“But hewasalive?”
“He was.” He didn’t add he wasn’t sure for how long, but it was written all over his face.
“Get cleaned up,” I said as I turned and walked out the door, not waiting for him to respond.
I didn’t knock on King’s door, just opened it and walked in. Dirt and Banshee were standing by King’s desk, War pacing back and forth in front of them, his fists clenched. Ink sat in King’s chair, pouring over some maps he had spread out on the desk. King stood by the window, his back to everyone. He was the only one who didn’t turn to look at me when I came in.
“Where the fuck is she?” I snarled.
“We’re working on it,” Dirt said. “We’ve rounded up some Kingsmen, they’re being taken to the warehouse out past the Beemerville Orchards. They’ll keep until we figure this out.”
I raised a brow. I was with Ballistic when we finalized the purchase on that warehouse and spent a few days getting security set up around it. We hadn’t used it yet. The club had various places around the county where we stored product or had meetings with buyers we didn’t want anyone bearing witness to. This place was something Ballistic had searched for and bought. I hadn’t been sure for what purpose, but it was going to have a use now.
“What about Omen?” War asked through gritted teeth.
“Not at his place, but we’ve got Handlebar and a crew out looking for them,” Dirt shook his head. He looked borderline murderous. “Kansas is using traffic cams to track where they went, but there are a lot of blind spots around the county, so it’s taking him some time to catch up with them. If he even can,” he added in annoyance. “Doubt he’ll go back to his place.”
“So we hit their compound,” War said as he started for the door.
“War.”
Everyone turned to look at King. He still had his back to us.
“What?”
“Running off half-cocked isn’t going to help.”
“Running off?” War yelled. “They have Waverley!”
“I know that,” King turned to face us.
“So why are we just standing around here talking about it?”
“Because it’s what we need to do. We need to plan this out.”
“That is just wasting time, we need to go there.”
“I taught you better than that.”
“But… Connor,” War swallowed hard, the rage and desperation on his face was so stark it was terrifying. “I don’t even know if he’s gonna fucking survive this. We don’t know what they’re doing to Wave! And you think wanting to go wipe the fuckers out is me running off?”
“If you think for one second we can walk up to their clubhouse and ask if your sister is there, then you’re a fucking idiot. We can’t go there without knowing what is waiting for us, or whether we will do anything that might trigger them hurting her if sheisthere.”
War roared, grabbing for the bookcase behind him which was filled with plants and old novels, he pulled on it and it fell forward, everything falling and smashing on the ground, before he wheeled around to his father. Dirt moved so fast he was a blur, he grabbed War beforehe could take another step towards King. I didn’t want War to get hurt, but it was ingrained in Dirt to protect the President, even from his own son.
Dirt forced War to the wall where the bookcase had stood, stumbling over the debris. His forearm at War’s throat holding him up against the wall. He was struggling to get free, his face bright red from the pressure Dirt was placing against his throat.
“War,” Dirt hissed. “Control your shit.”
They had a long stare off, everyone remained quiet around them, but the tension was so thick you couldn’t wade through it, let alone cut it. Dirt was right, we didn’t have time for this. I flashed a look at War, letting him know he needed to back the fuck down and listen. I was getting sick of this bullshit.
“Whatisthe plan?” I asked my President.
Only after the sounds of Dirt stepping away from War and him coughing and gasping air back into his lungs, did King turn his hard eyes on me.
“We figure out what the fuck is going on with the Kingsmen. Because there is no way in hell that asshole Nytro planned this. He doesn’t have the sense to play the long game. Lily has been around here for over a year. Whether Omen was a rat from the start or she turned him, I’ve no clue. Either way, once we catch up with him-”
“He’s mine.”
