Copper shook his head. Spazz narrowed his eyes and really looked at Octavius, studied him. “You’re the Jones boy, aren’t you? People called you Tav in high school, until Phoenix beat your ass in front of the whole school and you yelled, ‘I’m Octavius Jones. You’ll never get away with this.’ Am I right?”
“He didn’t beat my ass! I chose to walk away! Because I’m better than him!!” he screamed.
Copper leaned back on his heels and blew out a low whistle, “I’ll be damned.” He turned to me and lowered his voice, “There’s more to this than what’s on the surface. I’m guessing it runs a lot deeper than any of us ever would have imagined. Old Tav has apparently had a beef with Phoenix since high school.”
“All this because he got his ass handed to him one time in fucking high school?” I asked.
“Like I said, I get the feeling it runs way deeper than that. Let’s lock them up in the cells downstairs. We might have to get creative, but I think using his son to get to him is the way to go.” An evil smile appeared on Copper’s face. A lesser man would have backed away in fear. Don’t get me wrong. It fucking scared me, but I wasn’t about to let that show. “What do you want to do with Ember?”
“Let’s put her in the panic room with Jamie,” I suggested.
“Go get her and I’ll get Octapussy and his boys settled into their new accommodations,” Copper ordered.
He didn’t need to tell me twice. I jogged out to the SUV waiting to whisk my love to safety. When I opened her door, she launched herself into my arms. “Is everything okay? Did you find my dad?”
I slowly shook my head, “We didn’t find anything in there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. No one was in there. It didn’t look like there was any kind of struggle, no blood or broken glass, just an empty clubhouse.”
She started to tremble in my arms. “What are we going to do now? We have to find them!”
“Club business, baby. Listen, I’m going to have you and Jamie hang out in the panic room while Copper and I work out our next move. Okay?”
She sighed, “Okay. Fine.”
“Hey. What’s that about?”
“I’m just frustrated. I never know what’s going on. You won’t let me help with anything. I just sit in a room and wait for you to come get me.”
“Sitting in a room where I know you are safe and out of harm’s way is helping me, more than you think. As for not telling you things, there’s a reason for that, which I will explain when we have more time. Right now, I need to get you and Jamie down to the panic room,” I explained.
“Fine. Lead the way to my newest hiding spot.” I chose to let that one go. She’d had to deal with a lot of shit since she walked into the Blackwings clubhouse. It was completely understandable for her to be frustrated. Add to it that her dad was missing and we had the man responsible for it, as well as holding her prisoner for her entire life, in our custody, she was handling everything remarkably well.
I entered the code to the panic room, pulled the door open, and almost fell to my knees at the sight before me. Right in front of me were all of my brothers. Every single one except for Duke and Phoenix.
Badger wrapped both arms around me and squeezed to the point of pain. “I’m so damn glad to see you, brother! We’ve been trapped in here for hours and we have got to find Phoenix.”
“How the hell were you trapped in there? There’s an access panel right beside the door. You just enter the code and the door opens.”
“That crazy fucker must have changed it. I’m not sure. They came through the front doors throwing concussion grenades. Next thing I know, we’re packed in here like sardines in a can and the passcode won’t open the door,” Badger explained.
“You talking about Octavius?”
“Yeah. He came in here spouting all kinds of crazy shit about him and Phoenix. I saw one of his men grab Phoenix and stick a needle in his neck before they started throwing those grenades everywhere. I don’t know what they did with him. No one else saw anything.”
“We’ll find out soon. Copper and his boys are here. We’ve got Octavius and two of his men locked in the cells. Killed six of his men at the cabin. Well, seven if you count Pete the piece of shit prospect,” I told him.
“You killed Pete?”
“Nah, Ember did. Found out he was one of Octavius’s men. That’s how we got the jump on Octavius. We can talk about it later. I need everybody out so I can put Jamie and Ember in here until we’ve found Phoenix and dealt with Octavius.”
“Everybody move out. No one leaves the clubhouse. Somebody check the gates. If they’re open, lock ‘em up. Officers, come with me to the cells,” Badger ordered.
Byte stepped forward, “I can reset the codes to the panic room from my laptop. I just need about 10 minutes to do it.”
All eyes went to Ember when she spoke, “I think I might know the passcode. May I try it?”
