“We need to talk to this woman,” Leon suggested.
“I know, I’ve got people looking for her,” Calderone agreed. “As soon as we find her, we can talk to her.” He shrugged. “I came out here to make a call to Iceman, I didn’t want to talk inside because our rooms could be bugged.”
“Good idea.” Leon nodded. “How did he take the news?”
“He was concerned this would blowback on Peaches or the kids. He also said he’d warn the MC here. He’ll watch over his family and the MC will watch over them as well.”
Leon nodded. “They seem to watch each other’s back very well, don’t they?”
“Yes, they do. We never have to worry about our grandbabies.” Calderone sighed then said, “We’ll have to pretend we don’t know what’s going on here until we get more information.”
“I know but I also need to let the Council know what could be coming down,” Leon argued. “They need to know about something like this.”
“Do you have someone there you trust with your life? Because that’s what this could boil down to.”
Leon paused at this. “It just might but the members of the Council know me, they know the way I think and I’ve always been an honest man. In my dealings with them and my dealings with the people of this city.”
“I agree with you and to my mind, it would take something huge for you to lose your place,” Calderone told his father.
“Onore tra noi, my son…. Honor. We can’t do anything yet though, until we can talk to this woman.”
“True, we have Zipper looking for her from Troy and Iceman said he would ask Hawk’s man to look for her too. I told them to stay where they were for now, so as not to tip off whoever is setting us up.”
Leon looked back at the house. Then shook his head. “I believe our traitor is Donny. This reeks like something he’d do.”
“That could be but we still need proof before we can accuse him.”
“Perhaps the woman can give us that evidence,” Leon suggested.
“I’m hoping so but we need to find her first.” He looked over at his father. “We should have someone sweep the house for bugs as well.”
Leon nodded. “I’ll do that with men I hire from the Council, so they cannot be one of the traitors and I’ll also have Donny followed. I want to know who he meets with and what he’s doing.”
“Be very careful,” Calderone warned his dad. “If he figures out he’s being followed, he’ll know the jig is up.”
Leon nodded.
Willow began packing a bag. She’d already called Jonah and Cam and because they had no dogs right now, she was sending them on vacation. She told them to leave right away. They were due to get another batch of training puppies in ten days and she was hopeful this mess would be over by then.
She didn’t know where she would go, her world revolved around Boston. This city was all she’d known. She’d been born here and she’d grown up here. Got married and divorced here. Her family still lived here, even if they weren’t speaking to her presently, they still lived in the house she grew up in.
And now she lived on the property her grandfather left her. She’d never felt the need or the urge to go anywhere else in the world. Until now… It was hard to face, but she had to do it and now. How could a sunrise on the water lead to something like this? It was just so crazy.
She had to leave her home and possibly go underground for a while. Zeus and Molly hadn’t left her side all day and she felt thankful for that. They might not be human but they were damn close. It was getting dark outside and she thought she would use the darkness to leave, so she wouldn’t be seen.
She put a few more things in her bag and then as she was zipping up the bag, she turned and froze. She wanted to scream but she couldn’t get any sound to come from her throat.
In her doorway… stood a big man.
He was wearing leather pants and a leather vest. He had biker boots on and one arm was completely filled with tattoos. “Are you Willow Yates?” the big biker asked.
Willow swallowed hard and gripped the small bag she’d been packing tightly.
The biker held his hands out and told her, “I’m not here to hurt you. In fact, I’m here at the request of Calderone Vincinti. He needs to talk to you.”
“Who are you?” she finally whispered.
“My name is Hawk. Are you Willow?”
She nodded. “How on earth did you find me?”
“Never mind that, we got to go and get you to a safe house.”
Willow shook her head. Her hair was a dark curtain that flowed down her back. “I’m leaving town. I told him I didn’t want to get involved in this. I gave him a message that’s all.”
“Why did you call him then?” Hawk wanted to know as he looked her over carefully. He saw her dark hair and took note of the strands of silver mixed within. He also noted she had green eyes and was much smaller than his own six foot three. “You could have just kept your mouth shut and let things happen. Why did you warn the man?”
Willow stared at him for a moment then told him, “I’ve never met the man but I had to warn him. I couldn’t not do what I could to stop the insanity those men were planning. If they succeed, a lot of people would have been hurt. I don’t know anyone in the MC group either but every life matters to me. The Sinner’s aren’t the worst thing this city’s ever seen and neither is Leon and Calderone Vincinti.”
Hawk gave her a nod and smiled. “Well, thank you ma’am. I appreciate that.” When Willow frowned, he turned around to show her the back of his cut.
She gasped when she saw the Sinner’s logo.
“You’re a Sinner?” she whispered.
“Ain’t we all?” He grinned at her with the joke then said, “I’m the President sweetheart. I got a call from a good friend tonight. Calderone wanted to meet you, so we did a reverse from his phone line and we found you. We’re here to bring you to a safe house. You need to be protected until this thing is solved.”
“Why would I need a safe house?” she asked. “I’m leaving town.”
Hawk shook his head. “No you’re not. That would be the worst thing you could do in this situation.”
“Oh and why is that?” she wanted to know.
“Cuz if we can find you, so can Calderone’s enemies. They’ll just follow you and pick you off on the dark highway.”
Willow was stunned. “But I haven’t done anything wrong here,” she whispered as she sat down hard on the bed in shock.
Hawk stepped over to her and squatted down in front of her. “Honey, no one said you did anything wrong.” Shaking his head, he told her, “But you overheard something that wasn’t meant to be overheard. If whoever was on that bridge knew about you, they would come here to stop you from telling anyone their plans, even if they just think you might have overheard them. They can’t take that chance, don’t you see?”
Willow looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I think someone was here earlier today. I don’t know how they found me but there was a man here. He walked all around the house but I don’t think he saw me.”
“Then we need to get you out of here. Now, before they come back.”
Willow began to tremble. “I need to take Zeus and Molly with me. I can’t leave them here.”
Hawk frowned. “Zeus and Molly? You got kids here? Oh man, that’s helluva different for a safe house situation.”
Willow shook her head and motioned behind him.
Hawk turned and froze when he saw the Black German Shephard glaring at him. Zeus was on alert and Hawk knew better than to make any sudden moves. Then he looked over at Molly and swallowed hard. She might be a Labrador but she was watching him very carefully as well.
“They are service dogs but they are very loyal protectors too.” Willow smiled a little while talking about her best friends.
“Why didn’t they bark when I first came in?” he wanted to know. “Don’t all dogs bark when a stranger comes into the room?”
“I told them to watch but quietly.”
He frowned. “You told them?”
“I trained them. They know my commands.” She looked him in the eyes and said, “I will not leave them behind.”
Hawk nodded while still keeping one eye on the dogs. “Ok, I get that, but we got to go.”
“Ok,” she whispered her agreement. “There are two other families living on the property and we aren’t expecting another batch of dogs for about ten days.”
“Can you send the other people away for a few days?” Hawk asked.
“I already did.”
“Good, let’s hope they leave soon then. I’d hate to leave a target for these bastards.” He ushered her toward the dogs. Then watched as she gave the very intelligent canines a silent command and they followed her to the back door.
Another biker was waiting there and when he saw the dogs, he looked up at Hawk.
Hawk nodded and then waited a moment while she gathered her dog’s dishes and food. It was almost midnight before they got on the road. The two men sat up in the front seat of the truck they were in while Willow and the two dogs sat in the back cab seats.
Willow watched out the back window while keeping one hand on each of the dogs. She hadn’t said much as this journey began but the fear inside her was growing. Zeus snuggled closer to her and she had to smile. Willow knew if and when the bad stuff came down, her two dogs would try and protect her, putting themselves between her and a bullet but right now that thought wasn’t helping her much. “Where exactly are you taking me?” she finally asked the two men.
“We’re taking you to a safe house where you can wait for Calderone to join us,” the other biker explained.
“Do you guys know Calderone Vincinti?” she asked curiously.
Hawk chuckled. “Yeah honey, we know the man.”
“I was just curious because you come from two different worlds.” She shrugged.
Hawk nodded. “Different sure but then again… not so different.”
“How so?” she wanted to know.
“You know what Calderone and his father do in the city right?” the biker in the passenger seat turned around and grinned at her, reaching out his hand he introduced himself, “Hi, they call me Ranger.”
Willow took his hand. “I’m Willow Yates. And my dogs are named Zeus and Molly.”
Ranger nodded. “Anyway, Leon and Calderone run the mob in Boston and we protect the streets. We met Calderone… what, maybe five years ago now?”
Hawk nodded as he drove. “Yeah it’s been about that long now.”
Ranger then started to tell her of how the Vincinti’s were actually an extended of their group in a way, “You see. his daughter had been kidnapped when she was about five years old and he’d been looking for her for over sixteen years but every time he thought he had a lead, it turned up to be nothing. He’d just come back to Boston after chasing down yet another bogus lead when we got a request from another MC from Troy, New York. They wanted permission to come into the city to collect someone the police had brought here to question in a kidnapping ring. When Iceman, our president at the time told them now would not be a good time as Calderone was just back from another disappointing trip looking for his daughter, Deke Tory the president from their MC asked what the daughter looked like.”
Hawk snorted and took over the story, “Come to find out, Calderone’s daughter was with Deke’s woman. Deke made a deal with our MC. Work together to get his woman back from who’d just taken her and return Calderone’s kid to him. Iceman, our old leader knew this could be worth it if it was true. It would go a long way to have peaceful ties with men like the Vincintis.” Shaking his head, he told her, “As it turned out the woman with Deke’s woman her best friend in fact, really was Calderone’s kid. She’d been missing for sixteen years and the fact that we helped return her, earned us gaining his respect. Iceman didn’t want the reward, but instead he asked for Leon’s respect.”
Willow smiled slightly. “I get that. Iceman sounds like a real man. Most men would have taken the money but he wanted something far more valuable.”
“Something Leon and Calderone have honored since then.” Ranger nodded. “And in turn, so have we.”
“Which is why when he called us earlier tonight, we found you and are bringing you to a safe place. Calderone wants to know what you heard and as it includes us, we need to know what you heard as well. We may be bikers but we don’t hurt innocent women,” Hawk assured her.
“Good to know. Cuz, if so, I’m not in a good spot now am I?” Willow smiled a little as she made a joke to ease her tension.
The men chuckled.
“Nope, you would be in some trouble.” Ranger grinned. “But no worries, we are only here to help.”
Looking out the window again, Willow realized she had no idea where they were. She was so caught up in the story they’d told her that she hadn’t paid attention to where they were going. Looking around at the unfamiliar streets, she felt some panic, slight as it was. “Where are you taking me?” she asked with fear in her tone.
Hawk glanced in his rear view mirror and could read her like a book. “Willow, take a deep breath. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
Willow’s eyes began to glaze over. She kept looking out the window but she had no idea where she was. She pulled her dogs closer to her as if they would keep her safe.
Hawk wanted to stop the truck and talk her down but he knew he had to get to the safe house first.
Soon enough, they could smell the bay. They had a safe house right at the water’s edge. Most of the year, it was a good place because no one knew it was here. It was only during the warmest time of the year when this safe house had the stink of the bay coming in, but for only out a few weeks of the entire year. And that came in, no matter where you lived on the east coast.
