Chapter Twelve
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sully
I looked down at the phone Fallon placed in front of me on the poker table. It was a brick wall I recognized as one of the ones at Redemption, the bar owned by Fallon and his wife.
And on the brick wall, graffiti.
It was rough but intricate, featuring a bloody scene that depicted one crew being killed by another group.
“You think this is related?” I asked, brows lowered.
“I don’t know. But I don’t think someone went from trying to blow you and some innocent girl up to just running with his tail tucked. If this is a threat, I want to know.”
“And if it’s just a couple of idiot kids…”
“I want to scare the shit out of them, little fucks,” Fallon said with an amused smirk.
Being a former hellion himself, he had a soft spot for troublemakers. But as the third-generation president of an outlaw biker club, he couldn’t let neighborhood kids think they could tag anything belonging to the club and get away with it.
“Your cameras didn’t catch this?”
“Something knocked the camera in the other direction before it happened.”
“Honestly, it sounds more like—“ I started, but was cut off by several loud pop pop pops.
Normally, my instinct would be to grab a gun and head outside, to face the threat, to defend the club.
As the others did that, though, I found myself running down the hall and into my room, finding Bonnie had dropped down off of the bed, her shoulders up by her ears, her hands on her head.
“Come with me,” I demanded, grabbing a gun out of my drawer.
When I glanced back, her head was shaking side to side, her body trembling.
“Okay. Alright. I need to move you,” I said, rushing toward her as there were more pops outside.
What the fuck was going on?
“I got you,” I said, leaning down, scooping her up, and running out of the room.
The bedrooms in the clubhouse were windowless and reinforced for a reason. She could be safe from a stray bullet in there. But if we were about to be invaded, I wanted her somewhere damn near impossible to infiltrate.
“Layna!” I yelled when I found the door already barred. “Bonnie needs in.”
The door flew open, whacking into me with its force.
“Come on,” Layna said, running down the narrow basement steps.
I followed more slowly, not wanting to fall with Bonnie in my arms.
“No,” Bonnie whimpered, grabbing at me when I lowered her down onto one of the beds in the basement.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry. I have to go. Take care of her,” I demanded, looking at Layna and Luna, then turning and running.
Nothing had ever felt as wrong as running away from Bonnie right then.
Layna ran up the stairs behind me.
“Don’t open for anyone but us,” I said.
“I know the drill,” Layna said as I moved onto the upper floor.
Behind me, the door slammed. The locks slid into place. And then the medieval bar slid down as well.
If someone worked at it long enough, they would get in. The door was steel reinforced. But any door could be removed or blown off.
But it would take a fuckuva lot of time.
By then, the people inside could get themselves into either the walk-in gun safe or up into the glass room.
It was deceptive to call it that. It wasn’t exactly glass. It was some super specialized material made from a government defense contractor. Word was it could withstand any bullet. And most types of explosions.
Once the ladder was pulled up and the door shut, there was no way in.
I knew Layna and Luna knew that.
My worry was that they would struggle to get a terrified Bonnie up that tall, steep ladder.
I had no idea which of the guys was in the glass room. But I had to believe that whoever it was, they would be strong enough to be able to have Bonnie piggyback up the ladder.
She was in good hands.
I needed to focus.
Hugging the wall, I made my way toward the back door of the clubhouse, confused by the lack of return fire as more pops were squeezed off.
My stomach sank, wondering if they were down. Shot. Hurt. Dead.
A sweat broke out across my forehead, and a buzzing started in my ears.
No, damnit.
I needed to focus.
I threw open the back door and eased my way outside.
Only to freeze one step out when I found Dezi standing in the middle of the backyard, a ridiculously open target.
“Dezi, the fuck?” Fallon growled.
But he ignored the boss as he took another step out, leaned down, and picked up something off the ground.
“It’s not gunshots,” he said, smiling in the face of potential danger as he moved back to us. “They’re fucking snappers,” he added. Then he tossed it to the ground, where it made several loud bangs. “Homemade snappers,” he added. “More bang than the usual ones. But harmless.”
“Where the fuck did they come from?” Fallon asked, looking around.
“And are they just a distraction?” I asked, grabbing Fallon by the vest and pulling him closer to the building.
“Could be some sort of launcher,” Dezi said.
“Or a drone,” Rune added.
“No one saw anyone or anything?” Fallon asked.
“No. And I was out here first,” Croft added.
“Everyone get back inside,” Fallon demanded. “Everyone,” he added when Dezi started to argue. “Someone get me the fucking camera feed.”
“There’s… cameras?” Perish asked, looking sheepish.
“Relax. I don’t care who you fuck and where. I need to know how those things got all around the yard without one of our men seeing shit. You,” Fallon said, looking at me. “Got anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do snappers have any significance to you?”
“Aside from once putting them under the toilet seats in school, no.”
Fallon sucked in a deep breath. “Did you do that with friends? If so, might those friends be pissed at you?”
“The only person who was pissed at me was my father. I worked alone.” At his dubious look, I added, “We moved around a lot. Some places I made friends easier than others. That town didn’t take kindly to my ass. So I scared the shit out of theirs. Before you ask, no one was hurt. And I doubt anyone even remembers me from then.”
To that, Fallon grumbled.
He wanted something, anything to go on.
“I don’t think there’s an actual link. I think this is… meant to scare us. Psychological warfare shit.”
“That’s gotta be it, right?” Dezi asked. “It’s gotta be about those days. Kill anyone with relatives who might want revenge?”
“Dozens, man,” I admitted, shrugging. “Maybe hundreds. Figure all of them had loved ones left behind.”
“Seems extreme to me, though, right?” Rune asked. “Who would come all the way over here, track down Sully, and play mind games with him?”
“Think you underestimate how unhinged grief can make some people,” Nave said. “Knew someone who once did a full-scale investigation into who poisoned his dog. Then slowly dismantled his entire life before beating him into a coma.”
“Is the dog okay?” Voss asked.
“He ended up with neurological problems,” Nave said. “But he pulled through.”
“And back to the present,” Fallon said. “Start working on a list,” he told me.
“Boss… I don’t know their names,” I admitted. “We didn’t always have names for targets.”
“Dates to the best of your ability then. Maybe Chris and Hailstorm can fill in the rest. Everyone else who isn’t getting me camera feed, I want eyes outside. Glass room, windows. And if you go out, hug the walls of the clubhouse until we know more.”
“I’ll get working on the list. But I want to check on Bonnie first. She was freaking out.”
Fallon gave me a nod, and I turned and rushed back to the basement door.
“Layna, it’s Sully. We’re clear for the moment.”
I heard her feet on the steps, then the sliding of the locks.
“How is she?”
“Luna has her mostly calmed down,” Layna said. “What the fuck?” she asked me in a whisper.
“Snappers.”
“Snappers? Like… fireworks?”
“Yeah.”
To that, her brows pinched. “Should we be worried?” she asked. “Should I be telling Gracie and Willa and all the other girls to head here or Hailstorm?”
“I don’t know, babe. That’s a question for Fallon. We think this is about me. But you girls…”
“Are close friends with you,” Layna filled in.
“Exactly.”
“Okay,” Layna said, sighing. “I’m gonna go talk to Fallon. Be gentle with her. She’s still shaky.”
We passed on the steps.
Hearing me, Luna gave me a little nod, then climbed off the bed she was sitting on next to Bonnie.
Callow made his way down from the glass room, giving me a concerned look. I nodded to the stairs, and he silently made his way up.
“Heya, honey. How you doing?” I asked, sitting down next to Bonnie, who was picking at one of her cuticles with her thumbnail. “Everything’s okay,” I told her when she didn’t answer. “They were just little fireworks,” I added as she sniffled. “Hey,” I said, my voice soft as I reached for her. “Hey, you’re okay.”
I pulled her until she was draped over my lap, her head against my chest.
She wasn’t actively crying, but the tension in her body said that was only because she was fighting hard not to.
“You thought we were getting shot up, huh?” I asked, getting a nod from her. “Yeah, me too,” I said. “Look, I’m gonna give you another option, okay?”
“Option for what?”
“Safety. The club has an ally. Actually, it’s practically an extension of the club: Hailstorm.”
“What is it?”
“It’s… an organization. But also a survivalist camp on the hill. You might have seen it. High fences. Giant, winding structure made from shipping containers…”
“With all the dogs?” she asked, making my lips curve up. Because of course she would notice the dogs.
“Yeah, that’s the place. Anyway, when shit gets dicey around here, sometimes the girls and the kids go and hang at Hailstorm instead of around here. It’s an option if you want to know there will be no more booms or bangs.”
“No.”
“Maybe give it some thou—“
“No,” she cut me off. “I want to be here… with you.”
Fuck, those words made my stomach drop. In a weird, appealing way I’d never experienced before.
“I know. I’m kind of fucking amazing, huh?” I asked, dragging a chuckle out of her. “For the record, I’d rather have you here too. I got big plans for you.”
“Big plans?” she asked, tipping her head up to look at me.
“Well, I need to show you the playground plans. Introduce you to Flip Cup. Show you the glass room. Then, when we’re off lockdown, we have clubs to go to, parties to plan, movies to see…”
“With me?” she asked, unsure.
“Of course. I mean, I’m down for a trip to some cool bookstores too. Hear there’s an epic one in the city.”
“And you want to go with me?”
“Under one condition.”
“What condition?”
“You lead me to the spiciest books.”
“I think I can manage that,” she said, and I heard the smile in her voice, knew her panic had dissipated.
“But tonight, I have a different plan.”
“What kind of plan?”
“It’s a secret. I figure, by the time you bake Dezi’s bread, and we have some dinner, I could have it all ready for us.”
While she was distracted, I got to work on a list to hand off to Fallon to bring to Chris up at Hailstorm.
“Are the girls heading up?” I asked.
“They’re dragging their feet and grumbling, but yeah,” Fallon said. “And they all got their old men and uncles to bring them to and from work and shit. So, they’re all set there. We can focus on this without having our focus split.”
My focus was, of course, split though.
Because I had a special night planned for Bonnie and a lot of work to pull off before then.
If the night ended with us finishing what we’d almost done when we’d woken up together that morning, then so be it.