Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Jaxon squeezed and released his hands to stretch the tight skin of his knuckle.
Truth be told, they’d healed more than he thought they would in the past two days.
He stood in the shadow of an old barn just outside Graceview Retreat Center.
The mid-morning sun was already warm, and the air was sharp with the scent of pine and damp earth.
Ravage and Law flanked him, both men silent and alert. He and Ravage had parked their bikes beside Law’s truck behind the barn. Standing out here in front without them had him feeling very exposed. Hopefully, this would be worth the risk.
The low rumble of a Harley’s engine broke through the quiet morning. Reflections from motorcycle chrome sliced across the field. A beat-up black Harley with extensive chrome trim rolled up and came to a stop twenty yards away.
Ghost parked the bike and swung his leg over the seat. Ravage tapped Jaxon’s shoulder and nodded. Okay then. Apparently, this was their guy.
Hunching his shoulders forward, his eyes darted around like he expected someone to shoot him any second. Walking toward them, he held his hands visible and empty until he stood in front of them. Smart man.
“I’m dead if anyone figures out I’m talking to Sabre, you know,” Ghost said.
Law studied him for a long moment, “You left the note at the DA’s office?”
Ghost’s head snapped toward Ravage, eyes narrowing. “What the fuck? You told him? You were supposed to keep my name out of it.”
Ravage didn’t even blink. He just stared the man down with that cold, dead-eyed look that made most men piss themselves.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say anything?” Ghost clenched his jaw so tight Jaxon could see the muscle jump. Ravage jerked his head toward Jaxon. A clear sign that he should be addressing Jaxon, not himself.
He turned back to Jaxon, voice dropping even lower.
“Yeah, I left the fucking note. Figured somebody needed to light a fire under the DA’s ass.
That General fucker has gone batshit crazy.
He’s going to bury anyone around him.” Ghost looked at Jaxon, then Law, then back to Ravage and waited for a response.
Jaxon wasn’t quite ready to break the silence. He’d learned that if you want someone to keep talking, stay quiet. Most people hated silence.
It worked.
“The Lawless Warriors, or what’s left of them, seem more than willing to do the General’s bidding.
Either his or that prick lawyer.” Ghost shook his head.
“That ain’t for me, man. If that new club I heard you’re building is an option, I wanna prospect with that.
I like the sound of being a Ruthless Saints. ”
Ravage lifted his chin but said nothing.
Jaxon didn’t answer either. Letting the silence stretch further, he watched Ghost sweat it out under the mid-morning sun just a little more before speaking.
“You’re assuming you’ll live long enough to make a choice. Tell us what the hell the General’s planning. You have thirty seconds. Make it fast,” Jaxon demanded.
Ghost wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, glancing around the barn as if someone was going to jump out at any minute and put a bullet in him.
“Who knows, man? He’s losing his fucking mind.
Thorne told him that with yours and that Lele girl’s testimony, there’s no way he was walking away clean.
Now the General’s pushing hard for a plea deal or some other way out.
He’s talking crazy—saying if he goes down, he’s taking everybody with him, or some shit like that.
All I know is something big is coming, and soon.
I don’t know the details yet, but it’s bad. ”
Jaxon’s jaw tightened. “Where is he right now?”
“Still inside the compound mansion at Graceview,” Ghost answered without hesitation. “Hasn’t left the grounds in two days. I checked myself before I rode out here.”
Jaxon felt a flicker of relief. At least the bastard wasn’t near Tazzy. Not yet.
Ravage’s rough voice cut in. “You contact us the second anything changes with his location or his plans. You hear me? Anything. You do your ghosting shit with us, and I’ll hunt you down myself.
You get me?” When Ghost didn’t answer, Ravage fisted the man’s vest. “I asked you a damn question. Do you get me?”
Ghost furrowed his brow. “I get you! Fuck, you don’t need threats. I came to you, remember?”
“You came to us because you’re scared. It’s time to prove your worth,” Ravage snarled.
“Fair enough,” Ghost said. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground. Just… get me the fuck out when this is over.”
Ghost fired up his Harley and roared down the dirt road, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.
“I thought you were going to give the man a heart attack with that threat, Ravage. What was that ‘proving worth” crap about?” Law asked.
“It’s part of being a prospect for an MC.
Normally, he’d hang around and get to know the brothers, and they’d get to know him.
With Ghost, that isn’t necessary since there’s so few of us, and because we know everything about him.
You see, ‘proving his worth’, is a hell of a lot more important.
I was just making sure he understood. The Ruthless Saints isn’t the same as the Warriors.
He either proves he can be trusted to do what he says he’s going to do, or he finds another MC.
I didn’t scare him away. I reminded him of why he’s doing what he’s doing for us, and the potential reward.
” Ravage turned his attention to Jaxon. “I’m headed to Books-N-Brews to help Brick keep an eye on your girl. ”
Jaxon watched Ravage’s bike disappear, and the dust settle behind him before addressing Law. “I hope Ghost is right. Whatever the General’s doing has him pretty rattled. If what he said about the plea deal is true, the General must be getting desperate.”
Law spat on the ground. “And desperate men do stupid shit.”
Jaxon’s voice went cold. “The man’s like a cornered rattler. When the snake’s cornered, that’s when it’s the most dangerous and unpredictable. We’d better be ready for whatever he has in store. It could be anything.”
Law climbed back into his truck, Jaxon cranked his bike and they both headed toward the Sabre warehouse. The drive gave Jaxon time to think. If he knew the General, this plea deal wasn’t the only card he had to play.
Jaxon and Law pulled up to the warehouse about the same time.
Jaxon scanned the area and notice Law doing the same thing.
Law gave him the thumbs up, then pointed at a couple of the additional cameras that had been added.
Jaxon nodded, it was reassuring to know that more security was in place.
His Sabre brothers were inside, with men monitoring those camera feeds– including the one at Books-N-Brews.
They were all armed. Most of the girls were on full lockdown and hanging out either inside Deep Dive or upstairs in the Little Room.
Tazzy was working at Books-N-Brews, being guarded by Brick and now Ravage.
No one was taking any chances. He should have felt better, safer, more sure that Tazzy was safe. But he didn’t. Until the General was dead, there would be no rest.
Inside the main conference room, you could taste the energy as well as the tension. Hutch, Gage, Deke, Reid, Connor, basically everyone except Sawyer, were gathered around the big table.
Jaxon dropped into a chair, Law sat beside him. Looking around, he posed an open question to the group. “Talk to me. Where are we?”
As usual, Reid spoke first. “All the girls are accounted for. They’re restless, but they’re safe.
We’ve got rotating protection detail—we’re all taking shifts monitoring the cameras.
None of the Littles are going anywhere alone or without us knowing.
Gage, bring us up to speed on the General’s surveillance. ”
Taking his cue, Gage leaned forward. “We’ve increased monitoring on Thorne and the General.
According to Ezra, the tracking still shows the General inside the compound, but we all know that right now, that doesn’t mean shit.
Sawyer says he’s close to figuring out how the General is getting their surveillance. ”
A general nod of agreement went around the room. “Ezra’s keeping us in the loop on the DPD side,” Hutch said, “but he’s walking a fine line. He can’t openly share that information without risking his badge.” Turning to Jaxon and Law, he asked, “How did you guys make out at Graceview?”
Jaxon turned to Law. “You want to fill them in?”
“No problem,” Law said. “Ghost confirmed the General’s been unstable since Thorne told him his conviction looks likely. He’s pushing hard for a way out. We need to stay ready for anything.”
For a few minutes, his brothers continued to discuss Ghost, his reliability, and his purpose. Jaxon’s mind, on the other hand, kept drifting back to Tazzy.
She was down at Books and Brews, miles away from him.
That meant there was fuck-all he could do about it if something happened.
She was probably trying to act brave while she worried about him.
The thought of him causing her more stress was upsetting to say the least. He was there to make things better for her, not worse.
He looked around at the men who’d been more of a family to him than his blood family had ever been, they’d all been though this kind of hell because of the General.
They’d just moved on from discussing Ghost to the Little’s security when Deke said, “You still with us, brother?”
It wasn’t until Jaxon looked up that he realized Deke was talking to him.
“I’m good,” he answered. “Just ready to get to my Little girl. We have to stay vigilant. That means keeping the girls locked down tight. Unless something changes, we watch Thorne and the General every second. If the General moves, we know about it before he takes a single step.”
“If this Ghost character is right, I think it’s fair to say that none of our girls are safe. Tazzy is the one he’s fixated on right now because of me. That means she doesn’t go anywhere without my express permission. What about Suzi, or Lovie, or Lele?”
Law leaned back in his chair. “That should go for all of the Littles. We stay on high alert until that son of a bitch is behind bars. No exceptions.”
The room murmured agreement. The weight of responsibility sat heavy on Jaxon’s shoulders, but so did the solid presence of the men around him. United, they were protecting the entire family they had built.
Sawyer ran into the room holding his laptop. “Hell, yeah!”
Reid looked over at him. “I hope this is what I think it is.”
Sawyer cleared his throat and pointed to his laptop. “It is! I figured out how the General’s been beating the system.”
“Yes!” Jaxon said, pumping his fist.
“I just got the results from the GPS perimeter testing. Turns out the monitoring company didn’t change the name of the containment zone.
They redefined the entire parameter. They set Graceview Retreat Center as an area that covered the whole damn Ridge County.
As long as he stays inside county lines, the system says he’s still at the mansion. ”
Jaxon tapped the table with his pen. “That’s good work, Sawyer. Now what are we doing about it? Does Ezra know about this?”
Sawyer gave a grim smile. “Not yet, and I’m not in a hurry to tell him.
I didn’t exactly call the monitoring company up and talk to them.
You might say I snuck in through a back door.
The company still swears up and down that their system is working properly.
The perimeter testing and monitoring software is on one of their servers.
I hacked into that this morning. Since hacking into a law enforcement system is technically frowned upon by the cops, I’d rather keep the information to ourselves. ”
“No technically about it,” Reid said, grinning.
“Exactly,” Sawyer continued, “If we tell them, they’ll be forced to correct it, and I would have to end my connection. If we keep it to ourselves, we’ll know exactly where the General really is. The best part is that he won’t know we’re watching.”
Jaxon felt a knot loosen in his chest. “Good. Keep it running. I want updates every hour.” For the first time in weeks, he felt that something was going their way.
After the meeting broke up, Jaxon headed for the stairs and made his way to his bike. Sawyer’s news was great, but the General wasn’t the type to go quietly.
According to Ghost, the General was planning something. Jaxon could feel it coming like thunderclouds rolling down the mountain. He climbed back on his Harley and rode straight to Books-N-Brews.
Jaxon shoved open the door at the Books-N-Brews harder than he intended, slamming the door into the wall and causing Tazzy to jump.
Brick and Ravage had jumped to their feet, too. Jaxon didn’t have to ask why they both reached for something in their jackets. If he had to guess, he’d just come real close to getting shot. Ravage gave him the finger before they sat back down at their table.
When he entered Tazzy was serving her latest latte creation to a tourist. Lord Nightwing kept watch from his perch on the shelf just above her head. Once she realized who he was, she gave him an angry smile that said, “Don’t scare me like that, Daddy.”
For now, she was safe. For now, he could protect her. But it was the calm before the storm. He could feel it. The General was getting ready to make a move. It was time to move her back to Deep Dive with the other Littles.