Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
She blinks and sits up. “Did Papa realize we’re onto him?”
“Nah. This ain’t like when they took out the doc and we had to run.” I kiss the worry from her brow and haul my ass out of bed. “He’s heading out of town.”
Frowning, she glances at the clock. “Why?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.” And if this gives us an opportunity, we’re going to take it.
We knew we might be in for the long haul, so the entire club isn’t here—though they’re on standby and ready to ride this way if we come up with a plan that needs a hell of a lot more manpower. But right now it’s just ten of us spread out over four vehicles. No bikes, no vests. Nothing that’ll point fingers at us later.
From the interstate, Papa’s car turns onto the Great Basin Highway, which passes through a long stretch of nowhere. Zoomie and Blowback back off a bit so the fuckers won’t spot their tail. Anyone else but Blowback driving, that might have worried me we’d lose them. But that brother’s like a dog on a bone and Papa won’t be slipping away from him.
The way the rest of us are hauling ass, when Zoomie tags us to say they turned off onto a smaller road, we’re only about ten minutes behind. All around us, there’s just desert scrub—a different part of the state but reminding me a whole lot of where the barns were. Just the middle of fucking nowhere. But that makes it a little easier to figure out where we might be headed. In the vehicle Saxon’s driving, Gunner’s looking through online maps for anything that might draw Papa out here.
He sends me a screenshot. Look at this shit, then zoom in. That the van you were talking about?
The communications van they used to broadcast the fight from the Cage. The van itself isn’t real clear, but the shadow cast by the satellite dish is.
God bless fucking Google Earth. Those photos might have been taken any time in the past few years, and that van might not be there now…but it was. And that’s a real clear connection to Papa.
I show it to Maxine, who sucks in a breath. Then in the backseat, Handlebar takes a look. His face goes real grim. “And is that another farmhouse and a fucking barn?”
“Looks like.”
“I thought you said the Cage was done.”
“It is,” I tell him. “But he’s out of money and probably real desperate. So it might be he’s starting it up again.” And it wouldn’t be the first time greed made even a smart and patient man careless. “The feds never found that van. If he’s got it, he can still broadcast. There’s nothing stopping him if he can put a few new stables together.”
“There’s something stopping him,” Maxine says with that rage flaring in her eyes.
Yeah, there is. “Get everyone on that map. We need a way in that doesn’t have us rolling up the driveway with our dicks flapping in the wind.”
That way in is a reservoir road that cuts around behind the property on a ridge running east. We’ll be hoofing it for about a half mile, but the lay of the land and the barn itself will keep us out of sight of the farmhouse and give us some cover. We just have to make sure Papa is out of that armored car before we start lighting shit up.
Ideally, we’d take longer to scope out the territory and the property. Can’t be patient now. Fuck knows how long he’ll be here—or when a chance like this will come again.
We pull off the reservoir road and meet Zoomie, who points up toward the ridge where Blowback’s seeing what he can see. As I’m gearing up, I tell Maxine, “You’ll be staying here with Hashtag and Bull.”
She nods. Her face is pale and expression taut, just like I remember how it was when we were watching her brother fight in the Cage.
I hate that she’s afraid. But there’s nothing that can fix it except getting this done, so there won’t be anything left for her to fear. “You’re gonna hear some gunfire, maybe an explosion or two. But I fucking swear to you, I’m coming back. We’re all coming back.”
“I know,” she whispers, and I kiss the hell out of her before heading out.
It’s a sunny, cold morning. The air’s clean and clear and just the right temperature to take out the trash.
We move in quick and low, Blowback taking the lead since he already scoped out the path that’ll give us the most cover. Handlebar, Gunner, and me are right on his ass—just like old times, except that Crash isn’t with us. Otherwise this shit’s like slipping on a real comfortable boot. Right behind us comes Saxon and Zoomie and Duke. If we need it, they’ll lay down suppressive fire while the four of us cross the stretch of open yard between the barn and the house…and then make sure that if Papa runs for it, he doesn’t reach his car. But I don’t want him to run for it. I want him to hole up and trust his security to protect him.