Page 58 of Sabre’s Guard

“I saw him crossing a side street and followed as quickly as I could. But he had a head start and was rushing to get away. He climbed into an older dark blue Buick parked at the curb. I took off running but the car sped away before I could reach him. I even called out but he didn’t hear me.”

“You remember anything else about the vehicle?” I ask.

“The rear passenger door had a dent,” she says. Her crying stops as she forces herself to focus on the details. “I got the license plate. I wrote it on my arm because I didn’t have paper. Every number.”

“You did real good. Don’t worry, we’ll get him back.”

She recites the plate twice, and I make a note on my phone. There are now plate numbers for three vehicles in my phone, the van, the gray sedan, and this blue Buick.

“Oh, my God,” she wails. “What am I going to tell Linsey?”

“Listen to me. Whoever took Noah did the same to Linsey. She agreed to meet with her mom, but it was a trap. I know exactly how you feel because I chased the van that took Linsey and couldn’t catch them either.”

She gasps, “This was her mother’s doing?”

“Yeah, but our entire club is mobilizin’ to come after them. I know it’s gonna be hard, but don’t call any of the family. The police are involved as well. Just leave it to us. It’ll be easier to catch them if they don’t know we’re comin’.”

“Noah ran to the car on his own. Why did he get into it? He knows about stranger danger, it doesn’t make sense,” Carol says.

“He didn’t get into that car because he wanted to. They threatened to kill Linsey, so he made the best decision he could with five minutes to think. He’s a smart kid though, before he ran off he sent me as many details as he could. He’s given us a good start on findin’ them.”

“If I’d only gotten there sooner,” she laments. “I might have been able to stop him.”

“Sometimes in this world, shit happens and we have to make the best of it. Don’t worry, ma’am, me and my club brothers were made for times like these. You go home or to the clubhouse and sit tight. I’ll keep you informed.”

“Okay, if you need me for anything, call. I’ll keep my phone nearby. You bring them home, Sabre. Both of them.”

My hand touches the pregnancy test I’d stuffed in my pocket. Carol doesn’t know there are three people to bring home. “I’ll bring them all home. That’s a promise.”

I forward the threat, photograph, Noah’s message, and the license plate to Siege, Zen and every brother in the command chain. Then I flag down the first police cruiser entering the parking lot because it’s time to make both kidnappings official.

Of course, Detective Harper is one of the first to respond. When he gets out of his vehicle, I bring him up to speed. I show him the messages from Noah and explain what happened to Linsey. I spell it out for him, “Linsey and Noah were abducted within minutes of each other. That means this was planned and coordinated. We’ve got descriptions of three vehicles and plate numbers on all three of the vehicles.”

I provide the names of Linsey’s parents, Dylan’s file, and everything Shelly told us about the family.

Detective Harper immediately sends alerts for all three vehicles and forwards Linsey’s photograph to every officer in the area. Highway patrol covers the interstate entrances while license-plate readers search across two counties for those plate numbers. They put out an Amber Alert for Noah and local law enforcement begins checking traffic cameras for vehicles that fit the descriptions I gave.

Within minutes we get word that all the license plates are stolen. Traffic cameras pick up the white van traveling north on Harbor Road. It leaves the commercial district and enters a residential area without camera coverage. I head out to Harbor Road and find that Siege and Rigs have beaten me there. They found the van and gray sedan. Both have been abandoned along the side of an isolated road. Officers show up within minutes. We have no idea what vehicle they were transferred to, if they’re together or still driving separately, or if they’ve been injured. The situation is infuriating in every imaginable way.

“I’ll get the crime lab out to go over the vehicles. We’re not giving up until they’re found. The Amber Alert will stay active. If we’re lucky, someone will report seeing them. Rest assured we’ll follow up on every lead that comes in.”

I feel like I’m digging through mountains of information desperate for any clue I can grab onto that will help me find them. Every new clue leads nowhere and it’s dispiriting. I can only hope and pray that they are at least together.

By the time I get back to the clubhouse I see it’s been turned into a command center. Zen covers the back wall of our meeting room with maps, property records from Linsey’s entire family, and a family tree that keeps getting more complex with each new bit of information he adds. Zen’s got his old lady involved. Lexi is drawing lines connecting her family members to churches, phone numbers, vehicles in their name, and addresses. Video feeds run across two screens while brothers call hotels, campgrounds, bus stations and every Savage Legion ally who might be able to help us between California and Montana. It’s moving and a bit overwhelming to see it all playing out in real time.

Sometime in the afternoon one of the prospects drops his head around the door to let me know that my bike’s been fitted with new tires. Not that it’s much fuckin’ use when we don’t know where Linsey and Noah are. Instead of being able to do anything useful, I just pace from one end of the room to the other, going over everything in my mind and wishing I could turn back the clock.

Siege eventually pulls me into the hallway. “Talk to me straight, brother. How are you holding up? Can you be useful or do you need to take a time out to get your head together?”

“I can hold my shit together and be useful. You’re not benching me, Prez. Nobody knows Linsey’s family, her history or her boy better than I do. Noah addressed that message to me because he trusts me to follow his trail. I’m not about to let them down.”

Siege studies my face before answering. “Alright, if you’re sure.”

“I’ve never been more fuckin’ sure of anything in my life.” Pausing for a second, I add, “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

“You’d best get it out. What’s up? Did we miss somethin’ important?”

I tap my chest pocket. “I just found out that Linsey is pregnant. That means we’ve got three to protect now.”