Page 40 of Vortex

“You mean patsy, but mincing him up and putting him in a pasty isn’t a bad option either. Let’s have some thoughts, guys.” Pres looks at the few remaining officers and growls. His phone rings and saves anyone in the room from getting snarled at further.

I think Brandon Smiles would be the perfect way to cause chaos in their scheme. Who would be better placed to steal millions and attempt to disappear with it? It would be the obvious person in a crime movie. The double-cross. No, we would also need someone else whom Brandon was trying to blame it on. Oddio! This is all getting too difficult.

“Martha and Chris have vanished. It seems that they were both taken today. Martha from her office and Chris from his home. We all know who it would be, but why now and in broad daylight?” Pres looks angry, and he slams his fist on the table. “I’ve about had enough of this shit going down. Everyone, get out there and see what you can find out. You two, Mary and Allegra, will stay within the confines of the clubhouse until we find them. No argument. They won’t think twice about taking one or both of you as leverage.”

The room empties quickly, and I take Mary to the kitchen so we can grab a coffee and see what two feisty, intelligent women can come up with.

*~* Vortex *~*

Cannon grabbed me as he left the clubhouse to be part of his ‘crem land protection team’. He didn’t explain anything until we arrived at the crem and then it was only brief. Apparently Cottonwood Glades have tried to ‘obtain’ the land, and there is a thought that they may try to put a structure or do some ‘landscaping’ on the land to demonstrate their ownership. We are here to prevent that from taking place.

The land has only one entrance, although it wouldn’t take a determined vehicle much effort to get through any of the rusted wire fencing. I’ve been given gate duty, so am sitting in the club SUV while the others are doing more roving patrol duties. I’d rather be doing that than sitting here like a prospect.

It’s been an hour, and nothing has happened. Cannon has been into the crem and made coffee for us all. He’s just brought mine and we’re discussing what else was mentioned in the meeting when a black van and an SUV drive up. The van doesn’t look like a work van, it’s far too new for that. Two men step out of the SUV and approach us aggressively.

“You need to get off this land. You’re trespassing on Cottonwood Glades property.” Direct and to the point.

“You need to speak to your boss before you try to exert any authority over land that doesn’t belong to you. Your move at the county registry fell through, boys. You don’t own shit.” Cannon steps in front of one guy, so I take the other. Clearly not expecting this reaction, the first guy doesn’t know what to say at first.

“You’re bluffing, and even if you’re not, it don’t matter to us. We have orders to do some planting on this plot of land, so that’s what we’ll be doing.” He squares up to Cannon as he finishes his sentence.

“I’d think very carefully before you make your next move. Make the call to Brandon, get him to check the ownership, and then we’ll talk again. How’s that sound?” Cannon is remarkably calm, and I can only imagine that it’s the calm before the storm.

The back doors of the SUV open and two more thugs step out. As they move to flank us, a voice calls out from my left.

“Now, now, boys. Play nicely.” Prophet and Zion have joined us from the pet crem, having seen the vehicles draw up, I assume.

This stops the flanking move, but then the van's front doors open and two more step out. I’m just thinking that the odds are still in our favor when the damn back doors open and two more climb out. It’s still only two each, so we shouldn’t have any difficulty, unless any of them are better than average. The roar of two bikes announces the arrival of Hellion and Rage. Now I have no doubt that we can take all eight with no trouble.

Guy number one takes out his phone. Clearly, he doesn’t like the odds being so evenly matched. After a brief question about the land's ownership being challenged, I see the point at which his orders are made crystal clear. He tenses slightly as he drops the phone back into his pocket, and he’s taking hold of something else.

Now I don’t care if it comes out holding a stick of cotton candy, when his arm starts to rise, my knife flashes and sticks firmly in his shoulder. He drops to the ground and looks to be out of the fight.

Cannon takes his first guy with a straight-fingered jab to the throat, and he’s out too. My second guy, the one I wanted as my second, Prophet goes to blows with and after a flurry of punches, his lights go out. Zion is playing with his guy and loving every minute of it. He dodges every strike attempt and keeps jabbing his finger into his opponent, shouting, ‘Poop, poop,’ each time.

Hellion and Rage have the other four to play with and are taking great pleasure in breaking them down bit by bit. A stomach punch here, a kidney strike there, a kick to a knee, it just goes on.

“Hey, guys. What have you been told about playing with your food?” Cannon tells them and then crosses his arms.

“Sorry Pops,” says Rage, grinning, and then crashes his two guys' heads together. Hellion sees this and copies the move.

Having every intention of leaving the thugs where they fell, Cannon and I turn back to our SUV, after I’ve retrieved my knife none too gently, but stop when Hellion calls out.

“Where are you two going? Don’t you want the contents of the van to take with you?” He frowns at us, but in a funny way rather than a serious one. Walking back to him, Cannon and I peer through the back doors of the van.

Staring wide-eyed at us from the floor of the van are Chris and Martha, hogtied and gagged. Martha begins ranting through her gag and thrashing around while Chris just looks resigned to his fate. He has been beaten again and doesn’t look as though he has the strength to complain about his situation. Reaching in, Cannon rips the duct tape from Martha’s face, and she has tears in her eyes. This doesn’t stop her screaming her damn head off wanting to know where the guys from the van are and demanding to be cut loose. I cut her loose, and she stumbles from the van on shaky legs. Seeing one of the unconscious thugs, she hobbles over, rolls him onto his back and drops knees first onto his junk. This works better than smelling salts, and his eyes pop open, though not in a good way. His hands fly to his groin, but Martha is having none of that. Pointing to Prophet and Zion, she tells them to hold his hands away from his groin. She then begins kicking him as hard as she can between the legs.

“Going to fucking have your fun with me, were you, you bastard? Going to do all that shit you said you were going to, were you, dumbass? Show me what a good time was, were you, you wanker? Going to show me your big dick, were you, asshole? Show me what twelve inches felt like, were you, dumb fuck? How does a fucking size five feel, you cunt?”

We all just stand there aghast and wait until she’s finished. She gets her breath back, flicks her head and hair like Miss Piggy, and kicks him one last time. I half expect her to shout ‘hiyah’, as she does it.

“I don’t respond well to threats against my person,” she states for us all to hear. “Now, would someone be kind enough to take me home?”

Chapter 24

*~* Allegra *~*

Sitting and talking to Mary has been like talking to my mama when I was young. Hearing stories of her youth, her happy marriage times, her not so happy times, and since her husband's death, has all been interesting. She has so many tales to tell, and some made me laugh, others I wanted to cry. Her husband clearly started out as a good young man, but having success and money soon changed him into an arrogant bully.