Read Rod for Free Online Page B

myself behind a vacant, dirty gas
station, I pull out my cell phone and call my father.
    “Hey,” he says gruffly.   “Learn anything?”
    “Just that Ronan Fitzgerald’s youngest
daughter Sasha is missing.   You wouldn’t
know anything about that, would you?”
    “Why the fuck do you think I’d know
anything about his daughter coming up missing?”
    “Relax, old man, it’s just a question.”
    “You may be my son, but I will still knock
the fuck out of you, Rodney Vinton.”
    “Are any of the Deathdealers responsible for this shit?”
    “How would I know that?” Dad asks plainly.
    “It’s your fucking club; don’t you keep
tabs on the criminal activity?”
    “Listen, you little shit, I don’t know
anything about this girl going missing, so unless you’ve got some information
for me, then I’ll get back to my dinner.”
    “Bye,” I tell him as I disconnect the
line.   Something isn’t right about his
tone.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    Chapter Three
    Trish Fitzgerald
    I gear up to leave the Lair and wonder
where Rodney got off to in such a hurry.   Missy stops me dead in my tracks.
    “Hey,” she says tearfully.
    “Hey,” I say with a sound of defeat in my
voice.
    She bursts into tears standing in front of
me.   I pull her into me despite my
mother’s warnings against getting close and I hug her tightly.
    She pulls away after getting her fill.
    “Can you do me a favor?”
    “What’s that?” I ask.
    “If you hear anything, even the slightest
detail, could you let me know?”
    She pulls a piece of paper out of her
pocket and scribbles something on it.   She passes it to my hand and says, “Anything at all.   I don’t care what time it is, day or night?”
    “Sure, I can do that.”
    “Thank you.   I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
    “I love her, too.   We all do.”
    She forces a smile through her
sadness.  
    She shrugs and walks to her grey
Volvo.   She takes off, dragging up the
dust from the dirt road with the car.
    I walk back into the Lair with a new
determination.   Both of my parents are
inside as evidenced by the motorcycles in the front.   I have to help out.  
    I seek them out like a laser beam and
focus on offering my help.
    “Mom, dad,” I begin.   They sigh, already feeling the burn from
something inside the club.
    “Don’t even think about it,” my father
rants.
    My mother smiles and just as I think she’s
on my side, she turns on me.
    “Your father is right.   You should go about your business and stay
out of this.”
    “But she’s my sister and I can help,” I
tell them both.
    “Go home!” My father yells.   A hush falls over the club and everyone
listens.
    I turn around and head to the front of the
place where I find Mickey Pennington in his club shirt with the black patch
that reads “Vice President” on it in white stitching.
    “Hello darlin ’,”
he says in his Irish dialect that is slowly fading.  
    “Hey Mickey.”
    “What can I do for ya ?”
    “I really need to get in on the search for
Sasha, I know her better than anyone.”
    “Now listen here, Miss Priss , ya know I can’t go against your father.   Off with ya ,” he
dismisses me sharply.   Dad has everyone’s
loyalty but I still need answers.
    I walk away and to the dirt road that
encircles the club.   Under my breath, I
utter, “I guess I gotta do this without them.”
    I resign myself to steering clear of the
area circled on the map in the club.   They have a radius of twenty miles surrounding Hinton Township and
Hinton Heights.   I rev up my bike and
take off, leaving the air filled with dirt in my fit of anger.
    Riding for a half hour, I don’t stop
speeding through the streets until I’m right outside of Hinton Heights.   A small wooden sign announces that I’ve
entered into Hayleyville .   Its population is just under five thousand
people and the roads are all dirt and the houses appear to be run down.
    I have