it was Mom or Ember.
With a shaking finger, I pointed to the woman and asked, “Who is she?”
Tiny was at the head of the bed working on the chains securing her to the headboard. I hadn’t noticed Spazz or the other men enter the room, so I startled when Spazz spoke from behind me. “She’s Copper’s Old Lady. You boys head to the front and keep watch while we get her free. As soon as those chains are off, we’re getting her the hell out of here. We’ll call Copper once we have her somewhere safe.”
I stood frozen, unable to take my eyes off the woman’s face. “Why does she look like my mother?” I demanded. “Why does she look like me and Ember?”
“Because she’s your mother’s sister! No time for explanations. Now, go do as you were told,” Tiny barked in a tone that brooked no argument.
I started to leave the room as I was told, but stopped to pull off my cut and then my t-shirt. I tossed it to Spazz and nodded toward the woman, “For her.”
With that, I left and went to the common room with the other guys. My mother’s sister? My mom didn’t have any siblings. At least, that’s what she told us. Why wouldn’t she tell us about her sister? Especially with her being Copper’s Old Lady. Nothing made any sense.
“Let’s go, brothers,” Tiny shouted as he came barreling toward us with the woman cradled in his arms.
“Give me the keys,” I said to Edge. He handed over the keys to the cage without so much as a sideways glance. I ran ahead to the cage hidden up the road, climbed inside, and circled back to pick them up. They piled in and I sped off to the bikes.
Tiny waited until everyone was out of the cage except for the woman and me. He cleared his throat, “Coal, this is your aunt, Layla. Layla, this is your nephew, Coal. He’s Annabelle’s oldest son and Ember’s twin. You okay riding with him back to the clubhouse?”
She nodded and softly said, “Yes. I’m fine as long as you’re taking me to Copper.”
Tiny nodded and focused on me, “Keep your phone handy. I have no doubt Prez will be calling as soon as I tell him.”
With that, he closed the door, and we were on our way back to Devil Springs. And I had a shitload of questions to be answered when we got there.
26
“Look, man, I know I owe you a few favors and all, but I can’t have bloodshed in my bar,” Henry said nervously. I swung my furious eyes to his. “I, I, uh, there’s a storage shed out back you could use.”
I nodded. “We’ll start with Aim. Batta, you’re with me. Judge, keep Asp locked down. The rest of you wait here and keep your eyes open in case their boys show up.”
Batta and I moved Aim to the storage shed and prepared for a difficult interrogation. I was surprised, and slightly disappointed, when he cooperated with us and answered our questions. One look at the expression on Batta’s face let me know he was equally disappointed.
I decided to start with the most important question, “Where’s my Old Lady?”
“I swear I don’t know. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I honestly have no idea what kind of shit Asp is trying to pull right now.”
“Are you saying you didn’t know he was going after my Old Lady?”