Road Tripped (Satan's Devils MC Utah #1) - Manda Mellett Page 0,94

they’ve got the money or contacts for a payout that would make it worth it.”

“In which case for now, let’s keep it quiet,” Pip decides. “I don’t want to worry the parents unnecessarily. They know where Swift is. If they get a demand out of the blue then they’ll contact us, if only to confirm she’s missing.”

On balance, I suppose he’s right. No point getting her parents involved when they’d be concerned as hell and couldn’t help. An unwelcome thought occurs to me. “Could it be sex trafficking?” I wonder aloud. “That there’s nothing in her past, just the fact she’s female?”

“Who’d want to traffic Swift?” Piston’s eyes open wide.

“I know she’s female, but…” Rascal opens his hands wide as if the prospect is unthinkable.

“She’s a mighty fine woman,” I snap. Though I have to be pleased that no one here seems to view her sexually.

“Well you made it plain what you’d like to do with her last night.” Preacher gives a quick grin, then grows serious again. “Road might have a point. She might be athletic and muscular, and she doesn’t flaunt her feminine assets, except when they’re needed on a job, but she could be a type someone is after. There are some twisted fucks out there with particular tastes.”

Pip nods. “We can’t rule it out. Duty—”

“Already got searches going, Prez. If someone is looking for a woman matching her characteristics, hopefully their request will turn up on the dark web.”

“Christ.” Bolt’s shaking his head. “I almost pity the motherfucker.”

Cowboy raises his hand. “Could it be opportunistic? Someone broke into her house thinking it was empty and found her?”

“It’s got to be premeditated and researched. Else they’d have missed the generator or not disabled that first.”

Thor looks distraught. “She had top-of-the-line security. Maybe someone saw that and thought she was protecting money, jewellery or something else worth stealing?”

Snatcher looks across at the enforcer. “We found blood,” he repeats. “Not a lot, but it’s possible you’re right. If that’s what went down, and they found her there unexpectedly, then we could be looking for a dead body.”

I’d been hanging onto the idea she’d been taken, not that she’d been killed and her body dumped. If she hadn’t heard anyone enter, she could have been hit over the head hard enough to knock her out, so there might not have been much blood. Or strangled, choked… My gut churns at the thought. Not Swift. No.

“Check the morgues, police reports—”

“On it already, Prez. Hospitals too. So far we’ve drawn blanks.”

Pip looks around the table. “Let’s concentrate on the positives for now. Without a body, we’ll work on the assumption she’s alive. Getting back to what we know. I hate to say it, but I think Road might be on to something. We know there are kinky bastards out there. The fact she’s deaf might make her attractive.

“She’s not mute, though.” The way Preacher puts it causes a quick chuckle to go around, but the moment of mirth is short-lived. It’s as though he’s reminded us all that there’s someone who should be sitting around this table who isn’t.

“I’m worried. She’ll be lost without her hearing aids. She won’t know what the fuck’s going on.” I drop my head into my hands and massage my temples.

An incredulous bark comes from Thor. “I’d be more worried about the people who’ve taken her. She can look after herself.” The enforcer looks down the table. “We have to remember, Swift is probably better equipped to handle this situation than anyone else here. Don’t forget, she was trained for being in a kidnapping situation.”

“If they took me without my hand, I’d survive.” Bolt stares across the table at me.

I think he’s trying to be reassuring. But Swift’s got a vulnerability that she’d shown me in the dark of the night. A fear of exactly what seems to have happened to her—someone creeping up on her unawares. It will be as though she’s in a perpetual nightmare. During her training, she’d had all her senses available to her. I know how crippling PTSD can be. If that kicks in, she might not be as competent as Thor is painting her.

While I’m thinking that and growing more worried, the door opens and Honor walks in. He kicks out his seat then takes it. He gives only a brief questioning gaze toward Pip. Receiving a nod in return, he gets straight on to his report.

“I’ve left Igor there to continue to search, but I think we’ve got everything we’re