Savior Ch. 18

I grinned as Hanna stood to the side as I rumbled past in the loader, the remains of one of the Bugs I'd scavenged for her car in the jaws of the beast. I'd had to drag the car into the aisle for access to the last two good parts, so now there nothing was left of it but scrap, and it was in the way.

I didn't slow, so she waved her arms before pantomiming shoveling food into her mouth. When I returned her wave, she turned away. The swing of her ass was a powerful distraction, and I couldn't afford that while operating heavy equipment, so I forced myself to focus on the task at hand. I shoved the car into the crusher and mashed the top down with the bucket to make room for another car before I backed away and killed the engine.

Hanna was fussing in the kitchen, and since Patrick was in the washroom, and I wasn't filthy, I pulled into a kiss. "How'd you sleep last night?" I whispered.

She grinned. I'd left her sleeping this morning as I quietly slipped out of bed and started work. Her eyes flicked from mine to behind me, but she smiled. "Like the dead."

I knew Patrick was in the kitchen, but I didn't care. "No regrets?"

"None," she whispered as she pulled out of my embrace.

I quickly washed my hands then joined them in the dining room. There were five hamburgers on a plate, with sliced tomato, lettuce, pickle slices, and onion arrayed as edible garish, along with a large bowl of fries and warmed buns.

"Where did this come from?" Patrick asked as Hanna handed him a bun. "I know I didn't have any hamburger buns, or fries for that matter, and I'm suspicious of the tomato and lettuce."

Hanna beamed, clearly pleased with herself. "I went to the store this morning, by myself, in my car." Her grin spread even wider. "I even managed to not get lost while doing it."

"How was it?" I asked as I built my burger.

She giggled. "Terrifying, but I managed to get there and back without stalling even once, so I call that a win."

"Tell me how much it was, and I'll give you—" Patrick began.

"I'll do no such thing," she said firmly. "You've done so much for me already, both of you have, this is the least I can do."

"Hanna," Patrick said softly, "you don't have to—"

"Nope," she said, cutting him off again. "Not happening."

Patrick looked at me and I shrugged. "Okay... if you insist."

She nodded firmly. "I do." When Patrick didn't say anything, she grinned. "Now that's settled, do you have a grill? I bought some chicken breasts, and I thought I'd grill them. My mom has the most amazing recipe for grilled potato salad. Do you like green peppers?"

"Hanna," he tried again. "I wish—"

"Patrick... please... let me do something to help. I can't do anything out there, but I can at least cook so you don't have to. Maybe I can help you with paperwork, or something, if you'll show me how. I can't just sit around and do nothing." She paused as a shadow of sadness crossed her face. "If I don't stay busy, I think too much."

Patrick held her gaze for a moment before he placed his hand on hers. "It's in the shop. I'll show you after lunch. There isn't that much paperwork that needs doing, but I'm sure I can find something for you to do."

She perked up with that. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Has anyone told you that you're a really great guy?" she asked softly.

He glanced at me as his lips twitched into a small smile, and I knew what was coming. "Not since last week," he said, and I was only partially successful in hiding my grin.

"I've got this," she said as I stood, picking up my plate and the burger platter.

"I can at least carry it to the kitchen."

She followed me with her own plate and the empty bowl that once contained the fries. "Can I ask for a small favor?"

"Sure, what?"

"Can I borrow your phone? I should call my parents. They're probably freaking out since I haven't called them in a couple of days."

I handed her my phone as Patrick appeared with his plate, along with the plate containing the burger toppings. I saw her glance between my phone and the dining room, clearly trying to decide what to do.

"Call them," I suggested. "Patrick and I will bring the stuff in here, then you can take it from there. How's that?"

She hesitated so I took the phone from her hand, unlocked it, and handed it back to her before I turned away to retrieve the last of the dishes from the table. When I returned, she was holding the phone to her ear, her hips cocked as she waited for someone to answer.

"Mom, it's Hanna." She listened a moment as her eyes opened wider. "What are you doing here? How'd you find me?"

She paused as she held my gaze, fear and shock coloring her face. I'd intended to go back to work, but something about her slightly panicked look stuck me in place.

"I'm not there anymore. I'm... staying with a friend... someone who's helping me find Garrett." She was quiet a moment. "No, I'm not telling you that." Pause. "No. I've got it handled. You and Dad need to go home." Pause. "No! I'm not telling you! You being here could ruin everything!" Pause. "Because, if Carl sees you, he may run and take Garrett with him! I know he's here, but if he runs, I may never find him again!"

She looked at me with panic in her eyes, shaking her head as she listened. I could hear the buzzing of an upset voice, but I couldn't make out the words.

"No! I know you want to help, but this isn't helping!" Pause. "If I am, then it's my mistake to make!" Pause. "Because I'm a grown woman!" Another pause, longer this time. "I know, Mom," Hanna said, her voice soft. "I want to get him back too, and that's what I'm trying to do, but you're... not... helping. You have to trust me on this. I'm doing what I think is right, and I'm going to keep doing it, so you and Dad need to just go home and let me deal with it." Another long pause as she slumped against the cabinet. "I'm hanging up now," she said softly before she paused. "No. I'm hanging up, but if you and Daddy really want to help me, you'll go home. I just hope that... I just need you to go home. Please." She paused one last time. "Yes. I will, and I love you too. I'll be home with Garrett as soon as I can. Tell Dad I love him. Bye."

She ended the call with a beep and allowed her hand to fall to her side. "Dammit..."

"Your parents are here?" I asked.

"Yeah. They arrived this morning."

"Did you tell them where you are?"

"No. I called them from the motel, and gave them the number to call me back. They called the motel and got the address." She sighed. "This is so fucked up."

"Do you think Carl would recognize them?"

She glared at me. "He was my husband for six years. Of course he'll recognize them."

"Do you think he'd run?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe. They could certainly spook him, especially since he has to know the cops are looking for him and Garrett."

"Are they going to go home?"

She looked at her shoes. "I honestly don't know. I know they're trying to help, but they're not. If Carl bolts... I'll have to start looking for him all over again."

"Would it help if I talked to them and explained the situation?" The way she looked at me made me smile. "I'm serious. I'm not talking about trying to intimidate them or anything like that. Do they know who Carl is, who he runs with?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Maybe they should. What difference does it make now?"

She slumped even more as she handed me my phone. "I don't know. Maybe."

I was using the forklift to dump tires into the shredder. It was easy work. I'd park the forklift with the forks just high enough to hold the tires, and then slide the tires on. Once both forks were full, I used the machine to lift the tires, hooked rubber donuts on the edge of the shredder, and backed up, sliding the tires off one fork at a time into the machine. I'd forgotten we had a rubber truck coming tomorrow until Patrick reminded me, so I was hustling to get a load ready.

I was shoving a tire to the back of the fork when my phone rang. I pulled it out, halfway expecting it to be Hanna's parents calling back. I hadn't liked the utter look of defeat on her face, but I didn't have the time to comfort her at the moment.

I glanced at the screen, then pressed the button to accept the call. "Rand! I need you to meet us at Doonz right now if you can!" Doug said, his words clipped and fast. "The Orcas are at OSB and we're going to pay them a visit. I'm rounding up as many brothers as I can."

I immediately started walking away from my task. "I'll be there in ten minutes," I said before tucking my phone away. Hanna was scrubbing the grill, making it ready for use as I hurried past the shop. She must have sensed my agitation because she trotted after me, still holding the brass brush she'd been using.

"What's happened?" she asked as she slowed beside me

"The Orcas are at OSB. We're going to pay them a visit."

"I'm going, too."

I stopped and turned to face her. "No. Stay here."

"No! No way in hell! I'm not staying here!"

"You are staying here," I said firmly. "This is club business and if things get ugly, I don't want you anywhere around."

"Carl has my son!"

I turned and started walking again. I didn't have time to argue with her about it. She walked beside me, almost trotting to keep up. "I don't know that Carl's there, and it's unlikely, don't you think, that even if he is there, Garrett is with him?" I jerked the trailer door open and strode immediately to the bathroom to wash my hands. "I know what Carl looks like. Let us handle it. The best thing you can do for Garrett right now is stay out of the way."

She was standing in the narrow hall, glaring at me. I shook my hands to dry them, then squeezed past her into the bedroom. I opened a drawer and pulled out my Heckler & Koch SPF9 SK, tucking it and the holster that contained it into the small of my back. The pistol secured, I shrugged into my riding jacket.

"We'll get Garrett back, don't worry, but you need to stay here. You being there will only weaken our position. If we get Garrett, I'll call Patrick so you and he can come get him." I gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "If you're ever going to trust me, trust me now."

She didn't answer, and I didn't have time to wait, but she stayed in the trailer, watching from the door as I strode to my Harley.

We arrived at Oregon Sport Bikes eighteen strong, and I knew immediately we'd missed the Orcas. There were a couple of bikes in the parking lot, but none of them was a Softail.

"Shit!" Doug barked as we stepped of our bikes.

Bryan stepped out of the OSB building. Doug placed his helmet on the seat of his Ninja and took the offered hand. "I tried to stall them, but I think they knew what I was doing. You missed them by five minutes, maybe less."

"Dammit!" Doug swore again. "Which way did they go?"

"South."

"Goddammit! We probably rode right past them! What did they want?"

"Just what Rand and that woman said they'd want. They want to buy a share of my business. They offered one and a half million for a twenty-five percent share."

"What did you tell them?"

"I didn't tell them anything. I was trying to keep them around long enough for you to get here, but I'm not selling, and I'm damn sure not selling at that price."

"How many were there?"

"The same four as the last time. The guy that girl pointed out is the one who did all the talking, making all these big promises about how they going to take over the town and how he knew I'd want to be on the side of the winners, not the losers. He's a sycophantic bastard."

"A what?" Palmer chuckled.

"Sycophantic. A butt-kisser, an ingrate. He tells you what you want to hear."

"Oh, a brown-noser. Why didn't you say so?"

Bryan's lips quirked, but he didn't smile. "I did. Anyway, I told him I'd think about it and offered him the tour, but I must not be a very good actor because it didn't take him long to get nervous and get out of here."

Vince unconsciously scratched at his helmet. "Were they wearing their colors?"

Bryan shook his head. "No."

I saw Vince's lips thin. "That's why we haven't gotten a hit. You're sure they're Orcas?"

Bryan shrugged. "Don't know. They haven't actually said who they were, but that woman Rand brought around said they were Orcas."

Doug nodded. "They're probably trying to keep it on the quiet at first, since the Orcas don't have the best reputation." He glanced back at the rest of us. "Anyone got any ideas?" I shook my head with everyone else. "Dammit," he muttered a second time. "I don't guess there's anything we can do right now, since we missed them."

"One thing, Doug," Bryan said. "He didn't make any direct threats, nothing like, 'If you don't play ball, were going to kill you.' Nothing like that. But he made it pretty clear if I didn't get in bed with the whoever he was representing, things were going to start happening."

"What did he say exactly?"

"He used that line about making sure my insurance was paid up again. He also said having a partner would, 'allow me to spend more time with my family because you never knew when something could happen to them.'"

Doug face hardened as he nodded. "Okay. We'll see about getting some protection on you and your family."

"I'm not selling to these cock-suckers, but I need to know my family is safe."

"Hang in there, Bryan. We've got your back."

"I'm depending on you, Doug."

"We'll take care of it, but do me a favor."

"What?"

"Give Bill and Greg a call and tell them what went down. We got some pushback from them before. Maybe this will wake them up. Let them know if the Orcas, or whoever these assholes are, show up there, to try to hold them if they possibly can, and to contact me. We may have to put a couple of guys on them, too. That will stretch us pretty thin, and I'm not sure how we can cover all this, but we'll figure something out."

Bryan nodded. "I'll take care of it."

"Thanks," Doug said as jammed his helmet on his head, snapped the quick connect, and swung a leg over the saddle. His bike barked to life. "We'll make this happen. Just hang in there with us."

With that, we kicked our bike back and rode away.

We followed Doug and Tim, riding in the front of the pack as befitting their position of President and Vice-President. As we rode, I hung back slightly, Vince acting as my wingman, my eyes roaming as I looked for any hint of a white Softail, but I saw nothing.

Well pulled to a stop in front of Doonz with the howl of high revving Japanese sport bike engines, my Harley's thump adding a bass counterpoint.

"How are we going to cover Bryan and his family?" Doug asked after we'd settled into our room and slid the wall shut.

All of us looked at each other. "We all have jobs, Doug. Covering them in the day is going to be tough."

"I'll cover the day," Doug said, the only one in club retired. "But we need night coverage."

"How about two-hour shifts, six to six?" Tim suggested. "We each pull a shift then it rotates back around and starts over. Our wives will probably be glad to have us out from underfoot for a couple of hours."

Doug snorted. "So I pull a twelve, every day, and you lazy bastards pull two hours once a week?"

There was no heat in Doug's tone, and we all snickered. "At least yours is during the day so you can sit inside and watch television or something. We're going to be stuck standing outside in the rain," Vince pointed out.

Working at the yard gave me a lot of flexibility, and I doubted Patrick would care so long as I didn't leave him in a bind. "I can probably spell you for a couple of hours during the day," I offered. "We should also ask Bryan if he wants or needs us during the day on the weekend. Well, probably Saturday since he works that day, but maybe not Sunday."

"Thanks, Rand. That'll be helpful, and good idea on the weekend. How are we going to cover Bill and Greg if we have to?"

A few brothers groaned. "I don't know what we'll do about the day, but I guess we can cover the nights the same way. We need to get a handle on this before it comes to that. Marla isn't going to be happy with me being out in the middle of the night, even on club business," Vince said then grinned. "I have certain husbandly responsibilities, you know."

The room groaned and rolled their eyes with his comment. There was unspoken agreement among the brothers that Marla was the hottest of the wives and girlfriends. She was a real sweetheart and pretended she didn't know she turned male heads every time she walked into a room. I smiled to myself. If Hanna and I became a thing, then Vince would finally be dethroned as the brother with the hottest wife or girlfriend.

"Agreed. Anyone have anything else?" I shook my head as I glanced around the room, each of us looking to see if anyone had anything to add. "Try to stay loose and available. I hope we're going to get a call from a motel or someone letting us know the Orcas are trying to check in." Doug waited a moment then nodded firmly. "Okay. Let's get out of here. Rand, can you hang around a moment so we can work out the who and when for Bryan?"

As I rumbled through the yard, I immediately noticed Hanna's VW was missing, and a cold lump formed in my stomach as heat washed over me. Rather than parking my bike in the shed, I stopped in front of Patrick's house. I opened the door to the office and stepped inside. Patrick was at the desk, the phone at his ear.

"Yes, already crushed." He nodded as I forced myself to not pace in impatience. "Yes... alright. We'll see you next week. Thanks."

"Where's Hanna?" I asked before the headset was back in the cradle. "Her car is gone."

"I sent her to the store with a shopping list. She was hanging around, nervous as a cat. If I'd stopped suddenly, she's have run into me." He paused as he grinned. "Not that I'd have minded."

"I'm surprised you were able to get her to leave."

His grin spread. "It wasn't easy, I tell you, but I finally convinced her if you hadn't called by now, you weren't going to."

"Yeah. We completely missed them. Maybe I should have taken her with us because we think we rode right past them. If she'd been with us, she may have recognized them." I felt my annoyance rising again. "I know what kind of bike he rides, so I should have noticed him."

"If you passed them, but how would you know? There's motorcycles everywhere now. Is Carl's so unique you could be sure?"

"No. In fact we saw one Saturday that Hanna first thought was his, but wasn't."

He nodded, turning his hands palms up between us. "See? The last thing you want to do is swarm over some poor unsuspecting guy just out for a ride. That'll really endear you to the community."

I chuckled. He was right. "Yeah, I know, but it still pisses me off that we missed them."

"You'll get 'em the next time. Listen, I may have a buyer for that Pontiac you brought in. Can you take a look at it and see what on the motor is salvageable? I did some looking in the yard, and there's another couple of Grand Prix's out there. They've been pretty well stripped, but they both still have the motor in them, so if all the accessories on the new car are good, we might can do a heart transplant for cheap."

"How much?" I asked.

"Three grand."

My lips quirked. I'd take a tenfold return on our investment all day, every day. My grin spread slightly as I turned away. Good thing Hanna and I hadn't bent the hood last night.

I had the hood off the Pontiac and was poking at the engine. The oil wasn't milky or full of shavings, and I was deciding what I wanted to inspect next, when I heard Hanna's Beetle straining hard. As I watched, she skidded to a stop in front of Patrick's house before she threw her door open, slammed it shut, and stomped around the car. As she started yanking bags out of the car, I could tell she was pissed about something.