Rubi kissed his teeth. Then he sighed. “Fine. I’ll go kidnap a doctor.”
“You’ll do what now?”
But he was already walking away, and I trusted him enough to let him go. Rubi was the most ridiculous human on the planet, but he was pure fucking magic when he needed to be. If anyone could conjure the expertise we needed onto this compound without drama, it was him.
I scanned the yard. It was quiet, the few club members on site the kind of brothers who’d raise hell in the blink of an eye if I asked them to, no questions asked.
Orla was in the chapel kitchen with River, and I smelled bacon in the air as I tugged the burner from my pocket and called Jakov, trying every number I had for him, praying that after weeks of ghosting us, he’d finally pick up the phone.
He didn’t, and I tried one last number—the one we’d been left for his predecessor, Pavel Sidorov, so long ago I’d forgotten about it.
I fired off a text, being as brief and covert as I could.
Burner:i have your lost property at my house
The reply was instant, leaving me something else to feel guilty about. Why the fuck hadn’t I tried this number before?
Russians:Whole?
Burner:not yet, but we have our best people fixing it
Russians:Eight hours. We will not forget this.
The exchange ended on that ominous note, but I wasn’t as disturbed as I might’ve been before Alexei. These Russians, man. They were scary as hell but loyal to a fault. If Jakov came to believe he owed us a favour, I wasn’t gonna complain.
I went back inside. Folk was dressing Locke’s arm. Viktor was still out, but his face had lost the blank oblivion he’d worn since I’d set eyes on him and turned as fucked up as the rest of him.
Mindful of Lida, I crouched beside the bed and rubbed his arm. I had no real affection for Viktor, I didn’t know him well enough, but I’d never believed him to be anyone who deserved the pain he was in right now. “Is he okay?”
Folk finished up with Locke and they both came closer. “Honestly? I don’t know. When his people pick him up, they’ll need to get him to a facility that can assess the damage all those months have left him with.”
“Jakov said eight hours.”
Folk nodded. “Until then, it’s on us.”
Onthem. Him and Locke. I had no clue what to do with someone in such a shit state. All I did know was the sooner Jakov retrieved Viktor, the better. Maybe then I’d convince Locke to let us take care ofhim.
As it was, he pretty much fell asleep standing up, propped against the wall, holding his bad arm to his chest.
I stayed close, holding his hand, taking his weight in case he knocked out for real, until the unmistakable rattle of a bobber shattered the quiet and roused us both.
Rubi.
He was back.
I emerged from the bunkhouse as he rumbled into the yard, a nondescript car behind him.
Rubi stopped beside me and flipped his visor. “You ordered a doctor, my lord?”
“Depends where the fuck you got it.”
“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”
Fuck’s sake. Did I really want to bring a civilian into this? Would Cam if he was here to make the decision?
There were no clear solutions, but the hard truth was that Locke needed help, and that trumped everything. It had to, or we were so far from the brotherhood we wanted to be that we might as well burn it down.
I watched the doctor climb out of his car. “What did you tell him?”