15. Camile
CAMILE
Jack’s office is a hive of activity. Rook has a map out on a desk and has drawn a route.
“This is where the fucker I want to payback lives,” he says. “It’s not that far from here. I’ve been planning on dealing with him one way or another after he betrayed me to Ledger, and this is the perfect chance to remove that piece of shit from the earth.”
Rook is angry, and no wonder. I still think about what happened in that outbuilding, and without Jarrod betraying him, Rook would never have been there.
The thought causes mixed feelings. Though what we went through together was horrific, the idea of having been there alone, with those men, is so, so much worse.
Despite this, Rook still has every right to get his revenge on that bastard.
He’d gone to him as a friend, and he’d betrayed him.
“Does he have a lot of friends?” Big Mike asks. “Is there a chance he won’t be alone?”
“He does have some friends, but the majority are either in jail, or the guys involved with the Revenants, and they’ve been dealt with already.”
“Okay.” Saul looks around. “It’s a crazy fucking plan, but it might just work, and it’s the only one we’ve got. So, we go there, smack him around, gag him, cover his head, and tie his hands, and swap him for Ghost?”
Rook nods. “He’s a similar size to Ledger, height and build wise, so with his face covered it might work.”
Big Mike folds his arms across his massive chest. “We do have Ledger’s clothes.”
“You do?” I blurt, ensuring all heads turn to look at me.
“Had to take them off, in order to get him delivered to the pig farm. They’ve been tossed into a landfill site, but we should be able to get them back again.”
“Is ‘pig farm’ a euphemism?” I ask hopefully.
“Nope, he was fed to the pigs. It’s the best way to get rid of the body. We scalped him first, because they can’t digest hair. Then we went back a few days later to find and remove the bigger bones that they can’t eat.”
“Isn’t that dangerous, law enforcement finding out wise?” The room feels a little spinney, and I’m suddenly hot all over.
Big Mike grins. “Not when the farmer is one of us.”
Okay, well, I guess that makes sense.
Trying not to think about it with my stomach feeling the way it does, I turn to Rook.
“If we can dress your friend in Ledger’s clothes, even better.
Although he might have bought them here and his father won’t recognize them, but I guess it’s worth a try.
How long will it take us to get to your friend? ”
“Us?” Ace and Big Mike both say at the same time.
“Girly, you’re not going,” Big Mike rumbles.
Girly? They need to stop calling me those kinds of names and talking to me like I’m an idiot or a child.
“I agree,” Ace says. “No way, Princess. It’s not safe.”
“I am a grown woman, and I can make my own decisions. I won’t be told what to do all the time.” I put my hands on my hips.
Ace smiles at me, that gorgeous smile of his that always softens me. “I agree, darling. You are an adult, and you can do what you want… except this. When it comes to your safety, we have to put our feet down.”
“Feet?” I frown.
Is that even correct grammar?
“Yep, all of us agree, feet all down.” Rook nods.
Great. They’re conspiring against me.
“Look at it this way,” Ace says. “When Jack gets home and he needs rehab and to take it easy, won’t you be strict with him?”
I nod, reluctantly, because I know where this is going. “Yes.”
“Exactly, and he’s not a child, is he? But sometimes we must be strict with those we love. This is one of those times. You can’t go, Camile. It won’t be safe, and you need to be here, in one piece when Jack comes home.”
I sigh but accept it, because I know I’m not winning this one.
I’m also wondering if I might get away with using the extra time to go and see Jack again, if I can get a couple of the other bikers to take me.
I know Vani has gone home to change, so he’ll be on his own, and I hate that idea.
What if he takes a turn for the worse and no one is with him?
He’d seemed strong when I’d last been there—and Jack truly is as strong as an ox—but the seriousness of his injuries might mean he’s not out of the woods yet.
“Fine. I’ll stay here, but I want to be in on the planning, so I know what’s happening. I get super stressed when I have no idea what’s going on.”
“We’ll keep you in the loop,” Rook says. “Promise.”
I look around at the men. “So, what exactly is the plan?”
“The plan is to take a handful of men, go to Jarrod’s house, and make him our sacrificial lamb.” Rook grins manically. “Nothing less than that fucker deserves after what he facilitated us being put through.”
A beat of understanding passes between us. Even with all the other people in the room, in this moment, it might as well be just me and Rook.
“Someone has to let Hector know I won’t give up the safehouse.” I look between them all. “Is that going to endanger Ghost?”
“No, not if he’s wanting his son back,” Phoenix points out from where he’s perched on the edge of the desk.
“He’s going to be pissed that he can’t have your brother, but if he wants his son in one piece, he has to give us Ghost. The minute we have an agreement, we can put things into place to make the pretend swap.
The mechanics of doing that are going to be the same whether you’d agreed to give him the directions to the safehouse or not.
” He shrugs one shoulder. “The moment we push the fake Ledger forward, toward Hector, and try to get Ghost out of there, is going to be the most dangerous point.”
Ace stuffs his hands into the pockets of his cut. “If we have Jarrod gagged, and he can’t say anything, we can push him so hard, that he falls to the floor, and that will distract Hector and at least some of his men. Once we have eyes on Ghost, we can cover him to a certain degree.”
“Then after that, it’s up to God,” Big Mike adds.
Those words don’t give me much comfort. I guess I’ll have to pray extra hard for Ghost to be brought back to me safely.