Chapter Twenty-Five
The ride to the Artillery’s clubhouse was filled with complete silence. Every man in the van sat with their heads against the cold metal, eyes closed as silent prayers were whispered over their chapped and tightly pulled lips. I was too worried about Joey to think about the fate that awaited us. Her fate was far worse, and I’d be lucky to find her still alive.
“We’re almost there,” Bull announced from the front.
Scorpio, Aries, and Cap all had their guns drawn, ready to react if the Artillery was waiting for us when we got there.
“The place looks empty,” Bull growled, pulling up a few blocks away from the Artillery gates.
“Maybe they knew we were coming?” Virg asked. The kid looked even more scared than me.
Scorpio glanced over at Zodiac, who just shrugged his shoulders. In the distance, we could see lights descending on their clubhouse. Juliette and her deputies were on the move.
“Once they storm the gates, we sneak in through the back,” Bull reminded us.
“Where’s Scales and Leo?” I asked, noticing they weren’t there.
“Someone’s gotta stay behind and protect the Fallen Stars and our turf, kid. They’re keeping an eye on everything for us.”
I noticed that Scales wasn’t hanging around as much as before, and I wondered what had happened to make him stay away.
“They’re heading in,” Cap pointed out, motioning to the gates.
“Do you think they are walking into an ambush? They usually have at least two prospects stationed at the gates,” I observed, relaying what I knew about the Hell’s Artillery.
“Fuck!” Scorpio exclaimed. “This isn’t good, Zodiac. I warned her it was too dangerous.”
“I don’t think you could’ve kept Juliette away from this if you tried, Scorpio. Not when she has evidence against Shotgun that he pulled the trigger that killed her father.”
“Yeah, but if something happens to that woman, I’ll never forgive myself, Zodiac. She’s everything to me.”
“I know, Scorpio. Don’t worry. We’re going to do our best to protect Juliette and anyone else who enters the building,” Zodiac encouraged.
Another nervous twinge moved up my backside, and something felt off.
“Something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean?” Cap asked.
“I don’t know. Years in the foster care system have trained me to trust my gut, and right now I’m getting the worst kind of pain.”
Archer showed Zodiac his arm. “My arm hair is rising, something is definitely off, Zodiac.”
“Shit, we need to move then,” Zodiac announced. “Archer, you and Bull sneak in through the back. The rest of us will wait here for your signal.”
Archer and Bull both nodded, slinking from the van like two stealthy ninjas.
“Won’t they see them? They’re so big.”
Zodiac chuckled. “Both Bull and Archer were in the Marines. They’ve been on enough stealth missions to know how to stay in the shadows. They’ll be okay, Dillon.”
I was worried about Archer. The man had somehow softened me over the past few weeks, and I looked up to him. The last thing I wanted was for anything bad to happen to him.
“That’s the signal,” Scorpio announced.
Bull was standing at the back door, flickering the light of his cell phone our way.
“Let’s go,” Zodiac whispered.
