I didn’t answer, nor did Ballistic. We were both focused on what we were heading towards. The two of us had worked together so many times we could read each other’s minds. It differed from the connection I had with War, but I could more or less read his mind right now too.
He was pissed at the way I’d treated Waverley before we left. It wasn’t as if she needed the comfort from me. War was the one who pulled her out of my arms, and it was obvious she needed her twin at that moment.
I’d switched over to the side I needed to, in order to rescue this guy, to think logically and carefully so that whatever we did meant we’d all be safe. She was with Connor, which was a reassurance. He would look after her and she was safe at the compound with most of the club members there.
My cell rang, and I glanced down to see Kansas’ name. I put it on speakerphone. “Yeah?”
“Okay, I’ve hacked into the camera feeds and the address is on a quiet back road. There are five homes along the road, and I’ve checked out the owners. They’re all legit, owned them for a while, but they have a lot of land around each property. Couple of acres, one is a horse farm too.”
“A ranch.”
“What? Uh, yes a ranch,” Kansas corrected himself and Ballistic’s lip twitched.
This wasn’t great. It sounded like it was an open space. It was going to be difficult to sneak in to. We would need to wait until dark if we wanted to get in without being seen.
It was just after four and we were due to hit the town in less than twenty minutes. If we kept up at the speed we were going, that would mean at least another four hours before it got dark. That was too long if we wanted to make sure they didn’t kill this kid.
“We can’t wait around,” War said from behind me, echoing my thoughts.
“Well, you’ve got the added issue of the cops,” Kansas said. “A lot of cops.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“There has just been a huge RTA on the road. Three cars involved. They had to send a fire truck to cut some people out of their cars. Looked like a couple of people didn’t make it. They’ve got the people out to the hospital, but the wreck is pretty bad. It’s gonna take a long time to clear up. You can’t even get too far down the road before you hit the police blockade.”
Ballistic whistled. “This is bad for them too. They couldn’t have foreseen this. Lots of cops about means they’re gonna be on edge. That’s if he is even still alive.”
No one commented on that.
“We could use it as a distraction,” I said, not letting this news defeat us. “There are people watching? Hanging around like the morbid fuckers they are?”
“Yeah,” Kansas agreed. “There is a sizeable group of lookey-loos.”
I looked to Ballistic. He nodded. “How close is it to the actual address we need?”
“About a half mile. You will reach the house before the crash site, but I can see the flashing lights from the entrance to their house on the street cameras.”
“Any ties to the Kingsmen on these people?” War asked.
“I can’t find anything.”
“They won’t have just picked some random house to take this guy. There has to be something. Look at their girlfriends’ families, anyone who works at any of the businesses. It could come from anywhere, even the remotest of ties to them. Keep looking.”
“On it.”
Kansas hung up. I didn’t like this. It seemed increasingly like a wild goose chase. I called Dirt. “Have you spoken to Kansas?” I asked without greeting. He didn’t care.
“Yeah, I heard. What are you thinking?”
“We have to go on the assumption that this accident came as a surprise to them too. They wanted us to come out here. We need to make sure.”
“Yeah,” Dirt sighed heavily. “We’ve tracked Declan’s phone and narrowed it down to the area you’re headed to. No one picks up when we call, though. I’m waiting on a call back from the Sheriff too. Once we heard about the accident, I called in a favor for him to get us some details.”
“Good idea. Anything to worry about back at the compound?”
“It’s all quiet. I’ve sent out a few patrols, waiting to see if anyone tails them, but so far nothing. Everything is quiet here. We’re looking at whether to lockdown though.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. At least it was confirmed Declan was here. Or at least his phone was.
