Highway to Heaven (13 page)

“Let’s move,” Sandman’s low voice was barely
heard, but everyone’s feet were already in motion. They quietly
trampled through the woods, careful not to make noise and intently
watching for any trip wires or cameras. The last thing they wanted
was to alert their presence. Heaven stayed close to the girls, her
finger brushing against the trigger of a .45 pistol. She had a 9
mm. strapped to her side, and a .357 Magnum Derringer secured in
her boot, just in case. It was her backup in case someone wanted to
get up close and personal. She carefully stepped over a log and the
ground fell out from under her. Heaven swallowed her gasp and
braced for the fall, sinking four feet into the earth. The amateur
Scooby Doo trap was insulting. She fought back a string of cuss
words, grabbing at the dirt to get grip to lever herself out.
Before she had a chance to crawl out, two huge hands came down and
lifted her up. When her feet touched solid ground, she turned.
Except, it wasn’t Raven, or even Gage or Colt who still held her
tight against a rock solid body. It was Shark.

“You okay, baby?” he whispered. She nodded,
ignoring the ‘baby’ he’d used. She tried to step away but he held
tight. “Be careful,” he warned. As if she intentionally fell in a
hole, and planned not to be careful while they snuck up on one of
the biggest crime lords. Nope, she planned on running up to him and
bitch slapping him. She rolled her eyes, keeping her sarcasm to
herself.

“Thanks,” she whispered and pulled against
his grip again. His head lowered, only a whisper away from her lips
and she froze. The danger around her intensified. Being this close
to Shark was more lethal than if she were in the arms of Reyes
himself. Still, her breath hitched and her lips parted as if he had
some sort of spell on her. Damn but she remembered how euphoric his
kiss was. Just as his lips barely brushed hers, a whispered growl
echoed in her ear.

“Get your ass moving. Now.” Her head whipped
around and saw Gage, his eyes igniting in rage. Shark pulled her
tighter but her body went rigid. She jerked away, leaving them both
with a lethal glare. How fucked up was that? What the hell did Gage
care? And more importantly, why did Shark almost kiss her? They
weren’t exactly in an appropriate place, although that was only one
of the reasons it totally fucked her head. She tried to shake it
off but couldn’t. Her steps were swift but she kept each one
calculated and planned to avoid noise. This time, she watched for
any little questionable area for traps. There was no way she could
handle another ‘saving’ tonight. It’d be better if she took a
bullet than deal with these damn guys.

Abi turned and saw Heaven coming up beside
her and noticed her badass attitude had taken on a new bad with an
extra helping of attitude. She kept a steady path, still eyeing her
in question. With Shady a ticking time bomb on one side, and Heaven
a raging volcano on the other, she smiled. The three of them could
take down anyone who got in their way tonight. Who knows, maybe
they’d get lucky.

*****

Tami woke to excruciating pain and flashes of
terror that wouldn’t stop. She’d closed her eyes in attempts to
shut it off, but every part of her body throbbed and caused the
horrific assault to set itself on a loop in her head. She felt the
touch of a hand on her arm and jumped, wincing and crying out.

“Shhh. Go back to sleep, Tami. Please go back
to sleep.” Sadie’s voice overflowed with desperation. The soft
voice eased the beating her heart was doing against her sore
ribs.

“I can’t,” she croaked. Her throat hurt from
being choked. That man…that horrible man had choked her, then
forced his dick down her throat until she’d almost fainted. He’d
kept her from breathing using multiple tactics that forever scarred
her soul. After the beating and assault, another man took over. One
by one, the five guards that ran the hell they were in took a turn
until they broke everything. Her body, her mind, her heart—there
was nothing left.

“Please, Tami. Make it go away. Dream of
somewhere beautiful.” Sadie brushed Tami’s hair off the knife wound
on her shoulder and seeing it for the first time, felt ill once
again.

“Try, sweetheart. You don’t want to be here.”
Shea reached her fingers through the cage and brushed her fingers
against her arm, feeling despair squeeze her chest for the poor
girl. She knew that pain. Knew that want and need to fade away and
pray for death to come. Tami looked up through swollen eyes, the
emptiness in her distant expression.

“Hel-l-l-p,” she pleaded.

Shea’s eyes filled with tears she didn’t know
she had left. Her heart broke from the shattered shards it was to
dust. “Sleep, baby girl. It’s our only escape.” Tami rolled her
eyes up in the back of her head and she let out a single, soul
breaking wail. Her entire body shook. She was going into shock.
Even if she came out of it, the trauma had already corrupted her
mind. Thankfully, she fell asleep. Whether she’d fallen unconscious
or fell into a deep slumber, she was better off. “I say every day
that I can’t handle any more. God has to come for me soon. Yet,
every day, more comes.” She looked at Sadie, leaning her head
against the cold metal cage.

“It’s almost over. Just trust me, and
believe, Shea. They will come for us.”

Shea shook her head and closed her eyes. “No
one is coming, Sadie. No one has ever found us, and no one will.
This is the first auction in over a year. They’ve been building up
stock for this. And they will continue to if the guard was right.
Auctions are going to be held every week.”

“Which means more abductions,” Sadie added,
her eyes growing wide.

“Yeah. At least the new girls won’t be
tortured as bad. They won’t have time to.” She hoped with all her
heart that no one ever had to endure what she’d been through.
“Until they are sold, that is.”

“God, how could someone buy a human. Slavery
ended a long time ago. I’d rather be sold to plow fields or clean
and cook than someone’s sick sex fetishes.” Both girls went silent
and still as the men filed into the holding area where they were
being held. Another group came out of the cave door, all speaking
and laughing.

“What’s going on?” Sadie whispered so quietly
she wasn’t sure if Shea had heard. Shea turned her head and pressed
her mouth against the cage.

“Shift change,” she cringed. “Sadie—” she
wanted to tell her to fight and go to that place no one could
penetrate in her mind, but she couldn’t spit it out.

“Which means, I’m next.” Sadie’s face went
ghostly white.

“Protect yourself, Sadie. Don’t let them take
your soul.” For the second time in over six months, Shea had tears
fall down her cheeks.

Sadie locked her fingers with Shea’s and
leaned against her. Even though the cold metal was a gruesome
reminder of where she was, feeling Shea’s forehead against hers
gave her hope.

The door to the clubhouse busted open and
slammed against the wall, denting the sheetrock. “Shady! Rose!
Where the hell is everyone!” Rose came running down the stairs as
the guys flooded in from all directions.

“What’s going on?” She glanced back up from
where she’d come, her mind racing. Harley was asleep in her
bassinette and no one else was up there. She decided to stop midway
in case she had to dart back and get her.

“Fish called. The Feds are mounting up to go
help out. Tonto called in backup. They’re going to sell the girls
at some psycho disgusting sex slave trade.” Rave’s back was rigid
and shoulders squared off. For as young as she was, the girl had
one hell of a presence.

“Fuck. I’ll make a few phone calls. Chief!”
she yelled out. Chief came shoving through the group, moving past
the mob of bikers who’d appeared out of the woodwork. With the
Savages, the other chapters that had come to aid, the Nomads, and
the same for the Ops, the place was crawling with brawly leather
clad bikers.

“I want to leave twenty of you here and the
rest are heading out in thirty minutes,” Chief instructed the guys
as he moved to the front where Rose could see him.

“I need Chevy here with Harley. I’m going.”
There was no way she was going to stand aside any longer. This shit
was over. “Call the bitches. Hell, get the rats up here. I want a
fuckin’ army ready to roll out within the hour.”

“No, Rose. The girls all stay here.” As an
elder, Chief was more protective of the girls than their own
men.

“The fuck you say. We may not be official
yet, but the Ladies are riding. We need all the help we can get
with this and you know it.”

“Fuck.” He shook his head. “Chevy won’t stay
while you ride off down the highway. I’ll get my sister to take her
back to the suburbs where she’ll be safe.” Chief was the black
sheep of his family, and the oldest. His sisters were all
professionals in one way or another. Sherry, the sister mentioned,
was a doctor, and his baby sister. She had three kids of her own
and had proven her super mom skills long ago. Of everyone he could
think of, she was the one to trust with Harley.

“Chief—”

“She’ll be taken care of. Sherry’s a doctor
and a mom.” Chief knew how overprotective Rose was with her little
one and didn’t blame her. After the childhood she’d been through,
it was a miracle anyone got to hold her, much less babysit. Rose
nodded, and the subject was done.

“Get weapons. We need enough ammunition to
take out an army, boys. We’re taking the trucks.” He turned to
Road, and Road nodded. He had an expensive hobby, he loved
rebuilding normal trucks with bulletproof glass and enforced
panels. Ironically, he also was in charge of the artillery bunker.
See, the Savages had collected a rather impressive bounty of
weapons ranging from the average pistol to the most high powered
sniper rifle and grenades that came across the border onto their
turf. They didn’t want that shit out on the streets where
gangbangers could shoot up houses and kill innocent people, so they
generously took it away. The community was a safer place because of
it, and even safer with them having the weapons in their
possession. The cops were none the wiser.

Zeus did a chin lift to the guys and most
cleared out, leaving only a few behind who would stay back and
protect the home front. Jas had met Rose at the bottom of the
stairs and her whole demeanor had changed. “What’s wrong?” Rose
asked.

“Nothing. I’ve just realized why my mom did
what she did. I never knew about any of them until recently. How do
I…um…” she stumbled over her words, unsure what to say. Hell, she
didn’t even know what she meant. She just knew that after she got
out of the hospital, she hadn’t seen a lot of Shady and had no idea
if she wanted a relationship, or if they were beyond all that and
it’d just be one of those awkward friendships so many absent
parents seemed to fall in.

“You’re afraid Shady won’t want to get to
know you.” Rose said it so simply she felt silly. She wasn’t a
little girl anymore, but there was a tiny piece of her that still
yearned for a momma. Someone to give her guy advice, to take care
of her when she was sick. A mom to hug her when she needed and kick
her ass when the time called for it. Growing up where she did,
there had always been that hole in her life that she couldn’t fill.
Jas nodded embarrassed. “Honey, don’t worry. Shady loves you more
than anything. You may have not been around her when you were
growing up, but there wasn’t a minute of any day she wasn’t
thinking about you and wondering if you were okay. Now that she’s
got you, she’s never letting you go again.” Rose hugged her
briefly, pulling away to look her in the eye. “You’re family now,
Jas. Forever. Okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Rose.” She hugged her quickly
again and pulled away, her attention going back to prepping to ride
out.

“No problem, kiddo. Now, get on your phone
and start calling the girls. We’ve got some ass to kick.” Rose was
one of those women who could be one thing one minute, and with the
snap of her fingers could turn into a mean badass who’d cut out
someone’s eyes and gut them without a second thought. From the
stories she’d heard, Rose came from a pretty fucked up family like
she had. She’d been sweet, always doing the right thing and being a
mom to her siblings. When the Savages found her, she had proven
that under all that innocence was a bad mommajama who had been
waiting to be unleashed. The stories she’d heard made her take a
mental note never to piss her off.

“Yes, ma’am.” She grabbed her cell out of her
pocket and started dialing, starting with the bitches she’d met
first and worked her way down to the rats. There were a few who
declined and she made note under their contact info in her phone to
discuss with Tonto later. The little tramps obviously didn’t belong
in the Savages and even though she wasn’t an official member, Shady
was. And Shady was her mom.

Sledge came wobbling in with Lacey chasing
after him in a full on nagging assault. “You can’t go!” she
pleaded.

“Go find Alice and Rugger, and stay put.” His
tone left little room for argument, but she must not have got the
memo. Her ranting only intensified.

“You can’t tell me what to do, Sledge. Now
get your ass back in bed. You’re gonna rip those stitches
open!”

Sledge gave her a questioning look, appearing
half amused at her not realizing she’d just told him not to order
her around and followed it with an order. The girl definitely had
balls. She was the first girl to ever try to tell Sledge what to
do.

Rose had to stifle a laugh. Sledge couldn’t
go, but she found it quite comical that her little sister could
dish a helping of attitude right back at him. Then it hit her. “Why
is Alice with Rugger?” Lacey’s nagging ceased then she and Sledge
glanced at one another. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged his
shoulders.