Page 14 of The Riders’ Reign

“If they’re at that airstrip, they must have flown in, right?” Phoenix points out. “If we know what planes landed there in the last few days, it helps. Can’t carry hundreds of men on a small private jet.”

He’s got a good point. “Okay, so we need someone to get the information about the flights in and out ASAP.”

Normie could do that. He has an in with some judges, and some law enforcement, beyond the local police. I bet he can find someone who could access that information. For the right fee, of course.

There’s a soft knock at the door. “Yeah?” I shout.

Caroline, the barmaid, peeks around the door. “There’s a call come through to the bar.”

“We’re kinda busy here, sweetheart,” Big Mike says.

She grimaces. “It’s Ghost.”

The room goes deathly still. Holy shit.

Mike nods. “Okay, can you put him through to the office?”

“Sure can. Give me a moment.”

She vanishes and, a minute later, the phone in the office rings. Saul steps up to take it, and I move back. He is the acting prez, after all. He picks the call up and presses the speaker button.

“Yeah?”

“I need speak to Rook,” Ghost says.

I sag a little in relief at hearing his voice. Saul hands me the phone without another word.

“It’s me,” I tell him. The line is a little crackly, as if he’s talking on a cell without great reception.

“Rook, listen, I don’t have long to talk. I’m with Hector Sanchez. Ledger’s father. He wants to do a swap…”

Immediately, my brain starts buzzing. Of course, Ghost knows Ledger is dead, but he’s not letting the man’s father know that much, and we need to do the same.

Ghost is still talking... “Ledger for me.”

Of course, I didn’t expect anything less.

He pauses. “Oh, and Rook. You’re going to need to get Ledger woken up. Hector wants to speak to him before we swap. For proof of life.”

Shit, shit, shit.

Ghost hasn’t finished yet. “I know he’s had two doses of sedatives in the last twelve hours. He’ll need some time to come around but, if you can throw some water over him, try to wake him, it might help.”

“We will call back in exactly one hour. I’d like to speak with my son then.” The deep, accented voice is calm but carries an authority that tells me Hector is not a man used to the word no. “If I don’t speak to him then, I’ll take something from your friend here. Maybe a finger, maybe a toe.”

“Listen, I…” The line goes dead.

Fuck.

“It could be way worse,” Phoenix states calmly. “We have a damn good idea they’re at an airstrip that’s only a couple of hours from here. We have weapons and a lot of men.”

“Except, they are calling back in one hour, and we don’t have Leger, which means Ghost loses a finger or a toe!” Camile sounds panicked.

Phoenix shakes his head. “Ghost can deal with whatever they throw at him. He’s trained for this shit, and he’s been through worse, I imagine. So long as they don’t kill him, he’s going to be okay. We just need a reason for the delay. And we need to be sure they’re at that airstrip.”

“We still don’t know what kind of firepower they have, though,” Saul points out. “Or how many men.”

“Wait.” Ace pushes himself away from the wall and looks around the room. “We don’t have Ledger, right?”