5. Rook
ROOK
Ace and Camile have returned from the hospital with Mike, Zoo, and Tank, and some of us have reconvened in the office.
The space is wall-to-wall with bikers in leather cuts, shoulders jostling for space.
It’s only the trusted circle here, but now we have Jack’s old chapter, as well as the new one, so we’re struggling to fit.
Jack is still in surgery, and we will be called, Ace says, as soon as he’s out and in the recovery room.
We’ve received footage from the available road cameras—our contacts in the police came through for us—and it shows three big, black cars driving along the road about a mile from where we were ambushed.
The registration plates are clear, and one matches the one I saw, confirming it’s them, but when the police ran the plates, they were not registered.
So, we must assume they’re fake, which makes sense.
The cartel are hardly going to hire cars from a major rental firm and drive them around.
It means they must have some contacts here in the US, however limited.
The good news is that the same three cars, with the same registrations, were also spotted on the freeway, about ten minutes later, and the exit they eventually took leads to a very small community.
As well as the video footage, we’ve also got a couple of guys searching the cache of cell phones we’ve collected from everyone in the MC.
It’s a slow, painstaking job, going through them, checking for messages that seem suspicious, but it needs to be done.
Someone leaked our route, and we need to find out who.
I’ve brought the group up to speed, and as I point out the tiny town on the map, I look up at them and grin. “This place is all mom-and-pop stores, a couple of diners, a church, and a beauty parlor, so it seems an odd place for them to come off the freeway for, right?”
There’s a low rumble of agreement in the room.
“Except, right here,” I tap a spot about two miles out of town, “there’s a private airstrip.”
Ace sits forward. “Well, isn’t that interesting?”
“Very,” I agree. “I would bet good money this is where they are holding Ghost.”
“So, what are we waiting for?” Ace is almost bouncing on his toes.
“We need a plan,” I state. “I think we’re all in agreement that this has to be the cartel?” I glance around at nodding heads. “So, what exactly is it they want by taking Ghost?”
“Camile,” Ace suggests, shooting her an apologetic look.
She gives him a tiny, sad smile in return.
But I shake my head. “I don’t think she’s important enough to them to bring so many men here. No offense, Camile.”
“None taken,” she says.
I continue. “I think they’re here for Ledger. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Ace blows out a breath. “Yeah, that’s true.”
The other men in the room murmur in agreement.
“Of course, there’s one problem with that,” I say.
Ace gets it. “Ledger is dead.”
“Exactly. If they’re looking to do a swap, we’re gonna have a problem.”
“A big problem,” Phoenix adds.
“Which means we need to be proactive. We can’t sit around waiting. We have no idea how many men the cartel has here, or how armed they are. We can’t simply go rushing in, guns blazing. We could get Ghost killed.”
“I concur.” Phoenix nods soberly.
It’s so bizarre to be the one taking over right now. I’m a damned rookie, but these fuckers came after me and shot at Jack while I was standing over him protecting him with my own life. I think I’ve finally earned a say.
“No one wants these bastards more than me.” I swallow hard. “I was standing, shielding Jack when they were firing, and I was holding his wound when the paramedics arrived. I want them all dead, but if we don’t do this right, it only gets worse for us.”
“Are we safe here?” Saul asks. “I imagine they might be preparing another attack. What about the women and children?”
“We should get some men together and make sure the perimeter is fully guarded,” Ace says.
I nod because he’s not wrong.
Ace is leaning against a wall, his fingers laced with Camile’s, and every now and again, he gives her hand a squeeze.
She must be feeling so vulnerable knowing these people have potentially come for her.
I haven’t said this out loud, but they might not only want Ledger.
They might also want Camile along with him.
The thought terrifies me. My gaze meets hers, and I offer her a small smile. The one I get in return warms my soul.
God, I’d die to protect her. Does she know that? Surely, she does, after what happened when we were taken? I don’t want her to be scared, because before anyone gets to her, they have to come through me and Ace first.
Camile swallows and raises her hand.
“Yes?” I ask her, a small smile tweaking my lips.
We aren’t in class now; she doesn’t have to ask permission to speak.
“What if they want me, too? I lied to Ledger before about the location of my family’s safehouse. They must know I lied by now, so they’re still going to want that information.”
Shit, I was hoping she wouldn’t have thought about that or be dwelling on it.
“They’d have to come through me,” Ace growls, his words mirroring my thoughts moments earlier.
“No.” She shakes her head firmly. “If they want me, I’d rather go with them, willingly, than cost you any more lives, or pain, or trouble.”
“What the fuck?” Ace explodes, and for once I’m with him on this. “No way. Absolutely not. Over my dead body.”
“Mine, too,” I add.
“Hell, all of ours,” Saul says. He chuckles deeply. “If the way the prez looks at you is any indication of his feelings, girly, every single one of us will lose our balls if anything happens to you, so that’s not a suggestion we can go with.”
Phoenix folds his arms across his chest. “So, let’s get more men on the perimeter. Crack open the weapons store, and once this place is secured, we make a plan for how the hell we get Ghost back.”
“The main thing we need to somehow know is the number of men we’ll be facing, and that’s not going to be easy,” I point out.
“If they’re at that airstrip, they must have flown in, right?” Phoenix points out. “If we know what planes landed there in the last few days, it helps. Can’t carry hundreds of men on a small private jet.”
He’s got a good point. “Okay, so we need someone to get the information about the flights in and out ASAP.”
Normie could do that. He has an in with some judges, and some law enforcement, beyond the local police. I bet he can find someone who could access that information. For the right fee, of course.
There’s a soft knock at the door. “Yeah?” I shout.
Caroline, the barmaid, peeks around the door. “There’s a call come through to the bar.”
“We’re kinda busy here, sweetheart,” Big Mike says.
She grimaces. “It’s Ghost.”
The room goes deathly still. Holy shit.
Mike nods. “Okay, can you put him through to the office?”
“Sure can. Give me a moment.”
She vanishes and, a minute later, the phone in the office rings. Saul steps up to take it, and I move back. He is the acting prez, after all. He picks the call up and presses the speaker button.
“Yeah?”
“I need speak to Rook,” Ghost says.
I sag a little in relief at hearing his voice. Saul hands me the phone without another word.
“It’s me,” I tell him. The line is a little crackly, as if he’s talking on a cell without great reception.
“Rook, listen, I don’t have long to talk. I’m with Hector Sanchez. Ledger’s father. He wants to do a swap…”
Immediately, my brain starts buzzing. Of course, Ghost knows Ledger is dead, but he’s not letting the man’s father know that much, and we need to do the same.
Ghost is still talking... “Ledger for me.”
Of course, I didn’t expect anything less.
He pauses. “Oh, and Rook. You’re going to need to get Ledger woken up. Hector wants to speak to him before we swap. For proof of life.”
Shit, shit, shit.
Ghost hasn’t finished yet. “I know he’s had two doses of sedatives in the last twelve hours. He’ll need some time to come around but, if you can throw some water over him, try to wake him, it might help.”
“We will call back in exactly one hour. I’d like to speak with my son then.” The deep, accented voice is calm but carries an authority that tells me Hector is not a man used to the word no. “If I don’t speak to him then, I’ll take something from your friend here. Maybe a finger, maybe a toe.”
“Listen, I…” The line goes dead.
Fuck.
“It could be way worse,” Phoenix states calmly. “We have a damn good idea they’re at an airstrip that’s only a couple of hours from here. We have weapons and a lot of men.”
“Except, they are calling back in one hour, and we don’t have Leger, which means Ghost loses a finger or a toe!” Camile sounds panicked.
Phoenix shakes his head. “Ghost can deal with whatever they throw at him. He’s trained for this shit, and he’s been through worse, I imagine. So long as they don’t kill him, he’s going to be okay. We just need a reason for the delay. And we need to be sure they’re at that airstrip.”
“We still don’t know what kind of firepower they have, though,” Saul points out. “Or how many men.”
“Wait.” Ace pushes himself away from the wall and looks around the room. “We don’t have Ledger, right?”
“Of course not,” Saul says, impatience sharpening his tone.
“So, we haven’t given him any meds in any number of hours.”
“And?”
“Ghost said twelve hours. Why would he say that?” Ace raises his brows. “I think he’s telling us how many men there are. Twelve hours. Twelve men. The two doses part might even be the number of planes Hector has.”
Saul screws up his nose. “It’s a stretch.”
“No, it’s not. I think he’s right,” Phoenix says. “Saul, if I was in his place and I was trying to tell you how many men you were facing, I’d do something very similar.”
Saul nods and scratches his cheek. “Okay, so we plan for facing twenty at the worst, just in case there’s a few he hasn’t seen.”
“But what are we going to do about that phone call?” Phoenix asks. “We can’t let Hector talk to his son if we don’t have his son.”
A difficult silence falls around the room.
I make my way to Camile and Ace.
“We’ll get him back.” I hold her dark gaze as I make the promise.
It’s a solemn commitment I’m giving her, to bring Ghost home, and while I have breath in my body, I won’t let her down.