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Hawk
The small dark person torturing the old bitch in the chair was fucking scary. And very obviously didn’t feel a thing while doing it.
Fuck.
It wasn’t some small dark person. It was DC, his little bird. But right now she wasn’t his little bird and she wasn’t DC either. She had slipped into this other persona. One who didn’t hesitate to cut into the bitch tied to the chair. And that hissing voice liked it, liked torturing the bitch.
She was the Crow. Doc’s dark hand. Feared by all who knew about him. And now he knew why the Crow was so feared. He was fucking insane.
How the fuck could a father have his daughter do this shit? What happened to bring this frightening personality to the forefront?
As the old bitch cried he knew he had to step up, step up before his little bird had to escalate the interrogation and scar her soul even more. Because he knew his little bird, this was not fucking easy for her. This shit hurt her, down deep where no one could see. It was from that deep dark place the paintings he had seen in Doc’s office originated from.
They listened as it all poured out. The fucked up reason why the bitch betrayed him and his club. And about all the children that had been lost. To some extent he felt sorry for her, most people would have. But she should have asked for help. She could have approached him and he would have stepped up, protected her and her family.
She didn’t. She chose to take the money and doomed innocent children.
When Alien came back into the room and let them know they would have the evidence she had hidden soon tension seemed to leak out of the room. The Crow left after hissing his promise that he would be back. Hawk knew he could not allow it to happen. His woman drank to get through this shit and now it was fucking done. He was up next. His little bird would not take more damage to her soul.
Cutting the old bitch loose he scooped her up and carried her out with Ice at his back.
Boeta stood at the head of the stairs.
“Do you have a room where you treat injuries?”
Boeta gave a chin lift and Hawk followed him up the stairs. Opening the first door at the top of the stairs Boeta stepped back and Hawk walked in. A gurney stood in the centre of the room while around the room in and on wooden glass fronted cupboards there were an array of medical machinery, instruments and medications. Through an open door to the side he could see another small room with a made up hospital bed.
Setting the woman down on the gurney he held her down gently as she squirmed. Ice started looking through the cupboards for what they would need to patch her up.
“We need to have a look at these cuts, lie still.”
Boeta and Shaka watched silently.
He hadn’t been aware that Shaka had followed them up. Alien must have gone to report to Doc.
Shaka broke the silence. “Don’t fuck around with those cuts, you’ll just make it worse. The club medic is on his way.” Shaka smiled without any humour. “He has experience with this shit.”
Ice and Hawk ignored him and kept on putting gauze strips over the bleeding wounds.
The woman looked up at him beseechingly. “Please, find my son and granddaughters. Bring them in and keep them safe. Please.”
Boeta snorted in anger and stormed out. Shaka stood like an ebony statue, filling the doorway.
“Did you ever think about those other parents and grandparents out there? Those people have lost their children because of you. Those children are living in a hell you could not fucking imagine.” Shaka snapped.
“I had no choice, no choice.” She whispered.
“We always have a fucking choice. You just took the easy way out. I wonder how your son is going to feel about this. How he’s going to get past the fact that his mother is part of a human trafficking ring. That his children’s grandmother had sent children into the hell of being drugged and raped day after day after day until they die in fucking agony.” Shaka turned on his heel and left, slamming the door shut behind him.
Ice froze with his hands holding gauze against the cuts over her chest. Lifting his hands he slowly stepped back and dropped them to his sides. Looking up at Hawk he shook his head, his eyes tormented.
“Sorry, Boss, I can’t do this.”
He silently closed the door behind him, leaving Hawk alone with their traitor. Taking the sheet from the bottom of the gurney he covered her then looked for a chair.
Drawing the one chair in the room up next to the gurney Hawk sat down and just looked at the woman lying there.
“You’ve worked for my company for the last ten years. You know me and my brothers. You know we would never have left you out there to suffer. You could have come to me, you could have gone to Hotdog. You had options, but you didn’t use them.”
“I...I didn’t know who to trust.”
“Stop. Stop lying. You knew exactly who you could trust but you were unable to resist the bribe, the money they paid you. Even after losing your husband and daughter-in-law to these people.”
Rubbing his hands over his face he ran his fingers through his beard and sighed heavily.
“My club isn’t the only club you disrespected and drew into this mess. The Road Warriors are going to demand justice for those children. I can’t protect you from that, what I can do is promise to keep your family safe.”
A sob came from her. “Thank you. You are right, I was greedy. When I’m gone can you make sure the money is used to fight against human trafficking, please. I don’t want my family to be tainted any further by what I did.”
All Hawk could do was nod and sit next to her in silence.
He stayed silent as the club doctor came in and set about cleaning and stitching her wounds. He gave her a shot of antibiotics then stepped back from the gurney with a strange little smile.
“You will have scars but they won’t be so bad. The worst will be the one on your thigh. The Crow must have been really fucking pissed at you. He only draws grids on those he wants to hurt, really, really badly. I’ll be back later to check on you.”
He looked back at Hawk as he walked out the door. “You’re wanted downstairs.”
Hawk left the woman sleeping on the gurney. The doc must have put something in that shot to knock her out.
The conference room was filled with everyone not on guard duty. Both clubs were now represented. Hawk took the chair next to Doc and scanned the room for DC. She wasn’t there, neither were Alien, Rover, Rico, Skinny or Rooster.
Where the fuck was his woman?
Crossing his arms over his chest he waited.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“We got information about the shit going down here in Durban.” Freeze started the meeting. “As you all know by now we have found a human trafficking ring being operated by men we can no longer call our brothers. The Durban chapter of the Road Warriors will be undergoing a change of leadership but we aren’t going to address that issue now.”
Feet shifted nervously and Hawk saw Doc’s eyes swiftly sweep through the men. Glancing at Tiny and Boeta he saw them doing the same. Hawk knew instinctively what they were doing. They were moving fast to secure Boeta in the vacant President’s seat in Durban. He couldn’t fault them on that but he wished they would get on with it. He wanted to get out of here and find his woman.
His little bird had to be thinking he had been disgusted by what she had done to get to the truth. Nothing could be further from it.
Shocked. Yes, he was that. But disgusted? Definitely not. What he did know was that his woman was being mentally violated by the fucked up shit her club asked her to do. If it was the fucking last thing he did on this earth he was going to make it stop. He would find a way to give her the peace she deserved.
The meeting went on around him as Skel selected the team that would accompany him and Gav on their mission in the morning. After a short discussion on what would happen later Freeze ended the meeting. But he wanted the officers of both clubs to stay behind. All the officers present, that is. Thank fuck he had asked Hotdog and Growler to stay because it gave him a few men of his own in a room filled with fucking Road Warriors.
What the fuck now?
Doc didn’t leave him to wonder very long at all.
“We have a tough time ahead of us. None of us want it to go wrong and lose those kids. Freeze, Hawk and I will each lead a team tomorrow night. We have to shut this down and shut it down hard. Freeze’s team will be at the harbour, keeping an eye on the ship in case we miss the container. Hawk and I will lead the teams to take out Speedy and secure the container and the children. We will clean up the scene and get the kids to safety.”
He took a deep breath and glanced at Hawk as if in apology before he continued.
“The best we could come up with if they give us the slip is to alert the coast guard and port authorities, but we all know they have been paid off. So Freeze came up with an alternative plan of action. The information on the trafficking ring will be leaked to the taskforce investigating human traffickers. The bitch upstairs will be dropped in their laps. Our hands stay clean but it means the Iron Dogz are going to take a serious amount of heat. Hawk in particular, but it can’t be helped. We all have to do what we have to do to bring an end to this shit.”
Doc could not meet his eyes, neither could Tiny or Skel. Grizzly was seriously pissed off and standing to the side, his arms crossed tightly and he was the only one who met Hawk’s eyes before he gave him a tiny chin lift. Ignoring his presidents. Those bastards had pissed him off as well.
Then Hawk knew, he knew. The fucking bastards.
They were going to throw him at the taskforce to save their own asses. They were fucking with his business. Fucking with his club’s business. They were fucking with the lives of his brothers and fucking with his life and in the process they would take his little bird from him. He had suspected that Freeze hated the idea of DC being his old lady and this was him making his play to get rid of him. To use what they had to implicate Hawk and have him spend the rest of his fucking life behind bars.
Not going to fucking happen.
Thank fuck for Ziggy. Thank fuck for Jagger and his club brothers who had his back.
By now every single piece of incriminating evidence would have been scrubbed out of the system. All paperwork would have been fixed. The truck and trailer reported as stolen. He and his club would be clean and the old bitch upstairs, the bitch at his club and those who helped her would be the only ones left in the line of fire.
Suddenly he knew why his little bird wasn’t here. Doc and Freeze had shuffled her off somewhere so that she couldn’t interfere with their plans.
They had a huge fucking surprise coming. He had claimed his woman and no one and nothing was going to stand in his way.
Glancing at Ice and Kid he saw they were onto Freeze’s play as well. Sin, Beast, Hotdog and Growler stood frozen, their arms crossed tightly over their chests. Their expressionless faces hiding their reactions to the Road Warriors MC stabbing their president in the back.
Tonight would not be forgotten nor would it be forgiven.
“What is happening to Raj?” He needed to know before he got out of this fucking room.
“It’s Warrior business and has nothing to do with you.” Freeze snarled.
“The bastard went after my old lady, and that makes everything about him my business.”
Freeze laughed. The fucker laughed and Doc was stone cold but his eyes were burning.
Hawk had a bad feeling, a really bad fucking feeling.
“Doc, where is my woman?” Hawk gritted his teeth so hard he swore it felt as if they were cracking.
Doc wasn’t the one who answered. Freeze condescendingly gave him the answer.
“I sent Rooster to take her on a run to clear her head. They will be back in the morning and I expect by then she will be well fucked and his, not yours.”
Hawk laughed. Partly to calm the rage burning in his gut but for the most part it was at Freeze. The man had no idea the shit they were going to be in when DC found out about the future they had planned for her. And she was going to explode when she realised they were throwing him and his club to the wolves.
His little bird was a loyal little thing but what she treasured above all was honesty.
And the truth would get out, no matter how hard Freeze, and Doc, would try hiding it behind their fucked up lies.
Pushing up out of his chair Hawk looked at Doc, then at Tiny and Skel and shook his head.
“I have no fucking idea what you are trying to achieve with this shit, but you have to know it’s going to backfire and fucking badly. My old lady is a force to be reckoned with and you obviously have your heads up your asses where she’s concerned. Keep your eyes open so you take it all in when the shit hits the fan. The Iron Dogz will clean some of this shit up, but be warned. I will be taking this fucked up so-called alliance of ours to the table and end it. And just a friendly warning, having the daughter of the president of the Road Warriors as my old lady isn’t going to make a fuck of a difference to the outcome of that meeting. We will be enemies, no longer allies once I’m done.”
He walked out and his men followed him, leaving the Road Warriors in the conference room.
“Get the men in the parking lot, now.” Hawk gave Ice the order.
They stood in the far corner of the lot and Hawk looked around the ring of his brothers and felt their loyalty and support. He was surprised when Grizzly and Law joined their circle.
“I don’t have a lot of time before they notice I’m missing.” He held his hand out to Hawk. “I love my club and I have always done what was best for all of us. This shit is going to break us apart. Freeze has fucking lost the plot. He ordered Rooster to take DC to Margate, keep her there and claim her. Rooster came to me asking for my help. I arranged for Alien and Rover to ride along as protection for both of them. She’s safe tonight and they will have her back here at sunrise. Don’t stay here. Stay at your Durban compound where you have your men to protect you. Be back before sunrise. She will be here, and Hawk, fucking promise me you’ll take her away from this shit. Doc has been trying to stop this Crow bullshit for years but Freeze vetoes him every fucking time he brings it to the table. It’s fucking killing him just like it’s killing her. Until that fucker is voted out or put in the ground she will never be able to live a normal life. You take my little girl and keep her safe, son.”
After dropping that bomb Grizzly and Law walked away and stood at the other side of the parking lot as if they were out there to have a smoke and keep an eye on the Iron Dogz.
Ice took over. “You heard the man. Let’s get our shit and get out of here before they try to lock us up in their fucked up basement. Beast, pack up Hawk’s shit and bring it down. He’s not going back inside.”
Hawk sat on his bike at the head of his men. All of them wearing their cuts. Fuck the Road Warriors and their orders. He revved his bike, let out the clutch and rolled away from the factory. Doc hadn’t reappeared but Tiny, Skelly and Shaka watched as they pulled out and rode away.
Hawk had no idea how this was going to affect the fragile alliance between the two clubs but he couldn’t worry about that now. He had too much to see to once they were safe behind the walls of the Durban chapter’s compound.
Tomorrow he would be fetching his little bird.
And he would keep her safe. He should have gone after her and left the old bitch to Ice but it was too late for regrets. He had to deal with the here and now, not with what could not be undone.
Not right now anyway.
