SWNOVELS Axel: Chapter 24
Riding over to Nevada from Utah takes us a while, but I’m not stopping until I get to Mia. I’m steaming with anger at the trick she just pulled. I don’t think she realizes how much danger she’s just put herself in.
Knuckles, Buzz, Hammer and Brag are riding with me, we’re all on high alert because I know Candy is reporting back. We’re going to have to do something about her soon, but I want to catch her outright, with evidence as she’s going to prison with her brother and the uncle if I can make it happen, otherwise they’re going six feet under.
Arriving at Rogue Legion MC, the first thing I notice is the gate is closed, which Sharp had told me they didn’t do unless trouble was brewing.
The prospect lets us through once he’s checked with Sharp, and we park our bikes in front of the clubhouse’s main door. Before we can open the main door Sharp walks out, ‘Sorry Axel, but Mia and her buddy have gotten away, with the help of someone I’m sure.’
‘Fuckin’ hell. How long ago?’ I snarl, running my hands through my hair in frustration.
‘Only about ninety minutes, we think, because Crack took them refreshments, and they were still in the room then.’ Sharp responds, nodding for us to enter the clubhouse behind him.
We follow him to his office, where I take a seat. My brother’s line the walls looking as though they are on guard.
‘Who helped?’ I ask, but I have an idea.
‘We think Zara.’ Crack answers, looking pissed.
‘Crack, fetch Zara, let’s ask her some questions.’ Sharp says, then he picks up his cell, telling someone to bring hot drinks.
‘This is a total crock of shit, Sharp. I cannot spend days following her around. I have to get her back to my clubhouse, where she’ll be safe. We have intel that this uncle is going to step up his efforts. He wants to take Mia out as vengeance for Cara’s death, and he wants his gang in my territory. I need to take him out and I’d like to do it so he spends time, we can deal with him inside.’ Leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. I’m tired, but nothing is going to stop me from getting to my woman.
‘Both the women were okay, Axel. They both had weapons on them, well, until we took them from them.’ Opening a drawer in his desk, he reaches into the drawer then sighs, looking over at me, ‘Well, looks like they got the weapons back.’
Behind me I hear someone laughing so I turn with a dirty look on my face, ‘Pres, you needed an ol’ lady who is resourceful, strong and brave, and you got that in spades.’
Although it’s not the time to appreciate those qualities, I cannot help but nod and grin at Buzz, who had the bravery to say it.
The door opens, and Crack enters, gently pushing Zara into the room in front of him.
‘Well Zara, it looks like you have to answer some questions.’ Sharp states, giving Zara a look that should have her knees quaking, but she’s standing tall and strong.
Sharp leans forward on his desk, placing his elbows on and interlocking his fingers, ‘So, why did you help Mia and Shar escape and don’t try to deny it, I know it was you and you took the weapons out of my drawer.’
Zara just moves her weight from one foot to the other, but says nothing.
‘Why Zara? You know they are in extreme danger. Why did you help them get away?’ Sharp snaps.
‘I plead the fifth.’ Zara responds, which has Crack and a couple of my men chuckling.
‘What the fuck do you know about the Fifth?’ Sharp snarls, looking like he’s on the edge.
‘I learned it at school, the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, it gives an individual the right to refuse to answer any questions or make any statements that could be used against them.’ Zara states firmly and then gets this stubborn look on her face that I’m sure we all know from a woman in our lives.
‘God dammit Zara.’ Sharp snarls, standing abruptly, but I’m impressed that Zara just stands tall and it tells me also that she is not frightened Sharp will hurt her physically.
‘Zara, do you have any idea where they were aiming to go? I need to make sure they are both safe,’ I state, keeping my voice calm but I have to get through to her the importance of this situation, ‘Cara’s uncle is trying to have Mia murdered, he blames her for the death of Cara although she had nothing to do with that.’
Zara looks at me and studies my face, looking for something, I’m sure. I keep my gaze on her, keeping it calm, but let her see the fear I have for Mia’s safety.
‘She didn’t say where she was going, Axel. I made sure they both got their weapons back, so they had something to keep them safe.’
‘Okay, thank you Zara.’ Turning, I look at Sharp, ‘Have you any idea where this uncle is?’
‘I know where he lives.’ Zara states and has us all turning sharply to look at her.
Crack leans over to Zara. ‘Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?’
‘Well, you didn’t ask.’ she replies blankly, but I’m not convinced she isn’t laughing at them privately.
Ten minutes later, we have two addresses where we could find this uncle. Buzz contacts his street man and I contact Drag, who is overseeing the club while I am not around.
Now I just have to find where Mia went so I can rein her in and keep her safe. I can understand she feels her life is again being decided by others, but to keep her safe we have to keep her close.
Trying Mia’s cell again, I still get no response. She isn’t picking up her calls. If I was into spanking, she would have such a red ass, I think to myself.
Heading out to our bikes, I’m frustrated and think the only thing we can do now is go back to our clubhouse. Preparing to leave, I’m thanking Sharp when my cell rings, taking it out of my kutte pocket. I see it’s Target calling.
‘Target?’
‘Hi Pres, I’ve had a call from Mia. She thinks she’s protecting you guys. I tried to talk her back to the clubhouse, but she’s going to spend a night at a motel. I don’t know where, but she’s tired. I’ll try to get her back tomorrow.’ Target states, but I see red. Why the fuck is she calling Target? She should call me and get her ass home.
‘What the fuck? Find out where she is. We need to get protection on her and fast.’ I snarl, then slam the cell back in my pocket, ‘Let’s get out of here and back home.’
Leading us out, we start the journey home, but I’m as angry now as I was when we came here. What a fucking wild goose chase this has been.
MIA
Driving away from the clubhouse, I’m thinking about what we can do next, where can we go and what would be our best course forward.
‘We need to find this fucker who’s after you, Mia. I know we’re not trained like the guys, but we’ve got to do something or he’ll chase you forever.’ Shar states while keeping her eyes trained on the road and the surrounding traffic.
‘I’ve no idea where to find him and you know we’ll have to keep dodging Axel.’ I respond with a bit of a gulp because I’m not looking forward to the next time he sees me.
‘Who could help us? Where can we find the information?’ Shar is tapping her fingers on her thigh, thinking out loud, ‘Let’s speak to Target or Chaos, they know what they’re doing, they’ve been trained, and I don’t think they’ll spill our location if we ask them not to.’
Seeing a gas station ahead, I pull in as we need to top off and I can take this time to call Target and hope he doesn’t give our location away.
Shar fills up and pays while I lean on the back of the vehicle and call Target, ‘Target, don’t let on who it is you’re talking to.’ I quickly say because if he lets on, I’ll hang up and be gone, never trusting him again.
I can hear him walking outside wherever he is. ‘Okay Mia, I’m at the club, outside and no-one can overhear me. Where are you? Are you safe? Do you want me to come to you?’
‘I’m okay Target, we went to Rogue Legion MC, wanting to know what information they have on this uncle, but instead of helping they locked us in a room and contacted Axel,’ I’m steaming with anger while telling Target what has happened, ‘But Zara got us out so we are now filling up with gas and wondering which way to go next? Hence, I need you to give me direction. Where do we look? Where do we go? What do we do next?’
‘God damn Mia, you’re not asking much,’ Target chuckles, ‘I don’t know where the uncle is. The one who would have an idea would be Zara or Gunner.
‘Are you near any motels? You could get yourselves safely in a room for the night and give me a chance to find out some information.
‘When I find this information, Mia, what are you going to do about it? That’s my worry, you can’t go rushing into something without a plan or back up.’
‘Okay Target, I’ll find us a motel, book in, and get ourselves a room. Then I’ll let you know, but you cannot tell Axel or anyone else. If you do, I’ll never trust you again.’ I firmly state, so he knows I’m not kidding. This is something that will move forward with us both if he breaks my trust.
As I’m driving, I update Shar on my conversation with Target and we agree we have to trust that he won’t divulge our location to anyone.
A few miles up the road, we find a decent motel and check in for the evening, ordering room service as we’re hungry from only having a sandwich hours ago.
‘Do you think he’ll tell Axel?’ Shar asks.
‘I hope not Shar. We’ve parked in the corner under the trees, so let’s hope if anyone is looking for us, they miss us. If we have to make a run for it, at least we have trees to hide behind.’
Shar heads into the bathroom and freshens up, then comes back and lies on the bed. ‘I’m going to take first watch Shar, we need to be alert. The last thing we need is getting caught with our pants down. You get some rest and I’ll wake you later.’
‘Okay, I’ll drive tomorrow too.’ Shar responds, but I notice she is nearly talking in her sleep.
Sitting watching out of the window, I can see the frontage of the motel, hopefully that will give us enough time to get the hell out of here if we need to run.