Hi guys! Hope you like this chapter! I realized when I was done writing it that I hadn't included any Tess POV. I will likely be posting a short bit from her POV later this week. Just a bonus for you guys!
Anyway, thanks for reading and remember, reviews are love!
Chibs found himself staring dumbly into the back seat of the little blue car, eyes focused on a purple duffle bag on the back seat. It was girly and had giant green initials embroidered into one side. This was definitely Tess's car and that was definitely Tess's bag, and Chibs wondered why the hell they hadn't asked more questions about where the girl was or why she had left or why she hadn't come back like she promised Kozik she would. Something was definitely going on, and all the senses he possessed told him it was nothing good. Fiona laid a hand on his shoulder and he turned back towards her.
"What's wrong, Filip?" Fiona questioned nervously. They had been enjoying a moment wrapped up in one another, and in an instant, his demeanor had changed and now he was tense again and they were standing in front of a car and she couldn't figure out what the hell had changed in the course of one single hug.
"Not here," he replied, grabbing her hand and leading her quickly away from the car. "Let's get inside."
"Gotta find Gemma," he muttered as they burst through the Clubhouse door, his eyes immediately scanning the room for his target. His urgency and unease was beginning to worry Fiona. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She had no idea what was bothering him, but his fingers remained firmly entwined in hers. That told her that whatever it was, it had nothing to do with her. The two of them were fine. As long as their relationship was solid, Fiona was pretty sure she could handle whatever mess was about to be thrown at them.
"She's probably over at the corner table, with Lila and Tara still," Fiona told him, nodding in that direction. "Come on, I'll show you."
She confidently lead him through the room, completely oblivious to the glares she was getting. The atmosphere in the room was no longer one of a casual party; the room had divided into factions. The Crow Eaters and their tiny skirts and low cut tops had gathered together in one area. Upon realizing that they were not going to be pleasuring any patched members tonight, they had moved on to entertaining some of the mechanics, though none of them appeared too happy about that. Most of the glares came from this area. In another section, far from the Crow Eaters, the friends of the Club huddled together, eyes weary, wondering when they would be able to just go home.
Over in the corner, exactly where Fiona had expected, sat the family, the SAMCRO elite, Gemma sitting proudly among them. She was smiling as she talked to Tara and Lila and Opie, who had joined them sometime in the past few minutes. Piney was sitting in a recliner nearby, sound asleep, giant gun resting across his lap. Everybody seemed to be making the best of their situation. Gemma's eyes lit up as the couple finally made their way towards the group.
"Awww, look at this," she teased. "Looks like you two made up."
Her comment was met with giggles from the women, and a shit eating grin from Opie. Fiona felt a blush start to creep up on her cheeks, but her husband ignored the comments and laughs. "Where's Kozik?" he asked.
"In the bathroom," Lila replied quickly. She turned to look at Fiona. "He had to help clean up that Crow Eater you punched. That was awesome by the way."
Fiona managed a tiny smile, but Chibs's face remained serious as he looked toward Gemma.
"Tell me again EXACTLY what happened when Tess left," he demanded. Gemma turned instantly serious.
"I already told you," Gemma said, rethinking her conversation with the younger woman. "She came out of the dorm and said that she had some things to take care of and she would be be coming back. She said that Kozik knew where she was going."
"And she didn't say where she was going or how long she would be gone?" he asked, trying to keep his concern at bay.
"She said she would be back soon, that she was only going out for a few minutes," Gemma replied. "I was a little worried when she didn't come back quickly, but like Kozik said, she probably went to meet her boyfriend. Why all these questions?"
"Did she have anything with her when she left?" he asked, knowing that he was confusing everybody by not explaining, but he needed answers.
"Just her cell phone and her 's part of the reason that I didn't worry too much. She didn't even have her purse with her, so I thought that she really would be right back," Gemma explained.
Opie was looking at him with growing concern in his eyes. "What's this about?"
"Her car's still here," Chibs explained. "She didn't take it."
"She was supposed to go away with her boyfriend this weekend," Gemma told them. "Maybe he came to pick her up?"
"Her bags are still in the car," Fiona whispered, finally understanding the gravity of the situation. "She didn't go with her boyfriend."
Chibs shook his head. "No, she sure didn't. But she went with somebody, because she's not here."
"Then where the fuck is she?" came a voice from behind him, and Chibs could have kicked himself, because he really hadn't meant for Kozik to hear any of this yet.
"I don't know," was all Chibs could think to say, and he wished he had more answers, because Kozik looked ready to explode. "We don't know where she is or who she is with. It may be nothing, but…"
He didn't have to finish his thought. They all understood where he was going with it. All eyes were on the blonde brother as he grappled with the truth he had just learned. Opie and Chibs and even Piney, recently woken from his slumber, stood close by, ready to help if his rage at the situation spilled over, but Kozik couldn't afford to let that happen. He had to be calm and focused on finding Tess right now, and then once he did, he could pour that rage into whoever was responsible for her being gone. Unfortunately, he had no idea where she was or who she was with, and he just couldn't deal with that, so he pounced on the only idea he could come up with. Kozik's eyes snapped up.
"The boyfriend," he snarled. "This has something to do with him. They were supposed to go away together this weekend. Do any of you guys know where?"
He was looking at the women, who were racking their brains for any small detail that might help find their friend.
"We went bathing suit shopping," Tara spoke up, as if she had just remembered. "She said that they were supposed to go out to the coast and she wanted to get something to wear to the beach. She never told us exactly where."
"I don't think she was supposed to tell us," Fiona agreed. "She said something about how it was supposed to be a weekend for them to 'get away' and not have 'any distractions'. I think he was annoyed that she spend so much time here."
The other women nodded in agreement, and the were back at square one. California had almost 1,000 miles of coastline, and they didn't even know for sure that she would be wherever this glorious coastal vacation spot was. Kozik would inspect every single inch of California, if he had to, but something told him that they didn't have that kind of time. They needed to find her, and they had no idea where to even start.
"Maybe you should look in her purse," Chuckie spoke up from nearby. "Women keep things in their purses. Maybe that will give you a clue."
Chibs looked over at Gemma, choosing to ignore the creepy, fingerless man. "Did she have her purse with her when she left?"
"No," Gemma told him. "But where is it?"
"My room," Kozik told them immediately, and he was off, the rest of them trailing behind. Her purse was on his bed, exactly where she had set it when she came in. Nothing about the room had changed. He picked up the purse and stared at it nervously. Tess might be missing, but he still felt weird about digging through her purse. It still somehow felt like an invasion of privacy.
Luckily, Gemma had no such qualms. She rolled her eyes, snatched the purse from his hands, and upended it on the bed. In a different situation, Kozik might have laughed at some of the things contained in the purse. There was her wallet, random change, lipgloss, receipts from the coffee shop, tampons, a pack of Lifesavers, Advil, and about a thousand ponytail holders. About the only thing not in her purse was a clue about where she might be.
"Goddamn it," Kozik muttered. He thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged his shoulders and opened her wallet to rifle through it, while the rest of them looked on. Chibs knew that he wouldn't find anything. Tess probably hadn't even known where they were going. And then, there was the chance that she wasn't with the boyfriend at all and had been kidnapped by the Russians. He tried not to think about that. The chances of figuring out where the girl was seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. Chibs reached into his pocket for his pack of smokes, only to find them not there. He must have left them at the bar earlier, so he instead reached for Kozik's pack on the dresser and dislodged a piece of paper.
"What's this?" he asked out loud, bending to pick up the scrap of paper. He knew instantly what it was, but he handed it over for Kozik to inspect.
The words on the scrap of paper froze Kozik. Koz, I had to go meet Lex and end things. He deserves to hear this face to face. Try not to worry, I will be back soon. Love, Tess. So she had gone to meet the boyfriend, but not to run off with him. She had wanted to end things, and Kozik didn't need to be told why. He had kissed her and she had kissed him back, and she wouldn't have played both of them like that. Tess was a nice girl; too nice to do that. She had gone to meet Lex, and tell him, and he must be the one to have her. That thought sent rage and terror through him simultaneously. No guy liked being dumped, especially not one as controlling as Lex seemed. If that bastard had hurt her, Kozik would kill him, no two ways about it.
"We need to find this boyfriend," was the only thing he could say. "He has her. I know he does."
"I think you're right," Opie agreed. He addressed the room in general. "What do we know about him?"
When it came down to it, that was their problem. None of them knew a damn thing about Lex, not even a last name. They knew that Tess had met him in a grocery store and that he was handsome and a smooth talker. He seemed to have money and he enjoyed spending it on lavish dinners and nights out with Tess. They knew he drove a sleek, dark car...a car that they had changed the oil on once at the garage.
"The paperwork," Kozik muttered. "We changed his oil! That means we should have paperwork on the car, and his name, and his address, and his license plate number. Tess is completely anal retentive. She would have filled it out, even for him."
"Then let's go get this bloody paperwork!" Fiona demanded, moving towards the door, glad that they finally may have a lead.
"Not a chance," Chibs intercepted her before she could move even a step. "We have Russians trying to cripple us, and Tess's psychopath boyfriend snatching people from the parking lot. You are not leaving this building. None of you."
Gemma raised an eyebrow at him, but he was much more concerned about his wife. Fiona wanted to argue that she could handle walking twenty feet to the office to retrieve some paperwork and thats he could defend herself, but she knew how to pick her battles, and besides, even she was a bit scared by their current situation.
"I'll go," Opie spoke up. "You come cover me, Pop. Two sets of eyes are better than one."
They all made their way back into the main room and watched Opie and Piney leave. Gemma began to circulate amongst the worried people in the main room, telling them that there was a bit of a situation, but they had it under control. It was hard to tell if any of them believed her, but she really didn't care. They didn't have to believe her, as long as they say quietly and didn't cause any problems.
It only took Opie and Piney a couple of minutes to return. They brought a box full of paperwork with them.
"Didn't want to take the time to go through all of it out there, but this is all the paperwork from the last month. Tess files by month, and then by last name," Opie reported, taking the box into the chapel. "Look for the name. Lex drive a black, two door, douche bag car."
They all grabbed a section of the paperwork, figuring that the more of them looking, the quicker they would find it. They went through piece by piece by piece, searching for a needle in the haystack. Fortunately, it was only about ten minutes later that Lila proclaimed, "I think I found something."
Gemma went and looked at the paperwork, as they all stopped. "Lex Markow. No address listed, but the tag number is here and a phone number, too. I am gonna have to remind that girl to fill out all information on everybody, even if you are fucking them."
Kozik groaned in frustration. They had a name, but not much more. "If Juice was here, he could run the plates or trace the cell phone or check Facebook or do whatever the fuck it is that he does, and we would know where to find this guy."
All of them knew that. The guys never realized how much they relied on their intelligence officer until they didn't have him. Most of them barely knew how to turn on a computer, much less run a search for information they had no business accessing.
"What about Unser?" Piney asked. "Can any of his cop buddies help us?"
"Not with the new Sheriff's in town," Opie muttered. "He doesn't have the connections there that he used to."
"Shit!" Kozik yelled, pulling at his own hair in frustration. They were so close, but so fucking far away and it was driving him crazy.
"Maybe I could help," came a barely audible voice from the doorway. Heads snapped around to find Kerrianne, clad in plaid pajamas and a t-shirt, standing there looking nervous. "I'm sorry, I just woke up and came looking for you guys," she nodded towards her parents, "and the people outside told me something about Ma punching somebody and now there is an upset because Tess is missing. I don't mean to interrupt, but I am pretty good with computers and Juice has taught me some stuff about what he does. It might take awhile, and I would need his laptop, but I might be able to help."
She ended her rambling statement with a small shrug. Chibs immediately went to his daughter and placed hands on her shoulders, bending a bit to look at her. She met his eyes, and he could see the sadness and worry, but he could also see that she was being honest. As much as he absolutely hated the idea of involving his teenage daughter in SAMCRO business, she may be able to help them, and she was literally the only shot they had right now. "Are you sure, Darlin?"
She gave him a tiny smile and nodded. "I like Tess. I want to help find her."
"Alright," Kozik spoke up, glad to have another lead to follow. "Let's do this. Where is Juice's laptop?"
"At his house," Chibs spoke with authority, knowing Juice the best out of them all. "He keeps it locked in his bottom desk drawer, so nobody will steal it if they break in. The key is taped to one of the blades on the ceiling fan." Chibs shrugged. "He's a little bit paranoid."
"Where is his house?" Kozik asked, itching to get to the laptop.
"Dad can take you, he knows where it is," Opie spoke up. "Take the van and take the Prospects with you."
Kozik nodded and was off, Piney following in his wake. Once they were gone, some of the tension dissipated, but they were all plenty stressed. Gemma was the first one to speak.
"They will be back soon," she said, slipping an arm around Kerrianne. "Let's go get you set up in one of the dorms, where you won't be bothered by anybody while you work. And then we can discuss how much pay you should demand for this."
"Wait a second," Opie spoke up. He looked at Kerrianne and addressed her. "I appreciate you helping us out with this. We were out of options. When you are looking, and you find something, you come immediately to me or to your Dad. Kozik doesn't get to know anything until it goes through us. He would go nut and run off, half-cocked, without a plan. We can't have that. I don't care if you have to lie to him, kick him in the balls, or whatever you have to do, come to us first. Can you do that?"
Kerrianne didn't understand. She looked at her Da, who nodded in agreement with Opie. She looked back at the other man. "Okay."
Lila and Tara followed them out, eager to go check on their kids. Opie and Chibs and Fiona were left alone in the room. They were all exhausted, and all grieved over the fact that there was nothing they could do right now. It was Fiona who broke the silence.
"His name," she said quietly. "Markow. Isn't that name…?"
Her voice trailed off, but Chibs tightened his arm around her and finished her sentence. "Russian. Markow is a Russian name. The Russians have Tess."