Striker holds my eyes a second before nodding. “Yeah, I can do that. In fact, I discovered something else by talking to that cartel dude. They used some of our devices as fleet units. The Hyenas didn’t steal them to sell. They stole them to use. They’ve been using them in their vans to run their stolen-parts pipeline like a real logistics outfit.”
He replaces the image on the screen with a map. It had a little blue dot moving along a gray line. “They disabled the trackers before, but I hacked their system. Now we know what they know.”
Striker proudly asks, “Do you want to know where your old lady is right now, brother?”
A slow smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. “She’s the blue dot, right?”
“Yeah, she is. I can tell because it was the strongest signal when they were attacking our compound. When they left the signal got weaker, which makes perfect sense since the tracker was on one of their vehicles.”
“Are they takin’ her to their clubhouse?” I ask.
“No,” Onyx says. “Taking her to their clubhouse or the cannery would be obvious. I’ve been reading through the material I grabbed from the cannery. The Hyenas are adapting to the Cartel’s way of doing things. One rule is to never housethe product and people at the same location. It’s risky in a lot of ways, including drawing undue attention to stockpiles.”
I respond, “Yeah, folks like us could show up and torch their whole operation, right?”
Several brothers laugh because that’s exactly what happened.
“Yeah. But here’s the thing, the rent on three different sites was paid out of the same account, including the cannery. The second one is a storage lot on the other side of town, the opposite direction your blue dot is travelling. The third location is a transport yard on our side of the river. Satellite images show eight acres of land with dozens of vehicles behind a chain-link fence.”
I watch the blue dot crawl along towards that transport yard.
“They want to take her someplace isolated. A place they don’t think we know about. That’s where Stripe will officially rip my property cut off her back and replace it with his own. We all know what comes after that,” I point out grimly. “He might even punish her for running from him and shacking up with me all these weeks.”
Striker adds, “And no matter how much she protests, Coal ain’t gonna do shit to protect her. She’s not a daughter to him, or even a human being. She’s just an item he sold to solidify his position with the cartel.”
My jaw aches, because I’m clenching my teeth so hard. Looking around the room at my club brothers, I say what we’re all already thinking, “When Stripe figures out she’s carrying mychild, he’ll consider that the ultimate betrayal. There’s no tellin’ what he might do to her if his anger burns hot enough.”
“We need to move right away,” Jasper announces. “Time is not on your old lady’s side right now.” He folds his arms over his chest and tells me. “Want to get with Striker and work out a route?”
“Hell the fuck yes, I do,” I respond flatly.
“Everyone else, gear up,” Jasper commands. “Jinx’s old lady is pregnant and that makes her extra vulnerable. We roll out the minute Striker sends the quickest route.”
I put my head together with Striker and look over the map of that area. If I could be accused of having a best friend, it would be Striker. He knows how important this is to me and is leveraging every ounce of his brain power to help me find her. The second we finalize the route Striker texts it to all the brothers, while I run out of the room to gear up. I stop at the door long enough to look back at him. “I almost forgot to thank you.”
He glances up from the screen, looking surprised. “You don’t have to thank me. I’m as dedicated to finding Nora as you are.”
“Keep eyes in the air on this one, brother. I have a bad feeling things might go sideways this time.”
“Roger that. Gear up, hit the road and trust that I’ll be reporting what I see through your earpiece.”
I turn, run to the armory, and pull out what I need. Truth be told, I stick weapons of every type and size all over my body. This is the battle of a lifetime, and I want to be ready foranything. No matter what it takes or what those bastards have done to her, I’m gonna bring her home. The sound of my boots hitting the floor echoes through the clubhouse as I run out to meet up with the other brothers in the parking lot.
Jasper is already addressing the brothers, giving instructions we all know by heart. “Tonight we stay together. Nobody rides ahead or breaks formation. When we get there, nobody fires until we get Jinx’s old lady out. You better be the stealthiest motherfucker on the planet while we’re lookin’ for her. If you have to use force, do it with your hands or with a blade.”
His eyes land on me. “I don’t care what you see once we get there, Jinx’s old lady is the priority.”
I’ve never been prouder to be a club officer in the Sons of Rage than I am at this moment. This is why we joined the club, not only to be part of something bigger than ourselves, and the brotherhood of like-minded men, but also because we have each other’s backs. Even the strongest man needs back up every now and then. Tonight, I have an army at my back while going into enemy territory to get my old lady back.
I speak up, “Once we get Nora to safety, Stripe is mine. I’m gonna make sure my old lady never has to look over her shoulder for that fucker again.”
Jasper says, “Let’s load up. I want to get there before sunup.”
As we’re leaving, Dr. Marsh pulls up to help with the wounded and shoves a first aid kit into my hands. “Listen to me, Jinx. When you find her, she’s gonna be scared even if she doesn’t show it. Be careful with her. Carry her out if you have to,but don’t make her run, throw her over your shoulder or stress her out more than she already is. Tell her she’s safe, everything’s going to be alright, and then get her to me as soon as possible.”
“Got it, Doc. You’re gonna be here when we get back, right?”
“Yes, unless you let me know she’s in bad shape. If she is, I’ll meet you at St. Mary’s. I have admitting privileges there.”
