Hostage (Predators MC 3)(14)
“It won’t be so bad. You might even have some fun.”
“You’ll let me go home when I show you Striker?”
She didn’t miss the sarcastic exchange between them that Hennessy and Cruz thought she was too stupid to recognize.
“It seems I don’t have a choice, do I?” She sighed.
“No, you don’t.”
Penni firmed her chin. She was determined to show him that he needed her until he could find Striker. “It seems we’re stuck with each other, then. I’m hungry.”
Both men were surprised at her sudden change of conversation.
“I thought you fed her.”
Cruz gave her an angry glare at Hennessy’s question. “She refused to eat, so I ate it for her.”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“Go get her something else to eat,” Hennessy ordered then gave her a hard stare. “I have better things to do than send out my men on your errands. Next time, tell him what you want, or you’ll go hungry.”
Penni nodded, and then the men left the room without saying anything else to her.
Left alone, she was tempted to pick the lock, but she had already seen the man standing on the other side of the door when they had entered her room.
The room only held the bed and an adjoining bathroom. She had searched furtively through the drawers in the bathroom without success. There was no escape from the prison that she had been locked into. All odds of coming out unscathed were against her.
Penni did what she always did when she felt overwhelmed. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her worries into her hands then threw them out into the vastness of the cosmic wilderness. The situation she was facing seemed bleak, but Penni’s brother had faced insurmountable odds when he had been in the service. He had remained alive, not letting them steal his soul when so many men had returned without theirs. She couldn’t do any less. She was a survivor; it ran in their blood.
Penni remembered the name of the club printed on their vests. The Road Kingz didn’t know what was in store for them.
5
Jackal parked his motorcycle a few inches from the door of the Road Kingz’ clubhouse. One of the soldiers standing guard outside snapped to attention, his hand going behind his back. Not taking his eyes from Jackal, he opened the door and yelled out to someone inside the club.
Jackal tuned off his motor and waited expectantly for the shit to hit the fan. It didn’t take long before the front door was thrust open.
He lifted his hands in the air as the Road Kingz gathered in a show of force. Then Jackal carefully slid off his bike, making sure to keep his hands visible as he lowered them to his sides.
He searched the faces of the men threatening to attack any second.
“Hennessy? Since when do have to hide behind your men?” It might not have been a smart move to call him out, but Jackal didn’t have time to play the bullshit game with the rival club.
The tall, dark man easily stepped around the men standing in front of him. Hennessy’s gleaming white teeth were bared in an unwelcoming snarl.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Jackal?”
“I thought I’d come for a visit.”
The Road Kingz’ president looked at the white do-rag on his head. A mirthless smile was Hennessy’s only response. The man had always been an asshole.
“We need to talk.”
“We don’t have shit to talk about. Get your ass off my club’s property before one of my men takes that white rag and shoves it up your ass.”
“I’m doing you a solid by coming here.”
“Really?” Contemptuously, Hennessy walked around him.
Jackal didn’t move as Hennessy lifted his black leather jacket, searching for weapons. Then Jackal received no warning before there was a hard shove to his back. Managing to catch himself, he moved toward the doorway that the men had moved away from so he could enter.
Jackal scrutinized the place as he crossed the threshold of the clubhouse. Damn, his brothers didn’t know how good they had it. The Predators’ clubhouse was like the Marriot compared to the Road Kingz’.
The large room was filled with broken pieces of furniture, empty beer and liquor bottles littering every available space. The lone trashcan was filled to capacity with empty bottles scattered on the floor. Jackal pictured the lazy bottom dwellers pitching the empties, too busy playing video games and smoking joints to take out the trash.
Hennessy didn’t give a fuck about Jackal’s opinion.
“You’re not going to offer me a beer? It’s been a long drive.”
The Glock Hennessy pulled out from his back showed the large man was fed up with Jackal’s attempt at small talk.
“I’d tell you that you have five seconds to tell me what you want, but you’ve already used three of them.” Hennessy pressed the Glock to his temple. “And don’t think I don’t know why you’re here. That bitch yours?”