Chapter 13
Vector
Meeting my brothers outside, I grimace at the fact that their eyes are all on me. I’m just worried that one of these times, my leg will give out on me. Considering we’re riding out to clean up the scum in our backyard, that would hardly inspire confidence.
Pulling out of the gate, we naturally drift into our formation and stick to the back roads until Oak signals for us to pull over. We’ll be going in with the last of the day’s light, but we have to strike fast and hard. I signal for three of my brothers to hold the line out here at the road; Roman looks shocked when he realizes he won’t be by my side. I’m keeping him back here because I trust him not to let anyone get away.
Switching our pieces to where we can easily reach them, the rest of us gun it up the road. I’m lining up a shot at the sole man standing guard, when Happy cuts around me and takes him out. Fucking imbecile nearly caught the lead meant for the Wretched Rebel.
The layout of the house and old barn are exactly what Crasher had found online, so we all aim for the spots that were assigned to us.
At least, I do until I realize that there’s barely anyone here. From the sound of things, there are only one or two people shooting back at us; not that they’ve hit anyone yet. Pulling up to the porch, I’m off my bike the moment I get the kickstand down, seconds after that I’m using my shoulder to destroy the front door and hoping my brothers catch up to the slight variation to our plan.
“I would have opened the door, asshole,” Any says. I quickly run my eyes up and down her body, making sure she isn’t armed and while I don’t like that she has a lighter in her hand from a freshly lit smoke, I switch my focus to the rooms on either side of the hall we’re standing in.
“Prez?” Tyrant calls from the porch. “Don’t shoot my ass.”
“Come in, break right,” I tell him before looking back to Any. “How many are on the property?”
“Five, I think. She did it on purpose, didn’t she?”
I frown, trying to make sense of her words as I continue back, clearing the first floor.
“There are two in the barn, and the other three are wishing they were dead upstairs,” she calls out as I’m nearly through the dining room before ending up in the kitchen. “The others left, figuring you were on to them if you knew enough to have Rouge drop off poisoned food.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Tyrant asks her for clarification.
“I heated up that ready-made chili she got at the grocery store,” Any says, stopping when I hold up a hand. Three more of our brothers have entered so I signal to them to drag the other guys down to the yard, before I signal for her to continue. “I don’t eat chili and a couple of those fat fucks had so much, well they started getting sick before Tyre and some of the others even got to eat.”
“Where is Tyre?” I ask, frustrated when she shrugs.
“He’s out looking for Able, they were supposed to bring back a huge payday. No one’s seen him and Zero since they left for the casino.”
She stops talking and starts snickering when she hears gagging from above. “Oh, yeah, they’re just now getting a whiff of what I’ve been dealing with. Vomit and shit everywhere up there.”
I smell the men before I see them and immediately understand what Any meant. There’s no doubt in my mind that death is looking pretty good to the two guys who can barely make it down the stairs.
“Where’s the third one?” Tyrant gives voice to the question I was wondering about.
“Dead.” Comes Happy’s response as he keeps a few steps between him and the second man down the stairs.
“You next,” the Rebel spits out, pulling a gun from his waistband.
Happy immediately kicks his leg out, missing the man’s arm but catching him in the back. I flinch when the gun discharges, but the guy drops it as he’s thrown on top of the Rebel in front of him and they land in a heap at the foot of the stairs.
Feeling my chest, I look between my brothers, making sure no one got hit and that’s when I hear a soft thud. There’s a trail of blood from where Any slid down the wall at her back to where she’s now collapsed on the floor.
I move, standing over her and knowing that while she’s trying to talk, she doesn’t have long to live. She coughs up a spray of blood, confirming that her lung was punctured, then gives me her biggest smile.
“Boom, moth…” Are the last two sounds that she utters.
“What’s a ‘boom moth’?” Happy asks, popping a piece of gum into his mouth.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like this.” Looking at the two Rebels in front of me, I make a quick decision. “Get them to the barn, anyone who gives up any information can live. Tyrant, you and Oak handle that – quickly, I’m going to meet up with Roman and the others to start back.”
He motions for the others to head to the barn while he hangs back, standing by as I move to get on my bike.
“Rouge poisoned them, didn’t she?” he asks, and I nod, thinking that’s the most likely scenario.
“Get Swann on the phone, tell him to call in everyone who isn’t here right now. I want the compound locked down. Tell him that Crasher should …”
“Crasher went to pick Bridget up from the airport,” he reminds me and I swear.
“Make sure there aren’t any animals in that relic,” I order him, pointing at what passes as a barn. “Then you end those assholes and torch it. Efficiently, Tyrant, not extravagantly. I want every one of you to make it home tonight.”
“I hear ya,” he says, clapping me on the back as my hog roars to life and I head to the long driveway.
Signaling Roman and the others, they mount up and follow me, immediately understanding there’s no time for questions.
Adrenaline is surging through my bloodstream like it used to during my deployment, but all I care about now is making sure that Sloane is safe. I jerk the handles when the Bluetooth device in my helmet beeps and I answer it without thinking.
“Grace is safe.” Ford’s voice is calm and once I register his words, I let out a deep breath. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Doing a community service,” I tell him, figuring he’s smart enough to catch my meaning. “Still more to handle, but isn’t there always?”
“Indeed,” he replies. “You offered help, and I won’t forget it. Grace needed to understand that she’s mine now and what that means.”
“Sloane’s been climbing the walls for news,” I say, treading the waters of this conversation more carefully than I am the traffic in front of me. “She’ll be relieved. I hate to do this, but …”
“Community service.” Ford lets out a chuckle. “We’ll catch you two around.”
“Yep.” With that, I disconnect the call just in time for the turnoff for my home.
No matter how long I’ve lived there, even when I was in the house, I always thought of the property as the clubhouse . Tonight, when Sloane said she’d be there when I got back, something clicked in the back of my mind. Now it’s our home. And I suddenly feel like I’m going to lose it.
I slow down long enough for the gate to be opened and race forward like the Devil’s on my ass. Swann appears in the clubhouse doorway and motions with his hand to let me know all is well.
“Crasher’s back and we’ve done a full sweep,” he says the moment he’s able to speak over our bikes. “Bridget is up at her house with Evon. Piercer and the prospects are watching over them. Sloane insisted on staying in your room.”
“You gonna tell me what the fuck is happening?” Roman asks once Swann stops his report.
“The men who were at the house had been poisoned, at least one dead,” I inform them, keeping my head on a swivel as I try to figure out what I’m missing. “Tyrant’s pretty certain that was Rouge’s doing. Any caught a bullet and before she died, the last two words sounded like ‘boom’ and ‘moth’.”
“Tyrant had tied up the loose ends, he should be here any minute,” Swann says, exchanging a look with Roman.
“Ford called during the ride. Grace is safe.” With those words, I step forward with the intention of throwing back a shot of tequila before checking in on Sloane. Instead, my leg gives way and I start to fall, until Roman grabs me, jerking me upright.
“Can you walk?” he barks out the words and surprising me enough that I shake my head, giving him the honest answer.
“What …” Swann starts to question what’s happening but Roman snaps his fingers, silencing him as he continues to balance my weight.
“The others are nearly here, cover us and don’t say a fucking word,” he orders Swann, pointing over my shoulder to indicate the men near the gate.
“Get Bridget to my office,” I gasp out the words to Swann, as Roman holds me to his side nearly dragging me through the door and to my office. “How long have you known?”
“I went to see you when you first got transferred back to the States,” he admits, hesitating as he decides where to put me; then carefully lowering me to the couch when I point at it. “I wasn’t on the list, but I sweet-talked a nurse, and she snuck me in. You’d just had a graft. I left. I didn’t even think you’d be able to walk again.”
“Can you get Sloane for me? She knows what to do.” Sending Roman on an errand right now is easier than making eye contact with him. My throat is tight with emotion, so I use the breathing exercises that some fucking therapist taught me during my recovery.
Moments later, my office is overstuffed with people. Bridget is in a chair near my head and she sits stoically by my side as my Ol’ Lady massages the cream into my damaged tissue, and I finally tell my sister what happened all of those years ago.
“I overheard Dad one night,” Bridget says, squeezing my hand tighter than she realizes. “He told Mom that you were crippled and to get me to stop asking about you. That you weren’t coming home, and even if you did …”
Her voice breaks, so I continue. “That I’d never be able to hold onto the Grizzlies.”
“Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn?” she asks me, drawing a laugh from Sloane.
“Pot, meet Kettle,” Roman mutters from where he’s leaning against a wall.
“This stays in this room,” I repeat for the third time since she entered. I don’t know why, since Bridget would never betray me.
“Okay,” Sloane says, readjusting the towel she had placed over my ass. “Let that sit a moment, then do your stretches. What?”
I look up to see the look Bridget is giving my Ol’ Lady just before she leans forward, hugging her for all she’s worth.
“Thank you for taking care of him.”
I want to say that I don’t need anyone taking care of me. But that isn’t exactly true.
Later that night, when Sloane is curled up to my side, I finally remember to tell her that Grace is safe, seconds before I fall asleep.