Taz
He walked into the back of the bar, tossed his gear onto the counter, and walked straight back to Ryker’s office. Taz didn’t bother to knock, since his door was already ajar. “Hey man,” Ryker said, from behind his desk. “You’re running a bit late tonight, aren’t you?”
“Tell me that you’ve heard from or seen Kai,” he almost shouted at his boss.
“No, I haven’t,” he said. “Why is something wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Taz admitted. “Everything seemed fine this morning. She got up and dressed, while I made us an omelet. Kai said that she had an early class and then, she was going to meet me back at my apartment, since that’s where we’ve been staying this past month, and we were supposed to come to work together, but she never showed. I waited for her, and that’s why I’m late. I decided to give up waiting and just head over here in case I had my wires crossed. She’s not here?” he asked again.
“I haven’t seen her. Have you tried her cell phone?” Ryker asked.
“Yeah, and it goes directly to voicemail. That’s pretty normal since she turns off her phone during class, but she usually turns it right back on after she leaves campus. I’m worried man,” Taz said.
“What about that college kid who broke into her house? Where’s he?” Ryker asked.
“I have no idea. There’s a restraining order against him. He can’t go near Kai, but you and I both know that assholes like him don’t always follow the rules. He’s already broken into her place, what’s to stop him from going after Kai?”
“You’re right,” Ryker agreed. “I say that we start at the college and see if we can get any answers. A place like that school will have a ton of security cameras in place. If that guy got to your girl, we’ll be able to see it on the cameras.” Ryker stood and grabbed his keys, “I’ll drive,” he said. “You’re a mess right now.” Taz knew that Ryker was right—he was a mess thinking about that asshole having his girl.
“Thanks, man,” Taz said. “What about the bar?”
“I’ll close for the night. We’ll call in some help from the guys. They’ll understand,” he assured. Taz nodded and followed Ryker out of his office. He was going to find his woman and if he was right, and that asshole had him, he was going to tear him apart.
* * *
They found her car as soon as they got to campus, and Taz’s heart sank. If her car was still there, then where was Kai? “Don’t panic yet,” Ryker ordered. “We’ll check with security first.”
They went into the small campus security building and found a college kid sitting behind the desk. “Hi, we’re trying to find someone. Her car is here, but we’re having trouble finding her,” Ryker said. “We were wondering if you might be able to use some camera footage to help us find what happened to her.” The kid looked them both over and Taz worried that he was going to give them shit.
“Cool,” the kid said, “my dad is in a biker club too.” Taz blew out his breath. Here he was worried that the kid might give him and Ryker a hard time for the way that they looked, and he was actually happy to see them.
“How can I help?” the kid asked.
“What’s your name?” Ryker asked.
“Adam,” the kid said.
“Well, Adam, we’re looking for a woman named Kai Washington. She’s a senior here and works at my bar. She’s had some trouble with one of the guys here on campus, and we’re afraid that he’s gotten to her. She has a restraining order against him, but he’s already broken into her apartment. The guy’s bad news.” He left out the part about Kai pissing the kid off by pretending to be interested in him, not that it mattered. A bruised ego wasn’t a good enough reason for him to come for Kai.
“We can quickly comb through the security feed,” he said. “What time was her class?” he asked.
“Ten this morning. She said she would be out by noon because she had a test to take,” Taz said.
Adam quickly pulled up the feed and fast-forwarded to the afternoon, turning his laptop so that the guys could watch. He found footage of a woman walking across the parking lot, to a car that looked a lot like Kai’s. “That’s her,” Taz said.
Adam slowed the footage down and Taz felt as though he was holding his breath, waiting for something to happen. She obviously didn’t get into her car if it was still parked out front. “There,” Ryker almost shouted. “That’s the guy who was at my bar. He’s the one who’s after her.”
They watched as the asshole got out of his car with what looked like a gun in his hand. He shoved it into Kai’s side and Taz felt enraged. “He has a gun,” he breathed. Kai got into his car, and they drove away so fast, that if he blinked, he would have missed the whole scene.
“What’s the guy’s name?” Adam asked. “If he has a restraining order in place, we’d know about it here. The local police department would have to inform us if it involved two students. Maybe we can get the guy’s address from the restraining order.”
“Good thinking,” Taz praised. “Smart kid.”
“Thanks,” Adam said. “My old man is in law enforcement too.”
“A biker and a cop,” Ryker said. “Nice.”
“The kid’s name is Gabe something or other. I can’t really remember his last name, sorry,” Taz said.