Chapter 19 #3
Perfect coordination.
There was no room for missteps or miscalculations.
I watched as the magnitude of what we were undertaking sank in. Their expressions shifting through a million things.
Dread and determination.
Ferocity and fear.
Always, always landing on the oath that we had taken.
“We have to be precise. We can’t afford any mistakes,” I gritted.
Even if we only made one of them, we’d all be dead.
“And do we trust the intel Cash is gathering?” There was a grumble of suspicion from Styx, a guy in his early fifties who’d followed me over from my days in the Iron Owls MC in LA.
Days when I’d given myself over to greed and gluttony.
To sin and a reign of terror.
When that crew had splintered, I’d formed Crimson Crows. Along with a handful of others—Trevan, who I’d known from childhood, and Phoenix, who’d been an Owl—Styx had followed.
His question wasn’t because he doubted Cash.
Cash and the rest of the Sovereign Sanctum crew were loyal. Steadfast to the extreme.
Our brothers in arms.
This was all about the weaselly little fuck who was so duplicitous he might as well have had traitor stamped on his forehead.
“He was solid when he came forward to give info on Elena, and we have to trust he’s going to be solid now.”
I basically had to force the words out since they weighed heavier than lies.
At least three of my men scoffed.
Yeah, there was no love lost there.
“And if he isn’t?” Phoenix demanded.
“You know Cash is covering all the bases. If he flips, we’re gonna know. And his sister is here. That has to count for something.”
My throat narrowed when I said it. Clotting off in foreboding and more of that possession that would only serve to make me weak.
No doubt, this bullshit I was feeling was one of those mistakes we couldn’t afford to make. One that would trip me up and send me failing.
“And you think he really gives a fuck about her? You think she’s anything more than bait or a decoy?” he pressed.
Rage clouded my eyes, a violent storm that blackened the edges of my sight.
“He knows what will happen then.” The words were so hard they nearly cracked my teeth.
The air was charged as Trevan rocked back in his chair. Usually, he was my voice of reason. The guy who told me things were going to turn out just fine. Chill and smooth as fuck.
Of course, it had to go and be now when he got critical. “Yet you packed her up and moved her to your house this afternoon? Means you think something else is up.”
A heavy sigh pilfered from my nostrils. Should have known this would be coming. Their questions hanging stiff and suffocating in the air.
I hadn’t debriefed them on what went down this afternoon, but it was time I did.
“There was a guy in town, in the parking lot of the drugstore I took Brinley to.”
On my left, Phoenix stirred, violence skimming his tattooed flesh. Darkness radiating from his demented being.
Always fucking ready to draw blood.
Agitation rolled through our Madman.
More so than normal. Brinley’s presence here on the compound had seemed to stir him into upheaval.
“And?” Trevan urged in a low tone.
“He didn’t make a move, but I knew it in the way he was looking at me.”
Normal men didn’t stare me down. Instinct coerced them into dropping their eyes and hustling their families away.
Not this guy.
“Motherfucker was there to deliver some kind of message.”
“You think there’s a chance they have a clue what’s going down?” Colby whispered it like he was worried if he spoke too loudly, these bastards would be alerted.
“No one knows.” It whipped from my tongue.
Crimson Crows’s secrets were guarded as closely as Area 51’s.
And we didn’t leave anyone breathing to divulge it.
“But we also know that Kent Ellison isn’t going to just look the other way after what went down. He wants me under his thumb. Running his contraband. He thinks if he exerts enough pressure, I’ll bend.”
Cash and his crew breaking into his compound to save Elena, slaying one of his guards while doing it, had been a huge fuck you to his face. He was likely torn between wanting me dead and using my skills. We had the reputation of being the best.
I just wasn’t sure on which side he was going to land.
“So you think someone is watching, and your gut reaction is to take her to your house?” There was a prodding to Trevan’s words. An undercut of the I told you so rolling from his smug-ass demeanor.
Except there would have been no warning loud enough to prepare me for whatever the fuck I was feeling. The greed and volatility. The pull of something I didn’t understand.
“I’m not taking any chances. If something happened to her, this whole thing falls apart.”
And this mission was personal.
Vengeance.
Vindication.
The whole problem was that wildfire had to go and dump gasoline on the simmering mayhem.
“And you think this scumbag is going to give us everything we need to get this job done?” Cynicism rolled out of Styx.
I gripped onto the edge of the table. My sister’s face flashed through the back of my mind. Her body bruised and broken. Used as a tool to control me and my crew.
“I have to trust that he will. We have no other choice.”
I looked around the table. My glare was so pointed it probably drew blood.
“We know the devastation they breed. Know the sickness they pour out on this world. It’s our duty to stop them.”
A rustle of agreement rolled through, the pack of vicious bikers roiling with loathing and disdain.
My teeth clenched and I fisted my hands on top of the table.
“Born in chaos. Forged by iron. Sworn to vengeance.” I uttered the words with all the significance they held.
Crimson Crows’s pact.
Everyone banged a fist on the table as they repeated the oath they had made. “Born in chaos. Forged by iron. Sworn to vengeance.”
And none of us would stop until we saw it through.