Chapter 45

Viper
I'm sitting in my office when Tank barges in. Noone barges in my office ever. " Prez you need to come out here." The tone of his voice and the look on his face tell me I need to move.
I get to the bar and I see Lug Nut sitting on a stool. He has an ice pack on the back of his head. One eye is black the other looks cut. His lip is busted. His shirt is torn and bloody. His knuckles are bruised, bloody, and swollen. What in the hell happened?
He sees me and hangs his head " Prez I'm so sorry." It dawned on me. He was protecting Merigold today. I look around expecting to see her but I don't. The look on my brother’s face tells me what I already know but I need to hear it. " Merigold?" He won't look at me " Taken." is all he says.
"When?" I ask, Tank stands beside me, “Prez." "When?" I shout. Lug Nut answers " An hour and a half ago outside the docs office." I grab my soon-to-be-dead prospect by his shirt " Why am I just now hearing about this?" " I was knocked out until about 20 minutes ago. I called Tank as soon as I woke up. He came and got me and we came straight here."
" Who? Who took my sister?" I know I'm yelling. I don't give a flying fuck. Someone has my sister. And when I get a hold of them I will make them feel the pain I’m feeling now. " I don't know. If they had patches they were covered. They weren't wearing kuttes. I fought. I swear I did. I told Merigold to run as soon as I saw the guy get near her. She didn’t listen. She was fighting one guy as best she could. But"
He stops talking. But what? What was he going to say? " But what prospect?" "Merigold got in some good shots but it wasn’t enough. She wasn't strong enough. She might have been able to get away if someone hadn’t hit her from behind. I tried to get to her just before they got me. I was hit and went down. The only thing I saw before I passed out was them loading her into an unmarked white van. No plates."
I look at my crew. I see nothing but worried faces. My brothers are concerned not just for their families. But for Merigold as well. She became just as important to them as she is to me. Merigold and those boys are my whole world. Before this club. Before anything, I will not lose her now. " Lockdown is in effect as of now. Get your families and supplies and get back here. " Everyone nods. " Thor, I want you to find out if the doc's office has security cameras. And check the surrounding business. I want a view of every possible angle. Ace, I want you to find out how close our brothers on the road are but don't tell them shit yet. Just tell them to get their ass back here fast."
"Prez?" Tank looks at me " Jace and Jax?" Fuck how could I forget my nephews? " Where are they?” Please tell me they weren't with Merigold. " Anna has them." Lug Nut says. " Tank , send a prospect to her.Have Anna bring them here.Tell her to pack anything they need. If she doesn’t have it we will get it. But I don't want them to be scared. Let them think it is a playroom day. Tell Anna I will tell her everything when she gets here. I want to see them as soon as they get here."
" Prez, what do you want me to do?" Lug Nut asks. The prospect looked like hell. " Go to the med room and get yourself cleaned up. Take one of the girls if you need help. Then report to me."
" Viper." Tank gives Viper Merigold's purse and phone. " We found it outside her truck.” I unlock her phone and see a picture of Merigold, the twins, and me. When I find who took my sister from and a mother from my nephews I'll kill them. No one fucks with my family and gets away with it. I look at Tank, there is something I need to do that I never thought I would have to.
" I'll be in my office. I've got a call to make." " A call Prez?" Tank asks. All I do is nod and go to my office. There are no words to explain what I need to do. When I made the promise to always keep Merigold safe. I never thought I would have to make this call. I sit at my desk and open Merigold's contacts. I press the name I'm looking for and wait. One ring, two rings, three rings " Hey sis. How's it going?" I take a deep breath. " Alaric, it's Ethan." Silence. " Where is she?" Alaric yells. I tell him what I know and what we are doing.
" Give me your address. I get my crew together and will be there asap," he says. I want to tell him we have this handled. I want to tell him we don't need his help. But I can't. I won't. When Merigold first got here I made him and Mac a promise that I would make sure she was safe, taken care of and I failed. I also knew I couldn’t stop him if I wanted to. He has a right to be as any of us.
I give Alaric all the information he needs to get here. I tell him what he will have to do to get into the clubhouse then he hangs up. I'm sitting staring at her phone.There is nothing I can do right now while we are waiting for information to start the search. I don't want to wait. I want to go find her. I just got her. I haven't had enough time with her. I need more time. I won’t let it end like this. I won’t even let myself think like that. I’m getting my sister back. There is nothing on this earth that is going to stop me.
A knock at my door pulls me from my thoughts. I see Thor standing with Doc Ryans. " Viper, here is what we had on our security cameras from inside and outside the clinic. I haven't looked yet. I just brought it to you." Doc says. " Thanks." But I get the feeling there is something else. He could have just given the security footage to Thor.
" Spit it out Doc." " I want you to call me as soon as she is found. She is going to need medical attention right away," he says. How does he know that? Did he set this up? Wait a minute she was taken from outside his office. " What aren't you telling me Doc?" " I can't reveal much. But your sister isn't well. I’ll need to see her right away," he says.
First I found out my sister was kidnapped. Now I find out she is sick. " How bad?" " Without the medications, I gave her in her already weakened state. If she isn’t properly taken care of. Bad." Doc says. I motion for Doc and Thor to follow me. We get back to the bar where everyone is starting to gather. I whistle to get everyone's attention.
" Brothers, we need to use everything we can to find Merigold." They nod in agreement and yell. " Doc tell them what you told me." Doc steps up. " Merigold is weak and not well. She needs medication. The longer she goes without proper care. The worse she is going to get. As soon as she is found I want to be called so I can treat her as soon as possible."
" Momma, still sick?" The room goes silent and everyone turns to Jace and Jax standing with Anna and a prospect named Goof. Shit when did they get here? Why didn ‘t anyone warn me? I walk up to them and kneel. " Yea buddy she is," I tell Jax. " Where she?" " She can't be here right now. So you are going to have a sleepover in the playroom," I tell Jace. I pull them both in for a hug and hold them tight.
I don't like lying to them but I feel like I don't have a choice. They are too young to understand. There is no way I want to scare them. They are going to sleep in the playroom so they are close to me. I sleep in there with them if I have to. " Momma get better?" Jax asks. " We are going to make sure she gets better. And she will be back here before you know it. For now, Anna is going to take you to the playroom and get you a snack." I tell them. They nod and I pull them in for another hug. I hold them close and tight for a minute before I turn them over to Anna. I tell her if they need anything to come straight to me. No matter what I’m doing she is to come to me.
Once the twins are gone I look around " We need to find her for those boys. We need to find her for us, for our family. In a short time, she has worked her way into our family. She is one of us. She is our sister. Merigold is our friend. She is our niece. Our heart. And when we find her we are gonna make the fuckers that took her pay. We are going to show them that no one fucks with our family and gets away with it." The bar erupts with hell yes.