He exhaled. “Riann, trust me. This wasn’t planned. I’m trying to keep it from blowing half the coast into the bay.”
“Then control your spark,” she said. “Before it burns my girls too.”
The line went dead.
Blackjack set the phone down slowly. For a moment neither of us spoke. The office felt tighter, like the walls had leaned in to listen.
“Well,” I said at last. “Could’ve gone worse.”
He huffed something that was almost a laugh and almost a growl. “You’re riding at dawn,” he said. “Just you. Cut, colors, no army. You step foot on Viper turf like you’re walking into somebody else’s church. You don’t so much as piss on a hydrant without Liberty’s blessing.”
I nodded. “First stop, Shoreline. Check on Miami. Make sure he’s still breathing and still ours.
Blackjack nodded. “Second, get the bike from the Vipers if possible. I’ll share her contact withyou.”
I nodded.
“Third,” he said. “You keep those eyes open for any sign of Steel Serpent cuts. Bikes parked too long. Men who don’t belong. I want to know if Philly is involved and if their dogs are still sniffing around.”
“Yes, Prez.”
He looked at the maps on the wall, the pins, the lines. Atlantic City and its veins. “We’re standing in a doorway, Jersey,” he said. “On one side is the life we’ve been living. On the other is something that wants to swallow that whole. I don’t know which way this door’s going to swing.”
I pushed off the cabinet and stepped closer to the desk. “Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We hold the frame.”
He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded once. Approval. Trust. Burden.
“Get some rest,” he said. “You leave at first light.”
Sleep sounded impossible, but I knew I’d need whatever scraps I could steal. The next day was going to be ugly.
I turned to go, then hesitated at the door. “Prez,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“If he…” I stopped, jaw tightening. Forced the words out. “If Miami doesn’t make it, I want first crack at whoever lined this up.”
His eyes were dark and flat and dangerous. “If Miami doesn’t make it,” he said, “there won’t be a first crack. There’ll be a last day. For a lot of people.”
The promisehung between us. A vow. A threat. A prophecy.
I nodded and stepped out into the hallway.
The clubhouse noise washed over me, muted and distant. Laughter that wasn’t quite right. The clink of bottles. The low murmur of brothers pretending their world hadn’t just shifted three inches to the left.
Quinn wasn’t there yet. She would be soon enough.
I headed for my room, boots heavy, mind heavier. Somewhere north, under the pale hospital lights of Shoreline General, my best friend fought for his life. Somewhere else, a bike full of sins waited in a heap in the dark of some junkyard. Somewhere between them, Shore Vipers watched their streets, and Steel Serpents maybe watched theirs.
Sleep would be a stranger. Dawn would come too fast.
And when it did, I’d be riding into someone else’s territory with our patch on my back and wildfire on my heels.
Five
Jersey Boy
Quinn screamed the moment she showed up and Miami wasn’t at the clubhouse.
