He nodded. “Vans. Two.”
“Men?”
“I heard them.”
“Didn’t see any?”
Saint shook his head, fumbling for his phone.
He tapped out a message.
Saint:heard at least 4. sounded like they were packing up
“For the night or the whole place?”
Saint shrugged, a shiver wracking his frame, another reminder that he was no longer invincible.
Fuck. My entire being itched to storm that building and kill as many of these cunts as I could lay my weapon to. But at what cost? Counting the bikes, there were eight of them and three of us. We’d survived worse odds and we were fucking good, but running in blind was a boneheaded move. If these were the same bastards who’d run Locke and Embry off the road, they hadguns, and the hammer in my fist was as much use as a goddamn banana.
Zolotoy mal’chik, you are no use to anyone dead.
Fucking Alexei. Already giving me shit and I hadn’t even told him we needed to raid the firearms caches he had stashed all over the South West.
“We can’t fight them tonight,” I conceded, my heart heavy enough to scuff my boots. “Let’s watch them move out. See what the fuck they leave behind.”
Ranger frowned. “You don’t want to follow them?”
I shook my head, already messaging Alexei. “Get the plates and the vehicle descriptions. Even if they ditch the plates, Alexei can pick them up on the ANPR.”
“The what?”
“Numberplate recognition. We don’t need to follow them to follow them.”
Bemusement coloured Ranger’s dark gaze. “You lot are too clever for me.”
I spared him a grunt and looked to Saint. I ranked him. The orders were mine to give. But I was emotional. Caught in my feelings. I needed his silent approval to steady me.
The phone in my hand buzzed.
Alexei:Bikes = Crows. The others could be anyone. Be careful.
Message received.
Saint led us the way he’d come, to the rear of the building, circling wide enough to avoid any security systems but close enough that we had a clear view of the bikes and vehicles around the back.
The bikes were low-spec Softails, giving weight to Alexei’s Crow theory, the cam-chain systems full of plastic that eroded over time and exposed the engines to corrosion.
Shit no one cared about except me, and even I didn’t care if it meant one less of these fuckers on the road.
Voices pierced the night air. Men calling to each other. I strained my ears to catch what they were saying. The accents. Thedetails. But the rain was too heavy. I heard nothing butwet, even as the lights went out and men began to spill from the building, piling into the vans.
Damn it. In the dark, I recognised no one.
Neither did Ranger if the frustration lining his face was anything to go by, and the vans rumbled to life without giving us any clue who we were dealing with.
A pissed-off growl escaped me.
Saint tapped the plates into his phone and fired it off to Alexei.
