Monster Slayers MC Book 3

The next morning, I called Church right after breakfast. I had sent Eagle a text letting him know we were having an executive meeting as soon as Church was over and he showed up with his family right as we were walking into the meeting room.

I met him outside in the hall and stopped him from entering the meeting room. “You all good, brother? No incidents last night?”

I asked.

“All good, Prez. Nope, not even a bad dream. Carmella seems to have a good effect on me. She calls me “dada” and the world goes back upright again and then I make love to my wife and she makes it perfect.” He said honestly with a grin as he wiggled his eyebrows at me and I couldn’t help the chuckle that left my mouth.

“Hey, did you call the lawyer about getting the ball rolling on the adoption papers? I want to get that going as soon as possible.” He said.

“Yeah, I did. He’s supposed to be getting back to me in a day or two. I have to call him about something else today too but I’ll go over part of that in the meeting later. Come on, let’s get this going.” I told him with a pat on his back.

Church was for all patched members only and I brought them all up to date on what had happened with Dale and that whole situation yesterday. I told them what Dale had revealed to us about Scotty not carrying his name and what his name actually was. I asked Eagle if he wanted to take care of finding out where Scotty’s mother was buried and seeing if there was a plot next to her available or not. He agreed and also said he would take care of seeing to it that the coroner recorded Scotty’s name correctly.

Eagle also wants to know his actual cause and, if possible, time of death. He said he would contact the local funeral home and take care of getting arrangements made. All he asked from me was to deal with Mona from the state and I agreed. He was really taking this case to heart and after seeing the pictures of that little boy, I could understand why. We all had had cases that had touched us, that we would never forget and Scotty Nelson was the one for Eagle.

He made one final request of us that rather shocked us all. “This little boy had no one but a nice elderly old lady who lived next door who gave him food and a warm place to stay every once in a while when his sperm donor was out getting drunk or whatever, leaving him locked out of his own home sometimes overnight in nothing but what you saw he had on in the pictures. I want to ask some of you to ride with me to Coilney to be pallbearers at his funeral and to see him properly laid to rest, hopefully near his mother.”

Hands went up all around the room and I told him. “We will ride as a club. Everyone goes, even the wives and children.”

“Thank you brothers.” Eagle said.

It was painfully quiet in the room for several seconds but then I cleared my throat and said “Next order of business is welcoming all of our current prospects who are of age as patched members, even Gary. They have all proven themselves, especially after last night. Does anyone have any objection to approving all of them as new members?” I asked and then waited for a full minute for anyone to say anything but no one made any objection.

“We are looking for road name suggestions for seven of them. I already know what name I’m going to give Ethan. He’s going to be named “Joker” because that’s just what he is. He and his practical jokes make the name perfect for him. If anyone has suggestions for names for the rest of them, please write them down on a piece of paper along with their real names and leave it in a box I will place in the kitchen. Prospects will also be able to offer the names they would like to have but it doesn’t guarantee them that we will decide on that name. As soon as I have all the road names, I will order their new cuts.” I told them.

“Next item of business is the upcoming holidays. We are going to be catering both the Thanksgiving and Christmast dinners. Our wives should not have to be stuck in the kitchen all day cooking for you guys, especially since there are children in the house now. They have said they will be making treats for everyone and I shouldn’t have to remind all of you that what they make is for everyone. Don’t make pigs out of yourselves when it comes to one item.” I said looking at Boomer, who always pigs out on Marley’s brownies.

“Also, the ladies are going to decorate the house for both occasions, as always. They do this for all of us so no running away or making excuses in helping out.” I said, looking around the entire room. “Also per all the wives request, we will be shutting the bar at midnight on Christmas Eve. They do not want us all stumbling around still drunk or hung over the next morning because the kids will be downstairs getting their gifts.

Dixie also told me to remind you to make sure you turn in your presents for gift wrapping at least two days before or it’s up to you to get them wrapped on your own. The ladies are doing this as a courtesy to you guys, so don’t wait until the last minute.

Unless anyone has something we need to discuss here, church is dismissed.” I said and picked up my gavel. No one said anything so I banged it on the block on the table and everyone but the executive members stood up to leave.

As soon as the room was clear and the door closed behind the last member, I addressed them. “Well, we went over most of what I needed to talk to you about in church but I need updates on where the prospects stand in their training and recommendations on what their roles will be within our club.

Eagle you mentioned to me the other day that Nate is becoming good with guns and Hunter you said that he knows how to move quietly. What about his tracking skills?” I questioned, pulling a legal pad close to me and writing down Nate’s name.

“I think with a little more training, he could be called a sniper. He’s fast on the draw with a handgun from either his hip or a shoulder holster but his aim needs some more work.”

“Hunter, how’s he doing on tracking and finding?” I asked.

“He can move quietly when he focuses on what he’s doing. He can pick up obvious tracks but still needs to work on finding more hidden signs. He’s getting pretty damned good at setting traps too. Almost put me in the air the other day. I’m going to work on that with him this week.” Hunter said.

“What about the others?” I asked. Being able to handle a weapon was very important but it was also important to be able to find the target and to take them out when a gun couldn’t be used.

“Juan is a badass with knives, especially throwing them. Willy is another one that is good but his skills are more close quarter fighting. Steven isn’t bad either but they need more practice. Jailer should work with them more closely. He’s about the best we have with knives.” Boomer said.

“We need to work out group training sessions as well as individual sessions with each. Some of our other members need to step up and start taking more responsibility in the training too. They need to keep their skills sharp as well as passing on their knowledge to younger members.

We need to have designated teams that can work together and be compatible with each other to cover all the bases. I need the executive staff to assume roles more focused on being supervisors and graders. You oversee the members who are doing the training and then grade the prospects on their skill levels. We all know that skills can degrade if not used often enough. And while being an expert in any given field is great, we all need to cross train and to learn how to pick up and carry on when a member is down.

Thankfully, we have not lost a patched brother since we lost Ox and while that was a big loss to not only us personally who grew up with him, but it was a great loss to the club in general. Thankfully, Hulk was already a member and has filled his shoes in training our members on strength and fighting on a heavy weight level.

Boxer will be moving up as a trainer to work with the lighter weights. Hulk, I need you to work with them on weight lifting and on getting their muscles in better shape and not all of it should be upper body strength so that they look impressive in a tight t-shirt but their legs need work as well.

I overheard several men complain about having to haul their ammo and guns so far the night we hit the Cobra site. If they had had to run for their lives for whatever reason, they would be in a world of hurt if they even made it out alive. All of us need to be working out and keeping in shape. I know I’m starting to get a beer gut because I spend so much damned time behind this desk.” I told them.

“That said, I feel we need to add to the executive committee with a secretary and a treasurer so that I can get out from behind this desk more often. As for the executives, I need us to focus more on our businesses both in town and on the rescue level. If it wasn’t for Dixie helping me before I never would have realized it but since she had our son, she hasn’t been able to help me as much and I’m overloaded and I’m not ashamed to admit I need help.

The paperwork alone is daunting but I want to keep it in house and not have to contract out things like a bookkeeper or accountant. I’d rather we have someone in house that we can count on to keep things in order. I’m going to be looking at all of the members’ files but want to know if any of the women might qualify too. Does anyone have any objections to that?” I asked and everyone shook their heads.

“Next order of business is that I’ve gotten word that several young women have gone mysteriously missing from Bolton and Deacon this past week. I think we may have traffickers moving south on Hwy 287 and they are picking up girls and young women as they go. The police in both locations are asking for our help on this one. Any suggestions on ways to find out if my suspicions are accurate?”

“Can Circuit access cameras along that route as well as in those cities to see if we can spot a vehicle moving through both locations as well as driving down 287?” Hunter asked.

“Let’s get him in here and ask.” I said and I pulled out my phone and texted Circuit to come to the meeting room. “He’s also one I think we need to have join us on the executive committee as well as adding a Road Captain. We haven’t had one in a long time.”

Circuit knocked on the door a couple of minutes later and I called out “Come in.” He entered carrying his laptop, like he knew we were going to need it.

“You need something, Prez?” Circuit asked.

“Yeah. We’ve gotten reports of young women going missing in both Bolton and Deacon. Is there any chance you can access cameras in those cities that might let us see if there is a similar vehicle in both locations or anywhere on Hwy 287?” I asked hopefully.

“Wow, that’s a big demand for small cities like those that aren’t exactly up to date on technology. Can you narrow down the areas where the women were supposedly taken from or even times of day?” Circuit asked.

“Let me look at the reports the cops sent me.” I spent a couple of minutes going over the files and finally separated them out by the dates and times the women went missing. You could see a definite pattern of when the women had gone missing.

“It looks like these guys are driving around a specific area for a day or two, picking up easy targets before moving on. The first woman, Shelly Turner is 17 and is from Bolton. She apparently went missing somewhere between 4 and 4:30 pm last Saturday. She worked at the convenience store on the corner of Miles Street and Hwy 81 and finished her shift at 4 pm.

She lives only a short distance away on Snail Street and when she didn’t show up at home by 4:30 pm, her mother got worried and called the police. They of course did nothing about it right away because a person has to be gone for at least 24 hours before they will do anything about it. Oh and her car was still at work but she had told a coworker that she was headed home and had punched out on her timecard.”

“The second woman to go missing is Stephanie Jackson, age 19, also from Bolton and she apparently had left home to go jogging around the Rabbit Stadium Park at 6 pm on Sunday evening. She never came home. Her parents reported her missing about 9 pm that night but again the cops didn’t do a damned thing.” I told him.

“Ok. Hang on. Check this out.” Circuit said and hooked up his laptop to the TV and we all watched as he brought up a map of Bolton and zoomed in on the area of the park where the second woman had gone missing.

“Look. The first girl was taken from here, the second one from here. The first one lives here, less than a block from the park. What is the home address of the second woman? I’ll bet it’s within walking distance of the park.” Circuit said.

“Yep. Beacon Street.” I told him.

“Circuit, look and see if you can access a camera at the convenience store. They are the most likely to have cameras outside.” Hunter said.

Circuit tapped away furiously on his computer and a few minutes later he finally pulled up an outdoor camera that showed the parking lot of the convenience store.

“Now let’s just pray that they don’t erase nightly but since one of their employees has gone missing, it would surprise me if they did.” Circuit said and rewound the recording back to about 15 minutes before the time Shelly got off of work. They saw several cars of all kinds come and go but when, just a few minutes before 4 pm, a dark blue van pulled around to the side of the building and parked in the first corner stall.

That blocked the vision of anyone looking in that direction, even from the busy intersection close by, from the street so the kidnappers could grab anyone who walked past them and throw them into their van without being seen unless a car was coming up the road that ran behind them.

No one got out and we focused on it intensely. There were several other cars parked in that general area but apparently they were employee cars because no one came out to move them, even though there was a steady flow of customers in and out of the store.

At two minutes after 4 pm, they saw a young woman leave the store and turn towards where the van was parked. She walked down the sidewalk and turned the corner. She had just crossed in front of the van when she turned her head and it looked like she either knew the person or the occupant had called to her, probably asking directions or something. They saw her step off the sidewalk and out of sight behind the van. A minute later, the van pulled out and there was no sign of Shelly anymore.

“See if you can get a license plate, make and model of the van.” I told him.

“Damn, the picture is so grainy that I can’t make out what it says but it’s a Dodge panel van.” Circuit said.

“Get me side and rear pictures of the van. I’ll send them to the Bolton PD and see if they can locate anything on the vehicle.” I told him.

“I can’t find any active cameras around the park.” Circuit said in a defeated voice.

Circuit repeated the same process for the young woman who had gone missing in Deacon just last night. “This girl is 17, her name is Maria Vasquez. She went to the store for her mother at 4:30 pm to pick up something for dinner and should have been back within a half an hour but she never came back. She lives on W. Grady Street and was going to Walmart.” I relayed the information to Circuit.

“Walmart will definitely have cameras but there will also be a lot more people and cars. Cross your fingers that we can spot the same van. Is there a description of what she would have been driving?” Circuit asked as his fingers typed away furiously on his laptop.

“A 2020 red Honda Accord. Apparently it was her birthday present when she turned 17.” I said. “She’ll turn 18 in two weeks.”

“Ok. There she is. She’s pretty. She went into the store so let’s watch for the van.” Circuit said.

“There! Coming into the parking lot.” Hunter said, pointing at the screen. We all watched as the van seemed to park sideways across several stalls a row away from where Maria had parked. They seemed to just sit to watch the people coming and going. It looked like they were going to give up after a few minutes because there were so many people in the parking lot but then we saw Maria coming out of the store.

The men in the van must have spotted her too because they pulled up right in front of her vehicle just as she walked over to the drivers side and started to get in her car. A man with a black hoodie got out of the van, walked over to her before she opened her door and after talking to her for a second, grabbed her and threw her in the van. He slammed the door and the van quietly drove away. No panic, just pulled out as if nothing was unusual.

Unfortunately from the angle he had been in relation to the camera, we weren’t able to get a clear shot of the license plate but you could clearly see the Dodge logo on the van. “Send me that video to my email and I’ll get it to the police right away. Hopefully, the Deacon police can use it to stop another woman from disappearing.”

I got the information from Circuit and immediately got on the phone to first the Deacon police and gave them the information. I was so relieved to hear that so far they had not had any more reports of anyone going missing but were going to put out an all points bulletin on the van. Hopefully, they would catch them before they had a chance to grab anymore young women. I asked that we be kept up to date on what was going on and the Captain of the Deacon police guaranteed me he would stay in contact with me.

Circuit was flipping from one camera in Deacon to another and suddenly he jumped and yelled. “I’ve got ’em. The van is at the Taco Bell right down the street from the Walmart right now! They are trapped in the drive thru lane. Two cars behind them and three in front of them.”

I grabbed my phone and called the captain from the Deacon police back and gave him the location of the van. “He’s in the drive thru lane at Taco Bell right down the street from Walmart. He can’t get out right now because of the way the drive thru is set up.” I told him with excitement I was unable to hide. It was going to feel good if they could get these guys now before they had a chance to do any more real damage to any of the girls they had already captured. Lord knows why they had taken them or what they had already done to them.

The captain hung up and immediately called for cars to surround the Taco Bell. Within minutes, we were able to watch on the live camera feed as the Taco Bell parking lot was surrounded by police and they secured the blue van. Unfortunately, the two men inside of it acted like they had no clue what the police were talking about but they were still detained until their van could be completely searched for any evidence there might be of the women.

About half an hour later, Captain Dickerson of the Deacon Police Department called me and said “We found some small traces of blood, like from a nose bleed or maybe a split lip and some hair in the back of the van. It will take a little while to get fingerprints worked out because the back of the van is full of them, most smeared beyond identification. These two bozo’s refuse to talk but the strange thing is they are not asking for lawyers. They just keep grinning and saying “Just set our bail and it will be paid.”

“Do not let them go for any reason. If they refuse to talk, call me. We’ll get the women’s location out of them.” I said with conviction.

“Will do.” the captain said and then hung up.

We had worked with the Deacon police many times in the past and the captain knew that we would take care of things that he couldn’t. He did not question our techniques, he just liked our results.

“Good work, Circuit! At least we stopped them from grabbing any more girls. Now Deacon police are going to try to question them but I’ve got a feeling we are going to Deacon. Hulk, Hunter, you guys ready to go for a ride? Maybe take Jailer and Boxer with you?” I asked. “Hell, I may even go along with you! I’m tired of being stuck at home.” I added with a grin.

Hulk cracked his knuckles and said “Hell, yeah! When do we leave?” Hunter just grinned and nodded.

“Well, he’s going to call me back if he can’t get them to talk but in the meantime, I’m hungry. Let’s go see what the ladies came up with for lunch.” I said and pushed away from the table.

We had lunch and spent time with our women. I explained things to Dixie and she said she understood but as always, she was worried about us. “Just promise me you guys will be careful and come home safe to us.” She said as she snuggled in my arms. We were sitting on the patio, watching the little ones play in the yard.

Hunter was a totally different person around his son. You could tell the two of them were going to be close as they seemed to share a special bond. I just hope I will have the same bond with my son when he gets older. I looked over at Samuel who was asleep in a carrier next to our chair and realized I had never known how much I could love another person as much as I love Dixie.

An hour after lunch, I got another call from Captain Dickerson in Deacon. “Rooster, I think you need to head this way. Some ambulance chaser showed up here demanding their release and I told him they were being held until we have completed our investigation of the missing girls. I explained that we have the right to detain them for a minimum of 24 hours before we officially charge them but he’s saying that’s a violation of their civil rights. It’s not actually but unless I can come up with some concrete evidence saying they took the girls, then I’m going to be forced to let them go.” The captain said.

“Isn’t the video enough?” I asked.

“Since neither of their faces show up on the tape when the girls were grabbed, we can’t positively identify them as being the ones who grabbed them. They are saying they borrowed the van from a friend but won’t say who the friend is.” the captain said.

“Who owns the van?” I asked.

“The Cobra MC up north around Chicago.” The captain said.

“Damn! When are we ever going to get rid of those damned snakes? Okay, we’ll head your way now.” I said and then hung up.

“Dix, I’m going to have to go to Deacon now. Looks like we have another Cobra problem.” I told her and then kissed her and lifted her off of my lap.

“Hunter! Let’s go.” I said then sent a text to Jailer, Hulk and Boxer. “We ride in 15 minutes.”

I walked into the house and found 4 prospects in the dining area Juan, Nate, Rodney and Willy and decided they were going to come with us. “Grab two vans and get ready to roll. We’re going snake hunting. Make sure you have your weapons and tarps and rope in the vans. Also blankets and bottles of water in a cooler. You’ve got 15 minutes. MOVE!” I told them. All four of them shot out of their chairs and started running to collect what we would need to bring back the prisoners and hopefully the girls.

Fifteen minutes later, our wives came out to say goodbye and we mounted up and drove out of the compound to Deacon. We made the half hour drive in about 20 minutes and I told everyone but Hunter to park down the street and to keep their eyes open.

Captain Dickerson was standing at the front desk talking to the desk Sergeant when we walked in and they both greeted us cordially.

“Good to see you again. One of these days we are going to have to get together for something that doesn’t include criminals.” Captain Dickerson said.

“You fish?” I asked him.

“Man, I haven’t been fishing in years but one of these days I’m going to go again. You?” He asked.

“Same boat as you. Work too much and not enough down time.” I grinned at him. “So where are the bad boys?”

Captain Dickerson turned and told the Sergeant to have the two men brought up. He handed me a handcuff key and said “I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Let me know if you get anything besides blood out of them.” He turned and walked down the hall to his office.

Hunter and I only had to wait for a couple of minutes before two patrolmen escorted the two men down to the waiting area. As soon as the two men saw our cuts, they got very nervous and one started to say “Hey, what is this? You can’t turn us over to them! What the hell is going on?”

“Shut up you dumb ass.” The other one said.

“Hey, I’m not going to......” The first one started to say when his friend head butted him in the face.

“I said shut up!” The second one shouted at him.

The two patrolmen looked at us and then at the Sergeant and Sergeant said “Come on guys. I need some help down here.” He reached behind his desk and I heard him flip off a switch then look up and saw the little red light on the camera go off. He nodded at me and then turned and followed the two patrolmen out of the room. Now it was just me, Hunter and the two criminals.

“Look you can both start talking and save not only your own skin but us all a lot of time and headache and yourselves a lot of pain and probably blood loss or we can go for a ride and I can guarantee you will tell us what we want to know before we prepare you for the coroner. What’s it going to be?”

“What do you want to know?” The first one asked and his friend tried to bump him again but Hunter grabbed him and made him sit down. I saw the light on the camera go on again and winked at Hunter and quickly looked up at the camera and he nodded that he understood.

“Where are the girls you grabbed?” I asked him. He was barely twenty years old and looked like he was about to shit his pants.

“Don’t you say anything! You know what they will do to us if we talk! I’m not going to die because you couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut.” The older one said. He was closer to thirty and you could tell he had lived a hard life by the condition of his skin and the look in his eyes.

“Screw you man. They are not the ones whose lives are on the line and about to end here man. No one is backing me up and I’m not going to name any outside names but I’m hoping that if we tell them where the girls are, they will go easy on us.” He said looking at me hopefully.

“I’ll talk to the Captain IF the girls have not been harmed and are just tucked away somewhere safe.” I told him and saw his face fall.

“See, he’s not going to cover your ass or get you off scott free so you better shut your mouth right now.” The older one said.

“Look, can’t we make a deal here?” The younger one asked.

“Son, your chances for a deal was when Captain Dickerson was asking you the questions. I can’t make any promises like that. All I can do is tell him how helpful you were in helping us find the girls and maybe he will put in a good word for you with the PA to get you a lighter sentence.” I told him honestly. “But at least you will still be breathing.”

“Yeah, until..........” The older one started to say and Hunter growled at him “Shut your trap! You are not going to be given any chances so stop trying to ruin his.”

Just then Captain Dickerson stepped out of the hall and said “Rooster, can I talk to you for a minute?”

I walked over to where he was standing and keeping our voices low, he said “I think we need to separate them or this could take all day. Shift change is going to happen in less than half an hour, then this place is going to be filled with men coming and going for the next shift and guys getting off work.”

I nodded in understanding and told him “Have you got an interrogation room for the little bird? My men will come and get the loud mouth and we’ll hang on to him in one of our vans for now. Maybe make him think twice about his choices if he thinks he’s going with us.” I grinned at the Captain who grinned right back at me.

“Sure.” He replied. “I’ll get it set up.” he turned and walked down the hall and I texted Hulk to come collect the loud mouth.

A minute later, Hulk and Jailer came into the lobby and the younger prisoner looked up at Hulk and whispered “Holy shit!”

I nodded to the older prisoner and Hulk picked him up by the back of his neck and made him stand up. He grabbed his arm and said “Come on “bad boy” you’re coming with us.” Hulk said and they left the building again.

“Where is he taking him?” The younger one asked.

“Just be thankful you are not going with him, at least that is if you tell us what we want to know.” I told him. “Come on, we’re going to go get some coffee and sit down where we can be a bit more comfortable.”

Captain Dickerson turned around, trying to cover the smile that was threatening to spread across his mouth and said, “This way guys.”