Chapter 17
Jinx
We’re on the road, but it’s no leisurely ride, more like hunting at sixty miles an hour under the cover of darkness.
We’re one long column, riding in pairs down county roads.
It’s nearly four in the morning, and no other vehicles are in sight.
It’s just us, the early morning mist hanging low to the ground and a crescent moon fading into morning.
Sunrise will be in a little over an hour.
The only thing I care about is getting to my old lady as soon as fuckin’ possible. We got out the door pretty damn quick after the Hyenas left and are makin’ good time.
Striker normally stays back at the clubhouse during missions.
He’s more valuable in his rig where he can support us using all his electronic equipment.
He keeps an eye on everything and feeds us information through our earpieces in real time.
His voice crackles through mine with an update.
“The blue dot’s been static at the transport yard for nine minutes.
I’ve got a drone in the air. There aren’t many brothers at the transport yard, at least not many that I see from the air.
The building is pretty fuckin’ big though, so there’s no way to tell for sure.
They’ve got brothers patrolling the grounds though. ”
The Hyenas think everything is golden because we don’t know their location. We need to make use of our element of surprise because once they know we’re there, they’ll pull out all the stops to keep what they took.
“Talk us through the layout,” I say into my mic.
“I pulled the satellite map and the county plat while you were gearing up.” His voice turns pensive and I can see him looking over one of the maps as he talks.
“I’m only seeing one large two-story building.
Your old lady is likely on the second floor, since there’s no basement or outbuildings.
The drone is picking up two guards on the gate, and who knows how many more are inside.
There’s a service road behind the property, behind a tree line.
There don’t seem to be any eyes on the back of the building. ”
Slate states over the com, “Nobody watches the back of a place that they think is hidden from the world.”
Jasper enters the conversation. I can see him lifting his hand to press against his earpiece to hear better over the roar of his engine. We all do that.
“Then the back’s where we go in,” he says.
We increase our speed for the last few miles, riding hard and fast, with no headlamps.
Then, a half mile out, Jasper’s hand comes up and we cut the noise entirely, rolling the final stretch on the service road quiet as a held breath.
It’s the kind of approach that only works once on people who believe they can’t be found. I mean to make it count.
We gather in the tree line behind the building, rolling in one at a time to keep from drawing attention to ourselves in case anyone’s watching.
We move forward and gaze through the chain-link, getting our first look at their setup.
The yard is the messiest shit I’ve ever seen in my life.
It looks neat at first, until you realize there’s no rhyme or reason to the vehicle placements.
They have a couple of good floodlights, but they are pointed towards the stolen car stock, rather than at the building.
They have an overhead light on the front porch and another at the back dock.
After checking the perimeter, I’m pleased to see the fuckers haven’t alarmed or electrified their fence, so I cut it one link at a time as my club brothers stand by waiting patiently.
They have the hearts of protectors and are fucking eager to get inside and help me look for my old lady.
Once I’ve cut a brother-sized hole, we peel the loose fencing back and slip through one-by-one.
Inside the lot, it’s easy to get lost in the maze of stolen cars.
We use them for cover, moving steadily towards the building.
The rest fan out the way we always do. It’s a maneuver that’s worked well for us in the past and every brother knows it by heart.
We take out the four brothers patrolling the grounds first and then jump the two at the gate just as they are noticing us on the property.
We zip tie them and leave them where they dropped.
None of them are seriously injured because finding Nora is a bigger priority than punishing their crew.
We can kick their asses all over California anytime, and we probably will at some point.
At the building’s back door, I put my hand flat on the steel and feel the hum of a generator somewhere within. One power source. Nora told me that, weeks ago, about their other site. Their security runs off a generator, I find it.
“Striker. Their power’s running off a gennie, like the cannery we hit was.”
“I’m on it, Jinx. If it’s on a wireless network, I’ll find it.” There’s a long pause before he speaks again. “I got it. Say when and I’ll cut the power.”
“Not yet,” Jasper says. “When we’re inside.”
Slate picks the lock and within moments the door gives under his gentle push. And just like that, we’re in.
The ground floor of the building is pretty much what I thought it would be, which is one big storage room.
This looks like it may have been a mixed-use business at one time that they’ve repurposed as a warehouse.
It’s full of boxes, bike parts and more fuckin’ drones. These guys are drone-making fools.
I stop at a long workbench, pick through some parts and have a bit of an epiphany. I gesture for Jasper to come and show him how there are boxes and instructions written in Spanish. “They’re building them for a buyer,” I whisper.
Slate speaks up. “It looks like they have a side gig, selling drones to their cartel buddies.”
Onyx runs his hand over one of the drones. “This changes everything. Running a chop shop is one thing,” he says quietly. “But making and selling drones will make their club real money.”
We all realize this is why Coal wanted to solidify that cartel alliance so badly.
His club stands to make bank on selling tech, enough to make selling his only daughter worth the sacrifice.
The realization of what it took for a man to sell his own kid makes me sick to my stomach.
I hope and pray that I’m never that blinded by greed.
We move towards the stairs. The area smells of piss, and I wonder if the disgusting fuckers use the stairwell as a fucking toilet.
Then I see a door to what I assume is the restroom, with a sliver of light at the bottom.
I gesture for the others to stay still and wait for the person bungling around inside to come out.
About three minutes later, a Hyena steps out, looking refreshed and relaxed. For one second, he freezes when he sees us. Then he opens his big, fat mouth and raises the alarm before any of us can shut him up.
I yell into my mic, “Striker, kill the gennie!” I bark, and the world drops into black.
Every light in the building dies at once, including the floodlights outside. We’re all thrown into absolute darkness. That half second of blindness belongs to me alone, because I knew it was coming and they didn’t.
By my reasoning, this will minimize our risk.
The Hyenas can’t shoot what they can’t see and they’re not gonna start shooting off their weapons without risking killing each other.
Besides, we already know where everything in this room is.
I start moving immediately, taking down the yelling Hyena with a forearm across the throat.
I step over his gasping body to look for my old lady.
Nothing and nobody is going to keep me from finding my old lady tonight.
Hyenas seem to materialize out of nowhere.
Brothers and enemies brawl among the boxes, clumsily knocking parts all over the place.
One of the Hyenas becomes airborne and almost smashes into me before hitting the wall with a sickening thud.
Merc passes me, slams one hand into my back, and says, “Sorry about that, brother.”
Onyx and Jasper come up on either side of me, and we make our way upstairs. All I can do is keep pressing forward until I find her. I have a gut feeling that she’s being kept under lock and key.
We run into a Hyena patrolling the hall upstairs.
I can see him at the end of the hallway, a shadowy figure silhouetted by moonlight shining through a large window.
When his hand comes up, I see the glint of metal and realize it’s a gun.
Instead of drawing down on him, I pull out a knife and throw it straight and true.
It doesn’t end up sticking in his chest, like in the movies, but it leaves him cursing and distracted long enough for me to run down the hallway at full speed and tackle him to the ground.
Onyx drops down onto one knee, and we zip tie his hands behind his back.
Up close, with the moonlight shining through the window, I can see my knife sticking out of his thigh.
I wrap my hand around the handle and jerk it free from his leg.
When he groans, I whisper, “Sorry, this is my favorite blade.” Then I plant my hand over his face and shove him away as I get to my knees.
There are three doors on the second floor. Two are standing open, empty and dark. The third is closed. Jasper tries the handle and finds it locked. Onyx and I hustle over to the locked door.
I call out, “Nora, are you in there?”
There’s a muffled sound and she screams, “Run, Jinx. Run!”
Of course I don’t run. Instead, I hit the door with my shoulder.
It’s made of oak and it takes all three of us to kick the door in.
When the door flies open, I see two men standing in the room.
Nora’s sitting on the edge of a sofa. Anger rolls through me when I realize they took my property cut from her.