Krypton on Morgantown High, Wraith on Suncrest Middle. Rookie filling gaps.
Leah's been staying at my place since the parking garage—sleeping in my bed, eating at my table, driving to the hospital with Daemon tailing her in a black pickup that she pretends not to notice and he pretends not to drive.
Angelica is at the Super 8. Rookie checks on her every morning.
She's still there. Hasn't bolted, hasn't done anything stupid that we know of.
That last part keeps nagging at me like a splinter I can't reach.
The girls know something is happening.
They're not idiots. Wrenleigh especially. She noticed the men on the porch. She noticed Leah's bruise, even though Leah wore a high-necked scrub top and told her she bumped into a cabinet at work.
Wrenleigh looked at the bruise, looked at Leah, looked at me, and said nothing.
That's how I know she didn't believe it.
When Wrenleigh believes something, she has a comment.
When she doesn't, she goes quiet.
Sadie Jo hasn't said anything either, but she's been sleeping with her door open instead of cracked, and she asked me twice this week if she could stay home from school.
I said no both times.
Keeping their routine is the only thing I can give them right now.
The illusion that the world is still the same shape it was before their mother showed up and their father started carrying a gun to the breakfast table.
It's four o'clock.
The sun is dropping behind the mountains, painting the sky in shades of rust and blood.
In two hours, the club rides.
Brothers start filtering in around five.
They come in alone, in twos, filling the main room until there's no space left for anything but what's about to happen.
It’s quieter. Heavier.
Church is brief.
Ruger doesn't waste time—he never does, but tonight there's a sharpness to it that cuts through the room like a blade.
"Stash house. Tonight. The plan hasn't changed." He looks around the table. "Bracken."
Bracken stands.
He's got the route maps spread across the table—three ways in, three ways out, marked in red and blue ink with timestamps and distances.
Road Captain to his core. "Primary approach is County Route 19 to the access road. Secondary is the mining road from the east—rougher, slower, but invisible. Third is the fire road from the north, which puts us on high ground overlooking the property."
"We take the primary," Ruger says. "Fast and loud. If they hear us coming, good. Let them panic. Panicked men make mistakes."
"Ground rules same as before?" Bloodhound asks.
"Same as before. We're not there to kill anyone unless they make us. Product gets burned, cash gets taken, and we leave a message they can read from Ohio." Ruger pauses. "But I want to be clear about one thing. These men are armed. These men are moving poison into our town that's killing our kids. If one ofthem points a weapon at one of our brothers, you put him down. No hesitation. No second-guessing. Are we clear?"
