Gabriel - Jessie Cooke Page 0,20
Patrice, asking him if he’d talked to Gabe. Apparently she’d not been able to reach him by phone so she’d gone out to the club, and that was when the guys realized no one had seen him, or Chance, since early the day before. Le Singe had done a broad search for the two young brothers before texting Blackheart. The first text told him not to worry, he had everyone looking and he’d keep him updated, but the last was from earlier that morning and even in a text message, Blackheart could almost hear that the tone was more desperate. He pressed in Le Singe’s number and his VP answered on the first ring.
“Any word from either of them yet?”
“None, boss. Both their phones go straight to voice mail. But I talked to Sharon and she said Chance was on his way out to Manchac the last time she saw him.”
“Fuck, for what?”
“I got the feeling she wasn’t telling me everything, but she said he got some information that one of the Mad Men who hurt her was out there. I can press her more if you want.”
“Nah, if he went out there and got into trouble it makes sense he called Gabe and the boy went after him. I’m gonna kick both their asses for doing this Lone Ranger shit. When was Gabe last seen?”
“Last night too. He told the guys he was going home after he finished cleaning up here at the club. I didn’t get too worried until neither of them showed up for the run to Slidell this morning; you know those boys have a short attention span, but when it’s business, they always show up, unless they’re in jail or dead...” Blackheart stopped him there. Losing Booger was still a fresh wound. He didn’t want to even imagine losing any more of his brothers, especially two young boys he felt responsible for.
“Don’t go there,” he said. “I’m assuming you checked and they’re not in jail?”
“Yeah, boss, I checked. I’m sorry, but I checked the morgue too, and nothing, thank Jesus. I do have Lowlife and a couple prospects headed out to Manchac to see if they can find them.”
“Alright, good. You head out in that direction too. I’ll be there in about an hour. I want them found.”
“You got it, boss.” Blackheart ended the call with a groan. He went into the bathroom to find it steamed up and Sally behind the frosted glass, looking good enough to eat, and he was still hungry...but that appetite would have to wait. He told her what was going on and she kissed him and wished him luck. The funny thing about Sally’s refusing to be his old lady for so many years was that she was practically born for the job. She accepted what he told her and didn’t press him for facts that they both knew she didn’t want to know. She cared about the guys, and often took care of them like she was their mother, or at least an older sister, and she was as tough as nails...she was the perfect old lady for the president of an MC...and he intended to make her see that someday.
Gabe’s eyes opened and he flexed his limbs in shock. He was lying in a puddle of stinky water and he was completely disoriented. Scrambling to sit up, he felt the motion of the boat and remembered suddenly where he was. He’d been pushing and rowing the little pirogue down the swamp toward where he left his bike. It was dark and every time they hit a bump and he had to get out of the boat and into the water, he expected to come back up minus a leg or an arm. But he’d been lucky...or as lucky as a guy alone with his unconscious friend in the swamp at night could be. He was at least grateful that Julie hadn’t made an appearance, at least not while he was conscious.
His body was shaking and he didn’t know if it was from the cold water that surrounded him, or the fear that had suddenly assaulted his senses. Chance was still lying on his back in the boat. His eyes were still closed and thankfully, his chest was still rising and falling, although even more raggedly than the night before. But the boat was filling with water. There was a hole in it somewhere and Gabe wasn’t sure they were going to make it where they needed to