I pulled Annabelle off Crystal. She fought like hell to get away from me and back to taking Crystal to task, but her struggles were useless. “Crystal,” I barked, “get the fuck out of here and don’t come back.” She quickly got to her feet, shot me a scathing look, and stomped out the front door. “Prospect Kellan, follow her and report back where she goes.”
I looked down at Annabelle. “You can explain that later. We’ve got to get back in Church.”
At some point during the episode with Annabelle and Crystal, my mind had cleared and I was back in full president mode. “Hold your thoughts for a moment. I’m going to call Copper and see if he can send a man or two out to scope out the warehouse and surrounding area. He’s closer and can get someone there a lot faster than we can.”
“You could give Boar a call. He’s closer than Copper,” Carbon, of all people, suggested.
“Good thinking, man. I’ll call both.”
Copper and Boar both readily agreed to help any way they could. Time was ticking by slowly as we waited to hear from anyone so we could decide our next move. I wanted to have a plan in place before Annabelle figured out that Nathan missed his plane.
“Phoenix,” I barked into my phone.
“Prez, it’s Kellan. I followed the girl like you said. She’s at the Disciples of Death’s clubhouse.”
“You’re fucking shitting me? All right, keep eyes on her, but don’t let anybody spot you. Follow her if she leaves and report back.”
“Will do, Prez.”
I faced the brothers in the room. “Crystal is at the Disciples of Death’s clubhouse.”
Shouts of anger and disbelief sounded. We spent the next 30 minutes discussing possible scenarios and plans of action.
My phone rang again, Kellan’s name appearing on the screen. “Prez, she left the clubhouse and now we’re at some warehouse out in the middle of nowhere.” He lowered his voice, “I’ve seen some other bikers around here. Not many, but they’re skulking around like I am.”
“Hang on a sec, Kellan,” I spoke into the phone. “Hey, Badger, who did Copper send out to the warehouse?”
Badger chuckled. “Who do you think? Judge and Batta.”
“Kellan, the bikers you saw, are they big bastards? One looks like Duke, the other one looks like a mean Mr. Clean?” I asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s exactly what they look like.”
“That’s Judge and Batta, the SAA and enforcer from our Devil Springs chapter. We’ll let them know you’re there, too. Hang back and follow their orders like you would mine, understand?”
“Yes, Prez.”
“All right, brothers, Crystal just showed up at the warehouse where Octavius is and likely Nathan, too. Not sure how the Disciples of Death play into this, but the other pieces are starting to fit together,” I said.
Someone knocked on the door to Church, then immediately started banging on it. Duke jerked the door open again. Annabelle came tearing into the room, crying and shoving her phone in my face.
“What’s wrong, doll face?” I asked, even though I already knew, or thought I did.
“Look at this! Look!” she yelled, shaking her phone at me.
I took it and pressed play on the video she had pulled up on her screen. It was the same one that was sent to me earlier. “I know, baby, it was sent to me, too. That’s what we’re working on in here. I was hoping we could get him back before you found out about it.”
She huffed and stomped her foot. “I know all that. You don’t recognize that voice?” I shook my head. “It’s my fucking father!”
Once she said it, I did recognize his voice. Fucking hell. “How in the fuck did he get involved in this?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else.
Annabelle latched onto my arm and started shaking me. “It doesn’t matter! Just go get my son back!”
“All right, baby,” I pulled her to me and held her for just a moment. I needed the comfort as much as she did at that point. I placed a kiss on top of her head. “Go wait out there with Gram and Pop while we get our plan together, okay?” Surprisingly, she didn’t argue and quickly left the room.
“I’m not sure how Annabelle’s father plays into this, but I’m willing to bet he’s in that warehouse with Octavius and Crystal, and Nathan. Anyone object to just riding in and taking them out?” I asked.
With no objections from the officers, we left Church and got ourselves ready to ride out. I touched base with Boar and Copper to let them know we were moving in to rescue Nathan. Copper said he would have Judge and Batta keep eyes on the place and he would call if there was any activity. Boar had two boys with eyes on the warehouse already, but said he and some of his boys would ride out for back up if needed. Within 15 minutes, we were on the road.
