He quickly slowed at the sight of my motorcycle on its side. He came to an almost complete stop and looked around. When he turned his head to the left again, I ran out from the woods.
The fucking guy had no chance.
I was there a second later, my arm around his throat, pulling him from the ride. I killed the engine on the motorcycle and let it fall to the road. He tried to scream but my hold was tight. Any tighter and he would have been choked out and died.
I dragged him into the woods where I had the rope waiting. I had a tree already picked out and threw him into it. The son of a bitch quickly turned and tried to punch me. I cracked with a hard right to the jaw and that dropped him for good. I fought with him to sit him up as I tied him to the tree. I then wrapped a few pieces of tape around his mouth and then around his mouth and the tree.
He was secured. Nothing would hear him or see him.
Unless a hungry animal got to him before I could come back with some of the guys.
I dumped his motorcycle off the side of the road and then called Jasper.
“Bro, I have something big,” I said to him.
“Like what?”
“One of the Hell Five prospects. Tied to a tree.”
“Say what?”
“Something big is happening up here. Get up here now. Bring Trev. We can break this guy down and figure out what’s up.”
“Where are you?”
When I told him, he was obviously surprised. When guys like me disappeared for a day or two it was usually on a wicked bender to a few strip clubs or holed up in a hotel with lots of booze and some women. Being up in the mountains really wasn’t our style unless we were all together on a ride or something.
I knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of the Hell Five guys came through the area. And the same could be said for when they got back to their clubhouse to find a prospect missing.
It took all of thirty minutes to meet up with Jasper, Trev, and Kye. I then led the way to the captured prospect up in the woods. We all pulled off the road and walked our motorcycles into the brush to keep ourselves hidden.
Trev took off his sunglasses and looked at the prospect tied to the tree. Then he looked back at me. “Nice work.”
“Very nice work,” Kye said. He patted me on the back. “What were you doing up here?”
“None of your fucking business,” I said. “Focus on the situation.” I pointed to the clearing of land. “They were all up there talking. Hell Five. Guys in suits. Something went down.”
“Let’s find out,” Jasper said.
He wasted no time in taking out his gun. He pointed it right at the prospect. This was a risky move but it paid off because it showed the true colors of the prospect. If that were me - or any of my brothers - we wouldn’t have flinched. The reason? If we knew something someone else wanted to know, what would killing us do?
This prospect started to kick and thrash like a damn fool. He screamed so hard the veins in his neck pulsed and looked as thick as the branches of the trees above my head.
He knew something and he would crack.
Jasper put the gun to the prospect’s forehead.
Trev came forward to the play good cop role. He crouched and pushed Jasper’s hand away.
“Listen to me,” Trev said. “You know why we have you. I’m not here to kill you. I just need to ask you a few questions. Okay?”
The guy shook his head.
“The thing is,” Trev said, “if you don’t talk to me, I will kill you.”
With that said, Trev took his gun out.
The prospect flipped shit again.
We all circled around him. Trev stood up. I crouched down.
I grabbed at the tape on his mouth and started to pull. I got halfway and stopped. “If you scream, I will shoot you.”
I ripped the tape all the way. Everyone winced except the prospect. He sat stone like, his eyes dripping with tears. His lips quivered, wanting to scream from the stinging pain of the tape being ripped off his face.
“So let’s talk,” I said.
“I don’t know anything.”
“Yes you do. I saw you. Don’t fuck with me.”
“Answers,” Kye said. “Right fucking now.”
“They’ll know I’m gone,” the prospect said. “They’ll come…”
“No they won’t,” I said. “You’re a useless prospect. So now you get to choose your fate. How you want to go out.”
“Fuck this,” Kye said. He took his gun out and put it to the top of the prospect’s head. “What the fuck were they doing?!”
Kye’s voice boomed through the woods.
“Holy fucking shit,” the prospect yelled. “They were talking a new deal!”
“There you go,” Kye said.
“What kind of deal?” I asked.
“Real estate,” the prospect said. “I know nothing else.”
Kye crouched down and swung his gun, hitting the prospect in the face. His head swiveled and I thought his neck had broken.
I grabbed Kye and wanted to punch him.
Kye nodded to me.
The prospect started to cry. “Land… land…”
“Land?” I asked. “They’re buying land?”
“Yes.”
I stood up. So did Kye.
Jasper kept his gun handy, just in case. “What are they using it for?”
“I don’t know that,” the prospect said. “They want to build. A warehouse maybe. A clubhouse or something. I don’t go inside.”