Page 181 of Cobra
He continues, “If she is as strong as Carter says Brooke was, she will hold. If she is as strong as you believe, she will hold longer.”
My hand flexes once. “She’ll hold.”
“I hope so.”
I lean closer to the phone. “Hope isn’t why you’re breathing tomorrow.”
Silence.
Then Matteo laughs softly. Not mockery. Something darker. “Good. Keep that. Aim it at the right targets later.”
The call ends shortly after. No farewell. No comfort. No promise beyond the plan. The phone screen goes dark on Logan’s desk.
For a few seconds, nobody talks. The room processes. The bikers in us want movement, noise, engines, guns, doors kicked open, men dragged into daylight by their throats. The situation demands stillness first.
Discipline.
It feels like swallowing glass.
Logan breaks the silence. “We prep.”
The room snaps back. Orders start moving fast. Controlled. Efficient.
“Dom, get ready for Alessandro. Build a parallel trace. I don’t want a single stream we can’t verify.”
“Already setting up a clean machine,” Dom says. “No shared access to our internal system. He gets a sandbox, I get his feed, and if he tries anything cute, I cut him off.”
“Good. Landon, keep tracking Matteo’s transfer. Quietly.” Landon nods. “I want to know where the money lands after the auction house takes its cut.”
“Done.”
“Cain, medical and protection. Doc is here and waiting, any other hands are guarding the clubhouse.”
Cain’s jaw is hard. “Done.”
“Shadow, Hammer, vehicles. Quiet only. Vans, cages, no bikes near the route.”
Shadow nods once.
Hammer says, “Suppressed loadout?”
“Controlled,” Logan answers. “We need men alive.”
Joker sighs.
Logan points at him without looking. “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it loudly.”
Blaze says, “He always does.”
Joker tilts his head. “I’m wounded.”
“Not yet,” Hammer mutters.
For one second, the rhythm almost feels normal. Then the word on the screen pulls all of it back.
