Truth and Lies: Chapter 19

I know I’ve got to do something about Mia. I can’t leave her in that bedroom for much longer, it’s been five days now, and apart from the little she told Ruger, we’ve had no more information from her.

As I step out of the office, my cell rings, and I pick up the call. ‘Yea.’ I snap out.

‘Sharp here, I’m coming over. We’ll be with you in about five hours. We need answers, and we know Mia and Zara are in your area somewhere, so we need to find them quickly. I’ve had enough of all this bullshit.’ he snarls back at me.

‘What about the bitch who caused all this? What’s happening to her?’ I ask, knowing he can tell me to fuck off if he wants.

‘She’s in the cell in the basement, and when I get to the bottom of all this, I can decide what to do with her,’ he informs me.

‘See you when you get here.’ I close out the call.

Things just took a more urgent turn, Mia has to open up now, or she’ll be vulnerable to being taken back with Sharp. I can only protect her if she gives me the ammunition to do it.

Climbing the staircase heading to Mia’s room, Drag follows me, ‘What’s happening, Pres?’ he asks.

‘Sharp is on his way, we need information now, or we can’t help her.’ and I open the door, stepping inside with Drag at my shoulder.

Mia is sitting on the window sill as she’s been most of the time she’s been here.

‘Sharp is on his way, Mia. If you want our help, now is the time to tell us what we need to know. Otherwise, he’ll be taking you back with him to his club, and we won’t be able to stop it.’ I tell her, watching her reaction closely.

Mia steps away from the window, looks at us both, then picks up her backpack.

‘Nobody listens to a word I say. Nobody believes a word I say. Can you give my belongings to Graham and Suzie at the diner, please? I won’t live long once they get here, and I’ve nobody else.’ she says this calmly and resolutely.

Hearing her say this has my gut clenching. She’s gone through so much and still has no one at her back as far as she sees it. After all we’ve said to her, she has no faith at all in anyone helping her.

I don’t take the backpack, but I nod at Drag to follow me out. Once in the hall, I lock the door and run my hands through my hair, irritation running through me, not with her but with the situation.

Striding back down to the office, I slam myself down in my chair and look at Drag, who has a look of determination on his face.

‘What the fuck are we gonna do, Drag?’ I ask, ‘If she doesn’t open up, we can’t save her. Yea, we can fight and tell them to fuck off, but what will that gain apart from a war we don’t want.’

Sitting in the chair in front of my desk, Drag places his forefingers on his temples, one of his tells when he’s trying to work out a problematic situation.

Petey, one of the prospects, knocks on the door and asks if we need anything, and Drag tells him a pot of coffee, fresh and hot, to which he nods and runs off to fetch.

‘Okay, Pres, let’s think about this, we have option one, which is we go to war to keep her with us if necessary, not an option we particularly want, but none of us will see an innocent woman murdered for somethin’ she never did.’ Drag states.

‘Option two, we chuck her out so she can make a run for it, give her some time to get as far as she can before they catch her if they catch her.

‘Option three, one of us claims her as an ol’ lady, then they can do fuck all, and every man will stand up and have her back.’

I’m shocked he thought of that, but it has merit and a lot of merits because he’s right. If she’s an ol’ lady, every man will stand in front of her before they allow anyone to take her.

Trouble is convincing her to do the right thing, one way or another because telling everything that happened could still be the way out of this mess.

‘Let’s go have another word with our guest, shall we Drag?’ I say, standing and heading back upstairs.

Opening the door to the bedroom, Mia walks out of the bathroom. She looks worn out even though she’s done nothing but sit around in here.

‘You have options, Mia. One, we go to war with your old MC to keep you safe, where some of us could get injured or killed for you, and you’re not even club.

‘Two, we cut you loose, and you make a run for it, hoping you get away, which is unlikely as you have no vehicle.

‘Three, you become somebody’s ol‘ lady, which makes you club, shows them they can’t touch you, and everyone here will stand with you.’ I step towards her, ‘You’ve got an hour to make your mind up. They’ll be here in three hours, so you’ll still have a two-hour window if you decide to run.’

Drag and I step out of the room and back down to the office. Sitting, we pick up the coffee that Petey left us. We look at each other questioningly.

‘What do ya think she’ll do?’ Drag asks.

‘Fucked if I know.’ I admit, ‘I hope she goes for the last option as it’ll make it easier, and we can push for fuckin’ answers from them and that bitch who caused all this.’

‘Agree, and if she’s an ol’ lady once this shit is over, she can leave if she wants or stay depending on if she likes her ol’ man or not.’ to which he laughs at his own comment, ‘Joking aside, she needs to be your ol’ lady or mine, she’s gotta be the ol’ lady of a high up officer, or it won’t work,’ he states. I nod as I agree with him.

‘Do ya want an ol’ lady Drag?’ I ask as I know he’s always said he doesn’t want to be tied down. Due to his parents, he’s always against marriage or ol’ lady for himself.

‘Nope, so you’re it, Pres, I don’t want an ol’ lady, you know that,’ he replies.

‘Fuckin’ hell, Drag.’

I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but we have less than an hour for Mia to make her mind up as to what she’s going to do. Me, I would like an ol’ lady, someone to share the day with, the bed at night and have some rugrats.

I’ve got to get this mess sorted out and moved forward, and if not with Mia, it’s time I found my other half and settled down.

Crack

Meeting up with Sharp and some of the brothers who traveled with him at a motel off the highway, we arrange to go straight to Raging Barons MC and find out what we can.

We need to find Zara and this guy and make sure she’s safe, and he’s not some kind of kiddy snatcher. The people we’ve spoken to sound positive about him, or I’d be apprehensive at this point.

Riding in formation, two of us, side by side, we make our way to the Baron’s compound. I hope nothing untoward develops as Gunner is never far from throwing a temper, and Sharp isn’t the calmest of men.

A prospect walks out of the guardhouse at the gate and picks up his cell to report we’ve arrived. Walking back inside, he hits the button that opens the electronic gate, and we head inside parking near the main doors.

Buzz, the Baron’s enforcer with another brother, meets us at the main door and guides us inside. Noticing the empty main room is a good sign that Axel has removed anyone not affiliated with the club.

Axel walks in and holds his hand out to shake with Sharp, and after that, we all take a seat. Axel points at the prospect behind the bar, and he starts pouring shots and beers while a brother hands them out, but I note he’s taking stock of us as he does so.

After the usual welcome bluster is over with, Axel leans back in his seat and taps his knuckles on the chair arm, ‘So, what is it you want from us, Sharp?’

‘We want help to find Zara, the young girl who is missing. Her dad Gunner is here, and they’ve been looking for days already,’ he responds and points out Gunner, but I’m sure Axel knows who he is from the last time we were here.

‘We’ve had men out looking for over two weeks, so far they haven’t seen her. We’ve had sightings but never had actual eyes on the girl.’ Axel states calmly.

‘She’s only twelve, has her birthday in two weeks, just a kid, too young to be out on her own,’ Sharp says to which Axel nods.

‘So tell me, any of you, why did a twelve-year-old feel they had to run away from home to find a woman that y’all had put behind bars?’ Shit, not a good question. This will stir Gunner up.

I don’t want this to get out of hand, so I lean forward, getting Axel’s attention, ‘This is mainly on me. I’ve been trying to get Zara to talk to me about what happened and why she’s been frightened at the clubhouse.

‘I think I may have pushed her a bit too far, especially when I realized she wasn’t goin’ home but was hiding somewhere in the clubhouse.

‘Then an incident happened with her mother Cara and the next day we couldn’t find Zara, she just disappeared. We’ve been following her trail, and the trail leads her to Miriam, or Mia depending on what you want to call her. As yet, we haven’t found Zara or Mia.’ I state, shaking my head.

‘What do you want Crack? When you find either of them. What are your intentions?’ Drag asks.

‘The truth, after all this time, we want the truth,’ I lean back and cross my arms, ‘I never believed that Miriam hurt Zara. She loved that little girl, and she loved Gunner. But Cara is a different matter. She’d lie, cheat or steal if it would get her what she wanted.’

Before anyone could say more, Gunner jumps up from his chair and storms over to me, and I’m ready for the prick. He can try if he wants. I’m not the enforcer of our club for nothing.

Sharp shouts, ‘Sit.’ Although Gunner wants to throw a punch, he refrains and sits back in his seat.

‘I agree with Crack. Miriam was a good woman. She helped everyone; she worked in a bank, a clean-cut lass as my father used to say,’ Sharp places his ankle on his opposite knee and leans back in his seat, ‘Now Cara is another matter. I’ve always had my doubts about her but never had more than that, doubts, but she’s in the cell at the minute, and Zip, our tech man, is digging up as much as he can about her, so I hope we have more answers soon.’

‘Well, it’s taken you long enough to get to this point with her.’ Axel comments.

‘Yea, it has. When this happened, we were watchin’ a rival club, Nameless Rebels MC. The leader is one of our brothers that we kicked out for stealing from the club. Snap had close to half a million dollars, and he ran before we could grab him. Had nothin’ but trouble from him since.’ Sharp informs us.

Rogue enters the room and gives Axel a slight nod, not sure what that means, but Axel has a slight smirk on his face, worth watching, I think.

‘I’m waiting for one of the brothers to come back in the morning. He’s talking to someone who knows the man who is with your girl. If you get yourselves a motel for the night, then come back first thing we may have more news.’ Axel states and stands, letting it be known this meeting is done.

Turning, I shake Axel’s hand, ‘Thanks for being so obliging. We’ll return the favor if it’s ever needed.’ and we make our way out and follow Sharp from the compound.