“I’ll be with you.” They’re not leaving me out. The way Salem’s eyes go up and then down show my words were unnecessary.
“First, I want you with me, Grumbler, when I put the call into Snatcher.” Prez’s words explain why he hadn’t immediately named me. “You can present a personal perspective that maybe I can’t.”
“Going to bring Drummer in on the call?” Dart narrows his eyes. “I think he should know what we’re asking. He may be interested in Utah’s reaction and whether they’re going to play nice with another chapter.”
Prez considers it, then nods. “Yeah, I already warned him we might need assistance. He’ll want to hear what Snatcher has to say. We can have a three-way.” Then his eyes narrow at the man who’s just laughed. “And you, Kink. We’ve got visitors in the clubroom, one who’s underage. You keep your fuckin’ pets out of sight, you hear me?”
“Or suitably clothed,” I warn him. “And that doesn’t mean fuckin’ collars and leashes.”
For an answer, Kink just winks at me. I hope he’ll keep everything PG.
Salem waggles his hand. “We start lifting rocks, I’m not sure what we’ll find under them. I suggest we need the woman and the kid to stay on the compound. Just for a few days, until we find out what we’re dealing with. Alicia was told not to involve Grumbler, and thereby us. If they find out, they might want retribution.”
“You really think they’d hurt them?” Deuce asks.
“Could be,” Kink, now serious, answers. “The video may just have been to silence Alicia, but why? To cover up a scam to cheat models? That doesn’t make sense, it’s too elaborate. Our supposition the video will be used whatever they say is far more likely. And that brings more problems. The porn business is serious fuckin’ money. Alicia is not only a victim, but a key witness. Would they take the risk she might go to the cops? Someone might decide she’s better out of the way. Permanently.”
Prez nods. “I’ve already given the heads-up to Patsy. She’ll be trying to persuade them to stay, and it might take your help, Grumbler, to get them to see sense. They can stay in my room, it’s bigger.” He waits for me to acknowledge his suggestion, then he bangs the gavel. “We know what we need to do. Find that motherfucker and erase those images. Grumbler? You’re with me. My office. Now.”
I waste no time getting to my feet and following him to his office conveniently located next door. Once inside, he rounds the desk taking his normal seat, and I pull up a spare chair just as he places his phone in the middle of the desk. He taps at a few keys.
“You got Drummer.”
“Got a situation here, Drum. Need to ask a favour of Utah. Got an urgent situation to deal with and need their expert help. Thought you’d want to be aware.”
Drummer doesn’t hesitate. It’s a sign of the regard in which he holds Lost. “Sounds urgent. Get Snatcher on the call. You don’t want to go over everything twice.”
Lost is fast, clearly used to making multiple connections on his device while it would take me time, and probably a visit to Token to know what to do.
The phone rings once, twice and then a couple more, and just when I think we’re going to need to call back, it’s answered.
“Snatcher here.”
“Snatch. Lost here. Drummer’s on the call too.”
There’s a brief silence from the Utah end, followed by a cautious, “Yeah?”
“I got a problem, Snatcher. Needs your expertise on it if you’ve got the time.”
Snatcher sighs as if Lost’s call was what he was worried about all along—a frivolous request taking them away from the important work that they do. “We’re quite busy, but let me know what you need, and I’ll see what we can do.”
Now I’m glad Lost got the mother chapter prez involved, when Drummer jumps in. “If this isn’t up your street, then I’ll see what Mouse can do.” His voice is decidedly chilly.
“Mouse is already helping us, Drummer. He needs Cara’s help, but she’s not been given the go ahead.”
A sigh from Snatcher comes down the line. “Give it to me.”
Lost does. He leaves out the history about how I got involved, something I’m grateful for, but the gist of his summary involves a dodgy photographer, a model who’s older than he’s led people to believe, both with fake identities, and a film of an underage girl which has no business being distributed for perverts to watch.
“Names that you know, aliases or not, that will do for a start.” Snatcher’s interest is obviously caught.
Lost rattles off all that we know.
“This something Utah can help with?” Drummer’s voice sounds tight. Even the headlines that Lost had given make hard hearing.
“Yes,” Snatcher confirms fast. “Only thing that worries me is what rabbit hole we might be falling into. This isn’t something that’s started overnight. It sounds too practised to me. Might end up a full-on job for us, but if there’s an illegal porn trade going on, I promise you we’ll put a stop to it.” He thinks for a moment. “I’ll get Honor and Duty trying to track down your suspects, and Swift can start delving into where that video might have ended up.”
“Token’s already trying to find Owen, or this Brandon, whatever his handle is.”
“He’ll have to break into a credit card database. We can probably get the results faster. It’s our bread and butter, Lost.”
I’d like to defend my brother, but I know Utah’s probably more skilled in this type of work.
“Get your members to call Token to get an update on where he is. I’ll square it with him.” Lost sees the benefit as I do.
I lean forward. “Need to get this video off the web before it starts circulating. I don’t want Alicia’s life ruined by one mistake.”
Snatcher comes back quickly. “You get that hotel room checked out?”
I go cold. It hadn’t
