Shadow’s Heart (Devil’s Inferno MC #3)

Chapter Nine

Eagle

G etting up at the ass crack of dawn isn’t something I’m used to anymore. I’ve become accustomed to civilian life, but I’ll gladly get up right now to go look for any signs of the fucking van that took Wreck. I’m still in shock that someone attacked Devil’s Ink and kidnapped him. It’s not something I expected at all. Don’t get me wrong, we have issues we deal with all the time, but normally there is some sort of sign or warning that trouble is heading our way, but this time we had none of that. This attack was totally out of the blue.

As much as I hope that we find something in the area where the van disappeared, I’m not hopeful. That would be far to fucking easy, and this search has been anything but. No matter where we’ve looked, who we’ve spoken to, or where Tech’s searched online, we’ve got fucking nothing. We’re not dealing with amateurs. These guys fucking know what they’re doing, and that’s not good news for us or Wreck.

Rock meets me by our bikes that are currently parked in front of The Clubhouse as we both stayed in our rooms here last night; we don’t speak a word to each other as we mount our bikes, both focusing our thoughts on our task. It doesn’t take us long to reach the area we need to search. This time in the morning, our lovely little town is well like a ghost town. Everyone’s at home, tucked asleep in bed. We haven’t seen a single person at all since we set off.

Parking up, Rock heads to one side of the area where we know that the motherfucking van disappeared, while I start at the other. It’s only a one-block radius, so this shouldn’t take long. At all. There’s not many fucking places for them to have stashed the van around here.

Five minutes into the search, from the corner of my eye, I spot Rock looking down an alley. He’s close enough to me that I can read his body language, and his massive six-foot-six body is going fucking rigid before my eyes. Meaning only one thing, he thinks he’s found something. He wouldn’t be reacting this way for any other reason. I’m heading towards him before he can even alert me. I reach him within seconds and join him looking down the alley, immediately spotting what he did. A fucking black van with no plates. With determined strides, I head towards the vehicle I’m sure was used to transport Wreck from Devil’s Ink, pulling on a pair of gloves as I go. No fucking way am I leaving my prints on this van or messing up anything that could be used to help us. I wasn’t born yesterday.

Reaching the back doors, I pull the handle and find it unlocked. Which isn’t at all shocking; Wreck’s abductors were probably hoping someone would steal the van, getting rid of the evidence in the process. The moment the door starts to open, I’m hit with a scent I know all to fucking well. Industrial cleaner. Just like the stuff we use at Inferno’s, the nightclub I manage for the club. Fucking great, we’re not going to get anything from this van if they’ve used the same stuff we use at Inferno’s; it’s potent shit. So they didn’t just abandon the vehicle; they cleaned it first to make sure if we did locate it we’d have nothing of use. Yeah, these guys are definitely professional. They aren’t leaving anything to chance.

Rock comes and stops next to me, and I glance at him from the corner of my eye. He immediately starts swearing under his breath, and I don’t blame him. This van is the only fucking lead we have, and it’s useless. Doesn’t stop him from pulling his phone out though and contacting someone for a tow. We both know we still need to check the vehicle in case they missed anything when they cleaned up. I’m not holding my breath for that type of luck, though.

“Piston’s on his way. His words were fuck if I’m trusting anyone else with this.” Rock informs me once he’s off his phone.

“Don’t exactly blame him.” If I were Piston, I wouldn’t be trusting this with any of my employees either. This van is far too important to risk someone messing something up.

Rock just hums in response. We both walk over to the alley wall and lean against it to wait for Piston to arrive, and tow the van to Devil’s Garage. I have no doubts he’ll be going over it with a fine tooth comb; hell, I know he will be because I’m going to be right there next to him. I really hope these guys somehow, some way, against all the odds, managed to miss something during their clean-up and that we can find it, and that will help. I’m not hopeful, though. I’ve got a feeling we’re going to need a goddamn miracle to find Wreck, but fuck if I’m going to say those words out loud. It’s not going to help, if anything; if I voice what I’m thinking, Shadow will go off the fucking deep end, and that’s the last thing we need.