Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“Fuck yeah!” is shouted from more than one mouth around the room.
Rebel, on my left, holds up a hand. Eagle-eye nods. “I’ve heard of the Devil’s Brigade, but I don’t really know shit about them. They a real threat?”
King straightens up and makes a seesaw motion with his hand. “One-percenters based close to Nevada. Their president is an old-timer named Rocco who’s been through a few clubs in his day and used to hold a pretty tight rein on his boys, but it’s been a few years since I heard anything. Never given us any trouble, but they’re big enough to do some damage if they wanted, and they have a reputation for striking hard and playing dirty. Like Prez said, we don’t know if they’re responsible, or if they’re having this same meeting right now.”
“Was anyone else hurt tonight?” I ask. It’s bugging me that I didn’t hear from Melody, and she wasn’t where we left her. Chances are she found the asshole she came with, or bummed a ride with someone else. We’re just strangers, so she doesn’t owe us shit, but not knowing is nagging at me.
“Nothing serious that we’ve heard,” King answers. “Doc said they had a few people come in with minor injuries, but it could’ve gone a lot worse. Makes me think that whatever this was, it was personal, not a plot to start a full-scale riot.”
“I’m gonna make it last when I get my hands on whoever’s responsible,” Outlaw growls. “It could’ve been any of us under the knife tonight. It could’ve fucking been Harper.”
The whole room growls angrily. We don’t suffer attacks lightly, and no one fucks with our women.
Chef, his mohawk freshly dyed red to match the dragon tattoo curled around the side of his head, nods. “They’re gonna be strung from the streetlights.”
Shadow’s deep voice is as dark and cold as a crypt. “I’ve been sharing a home with Lightning for four years now, and been his club brother for longer. Attacking him is like attacking me, like attacking Outlaw, or attacking Thunder. If he dies, my vote is that we find the whole damn club and wipe them out. Ask the Pit Vipers how messing with us turned out for them.”
Eagle-eye cuts everyone short by sticking his fingers in the corners of his mouth and whistling loud enough for the first few rows to wince. “Enough! I know it’s easy to get pulled along in the fury, but here’s what we’re gonna do. Club’s on high alert. Nobody comes in unless they’re with one of us. And we’re putting the territory on lockdown. Double up on patrols and put the word out that if we find anyone inside our borders, they better be ready to talk, or they ain’t going home. No one’s gonna be surprised by that. At the same time, let it be known that we’re willing to pay for useful information. I wanna know what the fuck people are saying.”
“How long?” Shadow stands up, gripping the back of the chair in front of him. “How long do we play detective before we start doing something?”
Eagle-eye hops off the bar and walks over to him. His boots echo in the silent room. He puts his hand on Shadow’s shoulder. “I know how you fucking feel. I felt it when the Vipers had Faith, and every time we’ve lost someone. This club is everything to me, and you fucking know that. And that’s why we start careful, because I want to do this once, and I want to do this right. I’ll give you this. Two days. If we don’t have a good lead, we start pulling wings off the fly. I fucking promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to put the person responsible on their knees in front of you and yours. Got it?”
Shadow doesn’t look real happy about it, but he nods.
“Anyone else got anything they wanna say? Floor’s open.”
There’s some grumbling, but I think it’s just people coming to terms with having to wait before they sink their teeth into someone. Eagle-eye’s right and we know it. With the way everyone’s feeling tonight, we’d be likely to lose at least a few men in the process.
King claps his hands. “Alright. Anyone who was there tonight, come find me, Shadow or Outlaw. I want to put together a list, even if you didn’t see shit.”
Church is adjourned, leaving Mad Dog, Rebel and me to walk off together.
“What do you think? Did Melody make it out of there okay?” I ask. “You haven’t heard from her yet, have you?”
Rebel shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Shit, I hope she’s alright.” Mad Dog opens the door and waves us through, out into the warm August night. It’s hard to wrap my head around the idea that a few hours ago we were fucking in a field, and now we’ve got a brother hovering between life and death.