36. Steel
36
Steel
The clubhouse is buzzing. My men tear apart the bunkhouse searching our prospects’ things for any clues that will help us find Tempe and Austin.
“No bugs,” Ghost confirms. “And from what I can tell, Sonny is clean.”
“Reyes?”
“Burner cell inside his mattress, but the contacts have been wiped. I’ll dig into it now to see if I can get anything off it.”
I nod, and Ghost heads toward a room in the back of the clubhouse where he hides away to take care of business.
Soul walks over, hanging up the phone as he stops in front of me.
“I don’t like that look.”
“You’re going to like what I have to say even less.” Soul drags his hand down his face. “The Iron Sinners hit two of our businesses at the same time as they snatched Tempe and Austin. They’re trying to split our resources.”
“Which ones?”
“Kings Auto and Sapphire Rise. They tossed both and stripped anything they could from the offices. No real damage, so it could just be a distraction, but they were definitely looking for something. I’ve got a few men checking it out now.”
“There’s nothing in either of the offices for them to find.” I scratch my jaw, relieved Legacy was paranoid and suggested we keep all records secure at the clubhouse for the time being. “As far as the damage is concerned, Chaos will have to deal with it when he gets out. It’s not a priority tonight. Who did you send?”
“Mayhem and Boone.”
“Tell ’em to just keep it under control. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
Soul nods, shooting off a text. “Any word on your old lady?”
My old lady .
My chest seizes at the reminder that I just got her, and I’m already failing her. I knew the risk of bringing her into this, and still, I did it anyway. It should be a lesson, but even after I find them, I’m not letting them go.
I shake my head. “No, but Ghost is trying to scrape data off a burner phone he found in Reyes’s room.”
“I still can’t fucking believe it.” Soul’s jaw clenches. “I had a bad feeling about him, and I should have listened to my gut. ”
“Same. But he came back clean.” I shake my head. “We still need to figure out how that happened.”
Soul nods in agreement.
“Prez.” Havoc waves me over to the pool table, where he has a map of Vegas stretched across one side of it. A pile of guns is stacked on the other.
He’s slipping into battle mode, and I’m glad because we’ve been toeing this line with the Iron Sinners for too long. They took my family—started war.
No prisoners.
No mercy.
I don’t care if Rick Zane is the one funding the Iron Sinners operation, or if they have access to all the money, resources, and dirty cops in Vegas. I’m going to rip their club apart, starting with the man who took Tempe and Austin.
Havoc points to a spot on the map just past the city line. “Ghost was able to trace a call made on the burner phone to a landline here.”
“That’s a long shot.” Soul shakes his head. “One phone call.”
“It’s better than nothing.” I pull out my gun. “Get everyone loaded up in the next ten minutes. I want a bullet in Dimitri’s head before the sun rises. And the second my family is back, we’re going to send Titan a message. Judgment day is coming.”
I look around the table, and my men nod their heads in agreement. We’ve been putting off war with the Iron Sinners for too long because it’s expensive, messy, and clubs waging war brings nothing but attention from law enforcement.
But Titan made this personal when he put a hit on my woman.
My kid.
He’s not getting away with it.
Nine minutes and seventeen seconds is all it takes to get everyone loaded up. We’re lucky it’s the middle of the night, or our caravan would draw a lot of attention. But so long as we keep outside the city limits, we can handle any cops we run into this far outside of Vegas.
The house Ghost traced the call to is located halfway between the Twisted Kings compound and the Iron Sinners clubhouses. Close enough that if we don’t move quickly, the Iron Sinners will easily be able to call for reinforcements.
At least it’s in the middle of nowhere. Nothing gets police on speed dial like the entire club rolling into the suburbs fully loaded.
Patch is driving the van I’m riding in, but he’ll stay behind when we get to the house. He’s only riding along to triage anyone who goes down when this inevitably turns into a shoot-out. If one of my men gets hurt, we can’t exactly bring them to a hospital. Bullet wounds raise questions, and I don’t have any answers the cops will like .
When we hit the final turn toward the Iron Sinners’ safe house, it’s a straight shot to our target. Patch cuts the headlights so no one will see us coming. It’s eerily quiet inside the van, and I sense my brothers mentally preparing for battle.
Ghost’s phone chimes, cutting through the silence.
“Any news?”
He pulls out his phone. “Something from an unknown number.”
“Don’t like the sound of that.”
“Shit.” Ghost’s eyes widen with whatever is on his screen, and when Legacy leans in to see what he’s looking at, his eyes immediately dart up to me.
“What is it?” I reach forward, and Ghost passes me his phone.
It takes me a moment to process what I’m looking at. It’s a video feed, but it’s grainy and dark. Looking closer, I spot Tempe curled up in the corner of some sort of basement, and Dimitri is pacing back and forth talking to her.
“How the fuck are we seeing this?”
“They sent me a link to the feed.” Ghost rests his elbows on his knees, leaning forward.
“Is there any sound?”
Ghost shakes his head.
“Can you track where this is coming from?”
“If I were back at the clubhouse, maybe.”
“Fuck.” We could be headed in the wrong direction. “How far out are we?”
Havoc checks his watch. “Five minutes max. ”
We’re too close to turn around just to hack a feed. With any luck, it’s coming from the house we’re heading for. If not, I’ll save that regret for later.
Turning my attention back to the screen, I watch Tempe.
It’s hard to see her face clearly with the quality of the video, but her shoulders are rolled back, and her chin is tipped up. Her mouth is moving with whatever she’s saying, and I can tell she’s spitting out all that fire I love about her.
She’s a fighter. She’ll do whatever it takes to survive, and all I can do is hope she hangs on until I can get there.
I search the room for Austin, but he isn’t there, and it has me on edge. I swore I’d protect them, and I failed. Now, they could be on opposite sides of Vegas—maybe even different states.
I can’t let myself think that.
“Do we know if this is live footage?”
Ghost shakes his head. “No, but if I had to guess, it is.”
I hope he’s right because it means that, as of this moment, Tempe is still alive.
“Three minutes,” Havoc announces, and my men start readying their weapons.
Instead of pulling out my gun, I focus on the screen.
Dimitri is pacing still, droning on about something that has Tempe’s shoulders sinking. Whatever he just said rattled her, and it’s one more reason I’m going to make him suffer .
He pauses, and what he says has Tempe’s back stiffening. She tilts her chin up and says something to Dimitri that has him crossing the room.
One step.
Two.
Three.
And when he stops in front of her and winds his hand back, my heart cracks.
He hits her.
He fucking hits her .
In a split second, Dimitri moves to the top of my list.
He hit what’s mine .
Hurt what’s mine.
Mine to love.
Mine to protect.
Soul flinches beside me, so I know he saw it too, even if he’s smart enough not to say shit.
“One minute,” Havoc announces.
I pass Ghost the phone and pull out my gun. While I assumed being this close would set me on edge, Dimitri just gave me my reason to stay calm. To stay focused in a way I’ve only been once before—on that empty road in Maryland, the day before I put a bullet between the eyes of the man who killed my dad.
Closing my eyes, I listen to the hum of the road. The tires rumble against the pavement. The van licks up the miles like I do on my bike when I’m driving that stretch between the city and the clubhouse.
I set my mind on that length of concrete in the empty desert at night. Moon in the sky and sagebrush in the air. Vegas heat seeping through like hell knows this city is built on sin.
We’ll all burn here.
The van rolls to a stop, but I keep my mind on that road as I open my eyes and say a final prayer. I’m not religious, but for the two of them, I’ll try anything.
“No lights outside, but someone’s definitely in there.” Havoc assesses the scene.
I look through the front windshield to see what he’s talking about. The house is dark except for a light coming through the blinds in one of the rooms. If they’re here, they’re cocky enough to think we’ll never find them because they don’t have so much as a lookout.
Ghost pops the back door of the van open, and we climb out one by one.
“Legacy and Ghost, you’re with me. We’re going through the front.” I tip my chin to the right. “Havoc and Soul go around the back. Everyone else needs to split up. I want every inch of the perimeter covered.”
The rest of our crew is pulling to a stop behind us. All vehicles have their lights off, so they don’t see or hear us coming.
One by one, the vans empty, and everyone grabs their guns.
“You sure you don’t want me knocking on the front door first?” Havoc asks.
Usually he would, given it’s his job to protect the club during operations like this.
But when I shake my head, he doesn’t argue as I make my way past him. He doesn’t try to protect me for the sake of the title on my patch. My brothers know there’s no one stepping into that house before me if Tempe and Austin might be inside it.
Legacy and Ghost follow me to the front with a solid show of force. My men are quiet as we slowly circle.
Given how dark it is, there’s a good chance Tempe and Austin aren’t here, but I can’t let myself think about that. Doubt does nothing but get people hurt in these kinds of situations.
We quietly make our way to the front door, and I stand on one side, with Legacy on the other. There’s movement in the house, but without a clear view, I can’t tell how many people are inside.
Legacy pulls out a flash grenade and holds it ready.
The second I nod, Ghost kicks the door in, and Legacy tosses it.
A blinding flash of light accompanies the loud bang from inside the house, followed by a chorus of men shouting. We flood from both sides before they have a chance to figure out what’s going on.
For Tempe.
For Austin.
Bullets rain in the name of my family, and I feel it in my bones that they’re here.
I’m coming .