Glory
I just can’t believe it! Disappeared walking home from school. How does that even happen without one person witnessing an abduction? No one has come forward stating they saw something; my friend is beside herself. The entire reason she called me, other than a shoulder to cry on, is because she knows my man is the president of the club. He’d do anything for me, as I would him. I’ve known Angela for going on ten years now; she’s human, but she’s got a heart of gold. I was instantly attached to her upon our first meeting.
We work together at the school’s resource office. Angela took off early to go and prepare for a much-anticipated outing with her baby girl. Her miracle. Angela was told from an early age that conceiving would be next to impossible for her. Her fallopian tubes are riddled with scar tissue, it was only discovered when she went to seek help from the doctor for the inexplicable pain she’d suffer during her menstrual cycle. The day my poor friend found out she was expecting, her husband was killed in a motorcycle crash on his way home from work. He passed without knowing that they’d managed to defeat the odds stacked against them. He never knew the joy of impending fatherhood.
When we speak about Calvin, it always has a sadness to it, even when it’s a happy memory. And now, she’s possibly lost her daughter to the hands of another. We have to find Maritsa and bring her home. As I burrow deeply into my mate’s embrace, I begin to fall asleep from exhaustion. I feel the toll from my emotionally charged mental breakdown. My poor, poor friend.
As darkness takes hold, I hear these words from Blaze. “We will find her and bring her home, love. I promise you; I will not stop until she’s home.”
185
Blaze
I relentlessly, and tirelessly, cover all land in my territory. The women may be disappearing from my town; but they sure as fuck aren’t being held here. I’ve left no stone unturned in my pursuit of tracking down these missing girls and women. I’ve reached out to our other Texas chapters, who’ve all promised to keep their ears to the ground and eyes wide open to intruders in their territories. The word has gone out, I’ve made sure it’s well-known that I am searching far and wide for these trespassers. No one will be left unpunished from the Dark Leopards MC once I get my hands on them.
My men are riled up; ready for a fight. We don’t take indiscretions against women lightly. We may be a band of misfits who run drugs, weapons and a few other illegal operations, but we don’t ever hurt women or innocents. We take out the trash every so often for our town’s sheriff. When his hands are legally bound, he calls on us. We have an arrangement of sorts. He keeps his nose and men out of our business dealings, and we keep the town in order. Bliss Creek, Texas used to be a meth town, but we came in and cleaned house. Not because we give a fuck about what they do on their own time, but because this is where we’re settling and choose to raise our families.
It also was due to the fact that we wanted to be the only distributors in the area. Meth, cocaine, weed; we’re a one-stop shop. If you need it, we’ve got it. We use the cover of our chop shop, under the disguise of a legally owned junkyard. The drugs are transported inside of the used parts from vehicles in house. It’s been lucrative in supporting the club. The funds alone will ensure my great-grandchildren never have to work a day in their lives. The phone rings, bringing me out of my mind’s distraction.
“Hello,” I pick it up and answer.
“Blaze, we’ve got another one it appears. Her name is Maritsa…”
I don’t allow Chief Anderson to finish his sentence since I’m already aware of her status. “Know this, my old lady is friends with her mother, Angela. She’s already reached out to us for assistance, seeing as one of your men informed her that it’s just the wild act of a teenager. Tell me, why is it your men are sitting back and allowing her to become just another statistic?” The accusation in my voice silences him for a brief moment before he continues.
“We’ve kept the missing women quiet so you and your men can do your thing. I chose to keep things on the downlow so your investigation isn’t interfered with.”
“Not good enough of an excuse, Chief,” I bark into the phone. “She’s a fucking teenager, goddammit! Just shy of her seventeenth birthday. At such a young age, her life will forever be changed. We need to broadcast this far and wide so that the public is keeping their eyes open and children coveted.” I inhale a deep breath, trying to reign in my explosive temper.
“I’ll have a media press conference later this afternoon. Is there anything I should keep quiet?” In my pocket, I greedily smirk at his question and my after thought.
“Keep it simple, Chief. Just announce that we have a random number of missing women from our territory. Let’s ruffle some feathers and announce that we have suspicions on who they are and that the local MC is assisting in this. I want to see if it causes someone to freak out and make a mistake.”
“If this gets in the hands of the FBI, we’re all in trouble, Blaze.”
“I’ll deal with that when the time comes. I’ve got some contacts high up that should nip that shit in the bud,” I state. Shifters are everywhere. In every office, including that of our commander in chief.
“I’ll set it up to where it hits the five o’clock news,” he
