In the meeting room, Ruger sat in his seat at the meeting table and waited for the others to arrive. He resisted the urge to drum his fingers on the table as he waited. Not everyone was here, he knew, and they had to wait for some to arrive. Still, he needed to get this done ASAP. He needed to get Krissi. He didn’t want to think about what could be happening to her while they waited. Tuck, Sadist, and Lurch entered. Tuck stationed Jake outside the door to make sure they were undisturbed.

“The others will join us in a moment. There are a couple things we need to talk about first,” Tuck said to Ruger as he took his seat at the head of the table. Sadist sat in his usual seat as V.P. and Lurch took a chair a little farther down the table. “First, tell us what happened.”

Ruger told them about going to meet Krissi as planned, her absence, and the phone call.

“I see,” Tuck said after a moment. “We have some things you need to know as well.” His eyes flicked to Lurch, who shifted in his seat and looked down at the stack of papers he’d pulled out of the pocket inside his kutte.

“I got the background check back on Krissi, aka Krystal Erika Montoya. She has a record but not here in Albuquerque.

“It’s mostly kid stuff. A couple joy riding, a vandalism, a shoplifting, nothing after the age of seventeen. As far as I can tell, she’s been on the straight and narrow for the last five years.” Lurch shifted in his chair again and glanced at Ruger.

“I don’t know what you’re leading up to, but nothing you’ve said yet warrants this level of tension. Just tell me whatever it is so we can figure out how to get my girl back.”

Lurch took a deep breath, held it a moment, then let it out in a rush. “Here.” Lurch pushed one page across the table to Ruger. “It’s not her. Not exactly.”

“Then what the hell is it?” Ruger was getting frustrated with the lead up. He wished he didn’t need their help to rescue Krissi and could just leave now. Reluctantly, he took the paper and looked at it. It was a birth certificate. Krissi’s to be exact. He scanned it, not sure at first what they were talking about. Then he spotted it. Her father’s name. Jesus Montoya. “It’s possible it’s not him.” Ruger looked up. “Both Jesus and Montoya are common enough. There’s probably thirty or more Jesus Montoyas in Tucson alone.”

“That’s true. It could be any other of hundreds of Jesus Montoyas. But it’s not. Her father is Switchblade.” Tuck kept his tone calm. “Lurch did the research. It seems she’s had little to no contact with him for some time. Likely around five years. She’s been out of trouble, but it’s something we need to know. Something you need to be careful because of.”

Ruger knew who Switchblade was. They all did. In their corner of the world, he was damned near public enemy number one. Switchblade, aka Jesus Montoya, was the presidents of Los Diablos Locos MC. Los Locos, as they were more commonly known, were not just a 1% club. They were the Godfather equivalent in MC clubs. Most of the clubs with their hands in the criminal world in five states owed something to Los Locos.

The Demented Souls was one of the few exceptions, and it wasn’t by accident. Getting in bed with the Los Locos would defeat their purpose, and the Souls had been very careful about their associations for that reason.

Ruger took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, pushing the birth certificate back to Lurch. “This changes nothing. We still have to get her back.” He turned to Tuck. “We can’t leave her there, no matter who her father is. You saw what they did to their own property. It will only be worse for someone who belongs to one of us. Hell, if we don’t go get her, they may well kill her.” Ruger closed his eyes and tried to focus on what was in front of him, what would work to motivate his brothers to help him. “Then we’ll have Switchblade in our backyard. We don’t need that.”

“No, I agree with you. We must get her back. The question is how? And what do we do with her once we have her?”

Ruger looked down at the table a moment then back at his president. “I’m not worried about what to do with her yet. My priority right now is getting her back, making sure she’s safe. Once we’ve done that, we can question her, see why she’s here, and decide if she’s a danger to us.” He didn’t say it, but he hoped to hell she wasn’t here to spy on them for her father. If she was, then Ruger’s sixth sense had flown the coup. Something told him that her father wasn’t a part of her life and she didn’t want him to be.

Tuck watched him a moment without saying anything then nodded. “You’re right.” Tuck turned to Lurch. “Let the others in.” Lurch got up, went to the door, opened it, and spoke in hushed tones to Jake, who still stood with his back to the door. He waved one hand in the air in a circular motion then jerked his thumb toward the room where Ruger, Tuck, and the still silent Sadist sat waiting.

Less than five minutes later, about half the active members of the club sat around the large table, waiting to hear why they had called an emergency meeting. Ruger watched as Tuck waited for the door to be locked again, with the prospects, wives, and everyone else on the other side, then cleared his throat.

“Thanks for making it in on such short notice.” Tuck spoke in a loud, carrying voice but didn’t stand. He didn’t have to. His voice held enough air of command that everyone quieted and turned to look at him, waiting for what he had to say next.

Ruger ran his hands up and down the thighs of his jeans while he waited for the president to explain.

“As I’m sure most of you are aware by now, last week the Devils set their hookers up in our territory. In response, we picked up the girls and kept them. After questioning, we found that most of them hadn’t chosen the life they were living. They’d been forced into it, in various ways. We offered those that wanted out an escape and some took it.” Tuck paused and looked around. Ruger thought he was watching reactions, but he couldn’t be sure. “Tonight, the Devils struck back.”

“It had to have been this afternoon,” Ruger said.

“What do you mean?” Tuck shifted his gaze to him.

“The cook said she never showed for her shift. She was supposed to start at four.” Ruger checked his watch. “They’ve had her at least eight hours now.” He dropped his hands onto his lap and curled them into fists, a small thing to keep from jumping up and rushing out to find Krissi by himself.

“Okay.” He paused then turned back to the room. “As you might have guessed, this afternoon, sometime before four o’clock, the Devil’s snatched Ruger’s girl, Krissi.”

There was mumbling through the room then it quieted, and they all wanted to hear what was next.

“They gave us until 5:00 a.m. to return their girls—all of them—or they’ll keep Krissi.” Tuck paused, letting that sink in for a minute. Ruger knew they’d all heard what they’d found out from the girls they’d taken in from the Devils. About the repeated gang rapes and regular beatings. He couldn’t leave strangers to that fate, much less Krissi. That kind of treatment would kill her beautiful spirit. “I’m sure you already know, but I’ll say it just in case. We can’t return all their girls. While we do still have a couple around”—Tuck waved one hand toward the main room where Ruger had seen the girl everyone now called Jailbait on his way through—“we’ve helped other’s leave the area to escape them.” Tuck scanned the room. “They’ve already set a location. While I doubt it’s their main clubhouse, it could be where they are holding her. They’re probably already there.”

“Where is it they want this trade to take place, exactly?” Crash asked from the far end of the table. Ruger gave them the address. No one seemed to know exactly where it was as frowns of confusion were exchanged.

“It’s off Tucson Boulevard, down near the airport. I suspect it’s a lot or warehouse they own or have been able to commandeer,” Sadist spoke for the first time since Ruger arrived.

“So how do we do this? They’ll hear us coming a long way off,” Gizmo said, looking around the room.

There was a lot of talk about how to get in there, what to do, and who to take. Suggestions were made and options discussed. By just after midnight, they were ready.