Treasure
Circumstantial

Rori let her emotions out for a minute, calming down as she sat in Chase’s lap while he rubbed her back. Sawyer filled them in on everything and showed them the photos and messages, then his suspicions on their plan.

You could see the strain on Rori’s face. “We know these two are behind it, right?”

“We don’t have proof; it’s all circumstantial right now,” Sawyer said. “It wouldn’t be enough to convict them before the Alphas and Council right now, even with their flight. The text message doesn’t necessarily connect to them. Since they aren’t the Alphas of the Donner Pack, they can’t order wolves to do it. We need direct evidence of their involvement, like an eyewitness to the abduction. The best thing would be to have Donna identify one of them.”

“We need to replace your Mom,” Coral said. “Everything in their plan depends on it. The real question is whether they have anyone working with them down here. They both have to leave for the challenge in two days. It makes things more difficult if they have allies in Orlando.”

“To me, it looks like they have her hidden, and plan to leave her alone,” Keith said. “They’ve got her chained in a small space with poured solid concrete. I didn’t see any windows, so I’m assuming it’s easy to secure. If the door is heavy duty and insulated, it’s the kind of place she could scream all day, and no one would hear her. The chain is not going to be broken by a human.” He looked at the photo again. “The water they gave her will stave off death for a few weeks, assuming the temperature in the room isn’t too high. I don’t see her sweating, so it’s probably in a climate-controlled space or underground, which isn’t common down there.”

“What about food?”

“You can go for weeks without food. What is in the photo is plenty for a few days. Donna is not going to be able to do much physically, and that will help. If they leave more water, she could live for weeks. They would never have to return.” He looked back at the last text. “They said they would tell you where to replace her, not deliver her to you.”

“Fuck,” Rori said. “Coral’s right, replaceing her is the key. Can we use the number to help replace her?”

“The Packs don’t have any contacts within the cellphone companies; I checked when we were hoping to track their phones,” Ashley said. “Our guy at the hotel called both their phones and no one picked up, but he could hear their phones through the door of their hotel rooms. Whatever phones they have now, we don’t have the numbers. We don’t even know if the phone number is real or spoofed.”

“Orlando is a big damn town, and we’re not going to replace her without help. We could go to the cops,” Ashley said. “This is a kidnapping. We go to the FBI in and show them the texts. They have the authority to track that cellphone down for us.”

“Dangerous,” Rori said. “We involve the human authorities which risks our exposure, and the Brotherhood won’t cooperate with them. Roadkill went to the Club, not the cops. The Club will help if we bring them in. Craig and Daniel have no connections with them, so any moles they had won’t be there.”

“Does the Brotherhood have connections where we need them?”

Rori just looked at Sawyer like he was an idiot. “There are thousands of patched members, and more affiliates. We’re everywhere. Trust me, Sawyer, the Brotherhood is pissed off. If I show them the pictures, they won’t stop until those two are gator poop.”

They talked about plans for a few more minutes, before Sawyer brought it to a close. “No werewolf beyond us learns about the messages. Rori will brief the Brotherhood leadership. We keep the Council looking for in Orlando.”

“That’s it,” Chase said. “We’ll call you back late tonight after Rori gets back from church.”

The call ended, and Sawyer pulled Ashley into a deep kiss. “Are we doing the right thing?”

“You don’t know the Brotherhood as I do,” she said. “Those men will do anything to get Possum back. Now, I have to get back to work, and you need to train. Find some enforcers and get some sparring in, but don’t get hurt. I’ll see you back here in a few hours.” She got up and left the room, leaving him to change into sweats before he headed to the training facility. He hoped to Luna the challenge would happen.

Two hours later, Rori and Chase were in Church at the Orlando Steel Brotherhood clubhouse. The place was packed; prospects guarded the doors as members from five surrounding chapters joined them. Mongo and Three Tequila were in front, along with senior members of the charters that came to assist.

Mongo started the meeting, and Roadkill told everyone what he had found when he got home. Chase had already hooked his iPad up to the big TV projector and went through what they had found out. When he started to show edited text messages sent to Sawyer, the place damn near exploded. People wanted blood as soon as they Possum’s state. Mongo banged his gavel over and over until the place quieted, then Chase continued. “Sawyer challenged Craig Forrest in a fight is to the death. Craig knows he will lose, so he went after a relative to get him to back off.” Chase turned over to Rori while the photos of Daniel and Craig went up.

She faced the crowd of her friends. “These are the two men who took her. Three Tequila has already emailed these pictures to all Officers. If you don’t have one, let us know. As much as I’d like to kill them, we can’t until we get Possum back.” She looked out over the assembled bikers; it was a big and scary group. “You can beat them up, just make sure they can still talk.”

The men grinned at that, most of them thinking of ways they could torture men who DARED to do this to one of their Club’s Old Ladies. If they were brutal, Rori could just imagine what the Steel Ladies were thinking. Chase took over again. “Daniel and Craig Forrest aren’t an easy takedown. Both are big and smart, and they have money to spare. They know Rori runs with the Brotherhood, so keep the cuts hidden, and use cages when you can.” ‘Cages’ were what bikers referred to cars as. “Stay in groups of four or less; if they see the whole chapter coming, they’ll bolt. We are working on a location for them, but right now, we know nothing. Our best guess is that the room is in an industrial building, or might be a tornado shelter in a more expensive home.”

“What about the text? I can help you replace them with that, I work for Verizon,” one of the Jacksonville members was standing up.

“Yes, if there is anyone with access to phone, police, airport, any other databases that would help, meet up here after we break.”

Mongo stood up next to him. “We’ll pair visiting members up with people from the Orlando Charter and start canvassing. Hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, show the pictures around and see if anyone recognizes them. The war room will be here in the clubhouse. Checkin by phone every hour or so to report progress and get updates, we’ll keep a map going with search progress. Make sure all of your cellphone numbers get logged in at the desk. We’ll use group texting when new information comes in.”

Chase picked up from there. “Observe and report, and we’ll surge people to potential sites. We can’t afford to get antsy and go in too fast with too little. If we spring the trap and don’t catch both mice, Possum will pay the price. Now let’s go replace her.” There was a roar as the men stood up started to filter outside. Groups of two or three formed up; guys knew each other from various Club functions so it went smoothly. The Ladies took over the Clubhouse. They manned the communications and set up the maps, sending out texts with initial assignments for all the Orlando members.

Rori and Chase stayed at the Club to help coordinate everything, plus they were the only ones who could talk to Sawyer and Ashley as well as the werewolves. The search continued, the Prospects in the kitchen bringing food in for them as they continued working.

Nobody saw anything.

Back at the Oxbow Lake Pack, a phone call came in just after seven at night. “QUIET,” Ashley said as she put her phone on speaker. “Go ahead, Chaz.”

“Yeah, this is Elliot Webster; I’m a TSA supervisor out of the Twin Cities,” he said. “I put an alert in the system on Craig and Daniel Forrest, so I’d get notified if they tried to fly. I just got the message; they are boarding a plane right now for Minneapolis.”

“Shit, they’re at the Orlando airport? Let’s get them,” one of the warriors said.

“They aren’t flying out of Orlando. They are flying out of Fort Lauderdale, connecting in Minneapolis for Duluth. Do you want me to have them stopped?”

The group looked at each other, and Sawyer shook his head. “We know where they are going. Thank you, we’ll take it at this end.” They copied down the flight number, then ended the call. “Ashley, call Rori and Charles. Let them know they went from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale.” He cursed; their job just got infinitely harder. Those cities were almost a three-hour drive apart, and that meant Donna could be anywhere in between. “We need to bring the Alphas in on this.”

Ten minutes later, everyone was sitting in the big conference room as Sawyer laid out what they had learned. “The flight arrives in Minneapolis at eight-thirty, then they take a commuter flight to Duluth arriving at 10:10 pm.”

Alpha Michael said. “We can pick them up in Duluth. We just have to make sure they get on the plane.”

Chairman Coffey scoffed. “On what charge? What evidence do we have to arrest them?” He looked around the room. “I know we all suspect them, but right now, we have nothing tying them to a crime. Sawyer, what do you think?”

“You’re right, sir. Nothing directly ties them to the kidnapping.” He had more, but he couldn’t share it with the Council, and even that may not be enough. They could just say people were working without their knowledge, as the text implied. “We can watch them. They are rogues, so put people on them.”

“I don’t want to spook them; if they scent werewolves following them in the airport, they’ll know.”

“Sir, let the Brotherhood do it. Rori can call the St. Paul chapter and give them the information. Club members can get on the Duluth flight with them, where we can pick up the trail.” Everyone agreed to the plan. “We stay focused on replaceing two things; Donna’s location, and evidence that would tie the Forrests to the kidnapping. We have less than 36 hours until the challenge. If Daniel wins, the two are untouchable without solid evidence.”

The group broke up, and Sawyer and Ashley made the phone call on Skype to Chase and Rori in their room. “I’ll take care of the watchers at the airport,” Rori said. “The news that Donna might be down by Fort Lauderdale has us shifting gears. We’ve got the local chapter involved, and we’re sending people that way. It’s a needle in a haystack,” she said as she yawned. “We’re shutting down for the night. Call us if you get any leads.”

“Will do. Good luck, Rori, we’ll replace her.”

“I know.” The call ended, and Ashley turned everything they knew over to the Ladies staying for the night shift. Sawyer walked her back to their room, both of them nervous that this wouldn’t end well. They would continue in the morning.

The three bikers watched their targets get off the plane from Fort Lauderdale, then board a commuter turboprop for Duluth. Photos and comments were relayed live to Rori via text, and she forwarded the information to the Oxbow Lake command center.

Enforcers watched them as they arrived in Duluth, rented a car, and check into the Radisson Harborview Hotel. Craig and Daniel Forrest didn’t emerge until nine in the morning when they went downstairs for a lavish breakfast.

Sawyer’s anger grew and grew as the time approached. Twenty-three hours and he would have to withdraw his challenge or be the cause of Donna’s death.