“Duke, get Reese in here now,” Shaker said. Phoenix nodded his assent.
I went out to get Reese, only to find that she had taken James into the restroom to change his diaper. What happened next blew me away. My little sister silently rose to her feet and walked toward the Church door. She walked in without preamble, me hot on her heels. Harper went straight to Carbon and placed her tiny little hands on his cheeks. She leaned in and put her mouth so close to his ear I couldn’t make out what she said to him. Whatever it was, his body relaxed and he dropped his head, keeping his eyes on the ground. Harper said something else to him, patted his shoulder, and left the room, throwing, “You’re welcome,” over her shoulder.
Carbon cleared his throat. “I’m good, Prez.”
“You sure? I’m not doing that shit again today,” Phoenix griped.
“I’m sure. Carry on. I’m just going to sit back here.” Carbon dropped into a chair by the door, which I found to be extremely odd.
Boar eyed Carbon warily, but began speaking again. “I wasn’t referring to Heather and her family, but I do think my son killed your grandmother. I have no actual proof, but certain things he said and did around that time led me to believe he was responsible for her death. It wasn’t long after that when I found out about him roughing up Reese and then I caught him trying to rape one of the club girls. To top it off, I’m fairly certain he was the one who killed my father.”
Carbon sat forward in his chair. “My grandmother wasn’t murdered. She died of a heart attack.”
Boar looked directly at Carbon. “Yeah, and every one of us in this room knows how to make certain things appear different than they really are.” His shoulders sagged. The man appeared to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he forged on. “Like I said, I don’t have any proof other than odd comments he made at the time. He did the same sort of thing around the time my father died.”
“Why are you bringing this up? You have no proof, it’s not like anything can be done about it,” Carbon asked with no animosity in his tone. Maybe Harper really had brought him back from the brink.
“I just wanted you all to know that I’m not blind to what my son is. He’s always had a barely contained hatred for me and I’ve never known why. I thought things were changing when he wanted to prospect, but now I believe he was just trying to use the club as a way to take me out. He’s beyond help and needs to be put down before he can ruin any more lives. I’ll do anything I can to help you catch him. I prefer not to be the one who ends his life, but I will if I have to,” Boar said solemnly.
Phoenix clapped Boar on the shoulder. “Thanks, man. We’d appreciate any help we can get.”
Boar nodded and straightened, seeming to gather his strength to move on. He looked in Byte’s direction. “Did you get anything from those text messages?”
Byte cleared his throat, “Not sure. The last one she sent said ‘I’ve been caught.’ Prior to that, there’s not much other than them saying things like ‘I’ll be there in 5’ or ‘See you back at HQ.’ Nothing that gives away a location or what they were planning to do next.”
“Did you say HQ?” Boar asked.
“Yeah, they mention HQ several times. That mean something?” Byte asked.
“Maybe. There was this little ramshackle cabin out in the middle of the woods, not far from Devil Springs, that he liked to play in when he was younger. He found it when we were out for a father/son fishing and hunting trip. He used to call it his headquarters. He drove me fucking nuts asking me to go fishing or hunting all the damn time just so he could go play in that cabin. The thing had been long abandoned when we found it. Never gave much thought to where he went when I told him to leave, but it would make sense for him to go there,” Boar told us.
“Can you point it out on a map?” Phoenix asked.
“Yeah, the general area anyway.”
Byte already had a map of Devil Springs and the surrounding area pulled up on his laptop. Boar leaned closer to the screen and pointed to where he thought the place was. Byte did some shit with his computer and suddenly we were all looking at a satellite image of the most run-down cabin I had ever seen.
“That’s it,” Boar said. “Shall we go see if he’s there?”
Phoenix leaned back in his chair, rubbing his thumb and forefinger over his chin. “Normally, I like to plan things a little better than this, but we’ve had his girl for over a week and we don’t know where he’s got eyes. I don’t want to wait around for him to make a move. Let me see that map again.” Byte slid the computer to Phoenix. Phoenix studied it closely. He pointed to a spot on the map. “We can stop here to survey the area first. Shaker can set up there to cover us and we’ll go ahead on foot.”
Phoenix turned to Boar. “You want to go with us? Your Old Lady is welcome to stay here.”
Boar sighed. “I wouldn’t say I want to, but I will. Let me make sure Shan is okay staying here while we’re gone.” He paused at the doorway and turned back, “Her sister is secure, right?”
“Shannon can’t stumble across her if that’s what you’re asking,” Phoenix answered. I couldn’t help but chuckle. That was true, now that Phoenix had confiscated Reese’s lock picking tools. She probably had more, but I knew she wasn’t dumb enough to try using them at the clubhouse again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Duke
We left the girls at the clubhouse, in the panic room. They were pissed about it, but reluctantly agreed. I don’t know what they were complaining about. That damn room was nicer than any other room in the clubhouse. Ranger, Badger, and Dash stayed back with the girls, as well as some prospects and a few other brothers that had just gotten back from a run. They had plenty of protection and should be fine, but I couldn’t help worrying about them.
The ride out wasn’t bad. It gave me time to clear my head and focus on the task at hand. I couldn’t let my mind keep wandering to the fact that my wife and the mother of my child were locked in a panic room together, along with my sister and my son. At least Ember was in there, too; she could kick all of their asses if need be. Regrouping for the hundredth time since we left, I focused on the road and what was to come.
We pulled into a bar in a little town about five miles or so from the cabin. We parked the bikes in the lot and all went inside for a drink. A few brothers stayed to keep up appearances while the rest of us slipped outside one at a time. We loaded up in two cages and continued on toward the cabin.
Phoenix had Coal and Edge driving the cages. They dropped us off on the side of the road with orders to continue driving around the area, but to stay close in case we needed to be picked up ASAP.
