Chapter 17 #2
Jinx is our sergeant-at-arms and the only non-blood relative in the room.
He is the first to speak up. He pushes off the wall.
“Then we gear up and roll out, like Onyx said. We hit them full force, with no warning.” His hand curls into a fist. “If we come to find out they grabbed your woman inside a damn office building, I say we make a hole right through the front door.”
Onyx nods once. “Hit them from both sides. We take the lobby, choke the interior halls, and breach and just keep turning every room upside down until we find her. We make it quick and clean.” He looks at me. “You take point.”
Mica taps his fingers on the table in a restless rhythm. “We can be on the road in five. Bring the van and two bikes per entrance. Rivera can get a piece of the action once we’re in place.”
I want to do exactly what they suggest. Christina is inside a multinational corporation that hires trained killers. I want her out now. And I’ll want to rip apart anyone who touched her.
Rock leans back in his chair with a hard look in his eyes. “We need to move hard and fast. That’s what we do best.” His voice is steely.
Before I can respond, Jasper lifts a hand. “You need to hear something before we mount up.”
The room quiets. Jasper’s eyes meet mine. He’s my older brother and has always had my back. I want to hear what he has to say.
“Striker sent me a file ten minutes ago. New intel from Christina’s flash drive.
” Jasper pauses long enough to catch his breath.
“REACH wasn’t just moving supplies for the military.
They were running side deals with insurgent groups.
They were moving weapons, giving up intel on our coordinates and even selling them supplies they were supposed to be moving for allied forces.
They were feeding hostile fighters intel while cash from Russian intermediaries funded the whole operation. ”
The stunned silence only lasts a few seconds before the cursing starts.
My father’s face darkens. Mica’s knuckles whiten on the table.
Onyx mutters something low and violent. Jinx looks like he needs to hit something to release his anger.
Jasper is the only one not losing it and he looks grim as hell.
I feel a slow, sickening churn in my stomach, thinking of the men we lost, the ambushes we ran into, and the snipers that picked off so many of my brothers in arms. Too many lives were lost and even civilians were caught in crossfire.
Whole operations went bad because some assholes leaked details they never should have had access to in the first place.
Hearing that REACH had a hand in that chaos changes everything.
“They cost us lives,” Onyx says softly, his voice bitter. “American lives. Afghan lives too.”
Mica’s jaw flexes. “And they buried it under a bunch of corporate bullshit.”
I grit out, “The American government was paying them to deliver supplies, not to fuckin’ betray us to the enemy.”
Jasper responds as he types out a message on his cell phone.
“This is a company with layers of protection and political insulation. If we hit them alone, they’ll spin it as bikers causin’ trouble at a civilian site.
But if law enforcement we can trust is standin’ next to us when we find the evidence, it becomes bigger than us.
This is how we burn down the money machine they created for themselves. ”
Striker steps into the room with a sealed bag in his hand.
He jerks his chin at Jasper. “I got your message, Prez.” He holds up a clear baggie with Christina’s flash drive inside.
“I wiped it clean of prints and DNA. There should be nothing that traces it back to us.” He sets it on the table in front of us.
“This is the key,” Jasper says. “And Christina risked her life to get it.”
I stare at the flash drive. Rage, duty, and fear collide inside me as I realize how critically important the work my woman was doing in Afghanistan turned out to be. As much as I hate to admit it, this is the kind of shit worth someone risking their life to bring to light.
Jasper looks around the table. “We bring a cop we trust with us. Morgan is hungry for a win. We go in with badges behind us. We keep control of ourselves and do what needs to be done under the shield of law. Hydro Relief will not walk away from this.”
Rock nods. “You bring her home. She belongs with us. And we dismantle every inch of this company’s operation.”
Jasper has a side conversation with my dad while the rest of us process what we just learned.
I can practically feel my brother’s fury.
This is the kind of betrayal that only soldiers understand, the kind that comes from learning a company paid to support the war effort was selling us out for cold hard cash.
They were taking money from us and our enemies.
We call companies like that war profiteers.
“I’m gonna make the call,” Jasper says decisively.
“If REACH is involved in keeping Christina against her will, that’s kidnapping.
We also got them for evidence tampering, making illegal international weapons deals during wartime and a dozen other charges.
We just need a badge in the room to make it stick. ”
Rock gestures with his chin. “Call him. Let’s see what he says.”
Jasper hits the number for Detective Morgan, a sharp, ambitious bastard who’s worked with us before. The phone barely rings before he picks up.
“Morgan here,” he says.
Jasper leans back in his chair, his voice calm. “You interested in a career-making case?”
Morgan huffs out a quick laugh that carries too much eagerness. “Always. What do you have?”
“Weapons trafficking. Financial crimes. A multinational contractor tied to deals with insurgents who killed American soldiers. And as of the last hour, a kidnapped civilian inside one of their affiliate sites.”
The line goes silent for a full beat. Then Morgan speaks again, his voice excited. “Repeat that.”
“You heard me.”
Morgan’s tone shifts. “Where is this?”
“Hydro Relief. Greer County.”
“That’s out of my district.”
Jasper gives him the truth without hesitation.
“We don’t care. We need someone with verified authority to stand on-site when we breach.
You bring your badge. Bring two uniforms if you can.
We’ll say it was a spur of the moment emergency and make sure you have everything you need to make the case stick.
You be sure to cover the chain of custody for any evidence you find and you’re golden. ”
Morgan doesn’t hesitate this time. “I’m in. Sending the call through dispatch now. Don’t go in until we’re there.”
“We’ll be ready and waiting,” Jasper says, “but don’t dawdle.” Then he ends the call without goodbye.
We have a good plan. It’s all going to come down to execution. Christina is inside that building right now. Maybe even at the mercy of men tied to the same chain of corruption that put a price on her head. Rivera is waiting for us to back him up, buying us time in the only way he can.
Rock looks at me. “You leadin’ the breach?”
I nod. “Christina is my old lady. There ain’t no version of this where anyone gets through those doors before me.”
Striker steps closer to the table, tapping on his screen as he enlarges the building schematics.
“I just scraped this from their internal network. There are two viable entry points. The main lobby and the east wing side access. There appears to be a restricted wing that sits on the west side. Most of the security cams are routed through a hub. I can’t hack it without tripping an alert.
That means angles could be blind.” He locks eyes with me. “Be prepared for anything.”
Onyx pulls the schematic up on his phone.
“We take the lobby with Morgan and his men. That puts us in prime position to cause a distraction if local law enforcement tries to take control of the scene and throw us out before we find her. Slate leads the side entry with us. If we don’t find her anywhere else, we converge at the restricted wing. ”
Jinx cracks his neck. “I’ll handle the interior doors.”
Mica hits the table with his palm eagerly. “I’ll take perimeter. I’ll make sure nobody gets out through the garage or the loading docks.”
Rock rises slowly to his feet. “I’m riding on this one, too.”
Jasper gives our dad a long look. He hasn’t ridden on a mission in months. He’s old-school and always ready to fight for his family. Christina’s family now. So, there’ll be no talking him out of it.
Jasper lifts his chin at me. “Gear up. Tell the prospects to roll out both vans. We leave in five.”
I push my chair back and head for the door. The shift inside me is complete now. I’m in battle mode and Christina needs me. And Hydro Relief is about to experience exactly what happens when the Sons of Rage protect what is theirs.
I cut through the hall to the locker room and focus on putting on my body armor under my clothes, strapping on my Glock and shoving some extra ammo in my pockets.
Jinx enters behind me and opens a metal case. He hands me one of the club’s secure radios, sets his to channel three, then clips it to his vest.
Onyx steps inside a second later. He runs a final check on his gear, then looks directly at me. “Morgan texted. He and two units are already en route. He’s gonna notify the locals at the last minute in order to make sure he has control of the scene well before they arrive.”
Mica appears in the doorway. “Striker is loading the van. He wants to run intel from the backseat instead of staying here.”
I grunt my approval. I want Striker close. He’s most likely to be able to hack their security when he’s on site and we might need that.
I head out into the garage to see the vans and bikes backed up to the exit. My father stands beside his bike with his helmet in hand. His posture is stiff, but there’s fire in his eyes. He lifts his chin when I approach. “You ready, son?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
That’s when my phone buzzes. I check the message and see it’s Christina. However, my initial happiness evaporates when I read it, and I let loose with a long string of curses. When did she send this? Rivera phoned us almost thirty minutes ago. I turn my phone around so my dad can see it.
Christina: Help. I’m at Hydro Relief in Greer County with Rivera. They’re coming for me.
My old man says grimly, “Send it to the group chat, so everyone is aware.”
I do as he says. “We need to get the fuck on the road. She needs me.”
My old man reaches out and grabs the front of my cut, giving it a little jerk. “When you get inside, keep your head on straight in there. That’s the best way to bring your old lady home.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I grumble. “I’m the thing danger should fuckin’ look out for, not the other way around.”
“Just keep your shit together in there.”
I try calling Christina, but the phone rings and goes straight to voicemail again. So I send a text back, hoping she receives it:
Me: Hold tight babe, we’re coming.
One by one the engines turn over. The sound vibrates throughout the huge triple bay garage.
The air shifts as we form two long rows.
The garage door lifts and the night swoops in chillin’ us.
We roll out in time to see the setting sun.
The pack falls into formation around me as we turn towards the highway.