Prologue #2
Poison had not thought of Benjamin as potentially being useful in this, but Tabs was right that he was computer savvy.
She turned as Wendigo did, looking at the motel room entrance where Waya was leaning against the wall with his arms wrapped diagonally around Benjamin’s chest. While he didn’t look at Poison, he did look at Wendigo as he shook his head, agreeing with Tabs’ assessment that he has no idea how to search for someone on the computer like what the club currently needed.
It had been a long shot, but Poison still found she was disappointed by the answer. “That’s why Kitty is on the phone with the Mountain Mutineers,” Poison reminded them. “Phoenix is right. MV’s one of us. As soon as Kitty has information from Jack, we’re going on the hunt.”
“Um,” Gypsy raised her hand like she was in fucking high school. “Not to argue, because I agree with you, but just asking… What about the mayor here? MV sent us down here for a reason.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck about this town’s thieving mayor,” Poison answered with gritted teeth. “I’ll shoot him on our way out of town if needed. Our priority is MV. Is that understood?”
Everyone in the room nodded, including the Knightmares. Unfortunately, though, there was still nothing for any of them to do but sit and wait until Kitty came inside with news.
Poison hated fucking waiting.
* * *
It was another twenty minutes before Kitty came back inside the motel room.
Sissy was slowly starting to calm down, though she was still waiting on a final casualty report from Pennsylvania.
All her father was able to tell her that morning was that her immediate family was safe and well.
Tabs filled the time by getting back on her computer, though Poison had no idea what it was she was looking for.
Viper hadn’t spoken or moved much since Poison shot down her suggestion to go to Pennsylvania to help their brother club.
Gypsy, Phoenix, and Mercer left to go get dressed, and arrived back inside the motel room minutes before Kitty came in.
His expression was…ominous at best. Something was off about his demeanor, Poison realized. He was too hunched. Since the second they’d bumped into each other in a mansion they were both breaking into, Kitty had always stood tall and sure of himself.
But not now. And that… That scared Poison, and Poison didn’t scare easily.
Poison hardened herself for bad news as she stepped forward, but did not touch him. “Kitty Cat? What is it? What did you find out?”
Kitty took a deep breath and lifted his head.
“Jack was able to trace the call,” he told Poison, keeping his entire focus on her.
“He used a lot of technical terms I don’t understand, but basically said that she spoofs numbers and uses them through a VoIP…
I think.” His expression turned confused for a moment before he waved it off.
“Anyway,” he hurried to continue, “he was able to trace the text to Beaverton, Oregon.”
Finally an answer! Poison nodded once, “Good. Let’s go—”
But Kitty put his hands up to stop her. “Wait just a minute, baby. I need you to listen to me. The signal came from Oregon. That doesn’t mean she’s there. We’re on the other side of the country. Even if we drive straight, it will still take days.”
Poison fucking hated that he had a point. The club was at the very bottom of Mississippi, and Poison had no idea where Beaverton was in Oregon. It could easily take them two days of straight driving just to get there.
“Don’t you fucking tell me that you don’t think we should go,” Poison growled at him.
“I’m not,” Kitty told her evenly. His expression was open and honest. “But Jack says that just because the message was sent from there doesn’t mean she was ever there or is there anymore.
It’s a failsafe message, which means that she planted it from that area and it would send if she doesn’t input a password at whatever timeframe she designates.
It could be one hour or every day or once a week.
There’s no way to know. The only good news we have is that we know she was okay yesterday because we were talking to her. ”
None of that lessened Poison’s anger. If anything, it increased her impatience and need to hit something. “Spit it out. What are you saying? Are we going to Beaverton or not?”
“It’s the only lead we have,” Kitty shrugged, unhelpfully. “That’s up to you, but I don’t want to get your hopes up that we will find anything there. Jack emphasized that there’s no proof she’s there now.”
“Is Jack good at computers?” Tabs asked, bringing attention to the fact that the couple was not alone in the room. “Should we wait until Keys gets a chance to look at the message?”
“Keys would only tell us the same thing,” Kitty said without looking away from Poison. There was something sad in his expression that Poison didn’t like. “And to answer your question, Jack is very good with computers.”
“We go to Beaverton,” Poison declared, not willing to further sit around and wait. “Does he know where the message was specifically sent from?”
Kitty nodded once.
“Then we go,” she reiterated, her hands on her hips. “It’s our only clue, so we have to start somewhere. She told us not to look for her, but I sure as fuck am not going to do that. Is everyone with me?”
Everyone but Phoenix agreed. “Is it?” the enforcer asked.
Poison turned for the first time, looking away from Kitty. “Is it what?”
“Is it our only clue?” Phoenix asked again, but she wasn’t looking at Poison. Her sharp gaze was laser-focused on Kitty. “It’s not like you to act so reserved,” she continued, a note of accusation in her voice. “You came in here like you had bad news you don’t want to deliver. Spill.”
Kitty’s jaw tightened. “I was waiting to speak to Poison alone.”
But Phoenix and Wendigo were having none of that. “No,” they said together. The two women looked at each other and nodded once. Then Phoenix continued, “If it has to do with MV then it pertains to all of us.”
Poison was about to argue and kick the rest of them out without giving a damn about their opinions when Kitty straightened and rounded his shoulders.
“Fine.” He paused, not speaking again until Poison turned to face towards him again.
“I’ve kept something from you since the beginning.
Two things, actually. You know of one secret, and have never pressed me for it.
The fact that you love me that much, that you trust me that much, means everything to me, Ivy.
I have never lied to you, but I have withheld something from you.
In the beginning, it could be excused that it wasn’t my secret to tell.
Then, if I’m being honest, we got so busy, just hopping from place to place that I didn’t really even think about it.
“And then Christmas came again, and you very specifically told me that you didn’t want to go to Mount Grove with Sissy and Scissors because all of your family is buried six feet under.
The words were harsh, but also a wake-up call for me.
I’ve been…struggling, trying to find the words to talk to you about this.
I never thought I would be woken up to a message like this and now am staring down the barrel of a gun. ”
It felt like the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach had grown into an enormous pit of despair.
What the fuck? The only secret Poison knew Kitty kept from her was his name.
His legal name. She had been the one to name him Kitty.
Maybe it was a bit on the nose, with him being a cat burglar and all, but at the time she’d been doing her damnedest to piss him off.
But he had a second secret? He’d been keeping something else from her?
Kitty didn’t even blink as he stared into her eyes.
“Rose is alive, Ivy. She didn’t die of a heroin overdose years ago.
She turned state’s evidence and was placed in WITSEC.
The real WITSEC, not Jack’s version.” Kitty held his chin high as he continued, not even pausing for Poison to process the bombshell he just dropped on her.
“But her testimony was used, and a deal was cut. So she broke the rules and reached out to the one person she knew would avenge her: her big sister.”
The room was so silent that one could have heard a pin drop.
Poison wasn’t even sure she was breathing.
Stiff as a board, all she could do was stare at her Knightmare.
Her brain was like mush. What the fuck? Rose was alive?
Her baby sister was alive? The sister she’d watched be buried in the ground right next to their parents’ still-fresh graves?
And Kitty knew. He knew. The man who had shared her bed for the past twenty months knew? And he’d said nothing. Not a damned thing. He’d known the disguised, mechanical voice Poison spoke to every single day was actually her not-dead sister, and he chose to keep his fucking mouth shut about it?
“How long have you known?” It was a wonder her voice came out so even. Inside, she was a raging whirlwind of chaos and betrayal.
“I had my suspicions almost from the beginning. The way you two talked… But I didn’t know for certain until that night we met up with Sissy and Scissors for the first time.
” To his credit, Kitty didn’t back down.
He didn’t make excuses or try to rationalize his actions.
Poison wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse.
“So over a year,” Poison calculated. Technically it was a year and a half, but her brain was barely handling the knowledge of one year, let alone nearly two. “You’ve known my sister has been alive for over a year, and you’re only just telling me now?”
“Yes.”
Well, if there was one thing Kitty never had lacked, it was balls.