Chapter One
Bane was lying in the dirt with his arms over his head.
Debris and dirt rained down on top of his body.
When the dust and smoke lessened, he raised his head to spit out the dirt from his mouth.
He looked around the area trying to locate everyone that had been in the vehicle with him.
Spotting Deke and Sam he then found Mountain and finally, Hound.
He slowly pushed his body up from the ground and turned his head to study the blown-up vehicle. Finally he stood upright and walked slowly over to the SUV.
The engine was blown for sure as the metal from the hood was missing and the front fender was bent but he knew the back would be okay.
His vehicles were built for something like this.
He looked through the window at the front seat to the dash cam.
It had been destroyed but he knew the video from it was backed up to the cloud.
So, when he got back to his house he should be able to see who had set that bomb.
He reached for his phone and texted James to bring a vehicle. He turned back to the others and asked, “Is everyone still alive?” he finally asked.
Everyone there either grunted or groaned at his question.
Deke glared at the vehicle. “Well, a hell of a lot of fucking good it was to come back here and search for more evidence. It’s all gone now.”
Bane just shook his head. “Nah, it’s not gone. It’s perfectly safe.”
Sam narrowed his eyes at him. “What the hell are you smoking, brother? Your fuckin’ car just blew up.”
Bane smiled and his smile looked just a bit creepy to the men who never saw him smile before. He reached into his pocket and brought out a set of keys. “It’s not really blown, Bones,” he said to Sam as he walked to the back of the SUV and inserted a key. Opening it up, he stepped back.
Deke and Mountain joined him at the opened hatch and they saw the evidence boxes were still there, not even marked by soot.
Mountain looked astonished as he queried, “What the hell? How did you accomplish that?”
“I had all my vehicles specially made, just in case, you know.” Bane shrugged. “Force of habit. My former profession didn’t leave me with much of an option. That blast should have blown up the whole car, but it didn’t. It only blew the engine due to the safety options I had installed.”
“Why did we bail on the car then?” Sam grumbled.
Bane shrugged. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to stay in it, man. And I’ve never had anyone get that close before. I didn’t know the bomb was there until I heard the click just before it went off.”
“Jesus H Christ,” Mountain muttered as he shook his head. “Man, you must have had a lucky horseshoe shoved up your ass in another life. You live a charmed life, buddy.”
Bane disagreed with this scenario. “No, my friend, the one thing my grandfather taught me that is probably THE most important thing I live by...Always have a way out, never walk into any situation blind. Do not trust luck as it is fickle at best. That’s the main reason I got so good at what I did for a living.
I always searched for a clean way out beforehand and a backup way out if there was one to be had.
I protected myself from any possible situation.
I’ve always driven a specially enhanced vehicle as well.
Bullet proof, explosion proof and spikes on the road proof.
” Then he gave them a slight smile. “And the dash cam recorded everything to the cloud. So, when we get to my house I’ll look at the fucking face that put that bomb in my engine.
” His smile now disappeared. “Then I will find him and blow him the fuck up.”
Sam blinked his eyes then shivered. He saw the cold look in Bane’s steely gaze. He glanced over at Deke.
Deke stared at the ex-hitman too and then he met his father’s gaze. He shook his head as if to say... do not reply.
Sam looked around at the other Sins to find that everyone else had seen this look too. They all knew someone would die a very painful death for attempting to kill them. To Sam, this actually made him feel better. The asswipe would get his just desserts.
They all tried to dust themselves off and a few of them had a small cut or two or a promise of a bruise on them. But to still be alive...they did not complain.
A few minutes later, James arrived. He got out of the SUV slowly and took the time to look at the damaged vehicle. Then turning to Bane, he just shook his head. “Glad to see you’re all alive and still breathing.”
Bane walked over to the back of the vehicle and opened the hatch again. Then he grabbed some of the boxes he’d put in there earlier. He transferred them to the SUV and everyone else loaded the other evidence boxes into the new vehicle.
When they were done, everyone got in and Bane slid behind the wheel.
James got in beside him. They drove back to Bane’s house in silence.
When they arrived, Bane parked the car and grabbed a box then went inside. Everyone followed him, each of them carrying a box. They all gathered in the study.
Bane was already sitting at his laptop, pulling up his cloud account. The bomb planting had been done at Owen’s house, not Bane’s. His yard and property were highly monitored.
Then finally on this video, they all saw someone approaching the SUV. This person opened the hood of the car and leaned over to attach the bomb to the engine. The man then lowered the hood gently and clicked it shut.
For a few seconds, the man stared at the camera without knowing it. They all saw his face clearly and unobstructed. The bomber seemed to stare back at them then he snickered a bit. Turning, he disappeared into the trees.
Bane let out a low growl and his eyes grew colder yet.
Then he spoke in a low tone, “Gentlemen, that is Spencer Wagner. And take a good long look because he is now a dead man walking.” He stood, picked up the box of evidence he’d gotten from the basement apartment and walked down the hall to the Infirmary.
Sam looked around the room and shook his head.
James was quiet but he looked troubled too. This Bane was slipping back into the older version of the man.
Mountain looked over at James and asked aloud what they were all wondering, “Is this the new Bane we met when we got here?”
James looked at him and shrugged. “At the moment I’m not sure. Sometimes he slips into the old role all too easily when we at the VIM needed it and it's harder for the real man to come back. But honestly, when he sees Sarah and his baby daughter I think he’ll bounce back.”
“Well, let us know if we have to duck,” Hound joked.
“Duck?” Deke asked him. “Man, there will be no chance to duck. This guy has more kills than all the Marines we have in our fucking state.”
“Yes and he can kill in a myriad of ways,” James said.
“So far, I have seen him kill with his favorite pistols. The ones with the pearl handles that he is wearing right this very minute. Then by bow and arrow, knife, hanging, blow to the heart of all things and a single blow to the head if he was in a hurry. Then recently in Boston... he killed without weapons of any kind.”
They all stared at him while looking confused.
“And not using his bare hands either, which he really likes to do. No, he sabotaged a railing that he knew this big fat criminal would lean on, the fat guy did just that and fell five stories to his death. Then, he poisoned the oxygen supply a few criminals counted on in their underground lair. Then he tied up two murderers as they sat in a wooden pew and torched that old church...” James slowly shook his head. “But I helped with that one.”
The room went quiet.
Looking up at them James added, “All of his victims were terrible human beings, and some were not really human in the true sense of the word. Due mostly to the horrific murders they committed. Not one of the people he’s killed since I’ve known him was righteous in any way.
They were all the worst fiends we have on planet earth. ”
Sam nodded at him. “I get it, kid. I’ve been in war so I do get it. But if killing turns him into Mr. Ice, or if it feeds his dark beast, you might be in some deep shit, brother.”
“I’ve known just two men like him,” Mountain stated.
They all looked over at the very large biker.
He said nothing more.
Sam tisked and snapped at him, “AND...?”
Mountain shrugged. “They had to be ended. A man cannot feed off of darkness for too long. It just isn’t realistic to expect that he can be an angel and have burning wings.”
Deke looked around at the Sins then he spoke, “We all remember this man from when he first came to our compound and was after Cricket.”
“I didn’t know Bane before he joined Bastian.” James stared at Deke.
“You’re lucky you didn’t, we all wanted him dead,” Sam said.
Mountain agreed, “Raine told me about what Bane said and did to his wife, Cricket.”
Three years ago...
Cricket stared at Bane. His eyes looked endless as if he had no soul and that frightened her.
Bane dragged her back to the table and sat her down.
Sitting down next to her, he leaned close and whispered, “When your parents left my home and began their life together as lovers, they stole something from me. It had no value to them, only to me. Orrin took it only because he knew I would miss it.”
“What did they take?” Cricket asked.
“An heirloom from our grandfather. Something he passed down to me alone. He had no right to take it.” Bane squeezed her fingers. “I want it back.”
“But I don’t know where it is!” Cricket cried out. Tears of pain welled in her eyes but she didn’t struggle against his hold.
“I have been looking for them for more than twenty-three years. They betrayed me. My wife and my brother running away together like that.” He glared at her.
“Now, I have only you. The revenge I planned all these years will never happen. They both escaped my wrath by dying too soon.” His eyes glinted and he got a weird kind of smile on his face.
“But all may not be lost,” he murmured. Leaning toward her again, he fixed his cold stare on her.
“Why are you still here? I would have thought you’d have been long gone by now. ”
Cricket didn’t want to answer. Closing her eyes against the new pain he presented her, she bit her lip. Glancing over at Raine, she saw his worried gaze but shook her head when he tried to step forward.
“Cordy kidnapped Deke’s children a couple of days ago,” she explained what her sister did. “I helped return them. We faced a tribunal and Cordy and I pled guilty. I have to serve the club for a year as my penance.”
“And Cordelia?” Bane asked about his biological daughter as he cocked his head to one side.
“Her sentence was death,” Cricket told him quietly.
“Did she fear death coming for her?” he asked after a moment’s pause.
Cricket shook her head. “No, she welcomed it. She was like you and had no soul.”
Bane’s lips tightened and his fingers bit into her already tender wrist. “That may be true, but it doesn’t mean you can say it to my face,” he warned her.
He turned his head and searched the faces of the men around him.
Then he turned back to her. “As Orrin’s daughter you are family and the Jessins are no one’s slaves. ” He growled.
“My last name is Tannis,” Cricket insisted.
“Your last name is Jessin,” Bane corrected her grimly.
“You may not want the name but it means something to me and at one point, it meant something to your father too.” He glanced around the room again, then pulled her closer to him and whispered, “Look around you. Do you see their faces? They look to be good men, all of them.” Leaning even closer, his lips touched her ear.
“Do you know what I am? What I’ve made a fortune doing? ”
Cricket nodded.
“Then you know I am very good at killing people. I kill without remorse and I can kill anyone I choose. Look at them closely my dear. I’m sure in the short amount of time you’ve been here, you have become friends with some of them, have you not?”
Cricket nodded again.
“Then even if you don’t know anything else, remember this one thing.
” Bane backed up a bit and stared her in the eye.
“I will give you seven days to find what your parents stole from me and return it to me. Seven days from right now, and not a moment longer. If you fail, I will come back here and kill every one of these men and their families. They will all die. This ground will run red with their blood.”
Cricket gasped. “But how the hell am I supposed to find something and return it to you if I don’t know what it is?”
Bane shrugged. “That’s not my problem. It’s yours.”
“You’re insane,” she whispered while shaking her head in disbelief.