Page 73 of The Devil's Reward
“I agree, but we’ll need to wait until our President is back at the table before we vote,” Sniper cautions. “Still, I’ll make sure he knows he has our appreciation. Kid is going to make a good brother.” He looks around the room and leans on the table. “Intel from the SUV says it belongs to a dummy corporation that we’ve traced back to Dmitri’s operation.”
“Fucking bastard,” Hammer seethes. “I say we blow him to kingdom come.”
“Fuck yes,” Dagger agrees with a sharp nod.
“Got my vote,” Titan says.
“Me too,” Twigs adds, his face somber. A rare instance for him. Others all chime in their agreement except for Viper, Sniper, and I.
Sniper holds up his hand to silence everyone. “We have no idea where he is, and even if we did, we don’t want to get caught with a fucking bomb. His time is coming, but we need to be smart about it.”
“Ever since this happened I’ve been trying to trace him,” Cryos says grimly, opening his laptop and turning on the projector. A map of the town and the surrounding area is displayed, with a couple location markers. “The red is all the places that we know he’s been.” I immediately recognize the garage, the warehouse, and the neighborhood where King and Sage first saw him. No clear patterns emerge. Then a thought occurs to me.
“The old asylum isn’t marked off,” I tell Cryos.
He frowns at me. “Why would it need to be?” he asks in confusion.
“Because that’s where they took Talon the last time we knew they were in town,” I explain. “They used it as their torture chamber.”
“You think they’re still using it?” Bowie asks, leaning forward as he stares at the screen.
“Possible,” I say with a shrug. “Would be kind of stupid of them, since we know about it.”
“Or smart,” Viper interjects. “They figure we forgot about it, so they wait until the smoke clears, a new bad guy comes into town, and they get back to work.”
Sniper nods. “Bowie, you and Frost go check it out,” he orders. “You find anything, report back, don’t engage.”
“Done,” Bowie says immediately, green eyes hard.
“We still need to check out the old abandoned farmhouse,” Hammer reminds everyone. I don’t react, because as far as anyone is concerned, Viper and I never left the clubhouse the other night.
“You remember where it is?” Sniper asks him. Hammer nods. “Take Dagger and Medic with you. You find anything, let me know. Again, do not engage. We need to be smart about this because we can’t risk them getting away.”
“I’m good,” Hammer says gruffly, but it’s obvious he would like nothing more than to do as much engagingas he can.
Sniper looks around the room. “Any other ideas?”
“If we’re checking out old spots, then maybe we should check out the warehouse area too,” Timber suggests. “I know they burned it to the ground, but we never searched any of the surrounding areas, and we could be missing something. They might have another spot close.”
“Do it,” Sniper agrees. “I’ll go with you. Everyone else, get out on the street and listen for chatter. Anyone bragging or any of Dmitri’s men around.”
“I’ll keep working on trying to find Dmitri,” Cryos adds. “Let you know if I find anything.”
Sniper nods. “Alright, meeting adjourned. Let’s get these bastards.” He bangs the gavel and everyone starts to disperse. Those with assignments head out, Sniper tells Timber to hold up until he can answer a few things, and I head up to my room to take a shower.
When I emerge, I’m not surprised to find Viper laying on my bed, eyes on his phone. “Make yourself at home,” I drawl sarcastically as I drop my towel and grab some fresh clothes.
Viper ignores my words, and my bare ass, and asks, “So what happened with Quinn?”
I pause while pulling on my jeans, but quickly continue and reply, “Told her some shit, and she let me stay the night.”
“Hmm,” Viper says, looking over at me, eyes assessing. “She the one, brother?”
His question might sound simple, but the weight behind it is evident. His blue eyes on mine are piercing, and he’ll know if I lie. I nod. “She’s gonna be my Old Lady, Viper, and that little girl is going to be mine. She told me the shit she’s gone through, and Quinn deserves so much better than where she’s at now.” I briefly explain what she told me about Bobby.
“Fucking bastard,” Viper growls in response when I finish. “Doing that shit to your wife and kid? Son of a bitch is lucky he’s dead.”
I nod. “I said the same thing. He was a traitor, and then he hid his little black book in his unborn daughter’s crib? Who the fuck does that?”
