Page 48 of Sinner's Steel
“So are you going to kill me? Torture me for information? You want to know what they’ve done with your brother, don’t you?”
Dax unloaded his duffel bag on the table by the door. “If you’re willing to cooperate, we’ll let you go. If not, we’ll get the information we need in whatever way we have to do it.”
“Let me go?” She moved as if to stand and Zane motioned her back on the bed. He had no desire to get physical with her, but if she tried anything stupid, he would have no choice.
With a sigh, she pushed back and leaned against the wall, legs bent up, her arms resting casually on her knees as if they were just hanging out having a chat, instead of in a dungeon with a torture expert who was ready and willing to ply his trade. “You’ve tainted me. If he sees me on the street he’ll think I did a deal with you to get free, which would make me a traitor. Only way I can go back to Viper is if I bring him something useful to prove my loyalty. You wanna tell me your secrets? Maybe give me a crate of weapons to buy back his love?”
“Torture and death it is then.” Dax clapped his hands together. “And Zane thought this wouldn’t be fun.”
Doreen shrank back the tiniest bit. “What about a door number three? Like I give you something and you give me something that doesn’t end up with Viper hunting me down and slitting my throat?”
“What do you want aside from freedom?” Zane met her gaze, challenging, defiant. He liked her. Not in a sexual way, although she was an attractive woman, but because she’d been through hell and didn’t break. Kinda like his Evie, but with rougher edges and a harder heart.
“Protection.”
“You’re a prisoner,” Zane said. “Can’t get more protection than that.”
“Not for me. For my kid. I don’t want Viper to get him. I want someone to look after him if I don’t make it. He’s with my mom, but she’s only interested in booze and drugs and her place isn’t exactly kid friendly.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, a hesitant, slightly apprehensive gesture that was at odds with what they’d seen of her so far.
“Why would he care about Axle’s kid?” Dax voiced the question that was on the tip of Zane’s tongue.
Her eyes widened and she quickly looked down, worrying a thread on the rough wool blanket covering the bed. “Viper has no boundaries. I wouldn’t put it past him to grab my kid just to make sure I don’t talk to you.”
Zane ran a hand through his hair. Something else was going on here, more than just an old lady who’d been unwillingly taken to pay her old man’s debt, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “We’ll take it to the executive board, but you have to give us something as a show of good faith. You do that and Dax will write down your mom’s address before we leave and we’ll check it out to make sure it’s not a trap.”
“He’ll be in the torture chamber,” she said quietly. “Under the clubhouse.”
Zane’s head jerked up. “So there is a torture chamber?”
“That’s where he puts all his prisoners. Looks like a medieval dungeon and the stuff that he’s got in there…” Doreen shivered, giving authenticity to her words even before her lips curled in disgust. “He likes to hear them scream. He likes their pain. Sometimes he keeps them in there for days or weeks. I heard he has another dungeon at his house, but I’ve never heard of anyone being taken there.”
“Sadist.” Dax said. “Like that’s a surprise.”
Doreen’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Never wanted to leave the Jacks as much as the first time I was sent down there to clean up. Axle was no saint but he wasn’t twisted like Viper. Torture turns Viper on. Even the hardest old ladies didn’t want to go to his bed after he’d been down there.”
Zane’s jaw clenched. “How do we get in?”
“The main door to the dungeon is outside the clubhouse. The yard is fenced off with electric wire and there are guards on the gate, as well as guards patrolling the grounds. And dogs.” She drew in a ragged breath. “Viper has the only key and he keeps it in his office.”
“Don’t need a key when we have explosives,” Zane said.
“Someone will need to get close enough to plant them. That’s not gonna be easy.” Doreen twisted her hands in her lap. “A couple of other clubs have tried. The guys who made it past the fence never made it out again. It’s a suicide mission for whoever you send.”
“That’ll be me,” Zane said.
T-Rex had sacrificed himself for Evie. Zane owed him a debt. And if he had to repay it with his life, he would die a happy man. He had held Evie in his arms one last time. He had a son to carry on his name.
What more could a man want?
FIFTEEN
Don’t get distracted while doing your repair. You have one goal, and one goal only. Make it run and make it run good.
—SINNER’S TRIBE MOTORCYCLE REPAIR MANUAL
Perfect woman for Jagger, Evie thought as she shook Arianne’s hand. In the fifteen minutes she and Ty had been in Sparky’s shop, Arianne had barked orders at a couple of bikers, thrown a wrench at Sparky, and tuned up a V-Rod Muscle to the thudding beat of Saxon’s “Motorcycle Man.” A little heavy for midday, but no one complained when Arianne hooked her phone up to the speaker system and blasted the tunes.
Evie tried not to stare, but it was hard to look away from the contrast of Arianne’s beauty—long, thick brown hair, startling green eyes, sharply-defined features—and the baggy gray coveralls she wore for her work as a journeyman mechanic in Sparky’s shop. Evie had always wondered what kind of woman could put up with Jagger’s forceful personality, but now she knew. Formidable in her own right, Arianne was his perfect match.
