“Knuckles, we’ve got a new resident and five traumatized kids.”Hannah spoke softly.“And no, I’m not suggesting we not help Veda.She needs our help just as much as the women at Haven do.But this might not be the best place at the moment.The club’s attention would be divided and that’s not good for anyone.”
“Hannah…” Knuckles gave his wife a hard look.The two stared at each other for a long moment like they were having a whole-ass conversation without saying a word.
“I’ve got a place,” Griffin said, suddenly.“It’s in the middle of nowhere but it’s comfortable and on the high ground, so it’s defensible.”
Knuckles held his gaze.“Are you sure, Griffin?I still want to circle the wagons, so to speak.Keep everyone here.”
“You know Hannah’s right.”Griffin lowered his voice.“Send a couple guys with me and we’ll be fine, but keep most everyone here to guard the women and kids.”
“Give me a couple days.I need to know what we’re dealing with,” Knuckles said.
Griffin nodded.“Understood.”
Men in the garage spoke in a low rumble as most of them left the building from a couple of different exits.I stood there, wide-eyed and growing more alarmed by the minute.
Griffin turned to me.“We need to move.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s happening.”
“You know as well as I do that the people who burned downÉclipseand executed three people in cold blood probably know you were there.Given they tailed us all the way here, they may not knowwhoyou are, but they knowwhereyou are.They know you have things you shouldn’t.And they’ll probably be pulling up outside our gate soon, deciding whether to come in shooting or wait for you to come out.We need to get you somewhere they can’t find you.”
“You’ll be safe with Griffin,” Pippa said, giving me a concerned look.
“I’ll go with you if you want,” Hannah spoke as she walked in our direction.Knuckles and Knight huddled over the laptop, with Knight studying the files I’d given them.“Knuckles knows I can take care of both of us if the guys have to fight off a threat.”
I shook my head.“I don’t want anyone hurt because of me.”I glanced up at Griffin, then back to Hannah.“If you guys think Iron will come looking for me here, then I’ll go.”I looked back at Griffin.“But if this is some kind of elaborate plot to get me to go quietly and you give me to these people, I will find a way to cut off your balls and feed them to you before I die.”
Griffin gave me a serious nod.“I’d expect nothing less.”
Chapter Four
Griffin
Tiny’s Bronco rolled to a stop at the curb outside Veda’s building, the headlights catching on peeling paint and the metal railings of the fire escape.I’d managed about three hours of sleep after talking with Knuckles.He also told me, once we’d gotten some rest, we were to go to her place, get her shit, and bring her straight back to the fucking compound.Our president had been on edge when we left, saying he had a bad feeling.Which meant, everyone was on edge and being careful.
I scanned the street of the working-class neighborhood before I climbed out.Most of the buildings had been built in the ‘50s and ‘60s, three stories of narrow efficiency apartments.Porch lights glowed at both ends of the street, but the middle section -- where Veda’s building sat -- was a stretch of shadow.A single bulb flickered above the entrance, its glow barely reaching the bottom of the concrete steps.
“Keep the engine running,” I told Tiny.He nodded once, understanding.We’d grabbed a cage and driver rather than the bikes.Less noise in the late night.
Veda sat in the back, wedged between me and Diesel, with Inferno in the front.Diesel had gained his patch a couple months ago and proved to be a solid addition to Kiss of Death thus far.As for Veda, she’d slept maybe twenty minutes during the drive, her head lolling against my shoulder until we hit a pothole and she jolted awake again.She’d insisted on going back for the rest of her evidence.The pen camera had been enough to get Knuckles’ attention, but the ledgers and the laptop she’d mentioned were apparently what she considered the proof tying everything together.I hadn’t argued, though I’d pointed out the obvious.If Iron knew she was in that office, he’d send someone to check her place.
“I’m not an idiot,” she’d said, her voice flat.“I knew the kind of danger I walked into when I started this.I keep my stuff well hidden.”
Veda’s place was on the third floor, a walk-up with a stairwell that smelled like cigarettes and cheap air freshener.The walls were industrial beige, scuffed at shoulder height.I let Veda lead, keeping her between me and the wall, Diesel a step behind her left shoulder and Inferno on my right.At two thirty in the morning, the lights were dim, most of the illumination coming from safety lights near the floor several feet apart down the hall.
The first sign something was wrong came on the second floor.We’d cleared the landing, heading for the final flight of stairs, when we noticed a dark smear on the wall.Inferno took out a penlight, focusing the beam on the smudge.Blood trailed down the hallway, ending at the open door of an apartment three doors down from the stairs.
The door hung open on splintered hinges, the frame around the deadbolt cracked.Just inside, an elderly man lay face down in a pool of congealing blood.From the looks of it, he’d been hit in the head and dragged to where he lay now.“That’s my apartment,” Veda whispered.“And my poor neighbor.”
Someone had kicked the door in.The place beyond the doorway was dark, but I could smell the copper reek of fresh blood.Diesel and Inferno moved silently, checking the hallway around the corner in front of us while I kept Veda behind me in the hallway.
Once we were sure no one could sneak up on us, I turned to Veda.“Stay behind me,” I said, my voice low enough she had to lean in to hear.“And if I tell you to run, you run.Understand?”She nodded once, her expression tight with tension.
“They’re waitin’ for us, Griffin,” Inferno whispered.
I nodded, easing my gun from its holster.As a rule, none of us carried weapons.Given every single member of Kiss of Death had pulled a stint in prison, carrying a weapon was either a parole violation, or a felony by itself.The last thing I intended to ever do was go back to prison.Knuckles only made exceptions when he sent us into something hot.Like tonight.Which told me the level of concern he had about us going into this.I held the gun down along my leg, out of sight, and leaned close to the door.I couldn’t hear anything inside, but that didn’t mean the place was empty.“You said the ledger and the laptop are in the bedroom closet?”
“Yes.”Her voice was steady now.“Behind the shoe rack in a false bottom.”
