“Do you guys know which of you took him out?” Keys asked. It wasn’t an accusation, but he was still curious. He’d have to go back into his archives to see if he caught the shot on camera.
“This wasn’t one of us,” Angel said, arms crossed over her chest. “This was an execution done from a long range rifle.” Keys wasn’t the only one who pointedly eyed the gun still strapped to her back. She scoffed at all of them like there wasn’t a brain cell between them. “This wasn’tme. I shot to wound, not to kill.” She pointed down at the corpse. “This was deliberate. Someone didn’t want him talking.”
A chill worked its way down Keys’ back. “Someone got into my system tonight. It acted like they were there in the room with me, but they couldn’t have been. I need to figure out how they did that, because he,” Keys nudged Kennedy’s boot with his sneaker, “certainly couldn’t have. He doesn’t have the skillset.”
“So we’re looking for a sniper and a hacker?” Bulldog asked. “Or are they one and the same?”
Keys didn’t have an answer for him. “Guess we’ll figure that out when we catch the bastard, or bastards.”
The noise of an engine drew their attention as Ghost and Bear came rolling up on Ghost’s hog. Neither of them looked like they’d gotten any sleep. Like Keys, many of the club were in nighttime wear or sweats with their cuts and boots, but both Ghost and Bear appeared to be in the same clothes they’d worn the day before.
Bear got off first, and then Ghost. “What the fuck happened?” the president demanded, eyes wide at the amount of dead and wounded bodies scattered about.
It was hard to believe that so much destruction and chaos had happened in such a short amount of time. Maybe a half an hour had passed since Keys had noticed the intruder in his system.
“Never mind this,” Keys said, approaching him. “What the fuck happened to you?”
Ghost looked pale, but more than his normal ginger-paleness. There was a hardness to his expression that contradicted his ashen pallor, and his eyes were bloodshot. Jesus, what had happened? Was it Becks? Had what happened here also happened on the club’s property? None of Keys’ alarms had gone off, but then again, they hadn’t gone off here either. It would have been so much worse if Keys hadn’t gotten up to work, rather than remain in bed with Rose.
Ghost’s jaw tightened as he looked to Bear, whose appearance honestly was not much better than Ghost’s. More haggard than usual. “Ranger,” Ghost finally said in a gruff voice. “He…” Ghost wiped his hand down his stubbled face. “He left the property last night. He’d been doing well. We didn’t think anything of it. But, when he came back, it was obvious something wasn’t right. Becks was worried and went downstairs to check on him before we went to bed.”
“He was high,” Bear filled in for Ghost when the president hesitated. “The needle was still in his arm when Becks found him.”
A stillness came over the air, even more intense than the full-on assault they’d just fought their way through. Holy fuck.
Keys had never done drugs, never even thought about using. There were always too many other things to be done. Until he learned of Rose’s history, he hadn’t really thought much about them. Drugs equaled bad as far as he was concerned. He didn’t even drink much. Although, one might argue that Keys had a sugar addiction, but that felt like comparing apples to oranges and expecting the scale to even out.
When Keys had learned what Becks and Ranger had been subjected to, how his ex-girlfriend had forced him to inject himself with heroin, Keys had done some research. It was his way of coping. He knew heroin was extremely addictive, but there’d been a part of him that had foolishly believed that part wouldn’t be as strong with Ranger, because he hadn’twantedthe drug. It had been forced on him.
Maybe Ranger had believed that, too. Maybe all of them had done Ranger a disservice for deluding themselves into believing that it was something he would just “get over” because he hadn’t been a willing participant.
“I’ve got Ranger’s friend in Alexandria,” Ghost continued. “The one that runs the rehab center for veterans. We’re checking him in tomorrow.”
“For how long?” Angel asked, her hand over her mouth.
Ghost shook his head. “However long it takes. Lucky’s with him now. I didn’t want to leave him alone with Becks and Tessa while he is still in withdrawal, but I needed to see what was happening here.”
“Go,” Bulldog said shortly. “We’ve got this here, and I don’t want any of you driving. Grab a prospect or two.”
Though he was SAA and Ghost the president, Bulldog was responsible for the safety of every club member and their families. No doubt he was feeling the weight of Ranger’s relapse as heavily as Ghost was.
Ghost nodded once and headed back to his hog. He obviously wasn’t thinking clearly, because he didn’t ask for an injury count of the club members, which was very unlike him.
The lot was quiet in the wake of his taillights heading back across the road. Bear turned to the others. “Anyone injured?”
“Goose,” Thorne and Keys said at the same time.
“Take me to him,” Bear instructed before Thorne and he headed off. Rose couldn’t fault Thorne for leaving Keys when he was surrounded by his club brothers.
Keys rubbed his eyes, feeling like he could sleep for a week. “Well, at least the day can’t get any worse,” he grumbled.
Jigsaw slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t be such a pessimist, kid. It’s only five A.M.. I’m sure there’splentymore ways to make this day worse.”
“Not helping,” Keys grumbled.
Prior to heading back to the apartment, Keys stopped into his computer lab to grab his laptop bag. He stopped when he saw a lime green sticky note on his center monitor. Brows drawn, he approached, not needing to pick it up to read it in its entirety.
See you around, big brother
