Chapter One
Ballistic was revving the truck at the gate of the compound, impatiently slamming his hands on the steering wheel waiting, for it to slide back.
Once he had driven through, War and I were out of our seats before the truck had pulled to a complete stop.
War ran ahead of me, up the steps and straight into the clubhouse.
Both of us terrified for Waverley and Connor, not knowing what was happening to either of them right now.
Rosa pushed up from a seat to the side of the door, her eyes following War, he hadn’t seen her among the other girls.
Jolene was softly crying into Smokey’s shoulder, they were crying for Connor and my chest tightened.
Ballistic stormed up the steps and grabbed his wife by the shoulders.
He checked her over quickly before nodding and stepping back.
“Rosa what the hell happened?” I asked, moving beside our Enforcer.
She was shaking, her lips in a tight line, there was blood all over her shirt, her hands, some of it smeared along her neck.
“Connor?” I asked, feeling as if the bottom of my stomach dropped out. It sounded like it was too late when I spoke to her on the phone.
“Last I heard he’s in surgery,” she told me, placing a hand on my arm.
“Isla and Naomi and a couple of the guys are with him.” Rosa lifted her hand away and ran it through her hair, then noticed the dried blood on her hands.
She stared at it for a moment, as though confused, then looked back up at me. “They’ll call when they have news.”
“You need to get cleaned up,” Ballistic told his wife gently.
She held up a hand to her husband. “I don’t know how she did it. How Lily convinced everyone. I should have known.”
“Woman don’t go blaming yourself for something you had no way of knowing,” Ballistic chastised his wife but his voice remained gentle.
She hushed him. “We had dinner, the three of us, waiting to hear from you guys, then I got a call to say there was some trouble at the bar and I left to go help. I didn’t notice her and Omen going back to the house.
” Her face screwed up in anger at her words.
“When I got back, the front door was wide open and there was a syringe on the floor in the hallway. I went into the kitchen and… found Connor,” she sucked in a breath.
Ballistic turned his gaze to me, he didn’t want Rosa to suffer any more but he held his silence, we needed the information.
Plus, Rosa was who she was. She could be the one with stab wounds and she would be doing everything in her power to make sure we knew what went down, before she thought about herself.
Her words penetrated my brain. They drugged her. Those fucks. I was going to rip their heads off their necks when I caught up with them.
“Connor was out cold, I sounded the alarm and I called 911, it seemed bad… Medic came right over, we tried to stop the bleeding and he started CPR,” she covered her eyes but a tear slipped down her cheek. Ballistic put his arm around her.
This was traumatizing her more, she didn’t know anything that could actually help us find Waverley.
I squeezed her hand, nodded to Ballistic and headed inside the clubhouse.
For now, the bar was empty except for Casper, who was leaning over the counter, with his head in his hands.
He glanced up when he heard the door, his eyes full of sympathy and concern, then tilted his head towards the hallway.
I headed that way, my head and heart still racing. There was nothing I could do about Connor, he was in surgery, which was the best place for him right now. Waverley was in danger and I had no clue where she was, or what was happening to her. As hard as it was for me to say it, she was my priority.
Medic and Kansas were in the security room, and I paused sticking my head inside.
They were both staring at the monitors on the wall.
I glanced up and saw the image from the camera on the side of the clubhouse, which showed the walkway to the old ladies place.
Lily and Omen appeared, walking hurriedly to the house.
Lily glanced back a few times, she was saying something to Omen, urging him to hurry the fuck up.
They went out of range of the camera, we had no others pointed at the house.
Kansas saw me and dipped his chin then hit a few buttons on his laptop, speeding up the video to the part where Omen’s truck was pulling up to the gates.
It was clear the only two people in the vehicle were Omen and Lily, Omen joking around with the guys opening the gate.
Lily sat beside him with a serene smile on her face.
They pulled out and disappeared down the road.
Like they weren’t a pair of dirty rats, who wouldn’t have long to live once we caught up with them.
“I’m running a program on the plate, I’ve managed to track it part of the way. I’ve lost them for now but I’ll keep looking, Hustle. I’ll find them.”
“Thanks man,” I said, not sure he would be able to, but I appreciated his effort. I turned to leave, but Medic stopped me. He was also covered in blood.
“Hustle, I don’t know what to tell you, man. It was bad. I did everything I could till the EMT’s arrived. They got him out fast but…”
“But he was alive?”
“He was.” He didn’t add he wasn’t sure for how long, but it was written all over his face.
“Get cleaned up,” I said as I turned and walked out the door, not waiting for him to respond.
I didn’t knock on King’s door, just opened it and walked in.
Dirt and Banshee were standing by King’s desk, War pacing back and forth in front of them, his fists clenched.
Ink sat in King’s chair, pouring over some maps he had spread out on the desk.
King stood by the window, his back to everyone.
He was the only one who didn’t turn to look at me when I came in.
“Where the fuck is she?” I snarled.
“We’re working on it,” Dirt said. “We’ve rounded up some Kingsmen, they’re being taken to the warehouse out past the Beemerville Orchards. They’ll keep until we figure this out.”
I raised a brow. I was with Ballistic when we finalized the purchase on that warehouse and spent a few days getting security set up around it.
We hadn’t used it yet. The club had various places around the county where we stored product or had meetings with buyers we didn’t want anyone bearing witness to.
This place was something Ballistic had searched for and bought.
I hadn’t been sure for what purpose, but it was going to have a use now.
“What about Omen?” War asked through gritted teeth.
“Not at his place, but we’ve got Handlebar and a crew out looking for them,” Dirt shook his head.
He looked borderline murderous. “Kansas is using traffic cams to track where they went, but there are a lot of blind spots around the county, so it’s taking him some time to catch up with them.
If he even can,” he added in annoyance. “Doubt he’ll go back to his place. ”
“So we hit their compound,” War said as he started for the door.
“War.”
Everyone turned to look at King. He still had his back to us.
“What?”
“Running off half-cocked isn’t going to help.”
“Running off?” War yelled. “They have Waverley!”
“I know that,” King turned to face us.
“So why are we just standing around here talking about it?”
“Because it’s what we need to do. We need to plan this out.”
“That is just wasting time, we need to go there.”
“I taught you better than that.”
“But… Connor,” War swallowed hard, the rage and desperation on his face was so stark it was terrifying. “I don’t even know if he’s gonna fucking survive this. We don’t know what they’re doing to Wave! And you think wanting to go wipe the fuckers out is me running off?”
“If you think for one second we can walk up to their clubhouse and ask if your sister is there, then you’re a fucking idiot. We can’t go there without knowing what is waiting for us, or whether we will do anything that might trigger them hurting her if she is there.”
War roared, grabbing for the bookcase behind him which was filled with plants and old novels, he pulled on it and it fell forward, everything falling and smashing on the ground, before he wheeled around to his father.
Dirt moved so fast he was a blur, he grabbed War before he could take another step towards King.
I didn’t want War to get hurt, but it was ingrained in Dirt to protect the President, even from his own son.
Dirt forced War to the wall where the bookcase had stood, stumbling over the debris. His forearm at War’s throat holding him up against the wall. He was struggling to get free, his face bright red from the pressure Dirt was placing against his throat.
“War,” Dirt hissed. “Control your shit.”
They had a long stare off, everyone remained quiet around them, but the tension was so thick you couldn’t wade through it, let alone cut it.
Dirt was right, we didn’t have time for this.
I flashed a look at War, letting him know he needed to back the fuck down and listen. I was getting sick of this bullshit.
“What is the plan?” I asked my President.
Only after the sounds of Dirt stepping away from War and him coughing and gasping air back into his lungs, did King turn his hard eyes on me.
“We figure out what the fuck is going on with the Kingsmen. Because there is no way in hell that asshole Nytro planned this. He doesn’t have the sense to play the long game.
Lily has been around here for over a year.
Whether Omen was a rat from the start or she turned him, I’ve no clue. Either way, once we catch up with him-”
“He’s mine.”
King was annoyed at the interruption but didn’t look in War’s direction.
“Still not clear on what we’re doing to get Waverley back,” I ground out.
The door opened again and Ballistic walked in. He didn’t seem to notice, or care about the wreckage of the bookcase.
“I reached out to Rowena,” he told King.
“And?”