Page 24 of The Riders’ Reign
“We believe they may have been involved in your shooting.”
I narrow my eyes. “If you believe that, then why did you accuse the Revenants? These vehicles clearly aren’t their style.”
“Just wanted to see your reaction.”
He’s playing with me. Does that mean he knows more than he’s letting on?
If he’s only sent the deputy and a couple of local cops to the compound, it means they’re just asking questions, and it’s not a full raid. We can’t have the police getting involved. I don’t know the full story about what’s happened to Ghost, but having cops show up will most likely be his death warrant.
I have to give them something. Something to send them sniffing in the wrong direction. I’m not happy about it, though.
“There was a situation six months ago involving a psychiatric hospital. I believe the owner was involved with organized crime. It’s possible this is payback for that.”
He narrows his eyes. “A psychiatric unit where?”
“Nowhere in your district.”
“It’s in my district if you’ve brought trouble back here, Jack.”
“Yeah, well, they’ve got what they wanted—revenge on me—so they should be long gone by now.”
I hope he’s buying my story.
He clucks his tongue as he thinks. “The last time we picked up on the vehicles was when they were heading toward the freeway. We lost them after that, but there’s a chance they switched their plates.”
“Sounds about right. They’re professionals, after all.”
I don’t want Sheriff Busby digging into the events surrounding the psychiatric hospital we burned to the ground, but I’d prefer he does that, a long way from here, than learns about Ledger’s family, and Camile, and all the shit that’s gone down with that. I don’t want it to cause trouble for anyone at the university either, but my priorities aren’t about them right now.
Knowing the sheriff, he won’t want to dig up events that happened hundreds of miles from here. He just wants a peaceful community and an easy life. It’s the reason he turns a blind eye so much—he can’t even be bothered to deal with the paperwork.
“Okay, Jack, we’ll leave you to rest. If you think of anything else, you know where to find me.”
“Thanks for stopping by.”
The sheriff and officer leave, but a moment later, the door swings open again. I almost groan, thinking the sheriff has forgotten something, but instead it’s two faces I’d much rather see.
“Jack!”
Camile races in, followed closely by Ace. I’m happy to see them both, but particularly Camile. I immediately feel stronger, and braver—a better man just for being in her company.
“Hey, Baby-girl,” I say, my voice gruff and throat thick with tears.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Ace says.
I respect him like hell for that. Ace might act like a fucking lunatic, but sometimes he’s got his head on straight.
“Hey, Ace, before you go, can you get a message back to the compound?”
He nods. “Whatever you need, Prez.”
“Can you ask Rook to call me and be put through to my room. The doctor still hasn’t been to see me, my memory is as patchy as fuck, and I want to know what the hell happened out there. I can’t be sitting here not knowing how it went down. It’s driving me fucking crazy.” I pause to catch my breath. “Get Normie to the compound ASAP and get the fucking cops on our books to do their damned jobs and get the others off our backs.”
“They did provide us footage from the roads. That’s helped us locate where they are possibly keeping Ghost,” Ace says.
“That’s some good news. We need to be coordinated, though, so that this doesn’t blow up in our faces with the rest of the department.” I fill him in on everything I told the sheriff.
Ace nods. “Okay, that makes sense. I’ll pass it back to the others, though it might be too late. They know how to handle the cops, though. They’ll deny knowledge of everything.” He pauses and adds, “They’re currently waiting on a call from Ledger’s father, Hector Sanchez, to get proof of life for Ledger in return for them not cutting a finger off of Ghost.”
