Behold the Stars Read online

  But sending a tweaker here? Why? Ellis would have a reason, but he couldn’t know yet about Lilli’s plan to buy the Keller place. Were the Northsiders going rogue and just fucking with Isaac? That didn’t make sense, either. Ellis had too much power; Lilli had to believe that he wouldn’t work with a crew that didn’t respect him enough to fall in line. Then this was Ellis. So why?

  Had to be a message. What was the message, then? Sending a single tweaker, the day after he’d burned Will down. A single tweaker, in Isaac’s home. Causing mischief—would have been worse, if Lilli hadn’t been on her guard. This was Ellis exposing Isaac’s vulnerability, showing up his weakness. Isaac had a family of sorts now; that made him vulnerable.

  Lilli set her beer on the counter and turned to Badge. “Call Erik. Do it now.” Erik was guarding Holly and the girls. Holly and Lilli were the only old ladies. Show was the only Horde who had young kids.

  Badge did as she asked. “No answer.”

  “You calling his burner?” No answer on a burner meant trouble.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  Her heart racing, Lilli nodded and looked hard at young Badger. “Okay, bud. Listen. You know that’s bad. In light of what we just dealt with, you know that’s real bad. You and I are gonna load up and head over there. You follow my lead, okay?”

  “Lilli, I can’t. I can’t let you get hurt.”

  “Bud, Erik’s guarding Show’s family, and he’s not picking up his burner. Who’s in town? Any Horde stay back?”

  “They didn’t tell me.”

  Well, that was fucking stupid. These guys really were out of their depth. “We don’t have a choice here, Badge. Show has three daughters. If somebody was here with a shotgun, then there might be somebody there with a shotgun. And Holly’s not me.”

  “I gotta call Isaac now. I gotta.”

  Lilli agreed. They needed to know who was in town. “Good idea, bud. But I’ll do it.” Her phone was in her bag, which was still outside on the ground. She ran out and grabbed it, pulling her phone free and dialing Isaac. No answer. Hoping that wasn’t the bad sign she was afraid it could be, she left a message, trying to be clear but not freak him out so much she got him hurt. “Isaac, we’ve had some excitement here. We’re going over to check on Holly and the kids. Could use some backup—wondering if you left anybody back on patrol. Call soon as you can.” She closed the phone and gave her bodyguard a somber look. “We’re on our own, Badge.”

  Badger looked like he needed to put his head down—pale and bug-eyed. “Oh, man. I don’t know what to do.”

  Putting her hand on his bony shoulder, Lilli kept her voice calm. “I’m telling you what to do, Badge. We’re going over there, and we’ll deal with what we find. Just like we did here. Okay?”

  The kid swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Okay. Okay.”

  Before they left the house, they stopped at the gun cabinet and loaded up.

  ~oOo~

  This time, Lilli wasn’t giving up surprise. She had Badger stop about half a mile from the house. They both armed themselves, then ran the last distance, Badger following Lilli’s lead.

  If there was trouble here, then they were likely too late. By the time Lilli had dealt with her own shit and worked the problem through, hours had passed. The shadows were long and thin in the waning light as they worked their way to Show’s house.

  Lilli heard screaming—no, wailing—coming from the house. She took a single beat to listen and get a sense of the location of the sound. Front, near the door. Probably the living room. Signaling for Badge to follow her, Lilli eased up onto the porch and flattened herself against the wall next to a large picture window, covered with sheer curtains. Peering around the side of the window, she got a view of the room, obscured by the gauzy fabric but clear enough to comprehend.

  She saw Show’s two youngest, Rose and Iris, eleven and eight years old, sitting next to each other on the floor under the side window. They were bound but not gagged, and it was their cries Lilli heard—was still hearing. Face down on the floor in front of them was their mother. She was not gagged, either, but she was silent.

  She was being raped. In front of her daughters.

  Lilli spun and tried the door. It opened readily, and, knowing the shot she needed to take, she dropped to her knees as she crossed the threshold into the room, aiming and taking the shot she had, catching the putrid son of a bitch in the ear. He flew off of Holly and skidded across the floor, dead before his body stopped moving.

  The instant she was free, Holly, naked from the waist down, crawled to her screaming girls, drawing them into her arms.

  As Lilli rose to her feet, Badger fired the rifle he was carrying, and she dropped flat. The girls screamed again, and Lilli rolled to her back, aiming as she did. Badger was standing at the front door, looking catatonic. Following his frozen stare, she saw another backwoods asshole sliding down the hallway wall, leaving a smear of blood as he dropped. He was still alive, blood already beginning to bubble out of his mouth. Badge had hit his lung. Lillie turned and looked at the Prospect. “You want me to finish him?”

  Badger shook his head slowly, aimed the rifle, and put another round in the guy’s forehead.

  “Good man.” Lilli turned to Holly. “How many, Holly? Are there more?”

  Still crying hard, Holly shook her head, clutching her girls. But only two. Show and Holly had three daughters. Daisy, the oldest, fifteen years old, wasn’t here. With the faint hope that she simply had not been home when all this went down, Lilli asked, “Holly, where’s Daisy?”

  At that, Holly lost her mind, and her little ones went with her. Their wails trebled in intensity. “Dammit, Holly, please. Where is she?”

  “They—they—they took her. They took her first.” Holly tried to get up, but Iris and Rose held on tight. She waved down the hall, toward their kitchen. Lilli was surprised that she wasn’t trying harder to get to Daisy, but people did surprising things in trauma. She held her gun in both hands, at the ready, and turned to head down the hall. She saw Badger in the dining room, squatting at a pair of denim legs and heavily-booted feet. Erik, she assumed.

  “Badge?”

  He looked up, stricken, and shook his head. Goddammit. She nodded and headed down the hallway to the kitchen at the back of the house.

  Daisy was on the floor, naked, bruised and bloody. She was lying with her limbs spread, and Lilli was sure she was unconscious at least, but when the floor creaked under Lilli’s step, Daisy opened her eyes with a hoarse gasp and pulled into a ball.

  There was a big table in the kitchen, covered with a cotton tablecloth with brightly-colored fall leaves all over it. Lilli pulled the cloth off the table and covered Daisy with it. She tried to press the cloth between her legs, but Daisy was too tense. Lilli did the best she could, as gently as she could. “It’s okay, honey. It’s over now. You want your mom?”

  She wasn’t crying. She was barely breathing. She was curled into that ball, her eyes open and staring. She didn’t acknowledge Lilli’s question. The pool of blood under her was bad, and she was waxy pale.

  “I’ll get your mom, honey. I’ll get your mom.” Lilli made sure she was covered completely, and then she went to get Holly.

  Just as she got to the end of the hall, two Harleys roared into view—Dan and C.J. They must have been on patrol in town—which meant the Isaac got her message, when meant that he was okay. Even in the midst of all this, Lilli knew relief. Badge was out the door first, heading out to meet them. Turning to Holly, Lilli said, her voice sharp, “Daisy needs you now,” then followed Badge, stopping on the porch. She understood that she needed to hang back a little and not get in Horde business, especially not with these two, neither of whom liked her much. She’d let Badger deliver the news. But when C.J. hauled off and socked Badger in the mouth, knocking him to the ground, she jumped off the porch and ran toward them.

  “What the hell are you doing?” She went straight up and got in C.J.’s face. He was no taller than sh
e was.

  He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he grabbed her hard around her biceps and asked, “What the fuck are you doing here, bitch? You were told to go home. He was told to keep you there. What kind of trouble did you start here? I oughta break your goddamn jaw for you.” And then he cocked his fist back.

  Badger was still on the ground. As he said, “Ceej, wait. It was bad inside. Lilli stopped it,” Lilli—thinking only that she was fucking sick and tired of men trying to force women to their will, and damn sure this fat old son of a bitch’s fist wasn’t coming anywhere near her—broke his hold, dropped, spun, and took his legs out from under him. He landed hard on his back with a grunt.

  Badger had regained his feet in the meantime. Now, he looked at Lilli. “Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Lilli, you hit a patch. Oh, fuck.”

  “No, Badge. I didn’t.” She stood over C.J. “But I will. Right now, I don’t give a shit what you wear on your back. Holly and Daisy are really hurt. Iris and Rose are traumatized at least. Erik is dead. And there are two bodies of tweaker assholes in there. There’s another at our place. So holster your dick and be of use.”

  C.J. glared at her as he struggled stiffly to his feet. Dan, though, took her elbow in his hand. Lilli spun hard, ready to fight him, too, if she had to, but he stepped back, his hands up. “Easy, Lilli. Really hurt how?”

  Dan was the club medic. “In the kind of way they’re not going to want a man anywhere near them. Daisy’s really bleeding. They need a hospital. Now.”

  “Oh, fuck. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. Okay. Ceej, call Tash.”

  Lilli asked, “Who’s Tash?”

  “She’s a doctor at County General. Gotta make sure she’ll meet us there. Let’s move. Lilli, I’m gonna need your help.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Isaac, Show, and Len barreled through the double doors of the emergency wing at County General. Heedless of any obstacle, Show tore up to the intake desk. Isaac and Len stayed right with him, and Isaac scanned the waiting area for familiar faces. Before he found any, he saw a security guard—beefy, but no match in size for Show or Isaac—coming quickly up to them, his hand on the butt of his gun. Knowing how three bikers in kuttes rushing the nurses must look, Isaac moved to stand between Show, who was shouting now at a tiny blonde nurse in pink scrub pants and a floral top, and the guard. Isaac put his hands up, indicating they meant no trouble. Len went up to stand beside Show and calm things down.

  Show’s deep voice grated through clenched teeth as he answered the nurse’s question. “Holly and Daisy Ryan. Where the fuck are they? And Iris and Rose?” He slammed his fist on the surface of the high desk. Isaac turned around and laid his hand on his friend’s thick, inked arm.

  The nurse—even in this moment, Isaac’s lizard brain noted that she was a pretty little thing—flinched at Show’s anger, but said only, “Are you family? I need ID.”

  He pulled his wallet out of his jeans and opened it to his Missouri driver’s license. “Husband. Father.” The wallet shook in Show’s hand, and the chain rattled on the surface of the desk. The nurse nodded and pulled a neon pink hospital bracelet from a small box on her, lower, part of the desk. As she started writing Show’s name—Robert Ryan—and Holly’s on the bracelet in Sharpie, Isaac turned and scanned the room again. He saw Dan and Badger and returned their nod. But no Lilli. His stomach rolled.

  Show let the nurse put the pink bracelet on his wrist, and then she led him back into the trauma rooms. The guard stopped Isaac and Len from following. Giving Show’s shoulder a hard squeeze, Isaac nodded at him, then turned with Len and went over to Dan and Badger.

  The St. Louis run had been quick and dirty. They couldn’t hit Ellis directly, not yet, but they could hit his henchmen, the guys who’d been doing the dirty work on the ground in Signal Bend. Isaac had met with his friend Kenyon Berry, head of the Underdawgs, a rival crew of the Northside Knights and an ally to the Horde. Kenyon had been reluctant to bring his crew too deeply into the Horde’s war with Ellis, but on St. Louis turf he openly offered the Underdawgs for backup. What’s more, Kenyon had given the Horde the target: a stash house—an old office building, really—on the city’s derelict northern edge. Two guards, showing Northsider colors. Isaac and Show killed the guards, and then Victor fired the building.

  They’d all silenced their phones during the job. When they’d cleared the St. Louis metro area, they pulled off for a quick debrief, and Isaac checked his phone. He had a message from Lilli. He’d called Dan the second he heard it, and then tried Lilli, but got her voice mail. Show had stared at him, his eyes fiery with fear and rage, as he’d pieced together what was going on from Isaac’s call with Dan. When he was off the phone, Isaac had confirmed what Show had surmised. Then they’d flown toward home.

  Isaac took Lilli’s second call from the road, telling him what had happened and where they were headed. He pulled the Horde off the road again, broke the news to Show, and gave out orders that sent Bart, Havoc, and Victor into town while Isaac, Show, and Len detoured to the hospital.

  “Where the fuck is Lilli?” Isaac hadn’t yet come to a full stop when he turned the question on Dan.

  “She’s okay, boss. She took Iris and Rose to the cafeteria.”

  Huffing a heavy sigh of relief, Isaac nodded and pulled Dan into a deep corner. Len and Badge came with them. “What the hell happened? Details. I need details.”

  Dan shook his head and pulled Badger forward. “Badge has the story. Ceej and I came in on the credits.”

  Isaac listened intently as Badger told the whole story. Badge had a way with narrative, and as he listened, Isaac began to understand what Ellis had done. He’d taken the most dangerous men in Signal Bend out of the equation, and then he’d attacked their most vulnerable spots—the families of the club leaders. He’d used his own cannon fodder to do it, too. Nobody important to his mission. Those three dead bodies Bart, Vic, and Hav were disposing of? Isaac wouldn’t be at all surprised if no one in Ellis’s organization even knew more than a first name. If that. They’d probably wrought that chaos for the price of a teenth.

  They’d wondered at the quiet at the stash house they’d destroyed. Now, Isaac wondered if those Northsiders hadn’t been cannon fodder themselves. Had Ellis willingly given them and the location to decoy the Horde?

  And why had that been the address Kenyon gave them? There was a wrinkle in the line somewhere. Somebody knew too much.

  That was more than Isaac could think about right now. Right now, he needed to see his old lady. He gave Badge a sharp pat on the shoulder. “Good man, Badge. You did good.”

  Badge rubbed his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep Lilli at your house.”

  He laughed at that. Even he couldn’t keep Lilli where he wanted her. Badge didn’t have a prayer. “S’okay, kid. Show’s whole family would probably be dead if you hadn’t gotten there. I fucked up not telling you Dan and Ceej were in town.”

  Badge got a little pale at the mention of C.J.’s name. “Oh, man. C.J.”

  “Fuck. What? He whole?”

  Dan put his hand on Badger’s shoulder and took over. “Yeah, boss. He and Lilli had a…thing. He’s pissed. You could have some trouble over it.”

  Isaac was more weary than he could say. He sighed. “Just fuckin’ tell me.”

  Dan sighed, too. “Ceej was pissed to see her in the middle of the shit at Show’s. He came at her pretty hard. She put him on the ground.”

  “What do you mean, ‘he came at her pretty hard’?”

  “Usual Ceej smack. Threatened to break her jaw for her. Pulled his fist back like he meant it. You know his bit.”

  “And then she took his legs out. Like she did with you in the ring!” Badge was grinning around his split lip, but he wiped it off when Len slapped him on the back of the head.

  All Isaac could think of was what he would have done to C.J. if he’d actually made contact with Lilli. He didn’t fucking care how much of the old bastard’s threat was impotent bloviating. He
nodded. “Fine. Maybe he wants to take it up with me in the ring. Happy to oblige him.” He turned to Len. “You call me the second you see Show or there’s word about what’s going on back there. I’m going after Lilli and the girls.”

  ~oOo~

  He found Lilli sitting with the girls. They had cake, ice cream, and sodas. Under normal conditions, Holly’s head would explode to see the sugar her girls were being fed. But they were quiet and seemed calm. Rose, a shy, fragile girl, had her head down, swirling a plastic spoon through melting vanilla ice cream. But Iris looked up and smiled when she saw him coming up to their table. Lilli had her back to him, but she turned around to see what Iris was grinning at. Seeing him, she stood. “You’re okay. Oh, thank God, you’re okay,” she whispered. She’d talked to him—she’d known he was okay. But he understood. He hadn’t believed it, either, until he’d seen her with his own eyes.

  He pulled her into his arms, and at the touch of her body, the iron hold he’d had on calm crumbled away. Motherfucking Christ! Somebody had been in their house, had pointed a gun at her. He’d sent her off with fucking Badger with barely a second thought. And God, Show! Holly and Daisy! And these two little ones, forced to see it all.

  He clutched her tighter and tighter, feeling like he needed her closer no matter how close he got her. He pressed his face into the curve of her neck and held on, his throat swelling with grief, with fear, with love. And guilt. Fuck, the guilt was going to swallow him whole, from the inside out.