Chapter 13
Venom
John joined us in Church.. this is our club meeting room.. large enough to house everyone. Right now, I only have my officers with us.
After we were infiltrated so easily, I am extremely cautious with whom I trust with any sensitive information. Lower ranks do not fall into that category, for the most part.
John opened his case.. pulling files, a laptop, as well as a tablet out. He looked at me and said “It’s not good. Girls are being abducted off the streets. Mostly college students. But it seems to have graduated to any woman between the ages of fourteen. and thirty.”
I asked “Abducted? Are they all still missing.. or have any of them been found?” He scowled and sighed again.
“Sixteen.. Venom.. Sixteen have gone missing.. from the tri–city area. Trenton Falls, Arcadian.. and Oakville. I was elected to head the investigation, since Trenton Falls is a college town..and twelve of the sixteen are from my town.”
I nodded and responded “So, they are all still missing. Okay. I need all the information you have. Ages. Photographs. If I’m
honest, i don’t need witness information.. unless they are all connected to one person.. or a group of people. Have you looked into that?”
John furrows his brow and tells us “I’m not following.. there doesn’t seem to be any one common denominator.” Delaney said “If I may.. Venom is asking.. Did the girls meet up with a man.. or even a group of men.. sayyy.. at a bar one night.. or in the campus library.. maybe a coffee shop? No matter how inconsequential it may seem.. or the duration of time they spent talking.. All it would take is a five minute interaction, for the girl to become a mark. What are the commonalities of the victims? Who would miss them? Who would raise a fuss?”
John is nodding now.. “Four of the girls are from foster families.. two were adopted.. five of them are from single parent homes.. three of them lost their parent within the last couple years..the other two are attending night courses.. working during the day..and single mothers.”
Venom tells us “Damn.. They are missed.. but who raised the alarm? When did you start noticing a pattern?” John shrugged and said “Not until the fourth woman went missing. They seemed unrelated, at first.”
Delaney had been looking at the photographs.. examining each. carefully “They are all similar.. Blonde. Blue eyes. Between 5’2 and 5’6. A specific type is being targeted. Are they all only children, by chance?”
John confirmed it.. and I raise an eyebrow at my mate.. waiting. Because I know her little gears are turning. She nods and tells us “Trafficking. They are being abducted by a specific order.. to only provide girls who look like this. Which, in itself, tells us the buyers have a type..”
I asked John again “You dodged the question about any of them being found.. deliberately. Hoping I would drop it. Now, I will tell you just once. If you withhold information.. or paint the facts with an opaque brush.. I will not help you. I will not put my people in harm’s way for anything less than full disclosure. So! Are we done here?”
I went to stand and John said “No.. wait. Wait. I will tell you
everything. I was told to give you the bare facts. We are trying to keep the details out of the public’s hands.”
Delaney growled “Stupid move. You expect our help yet don’t want us to know everything. Ballsy, on your part…waltzing into a Bikers‘ den with full intent of essentially lying to them.”
The sheriff replied “I know. I do. I even warned the commissioner his way wouldn’t fly. Okay. I will tell you everything we know.”
I nodded and snarled “Get on with it. You’ve already wasted an hour of my time!” He cleared his throat then gulped loudly “Two of the women were found dead. They had been beaten.. raped.. brutally.. their bodies dumped.. apparently after they had succumbed to the brutality of their injuries.”
I asked “How frequently are the abductions occurring?” John informed us it had been averaging once a month.. but they stepped up to every two weeks recently.
Delaney asked “Have you locked down the campus? I know you have initiated curfew.. is it being adhered to? What about the women who work nights? Are they being offered protection.. escorts to and from?”
He shook his head “I don’t have the manpower. Any volunteers quit after a few days.. It’s impossible. In a town of fifteen thousand.. there are only five hundred deputies. We’re spread too thin.”
I asked him about the motorcycle club in his district. “Are the blackbirds offering any protection?” Delaney said “crows” Whatever.. I smirked “It doesn’t stick. I remember they’re blackbirds.. that’s enough. Blame Axe.”
Axe laughed “Hey! I called them Ravens.. probably because they‘ re blackbirds too.” She just shakes her head at us.. muttering “Hopeless.”
I looked at John “So.. fourteen women are still unaccounted for. The timeline is necessary for me.. Did the abductions start before or after that biker club showed up?”
John tells us before.. and Delaney said “That doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible.. I am struggling with it being them. The reason being normal bikers don’t shit where they eat. Normal
bikers would know they would be prime suspects. Ferals are a possibility.. although they generally move on after a few days. My concern is trafficking. You said the girls aren’t all from Trenton Falls.. but were they all taken in Trenton Falls?”
John was already nodding “They were all taken from Trenton… Our timeline puts them all between ten and twelve at night.”
asked “Any video? No cameras have caught anything suspicious?” He responded “All the girls have been taken in blackout areas. We haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. No strange vehicles.. no unknown faces..”
I stood up and said “We will be arriving in town tomorrow. We will make a substantial appearance.. Let your people know we are there to assist. If even one of your peons harass us.. we are gone. I tolerate no disrespect.”
He stood.. saying “I will leave these files for you.. I don’t need to know what you do to get information.. I do need to be kept in the loop of anything you find out.”
After he left, I told Axe to ready the men.. I want three hundred ready to ride by eight in the morning. “Snake.. Gizmo.. Go through these files.. Glean any information you can.. Look for patterns. Any identifying markers that can give us a clue. This investigation is a joke. The holes in witness statements.. the lack of pertinent questions being asked. I have half a mind to scrap the bullshit in these folders and start over from scratch.”
Delaney smiled “That’s not a bad plan. I have an idea.. I can arrange to attend classes by transferring my online courses. It puts me undercover and I will befriend the friends of the missing girls.”
An uneasy feeling settled in my gut.. “Baby.. it’s too dangerous. I don’t want you in the line of fire not without backup.” She grinned “My sweet mate. I don’t fit the profile. My eyes are green. My hair is red.. the only thing I have in common is my height. Not to mention, trying to snatch me would bring hellfire down on the culprit.”
I am still not convinced it’s a good idea. I looked at Gizmo “Trackers. We still have some?” At his nod, I told Delaney “If you consent to trackers.. I will consider it. And that’s still a big IF.. someone wanted you.. they were desperate enough to attempt an attack in our territory.”
She nodded.. agreeing to the trackers “We know it was the Black Crows who boxed me in. What if we paid them a little visit.. Maybe on the pretext of the abductions in their town?”
Gizmo said “I have some injectable ones.. if we put one in the fleshy underside of one of your breasts.. it can’t be detected.. I would like to place two.. one in your heel.. as well. I will place externals in your backpack.. cellphone.. and some kind of jewelry you always wear.”
She grinned “Let’s get ‘er done! I already transferred my online credits.. luckily I was already enrolled in Libby.. over in Trenton
Chapter 13
Falls.”
Looks like we’re doing this.. no matter how much I don’t like it! First stop.. blackbirds clubhouse then… I will burn that town to the ground if anything happens to the love of my life. Best bet on it!
