Page 127 of Cobra
“Like Olivia,” Cain says. The room shifts when he says her name. Small. Not enough for anyone outside this room to notice. Enough for me.
My eyes cut to Cain. He doesn’t look away. He knows what he said. Knows what it means. Knows I’m not reacting because I disagree. I’m reacting because saying her name in this room puts weight on the air.
Dom nods. “Like Olivia.”
Landon’s fingers tighten around the folder. “This isn’t grabbing girls off the street.”
“No,” Dom says, voice lower now. “It’s moving inventory.”
Inventory.
The word lands in the room like a body dropped on concrete. No one speaks for a second. Not because we don’t know what men are capable of. We know. That’s the problem.
I don’t move. Don’t shift. Don’t give the room anything. Inside, something locks into place with a sound only I hear.
Olivia’s folder. Her name. Her schedule. Her work. Her family. The notes about her walking when she stayed late. The van. The needle. The alley. The knife. The voice telling her that dumbass biker couldn’t keep her safe.
She wasn’t unlucky. She wasn’t in the wrong place. She was selected. Processed. Entered into a system. Like data. Like product. Like something that could be watched, grabbed, transported, and sold.
My chest doesn’t tighten. It goes cold. Clean. Everything unnecessary burns away.
Logan’s eyes move to me for half a second. He sees enough. He always does. “We don’t rush this blind,” he says.
“They’re already moving.” Every eye shifts to me. I don’t elaborate. Don’t need to. They know what I mean. While we sit here building maps and tracing money, they’re moving women. Moving routes. Moving targets. Adjusting because we disrupted them. They don’t stop because one crew got hit. Systems don’t stop when one piece breaks. They route around it.
Logan’s stare holds mine. “I know.”
“Then move faster.”
His jaw flexes. “Careful.”
I say nothing.
Punishment from before is handled. Logan put his fist in my ribs three days ago hard enough to make breathing interesting, and I took it because I earned it. I walked past him with Olivia in my arms, and he couldn’t let that stand. President first. Brother second.
Done.
This is different. This is now.
Dom breaks the stare before it gets worse. “There are options.”
Logan looks back at him. “Talk.”
“Surveillance expansion,” Dom says. “We can watch known traffic points, cross-check routes against missing persons clusters, and dig into storage units, warehouses, old industrial properties. Anywhere that gives them movement without too much visibility.”
“Intercept routes,” Shadow adds.
Dom nods. “If we can predict one.”
Cain says, “External alliances.”
Logan’s mouth tightens.
Cain continues anyway. “Other chapters. Friendly clubs. Contacts who owe favors. If this is regional, we can’t watch every road ourselves.”
Landon flips another page. “Known targets need protection too. If we can identify them from the pattern, we warn them or pull them into safer spaces before another grab.”
“Cops?” Hammer asks. No one likes the word.
