Holding her gaze, I answered honestly, “Both, Locks.” She grinned. “Give me one for the road,” I said, yanking her closer. The little vixen kissed the ever-loving shit out of me without an ounce of shame.
When we broke apart, her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “Stay safe, Copper.”
Caressing her cheek, I told her, “I’ll do my best. I’ll call you tonight. Stay in the house, and stay out of trouble.”
“Yes, sir,” she said with a wink and gave me a salute before stepping away from my truck. With that, I pulled onto the road and led the caravan back to Devil Springs.
The drive back took a lot less time than it did when Layla and I made the trip there. The snow and ice had long since melted away and it looked like the majority of the fallen trees had been cleaned up.
Seeing the clubhouse when I pulled through the gates sent a flurry of mixed emotions through me. It was always good to be home, and the clubhouse was as much my home as my personal residence was. However, seeing the section that was bombed had me ready to explode with rage. I had to keep reminding myself it could have been worse. It could have been much worse.
“Prez!” Judge shouted. “You need to see this.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a feeling of dread washed over me. I took quick strides to my brothers gathered by the front doors. “How did that get in here? We locked the gates before we left. And what about the fucking cameras? Did they miss this, too?!?” I roared.
We had surveillance cameras scattered around the property that were set up to notify us if and when any motion was detected while we were away. Judge assured me the cameras had been updated to the highest level of security in his reach. He even consulted with Spazz, Byte, and Shaker’s girl, Keegan, to make sure the camera feed couldn’t be hacked again.
Judge shook his head, “No way, Prez. My phone has been blowing up since we arrived because I haven’t turned the motion notifications off yet. Hell, I got at least twenty alerts that were nothing more than a squirrel running through the lot while we were in Reedy Fork. I’ll go on inside and start checking the feed.”
“Hold up. We need to clear the building first. If someone got past the gates, they could’ve easily entered the building,” I said.
We divided into groups and started clearing the clubhouse and surrounding buildings section by section. With each clear called out, a little bit of tension was relieved.
As soon as the last section was cleared, Judge took off for his room, assumedly to review the camera feeds. I returned to the front of the building and picked up the manila envelope with my name written across the front.
I took it to my office and dropped heavily into the chair behind my desk. I knew whatever was in the envelope was something I did not want to see. I also knew that I had to look. Pussyfooting around it wasn’t going to do me any favors. Exhaling slowly, I ripped the fucker open and dumped the contents on my desk.
On top was a photo of a girl who looked vaguely familiar. Behind it was a photo of a young man I didn’t recognize. The third photo I recognized immediately. Gnaw. What the fuck? I put it to the side and quickly looked through the rest of the contents—photos of Octavius, Scream, and Belch.
Behind the last photo, I found a handwritten note. “All dead. All killed by Blackwings. No more Disciples die by the hands of Blackwings. Now, Blackwings will die by the hands of the Disciples.”
I carefully gathered the note and the pictures and stepped into the hall. “Church! Now!” I bellowed.
“We’ve got our proof, brothers,” I said and tossed the envelope onto the table.
I gave them a few moments to pass the stack around and look through the pictures. “I’m sure you all know the Croftridge chapter is responsible for the deaths of Octavius and Gnaw. As for Scream and Belch, we were told Aim and Asp were responsible. Regardless, it wasn’t anyone from Blackwings. Now, about the other two pictures. Any of you know who they are? The girl looked a little familiar, but I couldn’t place her.”
Judge straightened in his seat. “Isn’t she one of the club whores from Croftridge? I can’t remember the girl’s name. She was always drooling over Phoenix, even after he found Annabelle.”
Recognition dawned. “Yeah, I think you’re right. I’ll check with Phoenix. Okay, what about the guy?”
When no one recognized him, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask Phoenix about both. I snapped a picture of their pictures and sent it to Phoenix in a text asking if he knew who they were. I didn’t have a chance to utter a word before my phone was ringing in my hand.
“What’s going on, Copper?” Phoenix asked, his voice full of concern.
I put my phone on speaker and placed it on the table. “We decided to come back to the clubhouse, just the brothers for now. Found an envelope by the front doors with pictures of Octavius, Gnaw, Scream, Belch, and the two I sent you. The note said all were killed by Blackwings, and there would be no more Disciples killed by Blackwings because they were going to kill us first. I know about Octavius and Gnaw, but the other four have me stumped. I thought Aim and Asp killed Scream and Belch. How the fuck does that fall on the Blackwings?”
Phoenix cursed. “The girl was a club whore, but she was a mole for the Disciples. She’s the one who helped Octavius escape. When we found Octavius and Gnaw in the warehouse, she was there, but she was already dead. One of them shot her in the head before we arrived. Her brother was a prospect for the Disciples, and he’d been trying to kidnap Annabelle and did help with kidnapping Nathan. I can’t say for sure, but I bet the guy in the picture is her brother. Scream claimed he knew nothing about what Gnaw was up to and said he didn’t want any trouble with my club. He took care of the prospect as a show of good faith, so to speak.”
“Names?” Batta asked.
“The whore’s name was Crystal, and her brother’s name was Kevin. I think their last name was Jenkins or something like that.”
“Fuck!” I roared.
“What?” Phoenix yelled.
“Jensen. Their last name was Jensen. They’re Asp’s brother and sister,” I explained.