Missing Ch. 41-50

"It was hard to watch. I can't imagine where Bonnie's mind is at now. The poor girl floated down the bad luck rapids and hit every rock she could find," Allison replied. "It wouldn't shock me if she killed herself, especially since she refused help from her Alphas."

I exited the SUV and opened the tailgate and window as Allison checked the bed she'd made up was ready. The doctor wouldn't clear Bonnie for flying yet, telling us she needed to spend another week healing. A flight right now would be uncomfortable and cause her still-healing wounds to open up again. Alpha Leo had offered to send people to drive her home, even transport her on a medical flight, but Bonnie refused. "She's proud and embarrassed, Allison. Bonnie refused to let her Alphas see her right after the punishment or before they left to find Sharkbait. She refused her Baxter Alphas and Betas as well. Now she's refusing to see anyone until her back heals."

"I'm glad she allowed us to help," Allison said as she jumped out. "She shouldn't stay in the cells, and the local Pack wants nothing to do with her. Honestly, I thought she'd blame you for the trouble she got in."

I took her hand and walked towards the entrance. "I made the offer, and she took it. We're more acquaintances than friends, so maybe our help doesn't hurt as much?"

She nodded. "It was a shitshow all around. Nobody had the right information, and many bad decisions got made. Nobody suffered more than Bonnie."

The guards were professional, but I sensed they were glad to see Bonnie leave. The Chief Enforcer wasn't happy with the failures of his security staff during Bonnie's raid, and the repercussions were still fresh. She'd made them look bad. "The Doctor is in there with them. Where do you want her things?"

I looked over at the travel bag in the corner. "Can you have someone put it in the back of our vehicle while we get Mrs. Woods?"

"Why not," he grumbled. "We're practically a hotel. Follow this guard to her cell."

The guard pushed a rolling gurney ahead before we went down to the cell level in a freight elevator. He left it outside Bonnie's cell. The smell of dried blood, sweat, and feces was strong. "You couldn't clean her up?"

"Maid service isn't included with her room," he sneered. "Prisoners are entitled to nothing but required medical care, food, and water during their punishment," the guard replied. "If they can't make it to the toilet, that's on her. Literally."

Allison looked like she was going to barf, and I was getting pissed off. It didn't get better when the two of us entered the open cell. Bonnie was on her stomach on the soiled sheets. The doctor was checking her wounds. "Good, you're here," he said.

Bonnie glanced towards us, then turned her head towards the wall. In the brief eye contact, I caught the pain and the shame in her eyes. "How is she?"

"She'll heal better once she is out of here, and I've given her an injection for the pain," Doc said. "Bring the gurney over. It doesn't do any good to clean her up while she's on this bed." He had me remove the blanket and leave the top sheet in place. "Help me lift her onto the gurney. Bonnie, this might hurt, but we'll try to keep you as flat as possible." I got my first good look at the mess on her back. It wasn't good.

I lifted her shoulders and chest, Doc lifted her waist and thighs, and Allison used one arm to lift her feet while sliding the gurney under her. She groaned in pain as we set her down. We gave her a sponge bath to get her clean, then Doc cleaned and stitched the deeper wounds that had opened up. Thankfully, Bonnie fell asleep before he started sewing. "She'll sleep for a few hours. It grates at me that I can't do more, but the rules for these punishments are barbaric," he said. "Until now, I couldn't do anything but rinse the wounds with water and apply antibiotic cream. No silver removal, no stitches, no butterfly closures, no painkillers, no nothing," he said with disgust. "They want the prisoner to suffer and live with horrible scarring for the rest of their lives. Every time she moved, the wounds would split open again. "Now that I can close the wounds properly, she should heal faster. I can't fix how it looks."

Once he finished, we rolled her to each side to clean her front, then pulled the dirty sheet out. Doc taped large pads over the whip strikes to protect them before I put the blanket over her. She didn't wake as we brought her outside. This time, we lifted the bottom sheet as we loaded her into the back of the car. Allison crawled in next to her. I took the bag of painkillers and antibiotics, then shook Doc's hand. "Any advice?"

"Don't leave her alone, and no mirrors," he said with a sigh. "Call me if you have any questions."

I got on the road and headed northwest. It was a three-and-a-half-hour drive to our Pack House outside Highlands, North Carolina, just northwest of where Georgia and the two Carolinas meet. Bonnie slept deeply for most of the trip, waking towards the end to take her pills. "Is your Alpha all right with this?"

"Yes, and he has cleared it with Alpha Leo for you to stay as long as you wish. You will have to tell the FBI you'll be out another week. Maybe you got sick on vacation?"

"I'll call later this week," Bonnie whispered. "Thank you for taking me. I don't want anyone to see me like this."

"You'll stay in our guest room, and only the Pack Doctor and Nurse will see you if that's what you want," Allison promised.

Bonnie spent over a week with us as she healed. Once she could shift, she followed us around the woods near our home as I warned everyone away. The lashing left raised scars on her skin as a human, with raised stripes of hair missing along her red wolf's back and haunches. Mentally, she withdrew into herself, not willing to talk about her experience. I urged her to go home. "Your Pack admires your loyalty, Bonnie," I told her on our final night. "You need them to heal."

"I'm a broken wolf, Angelo." She closed her eyes and leaned back onto the couch. "Every night in that cell, I wondered why you didn't do me a favor and shoot me dead."

"The dead have no more chances. Your journey must continue, or the Moon Goddess would have let them. Luna knows that I shouldn't have let you get the jump on me. I'm blaming HER."

She snorted, then looked in my eyes. "My journey won't last much longer."

We left early for the airport in Charlotte, and she caught her flight back to Minnesota.

Ch. 44

Vicki (Sharkbait) Lawrence's POV

Mendota Heights, Minnesota

Thursday, March 5, 2020

"You're sure bringing the kids is a good idea?"

Mom was sitting in the back of Luna Adrienne's SUV as Leo drove us to the airport. Amy and I were in our booster seats behind him. "I miss Bonnie," I said. "Mommy says I can miss school."

"It's just for today," Luna Adrienne said. "I need you two on your best behavior. Bonnie didn't have the fun vacation that we had."

Mom hadn't told us much about what happened with our Alphas in Atlanta, but I knew it wasn't good. "Council was mean to her?"

"Very mean," the Luna said. "Don't hug her unless she opens her arms to you first."

No hug? That made me sad. I let out a fart and started to laugh. Momma called these my 'puppy farts' because they were silent killers. It wasn't long until everyone looked at me.

"Sharkbait!" Leo rolled down all the windows.

"It's not my fault!"

"You eat all that prime rib, and your body can't handle it," Mom said after bringing her head back inside. "Prime Rib Tuesday becomes Puppy Fart Wednesday."

Leo rolled the windows back up.

I looked out the window as we crossed the Mendota Bridge. There were frozen ponds and trees below, and then a plane passed over us before landing. "PLANE!"

"It's big, isn't it," Mom said as we watched the jet land. The airport was HUGE. I could see the planes, and there was a small train too. Leo stopped behind other cars outside some doors.

Adrienne looked up. "Bonnie is getting off the plane now. I want to meet her inside."

"Can we come? Pweaaaase?" I gave them my best face.

"You have to hold our hands," Mom said. She unbuckled us, and we climbed out. Amy took Luna's hand, and we walked in through doors that opened for us. "Come over here." We stopped by this big metal thing that was moving suitcases around. We watched as they appeared, slid down the ramp, then moved around until someone grabbed them.

"Can I ride?"

Adrienne pulled Amy back. "It's against the rules," she said. We watched until there were only a few left, then Mom moved us towards an escalator. "We have to wait here."

I watched all the people come down. There were lots of smells, and I didn't like them. Finally, Mom spotted her. "There she is!"

Bonnie waved at us as Amy and I jumped up and down. We had to wait until she got to the bottom and opened her arms before they let us go. "BONNIE!" She smiled for a moment and stood there. Amy and I hugged her legs as she patted our heads, but she didn't hug us.

"Can you pull my suitcase? And carry my purse?"

We nodded, and she let me roll it to the car! We had to buckle up, and Mom sat behind us so Bonnie could sit next to us on the drive home. Bonnie didn't talk much, so I told her about our adventures and all the cool sharks I got to see.

We were entering Hastings when my stomach growled, making me giggle. "I'z hungry, Mommy!"

"I'm hungry too," Bonnie said. "Are we eating at home?"

"I have a better idea," Unky Leo said. "Who wants to go to the Chinese buffet?"

"ME!" I loved filling my plate.

"It's a good deal with these two eating so much," Mom said. "Six and under are free, and it's all you can eat."

I held Bonnie's hand as we went into Yuan's Buffet. "Check this out," Leo said. The price list had a 3x5 card posted over it. "Now it's four and under were free, while 5 to 8-year-olds are $4.79!"

The waitress was apologetic as she led us to our table. "The owner had to do something! That girl eats more than most adults!"

"Don't I know it," Mom said. "You don't have to feed her the rest of the week. I don't know where she puts it."

I had a whole plate full of ribs, then went back for beef and chicken. Mom made me eat some vegetables before we had our banana pudding and chocolate pudding. I rubbed my belly when I put my spoon down. "Full, mommy!"

She flicked my tummy, and it sounded like a drum. "Yep. One wafer-thin mint and boom!" The adults laughed, but I didn't get it.

Only a few people were waiting when we got home. Amy and I went down to the man-cave to watch shark videos. I was about to sleep when I saw Bonnie coming down the stairs. She went into her room and closed the door.

I was almost asleep when I heard her crying. "Bonnie is sad," I whispered.

"Puppy pile?"

Amy was right. Puppy piles made everything better.

We left our clothes on the couch and shifted into our wolves. We sat at Bonnie's door and whined softly; she opened it and looked at us. "Nap?"

"Come on," she said. We jumped on the bed as Bonnie closed the door. She pulled off her clothes, and I saw the owies on her back. After shifting into her red wolf, it didn't look right. Lines of fur were missing, and I could smell blood.

"Owies?" Amy was sniffing at her fur as Bonnie turned around three times, then curled into a ball.

"Lots of owies," Bonnie said.

"Not nice." I moved around until my head was on her neck while Amy lay around her feet.

Olivia Lawrence's POV

I met Brent at the door, giving my mate a big welcome-home kiss. "Good day at work?"

"Not bad, but I'm glad to be home. Where's our girl?"

"Downstairs with Amy. They skipped the school field trip to the Como Zoo to pick up Bonnie at the airport."

"How is she doing?"

I didn't know what to say. "Bonnie is barely hanging on, and I don't know how long she can keep functioning. It's too much for anyone to take."

"I'm still pissed they didn't pardon her or something. Whipping her like that because she's loyal to her Luna?" He shook his head. "It's like they are trying to drive her nuts."

"Those men. I just..."

"What?"

"I didn't grow up with them, and I don't understand how they can do this! It's not right."

Brent kissed my forehead. "Werewolf leadership doesn't change as fast as human society. The voting is all done by old guys in power."

"Well, they need to listen to their mates or something. Go clean up; dinner will be ready in a few minutes. I'm going to check on the girls."

He headed up to our apartment over the garage while I took the stairs to the basement. I saw their clothes on the couch and followed the scent to Bonnie's room. I softly knocked and didn't get an answer. Opening the door, I could see one adult wolf with two pups curled around her. I smiled and closed the door.

I didn't care if they got up for dinner; Bonnie needed them. Those girls could get anyone to feel better again.

Ch. 45

Detective Sergeant Bonnie (McDonald) Woods' POV

FBI Minneapolis Office

Monday, March 9^th, 2020

"McDonald! Get in here!" I looked at Special Agent Nunez, the rookie FBI agent assigned to babysit me. He shrugged, not knowing any reasons why she would be mad at me. I had no idea what I could have done while NOT being here for three weeks! Still, I walked into office and closed the door when she motioned for it. "How's your back?"

After some discussion with the doctor at the Alpha Summit, I'd reported a "slipped disk" that occurred while paddleboarding on my Georgia vacation. He even gave me a return to work note before I left. It gave me a good excuse for my pains, as my back was still healing. "I'm cleared for desk duty but can't resume full duties for two weeks," I said as I handed her the form. "It's still sore but much better. I couldn't get out of bed for a week!" THAT part was SO true.

"Right. I just got off the phone with the FBI office in Maine. There's been a breakthrough in your kidnapping case."

"Really?" My bosses hadn't told me anything.

"Saturday afternoon, the Maine State Police stopped a rental car on Interstate 95. A drug dog got a hit on it. The search found two kilos of cocaine and five thousand Ecstasy pills hidden in the quarter panels. Todd Oscar Dickerson, a twenty-four-year-old auto part store employee, was arrested and charged with felony drug trafficking."

I racked my brain and came up with nothing. "Who?"

"He's a prospect in the Manchester chapter of the Iron Horsemen. At least, he was."

I nodded. "Prospects don't know shit about the illegal operations of the Club. Kind of like strip club waitresses," I sighed. "If they tell him to drive a car up, he drives the fucking car up and keeps his mouth shut."

"Well, it didn't take long for the Assistant US Attorney to convince him that rolling on the Club was preferable to twenty to forty in the Federal Prison," she replied. "He had a lot to say."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was involved in my abduction?" I hadn't scented the driver before.

"Tangentially. The Club didn't want anything tying the members to it, so they had Todd leave one of the store delivery vans near the Club President's home. He picked it up in the morning. It had 175 miles more on the odometer than when he left, and they hadn't filled it up. Todd had to put half a tank of gas in so his boss wouldn't question it when he went back to work."

"A late-model Ford transit van?"

"Yes," she replied with a smile. "Easy to cover up with magnetic signs or white panels. That's not the best part, though."

Were they that stupid? I had to hope so. "It had GPS tracking?"

"YES! It was an aftermarket system the owner installed to keep track of his delivery vehicles. The owner was very cooperative, and the tracking data is conclusive. It was the van used for your kidnapping." I was smiling now. "Even better. Our FBI Crime Scene technicians found a single long red hair in the back. DNA testing is ongoing, but if it's your hair? The kidnapping case is a slam-dunk, even without your testimony."

It was solid physical and circumstantial evidence, plus my testimony. One of the guys involved would roll and testify against the leaders to get out of a forty-year sentence. "What about RICO? Are they taking down the Club?"

"Since the Club sent Todd to Florida to drive the car back, that is a second felony they can use to show a criminal enterprise. It's not the first thing they will charge, but it should happen. The US Attorney will make an example of the Manchester Chapter, and we might be able to take the whole Club down." That would be huge. RICO was the sledgehammer of the criminal world, designed to take down the Mafia. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Drug trafficking and kidnapping were sufficient to show the required two acts of crime within ten years. The US Attorney could seek fines of $25,000 and 20 years in prison for each racketeering count, IN ADDITION to the penalties for the individual crimes.

The big hammer came when you applied Racketeering to the whole Chapter. It doesn't matter that Patch A wasn't directly involved in what Patch B did. Under the 'criminal enterprise' model, all it took was for Patch A to benefit from Patch B's illegal activities. That's how you could take the whole Chapter down.

The pain doesn't stop there. The racketeers must forfeit 'all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of racketeering activity.' The US Attorney can ask the Judge to temporarily seize the defendant's assets and prevent the transfer of potentially forfeitable property. The Feds take the Clubhouse, Club accounts, personal funds, motorcycles, and other ill-gotten gains. Facing decades in jail and no money for their defense, you get a lot of plea agreements. If you can find acts that extend RICO to the national Club, you can take everything, including their Club logo.

"Are they getting help from Operation Rumble?" The President told the Attorney General to take down the five biggest 1% biker gangs. The DEA, FBI, ATF, CBP, and other groups were all participating under the direction of the Justice Department.

"Oh yeah, big time. The Iron Horsemen are at the big table now."

"Any idea of timing?" RICO cases could drag on for years.

"Warrants and seizure orders will be ready to serve by the end of the week. Resident Senior AIC St. James wants to know if you want to participate in the raid on Friday night."

"Hell yes," I said immediately.

"You need to be at the Manchester FBI office on Friday morning. Here are the contact details," she said as she handed me an email. "Since you're out of your jurisdiction, you can't take an active role in the raid. Nobody can know you are there until after the raid goes down."

I didn't care; I would get to lead Red and his club out in handcuffs. I'd have to check with our Pack Lawyer; it might even be possible for me to sue the Club for damages under RICO. "I'll make travel arrangements. What do you want me to do until then?"

She gave me a post-it note with a name and a phone number. "The local DEA office was intrigued by the data we are getting. Make an appointment and go talk to them." She stood, so I did too. "You were sent here to stay safe. The FBI has what it needs for the kidnapping, so help the DEA with their meth investigation. Turn in your badge on the way out."

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you for your assistance."

"Thank you for staying out of trouble. I know it was difficult for you."

I snorted and left her office, telling Barry she'd transferred me to the DEA office. Leaving him behind, I walked through the office to Thomas Pickett's office. "Bonnie," he said with a smile. "Welcome back! Oh, wait, 'back' probably isn't the best thing to say for you."