Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Icer
After breakfast, we were rushed into church while Zoey promised she’d probe Letti, find out how and where she was taken so we can take some precautionary measures and figure out if it’s safe or not to send her home.
My vote is no.
I don’t want her anywhere near anything she was around when she was taken since they know the ins and outs of her old stomping grounds. The Onyx pussies are going to be more spiteful than they were before and they’ll try to recoup those we took from them.
I’m sitting at the table, trying not to be distracted by my wandering thoughts when Rip bangs the gavel on the plank, launching our session into action.
“The Dragons have declared war and I’ve accepted,” Rip starts, addressing the room immediately after banging his gavel and calling church into session.
“You guys know usually I bring this to the table for a vote and put out feelers to the other presidents of the Kings. However, they didn’t give me a choice in the matter. ”
From the talk around the clubhouse, Jeremiah and Patrick had the kahunas to pick up the phone and initiate threats toward Rip and the club in general.
There’s also a rumor going around that a package was delivered, yet nobody knows what the contents were, but whatever was inside, had Riptide stomping around and cursing up a blue streak.
I would’ve accepted too, plus given them a few choice words and threats of my own to top off the conversation.
But again, I don’t have the patience or the wherewithal to sit back with a glass of brandy while they spit bile from their mouths. I would’ve lost my ever-loving shit and gone off on them. That’s why I’m the muscle, not the brains of this operation.
“How’s that?” Indiana asks him, leaning forward in his chair, leveling Rip with a scalding look. Indiana’s been on edge since we found out Zoey and Elodie had been taken, and he hasn’t settled even after rescuing and bringing them back home.
“They took Sphinx’s sister and have used her to keep him in line,” he informs us through gritted teeth. “I don’t know how they figured out he was a King, but they have and they sent me back a piece of him.”
“They sent you back a piece,” I snarl. “What ‘piece’ did they send you, pres?” I knew sending one of our own undercover was a bad idea, but I didn’t voice that loudly enough and I’m pissed at myself for it. One of our own has been permanently maimed and it has my fists clenching on my lap.
Rip looks me dead in the eye before admitting, “His eye,” Riptide says, his skin glowing a translucent shade of nothing.
“And a picture of him holding a news article with the date on it as proof of life, zeroing in on his socket that had blood dripping down his face. We accept the war or we continue getting him back one chunk at a time.”
“What else do they want?” Indiana asks, his jaw locking and murder in his eyes.
“Elodie,” Rip reluctantly answers.
The entire room blows up and I toss my chair across the room where it splinters into fragmented pieces. “They aren’t getting my princess!” I roar. “They’re out of their fucking minds if they think that’s gonna happen. We need to save our brother without giving them one fucking thing.”
“If it’s war they want, it’s war they’ll get because they aren’t going to lay a single finger on my daughter!” Indiana thunders.
“Agreed,” Riptide says, nodding his head. “But now we need to put the word out that we’re officially at war with the Dragons to the rest of the Kings and start doing some recon.”
“Who’s going?” Indiana inquires.
“Since it’s your daughter, Indiana, and your niece, Icer, I thought I’d let you two pick who is going to man this operation for you while you two stay behind here at the clubhouse keeping her safe,” Rip briefs us.
“I won’t be standing on the sidelines, but you two are the ones who are knowledgeable on who can get the job done quicker and stealthier.
” It’s our place in the club to train the men, and we’re the ones who’re intimately aware of what they can do and what they can’t.
Indiana and I glance at each other, having a private conversation and nod our heads in agreement. Indiana voices our choices, “Shade, Ozzie, Rebel, and Renegade.”
Rip nods his head and glances around, making eye contact with the men.
When they all accept the decision by bobbing their heads, he turns back to me and says, “Sounds good to me because that’s who I’d put in those positions too.
Time is crucial here, guys. We need to know where they go, who they see, and where they take a shit.
I want to know every goddamn gruesome detail. ”
“Everyone else is dismissed,” Slayer says, his chin pointing toward the door.
When the rest of our brothers file out, he runs his hands through his hair.
“I don’t want to lose another brother, fuck knows we know what we sign up for when we put on our cut, but Sphinx was this close to being patched.
” He holds his fingers up where there’s hardly a space between them.
“We need to find out where they’re holed up.
I don’t give the first fuck if you take Patrick’s mother or Jerome’s father into custody if it brings them out from their hidey hole. ”
“I agree with our VP,” I grind out. “And since we found out that Zoey’s parents are in on this bullshit, we could bring them in too and interrogate them.”
“Was going to suggest the same thing,” Indiana conveys. “They know more about the happenings with the Dragons than what they let on.”
“And that church they’re involved with, there’s something fishy going on there too,” Renegade reminds us.
“We can’t take the entire congregation,” Slayer cackles. “Although, it’s not a bad idea. If we get the leaders, Patrick’s mother, and Jerome’s father, that’ll leave them without any connections.”
“They’re probably the ones financing them being underground,” Indiana adds.
“Then we have our game plan and a place to start. Does anyone have anything else they want to bring up before I wrap up?” Rip asks.
“You reaching out to any other chapters for help?” Indiana questions. “We might need it since this situation is far more convoluted than we initially thought, Rip.”
“I’m gonna inform Rio we may end up needing some backup from him since he’s already aware of our situation. I’m due to head back that way with Gage’s ashes, so I may wait and tell him about how severe it is in person.”
“Do we need to go with you for the funeral?” Indiana broaches, wanting to go just like the rest of us who grew up with Gage.
“I’ll get back with you on that,” he states. “They’re dealing with their own shit and I don’t want to overwhelm them. It may be a small, private ceremony since they’re going to give him a sendoff later. That’s something that I expect us all to attend.”
“We’ll be there,” Indiana tells him as the rest of us brothers nod our heads.
“That all?” Rip asks, scanning us to see if anybody has anything else we need to discuss. “Church dismissed.” That’s all I need to hear before I gather my belongings from the prospect manning the door and head out and search for my three girls.
Zoey was swept up by Indiana before I had a chance to ask her what she was able to discover so I swoop up Elodie and take her with me while I hunt down Letti.
We all need a day to decompress after everything we’ve been through so I’m taking Elodie to the zoo, which I bought out for the day earlier when the idea first struck me.
My hope is that Letti will tag along so I can get to know her better and spend some time with her. My soul is all but demanding it.
“What are we doing, Uncle Icer?” Elodie asks as she snuggles into me.
“I thought we’d grab Miss Letti and hit the zoo. Just you, me, and her. How does that sound, princess?”
“Can we see the penguins?” she inquires, lifting her head up and fluttering her lashes at me. That act gets me every damn time. How can you say no to a face like that? Simple answer, you can’t. “And polar bears, and giraffes, and flamingos?”
“Yes, as long as they’re all in their habitats,” I answer.
“What’s that?” she asks as we come across Letti. I shush her with a finger across her lips as I approach Letti who’s watching the two of us with a keen eye. When Elodie spots her, she shouts around my finger, “Miss Letti! We’re going to the zoo and you’re coming with us.”
“We are?” Letti asks, her eyes widening as she bounces on the balls of her feet. Seems Elodie isn’t the only one excited about this outing. “Is that safe?”
“I bought the day. Nobody will be there outside of the gift shop employees, zoologists, and us,” I declare.
Since I’m going to be on recon duty, I won’t have time to spare for my girls so I’m more determined than ever for her to join us.
“It’s safe, Letti. I would never let anything happen to either you or my princess. ”
“I believe you,” she states. “I don’t have any money, Icer. Everything I have is back at my apartment. Can we swing by my place to snatch my purse as well as the rest of my belongings that were left behind when I was taken?”
“Not today,” I tell her, my tone apologetic. “We haven’t had the chance to clear it and make sure there’s no threats there waiting for your return. Once we’ve done that, I’ll pack you up and relocate you to one of our safe houses.”
Pouting, she says, “But I need clothes, Viking.”
“He’s not Viking,” Elodie giggles as she corrects Letti. “He’s my Uncle Icer. You got his name wrong, Miss Letti.”
“I did?” Letti asks, slapping her hand over her chest, looking appalled. “I’ll have to fix that, won’t I?”
“Yeth,” Elodie agrees, her lisp that she’s worked so hard to straighten out rears its ugly head. Unlike Zoey, I don’t have the heart to correct her. “You coming with us, Miss Letti? Please say yes.”
“Yes,” Letti says. “I’m coming.”