“Of course they do, which puts us right in the middle of their target. What about the shots fired at the convention center? Was that them trying to get revenge?” That didn’t make sense because of the short amount of time between the explosion and the shots at the convention center. They wouldn’t have had time to get in.
“He said that it was most likely a false alarm. Like someone heard something they thought was gunfire, panicked, and then everyone started running.”
“That makes sense. But none of this had anything to do with Lily. Who would kidnap her? It makes no sense.” I hadn’t really used the word “kidnap” to myself before this moment, but that was pretty much the only explanation at this point.
“Right. When I told him that the kid sister of one of our guys had gone missing, he said he didn’t know anything about it. But when I pressed him, he changed his answer.”
I could only imagine what he meant when he said, “pressed him.”
“He said that El Diablo was making a delivery in Baker at an old airstrip out in the desert.”
“That clearing off to the west?” That was a common place for planes to come in from South America and deliver and pick up drugs, guns…and sex trafficked girls.
“Fuck. But how would El Diablo get my sister? She was in the middle of a fucking crowd of 12,000 people.”
“I don’t even know that he has her, but it seems like we should take a little night ride out to make sure.”
Before I could answer, I heard a commotion outside the bathroom. A bunch of guys were yelling and I heard banging on a wall.
I raced over there and sure enough, Scorpion was getting his ass kicked. “Leave him alone!” I said in my loudest most commanding voice before physically pulling three guys off of him. They were drunk off their asses. “You need to go fucking home.”
“What the fuck is he doing here? You brought a Las Balas guy here?” The guy talking was slurring his words.
Scorpion was wiping blood from his nose, but nodded to me that he was okay.
“Last I checked I’m the VP of this club. When Padre isn’t here, I’m the senior member and I don’t need you questioning my fucking decisions.”
“His sister is missing, man. The kid has been seeing her. He’s here to help.” Hawk stood by my side, in front of Scorpion in a protective stance.
“Help get information for Las Balas, you mean.” The guy could barely stand up. It would take one punch to knock him out, flat on his ass.
“You want to start something? Is that what you want?” Honestly I hoped he would. I needed to beat the shit out of someone and I’d love nothing more than a good reason to do it.
“Come on, man. Let’s go. My old lady is here and can drop you off at home.”
They staggered out of the Blue Dog and I doubted they would even remember any of this in the morning. Looking out the window on the back door, I realized that the sky was getting lighter. It was already morning.
“Hey, kid. Let’s take a little road trip.”
* * *
I decidedto take the bike since I could get there faster. It was about a hundred and ninety miles from La Playa to Baker, and it would take me a little over an hour to get there on my bike, versus almost two hours in the VW.
Hawk was rounding up the rest of the brothers—well, the ones who were sober enough to drive, anyway. A nice Sunday morning drive out to the desert was always appealing, even if the reason was an emergency.
Scorpion and I headed back to my apartment to get the bike.
“Why did you choose Las Balas, Scott?” We were stuck at a train crossing. He seemed like a pretty decent kid, all things considered. “There’s a ton of other clubs in La Playa.”
“One of my high school buddies was a prospect right out of school. They ran the neighborhood near Fillmore. I was gonna prospect, then, but my ma got sick.”
“What happened?”
“To the friend, or my ma?”
“Both.”
“My friend got shot in a drive by and my ma died.”
