Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
SNIPER
Time to see what Vlad is hiding.
“I got a couple of pages decoded,” Silver announces triumphantly once we’re all congregated in Church. The room instantly buzzes with excitement, and I take in Silver’s gleeful grin. His eyes are red-rimmed, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing him down. I wonder just how much, if any, sleep he got last night. Clearly not much though if he managed to decode all that.
“And what did you find?” Bullet asks, leaning forward.
Silver lays out some paper on the table and replies, “It’s a mixture of locations written out and some with just coordinates. But the interesting thing is that most of them are close to each other. I also looked at the first few pages of the second journal and they’re an exact match. So it looks like your guy made a duplicate journal.”
“That would make sense if he was selling information,” Viper agrees thoughtfully. “I mean, we know the information was sold off, and Cryos said that there is an unknown player who’s biding their time.”
He has a point, but something about it isn’t sitting right with me. But I can’t put my finger on why. Then again, I’m also suspicious by nature, so it’s more likely that I’m looking too far into it. And if Silver figured this all out, then that means we don’t have to involve Thea any further. A win-win.
“Cryos, map them out,” Bullet orders. Cryos takes the papers from Silver and gets to work inputting them into the computer. “While he’s doing that, we need to make a plan on what we do next. But first I want to know about everything found at the cabin last night,” he finishes, looking at Bowie, Frost and Titan expectantly.
“They definitely knew you were there,” Bowie replies. “We managed to get over there before they showed, but barely. We got into position just as two black SUVs arrived, three men in each, and armed to the teeth. We took the device that Dagger used and jammed the cameras, but they definitely were looking for us. Three men went inside to inspect everything, while the other three scouted.”
“And how did you avoid detection?” Arson asks curiously.
Dozer lets out a sound of disgust. “They made me climb a fucking tree,” he growls, glaring at the three of them.
“A tree,” Arson replies incredulously. “What the fuck?”
“Told them I’m not a fucking monkey, but they didn’t give me much a choice,” he huffs.
Bowie and Frost smirk at him, while Titan doesn’t look overly impressed. “If you’d have stayed on the ground, you’d have been spotted immediately,” Titan reminds him. “The idiots never once looked in the trees, and it gave us the perfect vantage point to watch them.”
Dozer mutters something under his breath, but I’m too far away to make out what it is. “Next time you want to play monkey, you can take one of the young ones,” Dozer huffs. “My fucking knees are going to be shot after that.”
“What I want to know is what you saw and found,” Bullet interjects impatiently.
“Right,” Frost says, sobering. “The men inside the cabin went through the place, checking every cupboard, box, and piece of furniture. I was able to look in with my binoculars and I saw that one of them disappeared into the small pantry for a couple of minutes. Far too long considering the size of the thing.”
“Hidden spot in there for sure,” Shadow agrees. “Neither of us saw anything when we were in there,” he adds with a nod my way. “But we were also going a bit quicker than normal.”
Frost nods. “And when they closed the door, they put a lock on it, which I found odd. They should know that doing that would instantly have us looking there.”
“Because they didn’t put it there by chance,” I reply grimly. “Did either of you look at the other men when he was in there?”
“I didn’t,” Frost answers, looking at Bowie and Titan.
“I did, but they went out of view when they went to the corner of the room along the exterior wall,” Bowie answers. “You think they’re trying to distract us?”
“I think they knew you were out there and that’s exactly what they were counting on. And I bet anything that if we went back now and went into that pantry it would be a trap.”
“Textbook bait and switch,” Silver agrees. “And he also made sure that you wouldn’t see what he actually was checking.”
“You think they have something under the house?” Medic asks.
“That or they have a hidey-hole where they’re hiding something of value that they don’t want to risk us finding.” Silver shrugs. “I mean, it’s hard to say with these guys, but why hide something when you have all those drugs and guns already sitting out there?”
“You’re thinking money?” Stone asks, leaning forward bracing both arms on the table.
“That, or…” Silver trails off, letting that hang.
It clicks almost immediately. “You think they’re using that place to hide some of their sex slaves.”
He taps the side of his nose and points at me. “Makes more sense, don’t you think?”
My gut sours at the thought that we walked out of there last night, possibly completely unaware they might have been calling out to us for help. I glance at Shadow and see the tight expression on his face as he must realize the same thing.
“The place doesn’t have a basement that we saw,” Shadow finally replies. “If they do have one, it’s a dirt one that you can’t access from outside.”
“Or you have to access it from a hidden entrance,” Torque suggests. “I mean, if we or the cops ever stumbled onto the place, they wouldn’t want to risk them losing their chance at money or sales or whoever it is they have in there.”
“You think there’s a tunnel or something leading out of that place into the woods?” King asks him, arching a brow at that. “Seems elaborate.”
“Elaborate, but how else would you explain that we haven’t been able to find them since this whole thing started,” Torque argues. “Think about it. They might be using houses or whatever Bull did, but that doesn’t mean they are leaving it to chance. Dmitri was green at running something like this, but he set this in motion, and he did it well enough that it was only by chance we found out about their operation. And even now, we still can’t find his hideout, or the places around our city they’re using as stash houses. No one sees anything, not even the homeless guys on the street that we use for information.”
“Did Bull have things like that set up?” Arson asks Bullet.
“Not that I knew about, but then again, there wasn’t much that those of us against him knew. He was well aware we weren’t happy with his leadership, and he only kept a select few close to him. So it’s possible that they planned this to ensure that if things went south with the club, they had another income stream and the ability to hide out,” he finally answers after some thought.
“Bull always was a sneaky son of a bitch,” Crook grumbles. “Even back then, he was tight lipped about shit. I remember the time we called the club in to help us with a transport and he refused to share his route, even when we wanted to meet up to give them a final guide in. He insisted the club would do it the way they had mapped out. Took him an extra hour to get to our club, but everything was there as it was supposed to be. Still figured he was being a snake though.”
“I don’t think I was around then,” Bullet remarks.
“Nah, that would have probably been a year or two before you Prospected.”
Bullet nods. “Bull used to head up your way every few months, usually under the guise of meeting with your club, but we all knew he was making some stops along the way. It was unsaid, but we were sure he had a woman up that way he liked to see, but can’t tell you for sure. Only those closest to him were allowed to go with him.”
“All of this to say it make sense that there are places around this city that Bull set up with his trusted group back then that we don’t know about and is probably exactly what Vlad is using to get his shit out on the streets and stay off our radar,” I point out, steering the conversation back.
“Someone needs to get back out to that cabin and search around to see if anything can be found,” Viper agrees. “And check the woods to see if we can find an entrance somewhere, because I think you’re right, there is probably one somewhere out there, and in that thick of a forest, we could walk right by it without realizing it’s there.”
“Cryos, how are those locations coming?” Bullet asks.
“I’ll be done in about three minutes or so,” he answers absently as he continues to type.
“We need to get us one of these guys,” Angel remarks with a grin. “Damn handy to have. Cryos, you sure you don’t want to come and help us out? We probably pay better.”
“Not unless I want the CIA breathing down my neck,” Cryos answers simply, still typing away. “But thanks.”
“Well, if you know someone who would be interested, let us know,” Arson tells him. “Would help us out on planning our own runs and stashes.”
No one says anything to that as we patiently wait for Cryos to finish. When he does, he throws an image of a map with dots up on the screen. “All the locations decoded are there,” he says with a pleased smile. “And from what I can tell, they’re all in wooded areas where there is low traffic, or in businesses that no one would think would be a front for anything illegal.”
“I see the garage they’ve been using,” Torque says. “Along with the pawn shop and the restaurant we knew they were using.”
“And the cabin just down the road,” I agree, staring at it. I narrow my eyes, taking them all in. I count about twenty, and that’s only from a couple of pages of the journal. “Silver, how many more pages do you think there are to be decoded?” I ask, turning my head to look at him.
“At last count, ten more, but most of them only have a few listed on each, so in total, probably about another twenty, maybe twenty-five.”
“So we’re looking at forty-five, maybe fifty depending on how he coded things,” I summarize, looking back at the map. “And that’s just here in our city. We know they’re operating outside of ours as well, but I doubt Dagger would have those if Bull didn’t include them in the journal.”
“Before we had these two neighboring clubs, our club was at war with the one that was there for years but eventually left town,” Bullet explains. “So it would explain why there is nothing outside our territory’s borders. We step one toe in that direction, we’d be in a gun fight instantly. The President at the time, Fido I think he went by, he was a mean son of a bitch that shot first and asked questions later. He was old school, and he didn’t take well to disrespect, which Bull liked to do as often as possible. I need to think of the name, because it’s been well over forty years now. The club dissolved after Bull killed Fido in a shootout at their gate when Fido went after one of our shipments at the time.”
“Wasn’t it something like the Wolfhounds or something?” Arson muses.
“Yeah, sounds about right. They were as bad as Bull in the shit they used to do, but they were also the kind that had been through both World Wars and some of them fuckers were messed the hell up,” Bullet replies grimly. “But after they disbanded, the Satan’s Swords took over and we reached a truce so we left them be. Though I think that had more to do with Bull knowing the President at the time as an old buddy from school or something. Otherwise, I have a feeling Bull would have tried to take over the other territory too.”
“Are we sure Bull didn’t rely on them if he was such good buddies?” I reason, my mind swirling with possibilities. “I mean, sure, we don’t have locations in the journal, but it could be that he had another one for that side.”
“What is with you assholes and journals?” Whip huffs. “First rule is you never write this shit down.”
“Well, we should be grateful he did or we’d be going into all of this blind,” I point out calmly.
“And if Dagger hid one back-up journal, then there is a very good chance he hid more,” Shadow agrees.
“Could be worth another look in some of the other buildings,” Bowie agrees.
“We’re already spreading ourselves thin with trying to find their hideouts and keeping this place protected,” Bullet says with a shake of his head. “What we need to do is focus on these, and then we worry about another journal or other locations outside of our territory later. Vlad is probably already gearing up to strike again, and I want to try and cut it off at the pass before he or that explosion happy helper of his try to take us out.”
There’s a murmur of agreement around the table, but the Misfits, though they mostly look uncaring. Most of them are probably wishing they didn’t have to deal with this at all, but they’re here, so too fucking bad for them.
“I say we pick a couple to go and check,” Cobra suggests, leaning forward as he stares up at the screen. “No point in trying to get to all of them, because that would be next to impossible. But we need to see if the locations are right, and how they’re operating so we can make a plan of attack. We want to put a large hole in their operation, but we don’t have the manpower or ability to blow it completely up. Yet.”
“He’s right,” Frost agrees with a nod Cobra’s way. “First place we need to look is that cabin and try to catch them before they move whatever is in there. They were there until the early morning, and I set up a camera of our own, but nothing has shown anyone coming in or out since. Now’s the time to strike.”
“And we should have some check out a few places around town that are off the beaten path,” Shadow agrees. “Even checking on the other side of town so we’re not too close together for them to ambush us or get to one spot quickly to confront us if they realize we’re there.”
“Agreed,” Bullet says with a nod. “We also need to make sure we have enough men here for rounds and to keep the women and kids safe.”
“Thea is going to be their guard since she’s here,” I tell him.
There’s another murmur of conversation at that statement, but I ignore it as Bullet looks at me, arching a brow at me in surprise. “She agreed?” he asks dubiously.
I nod. “Her job is a security guard, and since she can’t go into the office, this will keep her busy and we’ll pay her the same as if she was working. Not to mention, she can blend in with the women easily if shit goes south. She’s trained to be silent and deadly, and she’ll make sure they’re safe.”
“So, what, you don’t trust us to keep them safe?” Whiskey demands, clearly offended considering the sneer on his face.
I meet his gaze head-on. “I trust all my brothers, including you, to keep them safe. But with Thea, the rest of you have more freedom to help us find these locations and take Vlad down as quickly as possible. Simple as that.”
“What I want to know is why she knows they need to be guarded,” Dozer says coldly. “I thought we agreed we wouldn’t bring her into this.”
“Then I suggest you tell Crook to keep his mouth closed, because he’s the one who blurted out the Russians are involved,” I reply tightly.
Dozer’s face tightens as he looks over at Crook. Crook’s face is pinched, unhappy, but he doesn’t deny it. “Fuck,” Dozer hisses.
“So either way, Thea now knows about the Russians and there is no point in hiding anything anymore. However, she has also agreed to stay out of it other than taking care of the women and kids. And if anyone bothers her about it, you’ll be dealing with me,” I add with a steely look around the room.
They must realize how serious I am because I only get nods, though I don’t miss the disapproving looks from a few of the Misfits before they hide them.
“Since that’s settled, let’s get to work on dividing and conquering,” Bullet orders briskly, clearly ready to move on from that topic of discussion. “Who isn’t on rotations over the next six hours.” I, Shadow, Viper, Timber, Hulk, Arson, Whip, Silver, and Sting indicate we’re free. “Good. Then we need to start dividing up and checking out some of these areas. Sniper, I’m going with you to the cabin. See what we can find, and if we have to take the place apart, then so be it. The rest of you, pick one of the other places and check it out. We go to scout only. I want to know what we’re dealing with. Shadow, you go with them and keep us updated.” Shadow nods.
“I say we look at the farthest one on the other side of the territory. Keeps things harder for them to be in two places at once if they spot us,” Arson suggests.
Bullet nods. “Alright. Anything goes south, call and we’ll be there.” With that, Church is over and we head out of the room. Everyone heads to wherever they need to be, and Bullet heads up to his office to grab his gun. I look around the room and see none of the women or kids in sight. A fact Shadow has also locked on to if the frown on his face is anything to go by.
He lets out an aggravated sigh and looks at me. “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to be finding them in the middle of something I don’t want them to be?”
I smirk at him. “Brother, that jail is looking better and better with each passing day.”
“My luck they’d just take it over and start their own gang,” he grumbles as he heads for the kitchen. I follow him, wanting to check on Thea before we leave, and wherever the women are, she’s definitely with them. “And they would probably elect Rose as their lead and Macy as their VP. I really hope one of the babies is going to be a boy, because I’m fucked if I have a house full of women.”
I laugh at that. “We’d all be fucked if that was the case, man. But we’d be the most feared MC around and not have to do a damn thing. We just sic the women on them and sit back and laugh.”
We head out the back door of the kitchen, which is of course empty, and make our way toward the playground area we set up for the kids. Before we round the corner of the building, I hear feminine laughter, which confirms our suspicions.
We round the corner and both of us stop dead in our tracks, staring at the sight in front of us.
Loki and Ebony are both sitting at full attention as Syn directs Macy and Archer on how to direct the dogs on command. “We want them in a heel position first,” Syn tells them. “And that command is Fuss ! Go ahead.”
Macy’s voice rings out loud and clear as she yells, “ Fuss! ” Ebony immediately turns her butt to sit at her side, looking up at her with excited eyes.
Archer is a bit more quiet, but his voice is firm as he gives the command to Loki. Loki immediately complies, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he looks up at Archer. “Good boy,” Archer praises with a smile down at the dog.
“When do we send them after Auntie Sage?” Macy demands impatiently, and that’s when I notice the very unhappy looking Sage at the other end of the field.
I bite back a laugh at the sight, and Shadow lets out a groan. “Fuck, I don’t need her knowing how to sic those dogs on us if we piss her off when she’s older,” he mutters.
“Only Auntie Syn gets to do that, honey,” Quinn reminds Macy firmly. “We’re just helping her work their brains a little, right?”
Macy scowls at that, but nods. Rose turns her face away as she tries to hide her laughter. Syn just smiles and says, “That’s exactly right. We want them to know to guard you if you’re ever alone, but we don’t want to attack people. That’s not responsible, is it?”
“No,” Macy pouts. “But it would make the annoying boys at school leave me alone,” she reasons. She gives a sassy flip of her hair before she adds, “It’s really hard being so popular.” More snickers fill the air, and I grin as Shadow leans against the side of the building, watching and looking like he’s not sure if he wants to leave or stay and watch the show.
I glance over at Thea, who is standing with the women, grinning, and seemingly at ease, but I can all but see her senses on high alert, and while she’s not looking our way, I’d bet my next paycheck she’s clocked us.
When we woke up this morning, she joined me in the shower, and I’m feeling far more at ease this morning than I did yesterday. We ate breakfast together in the kitchen, and she didn’t so much as blink when Rose came in and grinned at her knowingly. Though I have a feeling Thea and Rose are going to be the best of friends before long.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but maybe some of Thea’s common sense will rub off on this group.
I’m pulled out of my thoughts though when Syn instructs both kids to start running up on the play structure, leading the dogs along with them. Archer goes first, but Macy isn’t far behind, and both dogs are barking excitedly as they follow them along the bridge, then up some steps, until finally they get to the slides. I’m sure neither dog is going to go down them, but they follow the kids easily, and go right back into their heel positions.
Syn runs them through a few more rounds, having them go different ways on the playsets, and then weaving their ways through the swings. By the time they come back, both kids are laughing and out of breath, and both dogs are barely panting. Macy giggles when Ebony licks her cheek, wrapping her arms around the dog. “I want a puppy,” Macy announces. “Mama, can I have a puppy? Please?”
“Macy, puppies are a lot of responsibility,” Quinn says gently. “And with two babies at one time, we’re going to be really busy.”
Macy scowls at that, clearly unhappy with that explanation. “But a dog could help,” she argues. “We just have to train him to get bottles and diapers and stuff. I can teach them!”
“Sounds to me like you’re going to be hearing the argument for a dog for a while, brother,” I tease Shadow.
Shadow sighs. “Yeah, she’s been hinting a lot lately. But Quinn is right, we don’t have the time for a dog right now. Or if we do, it’ll be with me all the time because Quinn sure as hell isn’t going to want to take care of a dog, and three kids.”
“And you’re telling me that if she didn’t put on the water works, you wouldn’t cave?” I scoff. “Face it, man, you’re putty for that little girl. She pushes long and hard enough, you’ll have two babies strapped to you, and a dog trailing behind.”
Shadow doesn’t deny it, which is answer enough. Instead, we head their way, and everyone turns to smile at us. Well, all but Macy, who is still pouting and unhappy that she’s not getting her way. Quinn looks harassed, but she smiles when Shadow moves to wrap his arms around her and whispers something in her ear.
“Ladies,” I say in way of greeting as I make my way to stand with Thea.
“Hello, handsome.” Rose grins. “Come to join in the fun?”
“More like coming to see what havoc you’re plotting,” I drawl.
She rolls her eyes. “Party pooper. Thea, are you sure you want to spend any more time with this old dud? I mean, he clearly can’t keep up with the rest of us.”
Thea laughs and grins. “Oh, I think he can keep up where it counts,” she replies with a wink up at me. I smirk down at her, before lowering my mouth to hers and nipping at her lip before I kiss her quickly. She doesn’t pull away or act upset that I have, so I take that as a good sign.
Rose is beaming at us as she says, “Honey, my man is into his sixties and still puts me to shame.”
“Uncle Sniper,” Macy says loudly, bringing me abruptly to the present. I look down at her serious face and can already tell this is going to be an interesting conversation.
“Hey, sugar,” I say with a smile. “What’s the matter?”
“Is Thea my new auntie now?” she asks curiously, looking at Thea briefly before looking back at me. “You know, since you kissed her and all. Why are all the adults kissing each other? It’s gross.”
I hear Thea chuckle at that and I have to bite back a laugh of my own. Shadow grumbles, and the other women giggle, even Quinn. I school my features to match her seriousness and reply, “You’ll understand when you’re older. And Thea can be your new auntie if you and her like. But that’s something you need to talk to her.”
“Why do adults always say that?” Macy demands, putting her hands on her hips, clearly displeased with my answer. Then she throws up her hands and walks away, clearly done.
“She’s upset that we’re not going home,” Quinn explains quietly as Shadow follows his little girl. “She doesn’t understand why we have to stay here, so we’re trying to distract her, but she’s out of sorts today and easily irritable.”
I nod in understanding. “Don’t worry about it. It’s an adjustment and she’s only six. Once she realizes it’s not so bad being here, I’m sure she’ll snap out of it.” Then I smile teasingly. “Or she figures out she has a whole new group to con out of their money.”
Quinn groans. “Don’t tell her that. I’m already trying to teach her that she shouldn’t be doing that, but you lot just encourage her.”
“Uncle’s privilege,” I shrug. “We’ll do the same with your new two, and Syn and Stone’s little one. Just think, you’ll never have to worry about giving them an allowance with the amount of money they’ll collect from us.”
Quinn chuckles. “Yeah, that’s true. I better go and check on her, otherwise she’s going to have Shadow wrapped around her little finger and I’ll have a puppy before the day is out.” She heads off and I turn back to Thea and Rose, both of whom are smiling.
“Bullet, Shadow and I have to head out and check on a few things,” I tell them both. “So keep out of trouble. At least until we get back.”
“Now, what could we do?” Rose asks innocently.
“Far more than I want to think about, woman,” Bullet’s voice says darkly as he comes to stand with us. Then he turns a droll look on Thea. “And don’t think I don’t know you’re already recruiting this one to help you.”
Thea doesn’t even bother hide her grin. “I mean, you have me around here, and I’m relatively new in town, so I need some friends. You don’t want me to not have any friends, do you?”
Bullet mumbles something I don’t quite catch, but by the laugh that chokes out of Rose, she definitely heard. Instead of answering, Bullet looks at me, “Let’s ride.”
I nod. “Stay out of trouble, baby girl,” I tell Thea, leaning down to kiss her again, lingering just a little longer this time.
“What’s the fun in that?” she murmurs when she pulls away. “Try not to break a hip, though, huh? I have uses for it later.” Then she laughs when I slap her ass in retaliation, and I pull away.
Shadow makes his way over, looking defeated, and I glance over and see that Macy is still pouting and looking upset, even as Quinn leads her over to where Syn is set up with the dogs to chase after Sage in the bite suit.
We head out to our bikes, and Shadow sighs. “Fatherhood is hard, brother. I want to give in just so she’ll smile, but Quinn all but gave me the look of death over her head when I almost did.”
“Man, kids are always going to be hard, but she’ll thank you for it when she’s older,” I assure him as I straddle my bike.
“Take it from a man who raised three boys that about had us pulling our hair out,” Bullet muses from his seat on his own bike. “If you give in to every little thing, you’re going to pay for it when they’re older and acting spoiled rotten. She’ll get over it once something comes along to distract her. And then you won’t have to worry about your woman being pissed at you. I went behind Rose’s back when the kids were little and got a dog, and even though he turned out to be the best dog we ever had, for a few months, it was just about the end of it all because Rose was so pissed at me.”
Shadow nods. “I know you’re right. Let’s get out of here so I can clear my head. Then I’ll try and come back and make sure to give Quinn a break. Because I’m sure by then Macy will have pushed her to her limits.”
We head down the drive and out the gate. Shadow heads out with Arson and the others, and Bullet and I head the opposite way. It’s time to get back to work and see just what Vlad and his men are hiding down the road.