SWNOVELS Knuckles: Chapter 9
-:- AXEL -:-
Rocking Carter in my arms, I can’t help but puff my chest out at the beautiful kids I produced with Mia. I look over to where Mia is settling Hunter into the crib. She’s one fierce momma bear when it comes to the boys and I couldn’t be happier with my life. I have Mia, my kids, and my brothers, it’s a dream for me and one I’m very happy to be living.
One crib is standing empty, because every time we split the boys up by placing them in a crib on their own, they start wailing the clubhouse down. But as soon as we put them together, they huddle up and go straight to sleep. Who cares as long as they don’t make that godawful wailing noise!
Once they are settled, I wrap my arms around Mia’s waist and draw her into my body, kissing the top of her head. She loves to snuggle into my body, whether its standing around the clubhouse or in bed at night. I’d never been a man to snuggle, and the word would normally have had me wanting to vomit, but now I love to wrap Mia in my arms and hold her close.
“Pres, you need to come, we have a fuckin’ problem,” Drag shouts from the doorway. Before I can move, Mia has pulled away and is rushing out the door. That woman can’t seem to stay out of trouble, but she cares so much about the brothers and club, I can’t get angry at her needing to know what’s wrong.
Rushing into the common room, the brothers are all standing around someone, and I can feel the confusion rushing through the room. “What’s goin’ on?” I ask as I push my way through, making sure Mia is by my side.
“Where is my sister? She left to come here with Knuckles two hours ago, so where the fuck are they?” Lincoln is shouting, frantically looking from one of us to another.
“Slow down. Has anyone seen Knuckles?” Turning to look at the brothers and everyone is shaking head no. “Tell me what’s going on?”
Lincoln takes a deep breath. “Knuckles came over to the house at seven this evening, we discussed what the women here had been planning for Jo. We agreed, all of us, that’s Jo included because I’d never force her to do anything she didn’t want, that she’d be Knuckles’ Ol’ Lady. They said they had an attraction to each other and would take their time, get to know each other before any full blown relationship started.
“They left in my truck to come here two hours ago, and I was to come here to meet up with them. Knuckles said Jo would live with him and for now, I’d have a room here until the fucker after Jo was sorted out.
“I know he was going to clear it with you when he arrived back here, but he wanted Jo here safe before anything happened to her. He wanted the club protection so she’d be well out of the way if that fucker tried to grab her.”
Buzz steps forward looking at Lincoln. “Tell Specs here what your truck is and anything you can think of that will help us find them.”
“Brothers, we have a brother and his woman missing. Ride out, cover every inch of the town, from here to Lincoln’s house, every route they could have taken, let’s find them and find them fast.” I turn to Lincoln. “Follow me to my office, we’re going to contact Nell and I’ll see if we have any new information on this Tommaso fucker.”
Mia I can see is upset, so I take hold of her hands and kiss her forehead. “We’ll find out what’s going on, but if it’s going to take a while, we’ll need fresh coffee at the ready, can you do that for me?”
“Yeah, I can do that, but Axel I want Knuckles back, and Jo, as fast as we can. We can’t lose him, he’s tough but he’s also a sweetheart underneath all that size and muscle.” Mia has a tear trickle down her cheek and it breaks my heart to see it.
“We’ll get them back.” I kiss the tip of her nose, then head to my office with Buzz, Drag and Lincoln behind me. I notice; however, BS, Meat, Wings and Stitch have their heads together where they are standing near the bar.
“Take a seat Lincoln, and I’ll call Nell.” Looking at the clock above the office door I’m surprised it’s only 11:15 pm, but thankful it’s not later, as hopefully I’ll not be waking Nell up to ask her questions.
Making the call to Nell I hope will give us answers to some questions, but until we know where the fuck Knuckles is we don’t know if it’s bad yet, but my gut is saying something is not right.
“Hi, Axel, what’s wrong?” Nell asks immediately she picks up my call.
“Knuckles and Jo seem to have gone missing. I’ve got the club out looking for them, but have you received any new information regarding Tommaso I should know about, because Nell, I have a bad feeling about this.”
I hear Nell suck in a surprised breath, then mumble to someone and as she only has her brother, Richie and Tank at the house I assume it’s one of them.
“Okay, there was no new information that shows Tommaso was any nearer to getting to Jo. I spoke to Vincenzo and he has men out looking for him. He’s a dead man walking, he just doesn’t know it yet. The three in the cells confirmed Tommaso is trying to undermine Vincenzo’s position, but the other Capos are not having anything to do with it.” I hear Tank speaking, and Nell relays what he’s said. “Tank says any help you need he’ll be there. But we all will Axel, and although we are not part of the MC we do feel more than mere friendship towards you all. Now, let me know what’s going on and Tank is going to look at the dark web, see if he can find out any more about Tommaso.”
Looking up at Lincoln I shake my head. “Nothing more to tell at this point, but we’ll find them, don’t you think we won’t.”
The door opens and Mia walks in with a tray of mugs filled to the brim with coffee. I can see her shaking and take the tray from her. “Any news?” Mia asks and I shake my head no. She sighs and leaves the office looking sad until she reaches the door, then she turns and looks at me, takes a deep breath and I know she’s not going to lay down with this, she throws her shoulders back and storms down the hall.
“Awe fuck, Mia’s gonna throw a tantrum unless we find them soon,” Drag states, looking at each of us in turn. “I’m going to see Specs and be back in a minute.” We all watch Drag rush out of the door and I turn back to my desk once more.
Taking my seat, I fold my hands on the desk and look at Lincoln. “Is there anyone who would be after either of you apart from Tommaso?”
“No. We’ve lived a quiet life together and until that fucker saw Jo and set his sights on her we’d never had trouble. I’ve kept us moving as much as I could. That’s why I fight to make sure we have spare cash if we have to take off in the middle of the night. We’ve got to find them, I can’t lose her, she’s the only family I have.” Lincoln’s eyes are looking wild and I can understand the worry and strain he’s feeling.
My phone buzzes on the desk and I pick it up seeing it’s Krylon. “What?” I ask, because all I need is something to work with. I listen to what he’s saying and getting angry with each word. “Okay, go check.”
Placing my phone on the desk I look up at Lincoln and Buzz. “Krylon and Austin have found your truck, it’s at the east cross junction, it’s been rammed off the road and done a full turn. There is blood on the passenger side window, but no sign of Knuckles or Jo. But all their gear is in the truck, and Jo’s laptop is sticking out from under the passenger seat. They didn’t leave the truck willingly he said, because there are a lot of footprints in the dirt where the truck dug a groove as it slid to a stop.”
Lincoln shoots to his feet and grabs his hair with both hands. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. He’s got them.”
“Get everyone here now, get them out of bed, get the women here, I want every single club member here now. I want them locked and loaded. Oh, and get Amelia, Bitty and Sybil too, they need to be watched ‘cause you never know what those crazy bitches will do,” I snarl before heading out to Specs office.
Opening Specs’ office door, I see Drag leaning over and looking closely at a monitor. “Here look.” I step closer and see the camera feed that Specs has hacked into. It shows the cross junction, the truck coming towards where they’d turn off for the clubhouse. But before they even see it, a vehicle plows into them from the side, and the truck flips over twice before sliding to a stop.
That’s when the feed is stopped, and I look at Specs frowning. “What happened?”
Specs shakes his head. “Someone cut the feed, and I don’t know what happened next. But Pres this was deliberate, someone wanted to stop them before they got here. It’s either they want Knuckles, or they want Jo. But at a guess I’d say this is that bastard wanting Jo.”
“Call church and call it now. I want everyone here as soon as possible.” I storm back to my office and look at Lincoln and Buzz. “I think Tommaso has them. Specs got the camera feed and we saw them rammed off the road. It wasn’t an accident, they were grabbed, I’m positive. I’m calling Nell back and telling her I want Vitale’s number because I need him to find this fucker or tell me where to find him.”
Lincoln is about ready to blow, but I walk over to him and grab his shoulder. “You’ll come into church with us, you’ll be involved every step of the way. I’d never hold anything back from you, she’s your sister and he’s our brother, but they are more than that, they are club and we never leave a club brother, or his woman behind.”
I can see the water in Lincoln’s eyes and know he’s doing the best he can to get himself under control. Swiping the palms of his hands down his face, he manages to gain control of his emotions, and as you would expect from a fighter, I watch all his emotions close down to deal with what’s in front. Giving me a nod, I squeeze his shoulder once more then lead him out of the office and to church.
We don’t normally take phones into church, but I need to call Nell back and inform her. It doesn’t take long to update Nell and I watch brothers quickly arriving. Some I can see have dragged themselves out of bed and haven’t bothered to dress. The urgency is humming through the room.
When everyone is here, I stand and look at every brother. “We have a missing brother. Knuckles along with Jo, who is Lincoln’s sister, have been taken.” I point to Lincoln when I say this so everyone understands why we have a non-member in here with us. “It appears that the mafia Capo, Tommaso, had them grabbed. Now why they took Knuckles I don’t know, but he could have just been collateral to keep Jo in check. If they threaten Knuckles, she’ll do as she’s told.” The angry outburst around the room says how we all feel about what is happening.
I’m interrupted when there is a loud banging on the door and BS steps over opening it, but I can see he is ready for any sign of a threat. Colton is standing outside and he looks ready to lose it, but he takes a deep breath before snarling, “Nell is here with her guys and a man in a black suit, looks like some company man, but I didn’t ask.”
BS looks over at me and I look at Drag, Buzz, and then for some reason I notice Wings and Meat are not here. Now where the fuck are they? “Let Nell and her entourage come through,” I state and retake my seat, rubbing my neck because this is turning out to be a shitshow of sorts.
Nell walks in with Graham, Richie, Tank, and three other men. Nell quickly steps to the side where everyone can see her. “You all know me and mine, but this is Vincenzo Vitale and his two men. Vincenzo is the Don of the US mafia and he’s here to help find Knuckles and Jo. If any of us find him we have Vincenzo’s permission to terminate on sight, and that includes anyone standing alongside Tommaso.”
Nell looks over at Vincenzo and he steps slightly forward before starting to speak. “I’ve been looking for Tommaso for a few weeks but he keeps staying one step ahead. I’m thinking he has a mole in my camp, but we exterminate moles as any gardener would.” Fuck, he gives a feral grin, that has me knowing what my brothers think now when they say I do that. Vincenzo continues, “We need to find him and terminate him as soon as possible. There will be no retribution for taking him and his soldiers out. They are now classed as traitors to the cause. I have a few places to check out including two warehouses and a closed paper mill, and I’ll update you as quickly as I can. If we can make the clubhouse our central point, we can collect all information here as we gather it. We can’t afford to waste time going over the same buildings or places.”
“I agree. BS make a board in your office. We’ll put up a map of the area, and we’ll pin everywhere we check so we don’t waste time.”
Nell speaks again. “We’ll go back to the boarding house. Tank will get started and see what he can find. Richie and Graham will be on standby, if you need them to go somewhere, text them and they’ll go. I want them to be your back up as spare brothers you’ll have on hand.”
“Okay, that suits me. But brothers…” Every brother in the room stands, places their fists over their hearts and waits. “We have a brother down, lock and load, the club is going to war!”
As everyone gets their area to search and the club starts to quiet down, I see Vincenzo on his phone, barking orders harshly. Nell is standing patiently waiting for the mafia Don I presume, and when she looks over at me, she rolls her eyes before giving the Don a sweet smile.
The women have collected in a corner of the common room and have their heads together, I hope they are not going to do anything stupid. Turning I notice Winter carrying her sniper rifle case and tucking it behind the bar. I grin as I see Target walk up behind her and tuck his case behind and next to hers. They are both on standby to take out the fucker from a distance if we need them to.
Turning, I see Stitch shaking his head at Sawyer and as it piques my interest, I walk over and raise an eyebrow. Stitch looks at me and smirks. “Meat and Wings are missing. You know what that means Pres, they’ve gone to do their thing. They’ll report in when they know something worth telling.”
Nodding because it’s as I guessed when I noticed they were not in church. I hope they find something, because I just want this shit over with and my brother and Jo home.
I look over at Lincoln and wave him over to me. Walking over he looks lost, and I can understand, but I need to give him something to do where he feels useful.
“Lincoln, will you work with Specs in the tech room? We need extra eyes on the monitors and a runner if he needs information handed out.” He looks at me to see if I’m serious that help is needed, and I maintain the bland look I have on my face. When he nods, I slap my hand on his shoulder. “Okay, go down the hall and just go into his office. He’ll tell you what’s needed.” As soon as he walks away, I take out my phone and message Specs telling him to keep Lincoln busy, so he doesn’t lose his head.
Walking over to BS, I get the area I’ll check out and Drag, along with Buzz, walk up and stand beside me. “Okay, brothers, let’s go hunting.”