His tone didn’t allow for any argument, so I only twisted my neck so I could watch while he crossed the room and crouched beside the brick. A piece of paper was wrapped around it, secured with a rubber band.
Grabbing a pen from the end table, he inched the note free without touching it. Then he used the pen to unfold it, reading what was written on the paper in thick and ugly letters. Biting out a low curse, he turned the note so I could read it too.
THE OLD MAN’S BOOK.
MIDNIGHT.
SOUTH BARN.
I stared at the message, realizing Wade had somehow found out about Grandpa’s notebook. And now he wanted it.
Brogan was already on his phone.
“Lock the property down. Now. Full perimeter.” He listened for a moment, then added, “Brick through the front window. Message demanding the notebook at midnight. Doesn’t give us much time to get our shit together.”
He ended that call and immediately made another.
“Raines. We just had a brick come through the window with a demand for Otis’s book.”
I could hear Bex’s dad’s voice on the other end, though not the words. Brogan’s expression darkened further. “Yeah. Pissed about the outcome, but I can’t blame him.”
When he hung up, he came back over to the couch and tugged me to my feet. “After we left, the rancher panicked and called Wade. Warned him about the records.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I leaned against his chest. “Are we going to make the exchange?”
Brogan pressed a finger under my chin to tilt my head back. His eyes were hard, but when they met mine they softened just a fraction. “No, but we’ll let him think we might.”
I appreciated that he wasn’t shielding me from the truth. He was keeping the promise he’d made by keeping me in the loop, even when the news was ugly.
16
JACQUELINE
More of the Black Crowns arrived as the sun went down, engines rumbling up the driveway in a steady stream. They parked in the barn closest to the house so their motorcycles couldn’t be seen from the road. I stood on the porch watching them unload equipment from a van one of them drove and move toward the south barn with quiet purpose.
Bishop walked up to the porch, carrying a plain leather journal that looked an awful lot like Grandpa’s. “I thought we weren’t really doing the exchange?”
He handed it to Brogan, who flipped the pages open so I could see it wasn’t my grandfather’s handwriting inside.
Bishop smirked. “Decoy.”
“How in the world did you manage that in such a short time?”
“Easy enough.” Bishop shrugged. “Sent a prospect into town for a stack of journals, picked the closest match, and filled a bunch of pages with absolute bullshit in case anyone actually opens it.”
I blinked. “Wow.”
“That was the easy part.” Brogan handed the journal back to him. “Now we gotta trick Kessler’s crew.”
He headed for the south barn while Wraith and Trigger stepped past us to go inside the house. Both men were armed and alert.
Brogan turned me to face him, his hands settling on my waist. He leaned down and kissed me slowly, as though we had all the time in the world instead of minutes.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“I understand why you want me in the house. I do.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “But I’m going to be so worried.”
He reached into his cut and pulled out a burner phone, placing it in my hands. “Cipher already loaded the security feeds. You’ll be able to see what’s happening.”
