When the big hunk of shadow piped up in his corners, it was never good. When Brutus no longer felt the need to be silent, it always got my gears turning.
“Ranger?” I called out.
“Almost there, checking cameras one by one here in town takes time,” he called back.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek and looked around. I knew the club was looking to me for answers. Hell, they were probably looking to me to continue the church meeting without our president since I was the second-in-command. But I didn’t know of any emergency that had occurred since our last meeting a week ago. This wasn’t like Cap at all to just not show up.
“God damn it!” I exclaimed, slamming my fist onto the bar top.
“Uh… Wrecker?” Tack asked. “Someone’s approaching the bar.”
I didn’t get my head whipped up before someone shoved their way against the locked doors of Ghost’s bar. As veterans, we all owned businesses in town. Ghost owned the bar that everyone flocked to for good drinks and dancing. I owned the ice cream shop that stayed open, even during the colder months. Tack owned the animal feed and tack shop up the road. We all had our things that kept us busy outside of the club.
I raked my hand through my hair. “Tell whoever the fuck that's that the bar’s,”
“Help me!” a familiar voice called out as fists banged against the locked doors of the bar. “My sister needs help! Please! I know you guys are in there!”
Ghost was the first to the door. He wrenched it open, not even waiting for a command. None of us turned away women who screamed for help. And I had to admit; the timing was out of this fucking world.
“Oh my god, thank you, thank you,” the breathless voice said as Ghost yanked his bar doors open.
Wait, I recognized that voice.
You know, once it sounded less hysterical.
“Amanda?” I called out.
She gasped, panting for air as she whipped around to face me. Her pin-straight red hair whipped around, falling out of the messy bun at the crown of her head, a few strands stuck to her forehead with the sweat already beading on her brow. But it was odd for us not to see her with her younger sister, Ariel.
Amanda barely left her place unless it was with someone.
Or… so I noticed.
Yeah, noticed.
“Wrecker,” she said breathlessly as she shoved her way through the mountainous men to get to the bar where I was. “Something’s wrong. Ariel’s missing”
I shoved all worries of Cap out of my head. He was a trained Navy Captain. The best I knew at survival tactics. Wherever he was, I had to believe he was safe. Ariel on the other hand…
“Talk to me,” I said as I rested my forearms on the bar. “What do you know?”
She took a moment to catch her breath and wiped off the shimmering sweat on her brow. Amanda had always been plumper than her sister. The two of them looked a hell of a lot alike, but Amanda was five years older and much more of a recluse. From our knowledge of her, she worked from home, entertained herself at home, and pretty much did everything, in some way, shape, or form, at home. We knew her through her sister, who was one of the prominent kindergarten teachers atthe local elementary school. Ariel always brought the kids into the ice cream parlor after field trips.
The look in Amanda’s eyes haunted me. She didn’t even look focused. She looked scattered, like she had rushed out of her home in a flurry of worry.
“Amanda,” I said lowly.
Those caramel-colored eyes of hers stared at me through round framed glasses, and the look in them punched me in the gut.
“Wrecker, my sister’s been kidnapped.”
“She’s been what!?” Ranger exclaimed from his laptop.
I shot him a look before I turned my attention back to Amanda. “Start from the beginning and tell me what happened.”
Tears crested her eyes, and it took everything inside of me not to reach across the bar and swipe them away. “The police are making me wait twenty-four hours before I report her missing. But I don’t know that she’s got twenty-four hours, Wrecker. You’ve got to do something. Please.”
I just nodded. “We’re going to help, okay? But you’ve got to talk to me. When did you know something was wrong with Ariel?”
