Unchain My Heart(88)

“You’re a good man, Cobra. Your intentions and your heart are good. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Hammer rubbed his hands together. “Okay, now this is where it really gets interesting. Listen up, boys.”

Hammer had my full attention. My eye started twitching. I just knew this was where the pieces of the puzzle were finally going to come together and make sense.

“The day Jamie was taken, something strange happened that stuck in my mind. I didn’t get it at first, and it was more a suspicion than anything else . . . Summers . . . he acted really strange when Cobra showed up. As if he’d seen a ghost. It puzzled me for a while and then I worked it out. He’d seen the driver.” He made air quotes when he said the word “ghost,” talking rapidly as his excitement grew.

“But how could you possibly know that Demon was alive?”

“I didn’t. I’ve been working on hacking the police files for two years now. But this . . . it was just the motivation I needed to finally get it—”

The light bulb in my head went on. “Jesus. Hammer, are you saying what I think you’re saying? Stop patting yourself on the back at how fucking brilliant you are. We already know that. Just tell us.”

“Yes. What I’m saying is that Demon is the new V.P. of the L.A. Demons, and that he was the one behind the wheel and Jamie’s kidnapping.”

All the blood drained from Cobra’s face. He trembled—all six-foot-plus of him, shaking uncontrollably.

“Fuck. Holy crap. Fuck.” He leaned over and banged his head on the wooden table repeatedly. “We’re fucked. Jamie is fucked. I’m fucked.”

I flew up from my chair and grabbed hold of him. “Stop! Listen to me, we will find a way to get Jamie back. He doesn’t know that we’re aware he is alive. We have the element of surprise on him. You know how his brain works. We can work out a plan, Cobra. Trust me.”

Thank fuck, he stopped banging his head. But I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. He rested his head on his arms and sobbed, wailing like a child. I patted his back, completely at a loss for what to do. This was bad. Really bad. Demon had Jamie, and I knew he intended to never give him back.

But I daren’t have said it out loud. It would kill Cobra and Mia. And that’s exactly why the fucker did it.

Mia. Oh God, Mia. My heart ached for her.

This was Demon’s revenge. He’d probably planned it all along. He’d get retribution in the cruelest way possible.

Cobra was right. We were all fucked, including Jamie. I just prayed that he really believed that Jamie was indeed his child as he claimed, and therefore wouldn’t hurt him. But if he believed that the boy was Cobra’s as we all did . . . for the first time I really feared for Jamie. Demon would find the most horrific way possible to extract revenge and punish Cobra and Mia.

His way. His terms.

It had always been like that.

In four days he hadn’t made a move yet. Was it because he was planning to keep the boy? Or was this all part of some kind of fucked up torture he was plotting?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.





Chapter Sixty-Two — Harrison


I threw myself in to work, putting in more hours than ever. Mystified about the man in the van, I’d kept the best part to myself. I hadn’t yet told anyone that the bald man with the tattoo on his scalp was a dead ringer for the president of the Scorpio Stinger MC. I’d been part of the Special Ops team for nearly five years and I’d made it my business to know every damn biker in the country; how was it possible that I didn’t know Cobra’s doppelganger?

I’d checked all the records as far back as I could on the MC. I’d read the files before, so I couldn’t believe that I’d missed this bit of vital information. Obviously I must have thought it to be true at the time when I’d read about the drowning accident of Joshua Demon Malone, twin brother of Jacob Cobra Malone, and son of then president Chopper Malone.

I chuckled to myself. My instincts were spot on, and my well-trained eye didn’t let me down. It had only been a split second when I saw his face, and most people wouldn’t have even made the connection, because it's not what they’d expect to see. The brain was funny like that; it could easily be conditioned to see what it wanted to and ignore what it deemed rubbish.

Savage whistled over my shoulder as he scrutinized the computer screen.

“I'm impressed, Summers. How did you know to dig for this info?”

I was used to getting this reaction from him. He knew about my special training on instant recognition tactics, yet it never failed to make an impression on him. “Ever thought of buying a new car? Well, if it’s a brand you’ve never considered before, you may not have noticed them on the road. But as soon as you become interested in that model, you start seeing them everywhere.”