I back out of his texts, then send my own to all the Brothers.
Me:Everyone to the clubhouse NOW!
Me:If your people are out, go get them and come back ASAP!
As soon as I’m done typing, it really sinks in what Cypher said. He said explosions at all club businesses. Does that mean the bakery too? Fuck, I hope not. Duchess’s business has nolegal ties to the club, so there should be no reason whoever just attacked us would go after her too, but I can’t take that risk.
I pull up my contacts and my wife is right at the top, as she should be. I swipe right on her name and the screen lights up as her and Krew’s picture pops up.
“Hello?”
Shit. I take a deep breath. If she is answering her phone, she must be alright.
“Duchess, are you okay?”
She sighs like the pressure of the world is on her shoulders. “My Dragon. He’s on fire.”
Her Dragon? Oh fuck . . . that’s her truck. “Duchess. I don’t care about your truck. Areyouokay?”
There are a few seconds of silence before I hear a different voice in my ear.
“She’s fine Whiskey,” That’s Angie. “Lynn is here too. She called 911 so the fire department is on its way.”
“Okay. The building isn’t on fire, is it?”
“I don’t think so.” Duchess is back.
I look at Hammer, who is also on the phone, probably checking in on Angel who is somewhere across the street, either at the clubhouse or their cabin. My brain is in crisis mode with a hundred different things trying to push to the top of the to-do list, but I need to focus on getting my wife to safety . . . and getting myself to her.
“Good. Don’t go outside. Lock the doors and all of you go into the front of the bakery, but stay behind the counter. I want you to be able to see outside, but stay inside. Okay?”
“What’s going on?” She asks. I’m not really sure what is all happening, I have a pretty good idea who is behind all of this mess, but until I can get to her, I can’t think about anything else.
“I’m on my way to you, Duchess. I promise. Just get behind the front counter. Now!”
“Okay.”
“I love you, Duchess.”
“I love you, too.”
I hang up and shove my phone in the chest pocket of my coat.
“Hammer! I gotta go get Duchess.”
He nods as he hangs up too. “Take your truck.”
“I know I said for everyone to come in, but send a text to all the Brothers that have a business they’re in charge of. Tell them to grab some back up and get there now. If they’re not already there, tell them to get there now. No doubt the law and fire are gonna be spread thin going to all our businesses.”
“I’ll call Cypher and get him to do that. He can probably do it a lot faster than I can, if he hasn’t done it already. He knows our emergency protocols.”
“And get with Steel to delegate someone if there are any open holes. Keep whatever this is as close to the vest as possible. If this is the Gearheads assholes like I think it is, we need to keep that to ourselves so we can handle it later.”
“I’ll spread the word.”
“And tell everyone to stay inside the clubhouse. I don’t want anyone outside. If there is a chance that we’re being watched, I don’t want them to see anything more than we want them too.”
I take off running. Just as I get across the street, I see the a sheriff’s deputy SUV and a firetruck come barreling around the corner from the east. Ignoring them, because I know someone will stop me if I wait too long, I keep running straight for my truck.
