Page 129 of Talon (Road Rebels MC 2)
“What are you talking about? What is going on? I need to go home,” I said and placed my hands on my hips in protest. I still thought I could talk my way out of this place!
“You need to look presentable for tonight honey. The less you resist, the easier it’ll be. The clients don’t like to see us putting up a fight, do they?” Nancy said and then I saw her throwing Candy a look.
I knew what was going on. I knew it from the moment I’d woken up. A room full of girls, all dressed in that particular cheap sexy way…I knew it. Gunner’s words rang cold in my ears. I just hadn’t wanted to accept it. I just couldn’t accept that Viper or Pike, or anybody from the Dragon Knights would ever use me for prostitution. They wouldn’t do that to Luke’s sister!
Nancy stood up, leveling her face with me and she had a damp cotton cloth in her hands. She brought it closer to my face and I jerked away from her.
“Just cleaning you up, honey,” she said, in an oddly kind voice and I stood there shivering as she wiped the grime and dirt from my face. I wasn’t crying anymore. I was angry and furious and the truth of my situation was just beginning to sink in.
“Nancy, please, if you let me speak with someone from the Dragon Knights…just let me speak to someone. It’s all a huge big misunderstanding,” I pleaded with her, as she wiped my face and my neck. Nancy stopped and turned a blank expression to me.
“Who do you think put you here?” she said and I felt some more fat tears roll down my cheeks. This couldn’t be my reality. This couldn’t actually be happening to me!
Nancy put the cloth away and brought out a makeup bag. She unzipped it and seemed to be picking colors. Garishly pink lipsticks, orange and blue eyeshadows…she rummaged through them till she found the ones she was looking for.
“Pucker up those gorgeous lips, honey,” she said emotionlessly, like she was doing my makeup for my wedding day. I kept my mouth firmly shut.
“No, I can’t do this. This can’t be happening to me…” I cried, my voice drowning away in my own sobs.
“You have to earn your stay here, honey, that is the only way to stay safe,” she said, that hint of kindness entering her voice again. Our eyes met and I could see that the strength and the matter-of-factness that Nancy displayed was only a facade. Deep inside her, she could still remember the day she had felt exactly like this.
“I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to earn my right to stay!” I cried and this time, she gave me a smile. It was a sad helpless smile and it filled me with fear.
“You don’t have a choice, Brooklyn,” she said and hearing my name had a destabilizing effect on me. I felt crippled again and I crashed to the ground. I wanted Gunner. I wanted to see him again. I covered my face with my hands and sobbed wildly, hoping against hope that he was still alive. That he might find me. If only I could see him again…
“It’s time for you to pick a name, honey. We can’t call you Brooklyn anymore,” I heard Nancy say and I looked up at her with my foggy, watery eyes. She bent over me, bringing the cheap plastic lipstick case close to my lips.
“I think you look like a Scarlet. What do you think girls?” she said, trying to get the others involved. I pressed my lips together, resisting as much as I could against her efforts to try and put makeup on my face.
“My name is Brooklyn Jenson,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her but Nancy just smiled. My resistance wasn’t going to affect her. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it whether I liked it or not.
20
Gunner
We arrived at the warehouse in groups of five, parking our noisy Harley’s and muscle cars some distance away so that they wouldn’t hear us.
Axel had wanted us to wait till it was dark, even though I was ready to go several hours ago. I couldn’t be sure where they had taken Brooklyn but I knew she couldn’t be far from this place. They knew I was in her apartment. They would want to punish her for having me there, and this was the only kind of punishment I knew the Dragon Knights would order on a girl. They were going to use her in their prostitution ring.
Brooklyn was alone with them. I could feel it in my bones. I could sense that she was in danger and she was being kept somewhere against her will. The warehouse was the only place that we knew of where she might be kept captive along with the other girls. I wasn’t doing this for the Club anymore, my priority was Brooklyn and I knew the others knew that too.
I was crouched behind one of the cars with Glock, Tank and Hunter. We were all quiet, blending into the dark and only communicating through signs. Across from us, through the barbed wire fencing; we could see that there were armed Dragon Knights guarding the warehouse shutters. This wasn’t going to be an easy job. The element of surprise was the only thing we had going for us.
Axel was with us, crouched behind another car some feet away from me. I looked over at him and he nodded at me. Giving me the green signal to go.
I was itching with the need to go. I wasn’t going to rest till I’d rescued Brooklyn and for now, there was no sign of her.
I nodded back at Axel and then placed a hand on Tank’s shoulder to signal to him to cover me in case I was noticed.
As quietly as possible, I snuck out from behind the car and in one swift motion, I climbed the fence and had jumped over the barbed wire. The gravel crunched under my boots when I landed on the other side; but other than that; I’d made no sound. I could see the Dragon Knights walking around in front of the warehouse, talking to each other in intervals. They hadn’t noticed the movement in the dark.
Still in a crouched position, I rushed noiselessly towards them. The military had taught me how to remain camouflaged in the dark and I was putting my training to good use. I ran, as fast as my feet would carry me towards the men and just when one of them turned to the other side, I snuck up behind the side wall.
I tried not to breathe too hard so that they wouldn’t hear me. Keeping myself pressed to the wall, I fixed the silencer on my gun. There were quick metallic clipping sounds in the air, but the DK’s still hadn’t noticed.
I peeked out from the corner and now saw a dark figure, which looked like Glock; running up on the other side and hiding himself against the wall at the other end.
I smiled to myself, glad for having friends and partners like these guys. In a couple of minutes Tank did the same and then Hunter followed, silently joining me behind the wall. Now there were four of us, hiding in the dark behind the guards while three Dragon Knights were still up front. We had successfully outnumbered them and we were all armed.
I turned to Hunter in the dark and I nodded my head once. He did the same.
I peeped out from around the wall and saw one of the Dragon Knights had walked closer up to me and I held up a hand to Hunter behind me. He knew what I was going to do and he pointed the gun forward just as I stepped out.
The DK was within arm’s reach and I wrapped my arms around his face in one swift motion, muffling his cries. He struggled and was just about to fire a shot when I shot him in his temple. I felt his body go limp in my arms and I had no thoughts in my head as I released him. He slumped to the floor and that was the first sound the other guards heard.
“Hey!”
one of them said and just when he turned to look in my direction, Glock had come up behind him and dragged him away. I knew he’d shot the guy, even though I didn’t hear it because of the silencer.
The third Dragon Knights had walked forward, towards the barbed wires but he’d heard the second guy’s voice and now we saw him walking towards us. He hadn’t seen us in the dark yet. Axel came out of nowhere. We hadn’t seen him behind the tree. He grabbed the third guy and fired a bullet to the back of his head and finally looked up at me.
We’d got all three guards, without setting off any alarms. Our plan was in motion.
Axel came up to me, smiling.
“You did good, son,” he said and thumped my shoulder. Some of the others behind him joined us, while Tank, Glock and Hunter came up to us as well.
“We can’t open the shutters. It’s too noisy,” I said, keeping my voice as low as a whisper. We couldn’t be sure who might hear us.
“There’s a side door here,” Sniper said, pointing to the side where Tank and Glock were and I smiled at him.
“Good, that’s the one we’ll take,” I said and hurried towards it. I was in no mood for wasting a breath. I had to get to Brooklyn and I had to get to her now.
***
We’d snuck into the warehouse without being noticed. I hadn’t counted exactly but I knew there were at least eight of us in there, and we had no idea how many of the Dragon Knights we would find inside.
The place stank of gun powder and damp and there wasn’t enough lighting so I didn’t know exactly where I was going but I was leading the way.
The warehouse was full of rooms and storage units with locked doors. The passageways were narrow and my boots creaked on the flooring as we tread carefully. We could hear voices echoing somewhere and the sound of what sounded like knives being sharpened. There were electrical sounds everywhere, like the DK’s were preparing for a war as well. Arranging weapons and gathering men. At least because of all the noise, we didn’t have to whisper anymore.
