“Thanks,” I gave her another hug, kissed the top of her head then left the house.
Handlebar was at the gate when I pulled up in the truck after texting War to tell him I was on my way. He was pacing back and forth but stopped when he saw me.
“Anything?”
I shook my head. “We’re heading to the hospital.”
He huffed out a heavy sigh. “You tell Stitch to hurry up and get his ass back over here. We could use his help right about now.”
“Roger that,” I replied, we both knew that might not happen.
War was waiting on the sidewalk with a bag when I pulled up. He got in and I pointed to the travel mugs of coffee Rosa had made. We were silent at first, each lost in our own thoughts, and, from my perspective pretty uncertain what to say. I didn’t want to give meaningless platitudes, until we got to the hospital we didn’t know Connor’s outlook. That was bleak enough, discussing not knowing where Wave is, or if she is even okay would hurt too much.
“Ranger really thinks they tried to kill him?” War finally broke the silence.
I glanced over. “He’s got no proof, but yeah, I think he’s more than a little suspicious. His old lady sure as hell thinks it was no accident.”
“They’re so fucked up,” he muttered.
I contemplated whether or not to say the next thing, we hadn’t gotten much of a chance to discuss what happened before I left the compound with Ballistic but it was still playing on my mind. Especially after what I’d found out yesterday. War was my best friend, I didn’t want to become like King keeping secrets or withholding information. There should never be any secrets between us.
“Ballistic more or less told me there was more to what happened when your mom left the Kingsmen, but he also said King wouldn’t talk about it.”
He shifted in his seat so he was facing me more. “He didn’t tell you what it was?”
I shook my head. “He’s loyal to King, not me.”
“I know he’s not telling me everything, we had a talk when you left,” he rubbed at his eyes with one hand, the other holding the thermos. “He said it had no bearing on this, that it was ancient history. I can’t believe he is keeping whatever it is from me, that he lied about it. He’s the one who keeps fucking telling me I’m his VP.”
“Yeah, well it was pointed out to me that you’re his son first.”
“That is utter bullshit. How am I supposed to do my job if he keeps shit from me?”
I didn’t answer, because he was right. King was keeping him at arm’s length but calling him out when he felt he wasn’t doing his job. It made no sense.
“How much do you know about this guy, Mace?” I asked. Both of them being Vice Presidents meant they were the ones who spoke on behalf of their respective clubs if there was ever any business to discuss.
“We’ve never really had much to do with them,” he said. “He kinda reminded me of Ballistic when I did deal with him, he doesn’t talk much. Strikes me as shrewd though, and he’s younger than the rest of their council, still more experienced than that fuck they have running the club now.”
“That whole thing is hinky as fuck. He never should have been put in the position without a majority vote. Their VP should have temporarily taken over while Ranger was in the hospital.”
“You think they do things by the book over there?”
I had to agree with that. “So this Mace guy is likely pissed.”
“I sure as shit would be,” War scoffed. “Maybe Ballistic is right, he gave you more than you realised without actually saying anything outright. If there is even a sliver of a chance we can get to Mace, then we may have a shot at figuring this out,” he cleared his throat. “Finding her.”
We drove in silence again, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I kept drinking the coffee, even when it went cold because I was starting to get dry eyed. Four hours wasn’t much sleep. As we drew nearer to Paterson, War shifted around in his seat.
“This is gonna sound stupid and I’ve never really put much stock in it, I always thought it was crazy thinking. When Wave was away all that time, I had this feeling.”
I quickly glanced at him then back to the road. “What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to explain, it was just a weird sensation. But sometimes, when she was gone and I got worried about her, there was this weird feeling like I didn’t need to be scared for her. Something was telling me she was okay. I never really believed in that twin connection but… I think I’d know. If something bad happened to her. I feel like I’d know,” he trailed off.
A twinge of guilt rippled through me, just like it always did when War got like this over Waverley. She’d left because of me, she hadn’t spoken to him in years because of something I did. I’d taken her away from him.
“I’m not sure what I’ll do when I get my hands on the people who took her.”
