Page 85 of King
“One last thing. Text King the number Pic called you from, so we can try to track it. If he contacts you again, try to see where he is. Maybe pretend you’ll meet him somewhere with the kids. Then call me or King immediately.”
She agreed, and he pressed the screen to end the call.
“OK, man. Stay calm. We don’t know for sure that he’s in town – “
“I need to call Ella. Shit, what time is it?”
Cowboy answered before I could even look at my phone. “It’s ten-twenty-two.”
I took a deep breath and tried to relax my tense muscles. “She’s still at work. She had a meeting from ten to eleven, and she and her friend were going to leave for Chicago around noon. I’m gonna send Trick over to pick her up when her meeting’s over. You and I need to help Bull track Pic down.”
“You call Ella, and I’ll let him know. She works at Granger Marketing, right?”
I nodded, and he said, “I’ll look up the address for him. Just make sure she knows to sit tight until he gets there. I’ll have him take the club van so they can ride back together.”
“Have him take a prospect along, too,” I ordered. I cursed under my breath when her voice mail picked up, even though I knew she was probably in the middle of her presentation.
“Hey, sugar, uh, I’m sending Trick to your office to pick you up and bring you to the clubhouse. Everyone’s OK, but I need you here. We’ve got some shit going on, and some threats have been made. I don’t have a lot of details right now, and I know this fucks up your plans, but I don’t want to take any chances. So, just stay in your office if your meeting ends early.Trick will be there soon. He’ll be driving the club van and will have one of the prospects with him.”
I tossed my phone back down on my desk as Cowboy walked back into my office. “Trick’s heading out now, he should be there in less than fifteen minutes, according to Google maps. I also told Bull to sweep the common areas for any kind of surveillance equipment, just in case that’s what Pic meant when he said he heard about your woman and hadn’t talked to anyone but he’s listening. He’s gonna get Irish to help him.”
“At least we know the chapel and our offices are safe, since he checks them constantly. I guess I’ll stop giving him shit about being a paranoid fucker now.”
“Did you reach Ella?”
I shook my head. “Had to leave her a voicemail. Dammit, she’s gonna hate me for this, man. She was supposed to leave for Chicago in the next hour or so, and now I have to tell her she can’t go, but I can’t fuckin’ explain why except for some vague shit about a threat? You know she’s still not comfortable about me keeping secrets. She’s been trying to understand what club business means, but this will drive her away.” I slammed my fist on the table in frustration and worry clawed at my gut.
“Maybe. Maybe not, but at least she’ll be safe. Once we take care of the threat, then you can beg for forgiveness if you need to. You know Dorothy would be happy to hook you up with more of those butthead bouquets of hers.” He flashed me a shit-eating grin, and I flipped him off.
“All right, asshole. We need to put all the brothers on high alert. They need to know about the threat. I want every available member riding the streets looking for him. Check out all his old hangouts.”
“I’m on it,” he said as he left the room again.
Shit, I needed to call Rome in case Pic showed up at Guardian Ink.
Rome was worried as hell when I explained the situation.
“I’m gonna send a prospect over to watch the shop, in case Pic gets it in his head to go there. He didn’t make any threats against you, but you know he was fuckin’ pissed at you for telling me what was going on around there. I think Abby and the kids need to come stay at the clubhouse with Ella.”
“There’s no way fuckin’ way I’m making Abby stay there. She can hardly stand to step foot in the place after what I did, and I’m not putting her through that. Listen, her dad just bought a cabin down at Kentucky Lake last month. I’ll load up her and the kids and we can stay there for a few days until shit gets figured out.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t even thinking about how Abby would feel coming here. Do me a favor and call Jag. Have him and Molly go with you guys. I don’t want Pic targeting any of you if he can’t get to Ella. Besides, I’d feel better if you’re both there, keeping watch.”
“You know we’ll protect them with our lives, if it ever came to that. You just worry about Ella and watch your ass.”
“I always do, son. Be careful.”
“You too, Dad.”
Bull hurried into my office as I was ending the call.
“Found a bug in the kitchen, on top of the refrigerator. We haven’t checked any of the bedrooms upstairs yet, but everything else in this building is clear. Now, do you want me to get rid of it? It might spook him if I do.”
Before I could answer him, Trick called.
“Ella’s not here, Prez. Her SUV wasn’t in the parking lot, so I went inside. The receptionist said her meeting was canceled early this morning, so she never came in.”
“Fuuuck!”
