Chapter 38 Army
Army
The Council is all crowded up in Digits’ tower. He hates having his space invaded, but he’s sucked it up for now and is madly multitasking while we discuss possibilities. For most, multitasking is a sin and splits focus, but Digits is an anomaly, and he thrives on it.
“Razor was at Hedon, unmasked,” Pix argues with Ash. “He didn’t give a shit if it was discovered he was there. Let me kill the fucker already.” She’s coiled, ready to explode.
“He could’ve been there, not knowing it was our club,” Ash counters.
She’s damn near vibrating when she hisses, “He didn’t use his name so he could sneak his way inside.”
I go over to her, wrap my arm around her shoulders, and she eases slightly. Not as much as if Digits had touched her, because he has always been able to settle and calm her best. But with the tension between them, if Digits tried right now, Pix would likely stab him.
“Pix is right; Razor snuck in.” Digits hits his keyboard in a flurry of keystrokes, and the middle, large monitor fills with a camera shot.
The security cameras at Hedon were useless because someone had jammed them. This shouldn’t have been possible given Digits’ level of encryption and the failsafes he’s embedded in the system, which means we’re working against someone with top-tier skills or tech that’s better than his currently is.
The large monitor fills with footage from a CCTV camera. It clearly shows Razor walking through the nondescript door for Hedon, greeted by…
“The fucking bitch.”
Anais.
Bane side-eyes me with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “You know her?”
“Yes,” I say through clenched teeth. But how did she come in contact with Razor? Is it just a coincidence?
I immediately dismiss that. One, because I’m trained to be highly suspicious of things labeled as coincidences, and two, because Razor is not Anais’ type. Add in that she’s territorial of me and was obviously jealous of Leeva, and that’s just another bullet in the chamber against her.
But how did she even meet Razor, and why would she be working with him?
Pix stares at the screen. “That’s the bitch from Vixen’s.”
I turn to her with a frown. “You had left before she did, so your paths wouldn’t have crossed inside.”
Her jaw shifts, and she looks embarrassed. “I didn’t leave right away. There’s a place across the street with bubble tea I like.” Digits snorts a laugh, and she whips her head at him, glaring. “I saw her outside on the sidewalk.”
“She made an impression on you? Why?” Ash asks.
Pix turns to stare at the picture of Anais wearing a black, skin-tight dress, holding Hedon’s door open for Razor. “I didn’t like her. Definite cunt vibes from that one.” She jerks her chin at the screen. “She’d skin a puppy if it meant she got what she wanted.”
Bane eyes me. “And let me guess…she wants you, Army.”
I nod and explain my past with Anais and how I ended our very casual fuck-buddy non-relationship.
“But the time is too tight,” I reason. “She came to Vixen’s this afternoon. That doesn’t give her enough time to hatch a revenge plan, find a contact in the MC who hates me, and bring him to Hedon.”
“Unless she had contact with Razor prior…” Ash muses.
I shake my head. It still doesn’t feel right that she would do this without excessive reason. Even after her stunt in my private room at Hedon last week, she still thought she had a chance with me up until today.
“I overheard her talking on the phone.” Pix glances at the screen again and then back to me. “I was crossing the street back to my bike, and she was walking away from Vixen’s. She said, ‘Apply the boot; he’s not being reasonable.’”
I stiffen.
Apply the boot…
Guerilla always tried to keep me down, with a boot on my neck. It’s the analogy I always used to describe how he constantly tried to undermine me and strike at me. It was one he himself would taunt me with after his plan had worked.
If Guerilla has been back in town without us knowing, and if he’s aware of our role in Hedon, as well as my being with Leeva…
That’s a lot of ‘ifs’; however, this is the exact shit he’d pull to strike at me. Never coming at me directly or having the balls to come at me face-to-face, but with quiet manipulation and surprise attacks.
“Digits, I want everything you can pull up on Anais Martin. Including any connection she could have to my bastard brother.”
His eyes behind his glasses widen. “You think?”
I pace, needing to move as I think this all through.
“The hit on Hedon with the fake accusation of human trafficking came too quickly after Leeva got back.” Ash’s mind has gone where mine has.
“Which means Guerilla might have been back longer than I think, or he’s been in contact with someone here to work against us.”
“The old guard,” Bane says with a frown.
“But we’d have to assume Grinder let something slip about us owning Hedon, and Guerilla somehow came to have that knowledge,” Pix argues.
“This is a shit-ton of speculation,” Ash growls.
“I know that,” I grit. “But speculation and conjecture are all we currently have.” He doesn’t challenge me more as I mull this over. “We could have two reasons Guerilla is coming at me—one solely because of who and what I am with the MC, and two because of Leeva.”
“Okay, let’s recap the facts.” Pix taps her knife against her thigh as she sits propped on the back of a chair.
“Guerilla has always hated Army, and he always had a hard-on for fucking him over. Digits hasn’t been able to find the fucker for years.
Razor hates Army because of Grinder; Thunder and the entire old guard all hate us.
“Hedon was hit with a slanderous bullshit warrant for human trafficking. Army tells that bitch Anais to go suck someone else’s cock, then Razor just happens to sneak into Hedon that same night with her.”
Bane grunts and shifts his weight between his feet. “Still could be random facts that aren’t all playing together.”
“Still all the reason to let me loose and do my job,” she pointedly says to Ash, making his jaw shift.
“My gut is saying Pix is right,” Digits chimes in, looking at our prez.
“I haven’t been able to find Guerilla for a while.
I could before, but ever since Army returned from the Marines a few years ago, I haven’t been able to find anything on him.
And if he is in the city”—his brow pinches—“then he’s got help staying off my radar because there’s fuck all coming up for him.
Even Crispin and Daniele haven’t had any luck,” he says, referring to the Santoro mafia’s tech team.
“They’ve only started working on this today,” Ash argues.
“True.” Digits pushes up his glasses. “But Daniele is a bloodhound when it comes to looking for people; plus, I haven’t had any luck finding him for almost three years, Ash. You have to assume Guerilla has access to some top-tier help.”
“If this is Guerilla… He could be fucking dead as far as we know.”
He better not be, because I want the pleasure of ending my bastard brother myself.
“Why are you insisting on playing such a goddamn diplomat, Ash?” Pix accuses, her fingers white around her knife handle.
Ash glances at Bane, who sighs.
“Tensions are brewing under the surface with the old guard after what happened with Slade,” Bane says darkly.
“We already know that, so let me cut out the rot.” Pix’s nostrils flare, then she shakes her head. “If not now, then don’t stand in the way of us running with Army’s theory of what’s going on here.”
Ash rocks back on his heels, considering this from all angles as he needs to as the leader, then nods.
“Add monitoring Hedon’s security cameras to your list and watch what Anais is doing,” I order Digits.
He hunches over his keyboard, mumbling, “Great, my dream is coming true of watching filthy sexcapes for hours on top of everything else I have to do, including upgrading my systems because someone obviously bested mine.”
He grumbles to himself, but this is Digits and how he works, so we let him be without riding his ass. Because Guerilla has been able to operate off our radars and someone compromised Hedon’s surveillance system tonight, trying to hide how Razor got into the club.
Razor might be a gun, a grunt, but the mastermind behind this, pulling the strings, stinks to high fucking heaven of my brother.
What I don’t know is his level of knowledge regarding Leeva. Does he know she’s back? Does he know she’s Kathryn Wentzell, widow of a billionaire? Does he know about her and me, and that I’ve touched forbidden territory?
I’m not concerned for myself; I’m sick with dread and worry for Leeva.
I’m not there to protect her, and her family’s security team won’t arrive for another few hours.
Keeping my distance is the wise thing to do right now, especially if Guerilla has access to tech that currently surpasses ours, so I’m putting my faith in the Saints.
I pull out my phone and fire off a quick message to Dom and Hugo.
All good?
Dom replies before I can lock my phone.
Dom
She’s secure inside the house; all quiet
Thanks, buddy. I owe you
Even though I called in a favor with Dom for him and Hugo to watch over Leeva, I’ll gladly owe him anything back in return.
Dom
Good to know, I’ll be calling in that favor soon
I have no idea what he could have up his sleeve, but for now, I push that to the back of my mind.
While I have my phone out, I decide to ask another friend for a favor. Technically, I still owe Len, but with this, I’m not waiting any longer.
I have reason to believe Guerilla is in the city. I need your tech guru to search for him
She’s offered in the past, and I’m kicking my ass that I didn’t take her up on this before. But hindsight is a bitch.
Like Dom, Len’s reply comes in immediately.
Len
Done. I’ll keep you posted
That’s the thing I love about Len—no sweet-talk or major details required. Just two friends exchanging favors to help each other out, only asking when it’s important.
“And what about Razor?” Pix demands as I pocket my phone.
Ash studies her, then says, “Put eyes on him.”
Pix looks frustrated because we all know her version of taking care of Razor isn’t putting him under surveillance.
“I’ll get Tats and Mauler on it,” Digits chimes in, able to listen to our conversation while he works like a mad hatter at the keyboard.
“I’ll do it,” Pix grits, staring at his hunched form with a frown, then pivots on her heel, storming down the stairs.
Ash shakes his head, scrubbing his face.
“She really wants to kill Razor,” Bane says.
“And Thunder,” I add.
“She really wants to kill someone,” Ash says darkly and glances at Digits.
“If y’all are finished being pains in my ass, get out of my tower.” Digits shoves his dark, wavy hair off his forehead without looking at us.
“Guess that’s our cue,” Bane rumbles and claps my shoulder. “Shall we go do some hunting of our own for your piece of shit brother?”
“Don’t need to ask me twice.”