Page 110 of Vandal Unbound

Knox shrugs. “Maybe. But you’re here now. So, if you think I’m gonna waste your time making you feel better or worse about something none of us can change, you’re dumber than Sunny looks.”

“Hey,” Sunny says, throwing up his hands. “Uncalled for.”

“Accurate,” Lock mutters.

“Careful, lover boy,” Sunny says. “I have a whole separate folder for you. You sometimes smile at your phone so hard, it makes me wonder if it’s legal for someone with federal clearance to send nudes.”

The room erupts in laughter. Everyone is curious about his FBI friend who helps him out when required.

But then Knox scrubs a hand over his mouth. “Before Sunny derails this whole meeting with whatever deeply disturbing thing he’s about to say next, we need to talk about Alvarez.”

The mention of his name no longer has the hold on me that it used to have. I take a breath.

“I’m gonna meet him,” Knox says, and the room settles fast. “Face-to-face. We’ll hand back Christian with an ultimatum.”

“That’s a terrible idea, Prez,” Havoc says.

“I’m going,” I say. I need to prove to myself that I’m no longer scared. And I need to show Alvarez that he can do whatever he wants to the Outlaws, but he won’t keep us down.

“No,” Knox says.

“I wasn’t asking,” I reply.

“I know. But I answered anyway.”

The room goes quiet.

I drag in a slow breath. “He came at me. He came near Daisy. Near Elsie. If you’re sitting down with him, I’m right there with you. Because there’s more you need to know. Elsie’s father wasone of Alvarez’s right-hand men. The whole story is Daisy’s to tell, not mine, but the reason the two of them are here is because they were trying to get away from him. I need to do it for them as much as I need to do it for the club.”

Knox studies me for longer than is comfortable. Then he nods. “You go,” he says finally, “and you follow my lead. You don’t speak unless I tell you to. You don’t move unless I tell you to. You so much as twitch like you’re about to turn this into a bloodbath, and I’ll have Havoc drag you out by your cut. Best friend or no best friend.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Then I’m gonna set it up now.”

32

VANDAL

The meeting takes place twenty miles outside the town at a derelict airboat marina that looks like it probably collapsed sometime during the Reagan administration.

Half the docks are missing boards. The bait shop is nailed shut with a faded sign above the door. And some young punk has spray-paintedFUCK OFFacross one of the storage sheds. The message seems appropriate, given who we’re gonna meet here.

The location was selected by us because Rizzo, a biker who left the club in good standing because of health issues, lives in one of the few homes nearby and was able to keep an eye on the location until we got here for signs of any setups.

I kill the engine and climb off my bike, as do my brothers. Cristian is about five minutes away, hidden off the main road in a van guarded by Lock and Reaper.

No one is expecting a pleasant afternoon. For the first time in my life, I’m wearing protection beneath my shirt. A slimline vest that I felt I owed Daisy and Elsie. And as soon as my feet hit the ground, I slide my fingers into knuckle dusters that have vicious spikes on them.

The air smells like salt water and sunbaked wood, and a gull screams overhead. It’s like the place has been suspended in time. There’s a power to feeling like it’s your turf rather than theirs, and I stand tall to ground myself.

Knox stands beside me, his hands loose at his sides. “You remember the rules?”

“Don’t speak. Don’t move.”

Knox nods.

“I assume killing anyone is also out of the question then.”