Shield My Heart (Heaven Hill Book 9) (26 page)

Dalton watched as Tyler tightened his jaw, tagged Jagger on the chest, and motioned for the door. Turning to Meredith, he spoke in a calm voice that gave them all chills. “You get the kids and come back here, take one of the guys with you. There’s been a situation with some of the women in the club. I’m gonna go check on Doc Jones.”

As he traveled the back roads at a high rate of speed, Tyler hoped with everything he had that Doc Jones had simply left her door open. Maybe she’d had a power outage or something that was explainable for the alarm to be tripping. He kept telling himself there were logical reasons as to why they hadn’t heard from her. The other part of his brain told him she was an older woman, living out in the country by herself. Because of her affiliation with Heaven Hill, she would be a likely target.

He could hear Jagger’s bike behind him and knew Jagger had a dog in this race too. Doc Jones had been just as beneficial for Jagger and B as she had for Tyler and Meredith. Not even stopping as he took the turn to her house, Tyler yelled as he saw the front door standing wide open. This wasn’t good. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

They came to a stop, both bailing off their bikes.

“Doc!” Tyler yelled, taking the steps two at a time, barreling through the front door. His keen observation noticed the door had been knocked off the hinges, glass scattered the floor, and papers were everywhere.

“Doc!” Jagger yelled behind him, running up the stairs to her private living area.

Tyler knew though, without a doubt, they’d taken a woman who meant a great deal to the club. Not only did she mean a great deal, she knew secrets, she knew their vulnerabilities, their fears, their happiness, and looking at the paperwork that was missing—whoever did this now knew their secrets too.

Tyler hadn’t felt a rage like this since Meredith had been attacked before they’d started dating, or when his daughter Addy had been held hostage by her crazy biological aunt. He tried to calm his pulse, tried to get past the red haze that blanketed his vision, but it was difficult. In the years since he’d become a dad, he’d tried to put a tight grip on those feelings, because sometimes kids did things that just pissed you off. Today he let that grip go; he could literally feel his heart beating in his ears.

“You hear that?” Jagger asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t hear anything besides my blood rushing through my veins. This,” he indicated the room with a sweep of his hand, “pisses me off.”

Jagger couldn’t agree more. “Me too, but listen.”

For the first time, Tyler did, and he heard it too. The faint sounds of someone whimpering. “Where’s that coming from?”

They searched the room, walking over to the couch that was turned over, resting up against the wall. “Help me pull this away,” Jagger said as he grabbed one end and Tyler grabbed the other.

Together they lifted the couch, tossing it away. Underneath, they found Doc Jones, cowering, bleeding from the head. It looked like her nose was possibly broken, and she was missing the glasses that were usually perched on her face. She shrank away when they lifted the piece of furniture, curling herself into the smallest ball she could.

“Hey, hey.” Tyler sank down to his knees so she could see it was him. “We’re here, we got you, and we’re going to make sure you’re okay.”

She calmed down, seeing it was Tyler. She let out a soft yell and threw herself into the big man’s arms. “They wanted your files, but I have them locked up. They destroyed the place looking for them, but they’re safe. Your secrets are safe. They came in here on a mission.” She cried, sitting up with Tyler’s help. She held her hand to her forehead, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

“Do you know who they were?” Tyler asked, pulling his phone from his pocket, dialing Liam.

“I’ve never seen them before.” She shook her head no. “But they mentioned the name Calvert.”

*

Liam got out of the phone with Tyler, cursing as he did. It’d been months since Calvert had made his threat, and they’d let their guard down. Just like he knew they would.

“It’s Calvert,” he told Dalton. “They hurt Doc Jones, but didn’t take her. Tyler and Jagger are bringing her in now.”

Liam felt sick to his stomach. This had happened on all their watches. They’d pretty much let it go on under their noses. It didn’t sit well, especially since Calvert had warned them they’d gone soft.

“You got anything yet?” Dalton asked Steele. He was going crazy, waiting for any kind of word.

“Both Mandy and Christine kept their cell phones on, so I’m working on hacking into the system and pinging the nearest tower. As backup, I do have the app on Christine’s phone, but it’s not always one hundred percent. I’ll let you know when I’m sure.”

For once in his life, Dalton was glad Mandy never turned that thing off, even when the battery was almost dead.

‡
Chapter Thirty-Five

“Y
ou okay?” Denise asked her daughter as they sat in what looked to be an empty warehouse. It was dark, damp, and a little chilly—even with the hot, sunny day they’d left in the outside world. She glanced around, seeing Christine, Jessica, and Tatum huddled together too.

“Scared,” she whispered. “What do they want with us?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered back. “As far as I knew, this shit was over, but don’t worry, the guys will find us. They’re good at that. They’ve rescued a few of us more than once.”

Mandy hoped like hell her mom was right. She was worried, not only for herself, but for Tatum and her own unborn baby. Crossing her arms over her stomach, she did her best to control her breathing, to stop the shivering of her chin, and the trembling of her whole body. She kept telling herself her dad, her brother, and the love of her life would be there for her. They wouldn’t let her stay here too long.

The door to the warehouse opened and a man walked in. He had an air about him that forced them all to stop whispering and take notice.

“Amanda Walker.” He whistled as he stalked towards them, a sinister smile on his face.

She shrunk back into the corner as he advanced; something about him worried her. “Do I know you?” she asked, trying to keep a brave face.

“You don’t, but I know you.” He squatted down so he could be face to face with her. “You’re carrying Dalton Barnett’s baby, aren’t you?”

Her skin crawled, and she shivered as she shrunk even further back. “He’ll come for you. My dad and my brother too.”

“Oh I’m countin’ on it, honey.” He reached out, touching her chin. “I’m counting on them coming for all of you.” He winked. “I told them I could destroy them, but they didn’t believe me. They will when this is over.”

Mandy gripped her mom’s hand tightly. She wouldn’t die here, not this close to having everything she wanted.

*

Travis’ hands were unsteady as he focused in on the location the women were being held. With the help of Mandy’s cell phone and an app he’d put on Christine’s, he was within a mile.

“We’re within a mile here. The only problem is I’m not sure which way.” Travis sucked on his sucker as he pulled up an aerial view of the area. “But we do have a large warehouse here.” He pointed out a building. “It’s an old tobacco warehouse and was foreclosed on a few months ago. I have a feelin’ this is where they’re being held.” He turned in his chair.

“Do we know why he’s targeted us and them?” Layne asked from where he stood behind Steele’s computer.

“Part of it’s the fact he warned me he’d do something like this because he wanted to prove that we’re weak now that we all have families.” Liam bit his lip, trying to figure out what the other part was.

“I think the other part has to do with me,” Dalton spoke up. “He was pissed I brought Heaven Hill into this. He wanted Samuel, and when I didn’t lie down and give him what he wanted, I think he decided he’d do whatever he could to destroy me.”

“So either way,” Tyler spoke up, “he’s trying to prove he and his guys have bigger balls than us?” He spoke as he helped their doctor friend, Ashley; patch up the wound on Doc Jones’ head.

“Yeah.” Liam threw a glass bottle against the wall. He was beyond pissed that this guy could come into what he considered his home and do this to him.

Tyler laughed, but it was a low and dark. “Ain’t nobody got bigger balls than me. I’ll have a real good time showing him that too.”

There was a flurry of activity in the clubhouse. Liam barked orders at those who would be staying behind and who would be going with them. In the midst of it all, Remy approached him, a serious look on his face.

“I’d like to go with you all, if that’s okay.” His voice was so quiet Liam could barely hear him.

“You wanna come with us?” Liam couldn’t wrap his mind around why in the hell Remy wanted to come. Sure, he wanted to prove himself, but nobody really wanted to be in a situation like this as his first action with a club.

“Yeah.”

One word, no explanation.

“Alright, my man, if you think you can handle it. We’ll take you with us, and we’ll see about getting you patched, depending on how this goes.”

He nodded, stoically, and turned away, heading towards the garage where the bikes were parked.

Liam shook his head. That was the weirdest conversation he’d ever had with Cash’s brother, but he couldn’t think about that right now. There was no time to waste. “Let’s go!”

*