The Devil’s Ride.
The day I was dumped on the side of the road and everything changed.
I paced the hall for long minutes, waiting on Xenon to call back. When a few nurses kept glancing my way, I shot them a glare that indicated I wanted left the fuck alone.
Trish was back in Nevada and I was irritated but thrilled at the same time. Maybe our moment was finally coming. She called and asked for my help. That had to mean something. She needed me and I wasn’t about to let her down no matter what happened. I had to find my angel.
She was the light to my darkness.
Without her, I wasn’t whole.
The coordinates Xenon found led us to the outskirts of Hawthorne and close to the location of the Blacktop. An old, abandoned strip of warehouses were lined up in a row. I parked my bike far enough away not to tip off anyone in the vicinity that we had arrived. The others followed my lead. Creeping around the buildings, we had guns drawn as we slowly cleared each one.
Trish was crouched outside the final structure. Watching from behind a row of dumpsters, she hopped up and into my arms as I held her tight.
“Tell me what you know.”
“Stef was interested in a modeling contract. She took her portfolio with her. I found a note she left for my aunt and the address. She never came home, Grim.” Her voice wavered and I knew she was upset. “Stef would never worry us like that. She has to be here.”
“Hey, I’ve got this. I’m going to send you back to the Crossroads with Mammoth. He’s the biggest motherfucker I know. He’ll keep you safe on the back of his bike. You wait for me there, okay? No leaving,” I emphasized.
“Okay.”
I couldn’t resist stealing a kiss. There was a shit ton I wanted to say to her but now wasn’t the time. Sending her off, I made Mammoth promise to text me once they were on his bike and merging onto Hwy 95. He was supposed to text once they were safe and back at the Crossroads too.
The building ahead was old and rundown, full of old machinery and dust, cobwebs, and metal parts. Probably once helped supply military planes and vehicles but that hadn’t been true in decades. Diablo and Rael went left. Wraith and Exorcist to the right. I entered through the front with Lucky and Bodie while Hannibal watched the rear of the warehouse.
Not a sound echoed in the wide, open space. The roof was caving in and there was rust everywhere. Birds squawked as if we were interrupting their peaceful existence.
We found a locked door about halfway down the main hall. Diablo worked his magic, and the lock was cut off as we held our guns ready. A set of stairs led underground into a damp basement area.
The stench was the first thing I noticed as I coughed, followed by the others. Something rotten was down here and it smelled an awful lot like remains. This was going to be bad. I knew it before we stumbled upon a scene so horrific, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be the same.
Twenty young girls and teens were all chained to the walls in a row on both sides of the room. Every single one was filthy and stripped down to their underwear. They were all too thin. It was obvious they had been assaulted repeatedly. Cloudy eyes stared back from blank faces with no emotion.
“They’re all dead,” Rael whispered, his voice choking on the words.
My gaze swept the room, and I found the last girl on the right fit my memory perfectly. Trish’s cousin Stefanie. She wasn’t as thin as the others and hadn’t been here long. There were slash marks across her wrists and stomach. She was killed separately from the others but brought here to find among the others.
As I moved closer, I could see there was something written on the flesh of her abdomen.
For Solonik.
“Fuck!” I roared, not bothering to stay silent.
No one was here but us. Our Reapers would have sensed it. This was staged for us to find. Trish was led here on purpose. A little game of hide and seek.
A great big boo from Resnikov.
“Grim?” Rael swallowed hard and ticked his head toward an object knocked over on its side a few yards from the feet of the girls.
A half full water bottle had rolled over a single granola bar wrapper. The lid was on at an angle and much of the contents had already spilled from the plastic container.
“Motherfucker!” Bodie shouted, his fists clenched at his sides.
Blinking, it took a few seconds to realize why he had that reaction.
Wraith rolled his shoulders as his neck cracked. “They fuckin’ tossed the water bottle to the dehydrated and starving girls and watched them fight over it. See the claw marks on their skin? The blood on their arms and faces? They fought over the water.”