“What about them?” he grunts, flicking his head in the direction of the Rider compound where Maverick and Tyson currently are.
I sigh, resigned. “Package deal. She’ll gut me alive if they’re not with me.”
“How’d Rex not see the connection?”
“Pretty sure Rex has his head so far up his ass he can’t see much.”
“And your plan is what?”
“Not that it’s your fucking business but I will not be mixing my personal with Fallen business. Never have and never will.”
“You ain’t stepping down?” He asks, sounding more than a little shocked at my revelation.
“Do I look like I’m retiring any time soon?” I snap, but I also take a big inhale to curtail the rage in my head, “But, there’s no way in this fucking life or the next, I will let her be a part of this.”
Joker stops walking and turns to face me, his lazy sardonic smile almost comical before he slowly shakes his head like he’s got bees buzzing inside. He goes to walk off but then ambles back over. Clearly, he’s got something he needs to get off his chest. “King, I mean this with the complete lack of respect you deservefor a stupid fucking comment like that. You got no fucking hope. She does what she wants, and you let her do whatever she wants too.”
He tips his head, daring me to pull him up before he issues a sharp whistle, cutting off the chance I had to chew him out. A couple of The Fallen prospects come running like dogs to their master, while a couple of our other members come out from their positions waiting near their bikes to ride out with him. There’s another group that will follow, everyone is waiting for my final signal which comes in the form of my middle finger directed at Joker. He laughs.
I leave him sorting out our members to enter the business side of the Death Riders’ club house, walking straight into Rex’s office where Tyson is. He’s tearing his way through filing cabinets and drawers, looking for clues.
“Tyson,” I say as softly as I can. All of us are armed and twitchy. “We found Steel.”
His shoulders seize up and he keeps his back to me, asking what I’m sure he doesn’t really want to know. “Is he alive?”
“Looks like. We need to roll though. You good?”
“Mav’s just grabbing a few things. Mostly Harley’s stuff, worthless to anyone but her.”
I know what he’s talking about, about having grown up on the wrong side of the trailer park myself. But trailer park trash was too hopeful a mantle where I came from. And it’s not my business what they save but at the same time it’s good to know we’re on the same page—the Death Riders’ compound is about to be burnt to the ground.
“You find anything in here?”
“Yeah.” He brushes his hair back, flattens it down before turning around and holding up a frighteningly small piece of paper. “Four addresses. The first makes sense, it’s the trailerpark we used to live at, the next is a club sleeper house, the other two I have no idea, but they keep showing up in his files.”
“All right. We go get Steel then we find her. Hopefully he’s got more of an idea. I’ve sent Joker home but…”
Tyson nods before walking past me, his fingers flying over the safe he’s been trying to crack. Gun safe, not money. He doesn’t look happy; he looks relieved when it opens and the both of us arm up courtesy of the Death Riders.
“You gonna be good, fixing your brother up while we drive?”
“Yeah. Let’s stop in the kitchen and grab whatever the ladies were making. Looks like we caught them about to celebrate.”
We didn’t catch the compound unaware; they were expecting us. You’d have to be fucking stupid thinking any person alive would let Rex’s disrespect go, plus he had something of mine. There were people everywhere when we drove down the road. Maverick and Tyson calmly shot dead each and every person we faced, even calling them by their name before they did it. Not that I remember much about the start, at that point all I was doing was seeing and breathing rage.
The Death Riders at the front gate probably wished they got another position because they were the next of many to fall.
The three of us, plus the rest of my boys who followed behind us showed no remorse or kindness. Anyone patched paid for their loyalty to Rex with their lives, and the spoils of anything surrendered is mine to take or do what I want with.
I follow behind Tyson as he walks through to the kitchen. I grab a box and start piling it with what we need, while he goes and gets Maverick. With enough food and water we won’t need to stop for anything but fuel. I drop our supplies in the truck before loading up the guns and ammo we found.
The two of them meet me at the truck with a couple of duffle bags and a few boxes. It’s clear by their energy, Maverick knows we’ve found Steel.
“Let’s finish this up,” I suggest.
At my go, Tyson lights the rag in the bottle of fuel handing one over to Maverick, the two of them talk quietly amongst themselves before they lob the flaming cocktails into the open doors of the Death Riders’ hall.
“I probably should have mentioned I left the gas in the kitchen running too,” I snicker. We move quicker at that, and I manage to get to the gates before the fire in the club house takes hold.
