"West from Barstow. Ghost says there's an old ranch property out that way. Abandoned cattle ranch, been empty for years. Copperhead Kings have been known to use it as a safe house. Off the grid. No neighbors. Perfect place to hide someone."
A ranch.
An abandoned ranch.
With a barn.
Where you could put a cage.
My vision goes red at the edges, rage and terror mixing into something cold and deadly.
"Let's go." I'm already moving toward the door, toward the truck, toward Grace.
"Hold on." Phantom's voice stops me dead. Not loud, but commanding. Absolute. "We don't go in blind, Shadow. That's how we lose."
I turn back, and I know my face must be terrifying because some of the younger brothers actually step back. "Every second we waste planning, she's with him. In that cage he promised. Terrified. Alone. So no, we don't wait. We don't plan. We go. Now."
Phantom meets my eyes across the table, and for once—for the first time since this all started—there's no hostility there.
No anger. No judgment. Just understanding.
He knows exactly what I'm feeling because he's feeling it too.
Different love—father for daughter instead of husband for wife—but the same terror.
The same desperate need to get her back.
The same willingness to burn the world down to do it.
"You're right," he says, his voice rough. "We go. But we go smart. Fast, but smart. We plan on the way. In the vehicles. While we're driving. But we go now."
I nod, force myself to breathe. To think instead of just react.
He's right. Going in stupid gets us all killed and Grace still caged.
Going in smart gets her out.
Damon's already organizing, his voice carrying across the room. "Every brother available rides. Reapers Rejects, all twenty of us who are here and able. Shotgun Saints, all five. Ghost said he can round up ten more from his charter, meet us on the way."
"Thirty-five brothers," Dixon says, doing the math, his eyes hard. "Against what, maybe ten Copperhead Kings at that ranch?"
"Overwhelming force," Phantom says, his voice absolutely certain. "We don't take chances. We don't give them room to maneuver. We end this tonight. Completely."
Brothers scramble into action.
Grabbing weapons from the armory—guns, ammunition, knives, anything that can kill. Checking bikes. Loading trucks.
I head back toward my truck where Banshee's already waiting, and Phantom intercepts me before I can get there.
His face is controlled, but his eyes are blazing.
"When we get there," he says quietly, his voice low enough that only I can hear, "Flint's mine. He threatened my daughter. Took my daughter. Knocked her unconscious and put her on a bike like cargo. That's my kill, Shadow. Mine."
I look at him.Reallylook at him.
See the father underneath the Prez.
See the man who arranged a marriage that led to his daughter being raped.
