Peter popped his head up above a table and a bullet just missed him, lodging into the wooden tabletop. He dropped down to his stomach and leaned around the side of the table, taking out the man who almost got him.
Then there were two.
The remaining men had moved to the shadows when the shooting stopped. The silence was unnerving, and when I looked over at Vincent, he mouthed,Don’t fucking move!
I nodded, only because without knowing where the other two were, I didn’t dare make myself a target. Vincent lifted up and before he could press the trigger, a bullet cut through the air and hit him. My hand covered my mouth to muffle my scream as hefell back onto the floor. Peter didn’t waste any time standing up and taking aim at the man who shot Vincent. His head snapped back with the force of the bullet and he hit the floor.
I saw the last man step out of the shadows and aim for Peter. I opened my mouth to warn him, but a shot rang out before I could say a word. I wanted to close my eyes, so I didn’t see Peter fall, but he spun around and froze as the last man fell to the floor. I peeked around the table and saw my mother standing behind the bar, the gun in her hand still smoking.
The sound of boots stomping down the hall was music to my ears. And when Jude and the rest of the men entered the room with guns drawn, I slumped against the table in relief.
My hand fell to the floor and I released the gun I held. I pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and cried against my knees.
Jude fell on the floor beside me and gathered me in his arms. “What the fuck happened?”
I sobbed against his chest, unable to form any words.
“SULLY!” Pardon yelled, and I heard his heavy sigh when he found her behind the bar. Falcon had Jenna in his arms, and Smokey was holding onto my mother.
“Your old lady is a badass, Prez. Insane, but a fucking badass,” Vincent said from across the room, while Peter held a rag to his shoulder.
Chapter Forty-Five
Chasm
I walked into the basement to the sound of a fist hitting flesh. The stale, damp air made my stomach roll, and I thought about the cells King had constructed below the clubhouse in Nebraska.
We needed to do some updating, starting here. The dirt floor was soaked with decades of blood and other bodily fluids. Dirt that, with a court order, could possibly send us all to jail permanently.
We needed a place to work that could be cleaned. Where not a trace of evidence was left behind. Zero had taught Keno and Tito everything he knew. They were good at getting rid of evidence, but dirt couldn’t be cleaned.
Eagle and Falcon were taking turns beating the shit out of Nathan. And I watched in satisfaction for a moment before I ordered, “Enough. If you kill him, we get nothing out of him.”
Nathan laughed and then spat more blood into the dirt. “You ain’t getting shit from me.”
I smiled as I walked across the room and leaned down in his face. “I don’t need you totellme anything.”
I stepped back and held out my hand for his prospect cut. Morgan had finally confessed to me that her cut had been shredded too. I already had Warden order a new one.
I reached into the pocket and pulled out Nathan’s phone. Venom stood behind him with one hand around his neck and the other on his forehead, holding his head up. Krypto stepped forward and pried open his eyes that had already begun to swell.
I held the phone up in front of his face and was granted access. You had to love technology, and stupid kids who didn’t know better. As I scrolled through the numbers I didn’t recognize, I shook my head, seeing one number called repeatedly.
I opened the text messages and tsked.
I grinned at Nathan.
“You know, we were talking about you in church the other day. Dutch said he wasn’t sure you’d make it as a brother. Said your head was up your ass and you acted like you were in a frat house. So when Jenna said it was you that destroyed my old lady’s shit, I didn’t believe her at first.”
All three of the birds growled at once, and I rolled my eyes.
“I thought, no way was this kid smart enough to do that shit and not get caught. And looking at these messages really pisses me off, because how did we not figure this shit out when you are too goddamn fucking stupid to delete the messages you're sending to fucking Zephyr?” My voice rose with every word.
I looked around at my brothers. Each and every one of them had their eyes on the floor.
“I blame myself. I’m the president. It’s my job to know what is going on in my fucking house.”
I tossed the phone to Omen. “Find that number,” I told him.