CHAPTER 23
Dash
“How long do we have left?” Jamie asked.
“About an hour and a half, I’m guessing. Copper and his crew should be here soon. I want you two to stay here in the bunker while we handle Octavius and his men. You stay down here until me, Copper, or Copper’s VP Bronze comes to get you. Same deal, one of us will call the phone, identify ourself, and give the passphrase.”
“No disrespect Dash, but what do you want us to do if something happens to all three of you?” I liked how this kid thought. He was definitely going to be a good brother to have when he got his patch.
“Good thinking, but that’s not a possibility,” I lowered my voice to prevent Ember from hearing the next part. “Since we don’t know what went down at our clubhouse, Copper had his VP and a skeleton crew stay behind in case everything goes to shit. The club overall couldn’t withstand losing the mother chapter’s president and VP as well as the nearest chapter's president and VP. The other chapters are too new or the current leaders are too new.”
Jamie nodded. “Makes sense. No one else knows about the bunker?”
“Nope. Copper didn’t even know until the day we came up here and Bronze should have been told before Copper and the crew rode out today.”
The satellite phone started ringing. I accepted the call, but didn’t speak. “We’re here.” Never had another man’s voice sounded so sweet.
“Come to the bunker’s entrance. I want Ember to meet you. She needs to know who you are,” I told Copper.
“Be right there, brother.”
Moments later, I opened the hatch and Copper climbed down. His eyes went to Ember, “I’ll be damned. You look just like your mother. I’m Copper, President of the Devil Springs Blackwings and Phoenix’s cousin, yours, too.” He held his hand out to her.
She shook his hand and stared at him with wide eyes. “You knew my mother?”
His eyes softened. “Not well, sweetheart. Saw her with Phoenix a few times, but they didn’t come up to Devil Springs much and I wasn’t in Croftridge that much at the time. If you’ll excuse me, we ain’t got time for pleasantries; I believe we have some business to handle.” He turned to face me. “What do we know?”
“The prospect we brought up here with us belongs to Octavius. They’ve been texting the whole time we’ve been up here. Octavius knows she’s at the cabin and is on his way here.”
Copper pulled his gun and pointed it right at Jamie. “And you ain’t killed him yet?”
Ember screamed and jumped in front of Jamie. “Not him! The other one. And I did kill him!”
Copper put his piece away and grinned, “You get that from our side of the family. I bet your daddy will be damn proud. All right, continue.”
“According to the phone messages, their plan was for Octavius to send a signal for the prospect to get rid of me and Jamie and have Ember ready for pick up. Octavius thinks he is coming up here to pick up Ember and Pete. ETA 75 minutes or less.”
“You know how many are coming?”
I shook my head at the same time Ember spoke, “He’ll come with eight men.”
“How do you know that?” Copper asked.
“He is obsessed with the number eight. He’s also weird about the number nine and the number three. His son’s name is Nivan, which means nine. Eight plus one is nine. He will come with eight men. I can guarantee they will arrive in three white Suburbans, three men in each vehicle.”
“This fucker is certifiable, yeah?” Copper mused.
I nodded. “Sounds like it.”
Copper smiled maniacally, “Nine’s going to be easy. We keeping any alive?”
“I think we should keep Octavius alive and anyone who might be important to him, if we can determine who that might be,” I offered.
Ember interjected, “His son is most important to him. He will be in the third vehicle, Octavius will be in the first, and Octavius’s right-hand man, Hector, will be in the second vehicle. Each will be wearing white and will be sitting in the middle row. That’s how they’ve always traveled to meetings or wherever they go.”
Copper laughed, “What a fucking idiot. He’s making this way too easy.”
Ember quietly added, “They’ll have guns. Probably two or three each.”
