Ryder tightened his fists as he took over the story. “However, they let us know that we had the wrong guy by trying to burn down our bar, leaving the poor bastard’s snitch of a wife burned, beaten, and dying in the parking lot. It’s time to end this once and for all. After weeks of calls, surveillance, investigation, and some very impressive coercion by Bear and Ax, we know without any doubt that it was a nomad for the Sinners who pulled the fatal trigger. It is time to avenge Abel’s death once and for all. We all need this. We all loved Abel, and his passing wasn’t just felt in Vilas. Every chapter(?) felt the wake of this tragedy, and we need to come together to do thisright.”
Ryder nodded over to Bear to fill them in on our part. “Ralph was hiding out in Atlanta, and Ax came and helped me. He’s no longer with us, but we have all the information we could ever need to make this a clean, widehit.”
The guys all shouted andclapped.
“Now we just have to get the rest of this shit handled and we’ll all be able to sleep better at night.” Buck took a swig from his very own coffee cup and winked atme.
I held my mug up to him in a silent cheer before asking, “The guns?” I looked over to Buck, and henodded.
“In the storage room in theback.”
I stood. “Here’s the plan Holt, Ryder, and I came up with last night.” I started to pace around the table. I needed to keep moving to look every man in the eye, needed to see their resolve in what we were about to ask of them. We couldn’t afford to have any weak links; that was how Abel had gotten murdered in the first place. “I am going to take Mac with me in my truck. We both have hunting permits set up for North Carolina and its deer season, so we’ll be able to use that as a cover if we get stopped with all that firepower. Make it look like we have only shotguns in the back, just a couple good ol’ boys heading east for a good time. Ryder and Holt will do the same. Between the two trucks, we will be able to get enough out there for this to work. Raine will be staying here and Crickett will be here in the morning. We need to keep them as far away from all of this aspossible.”
Crickette was Abel’s widow. She was the matriarch of our family, and as far as I was concerned, everything we were about to do was forher.
After I took my seat, Holt started to explain the rest of the plan. “From what we have gathered, there are four hideouts that the Sinners and their counterparts are using right now. We’ll hit all four simultaneously. We’re taking out all of those sons of bitches at once. The Sinners are the reason for two presidents’ deaths at this point, and the entire organization is a threat to our wellbeing as far as I seeit.”
“Aye, brother. We’re with you whatever you need.” Buck leaned back in his chair. “Now where do Bear and I come into play in allthis?”
Ryder smirked a bit. “Well, Buck, I need you here with Raine and Crickett. You knew Abel and that will comfort them a lot, and I need someone I can trust my mother-in-law, baby and woman’s lives with. Who better than a damn scoutsniper?”
Buck slammed his fist on the dark wooden table that had the Unacceptables skull and bones etched in the middle. “Can’t I satiate mybloodlust?”
“Come on man, Crickett will cook for you,” Ryderteased.
Buck rubbed his belly. “As long as she makes her famous chili and jalapeñocornbread.”
“I’ll tell her to pack her big pot right after we’re done with thismeeting.”
“Bear, I was hoping you and Jaxon could do the fourth hit. It’s in between here and Atlanta, almost too easy of a detour to be coincidence, if you get what I’m sayin’.” I knew Bear would take that personally, and I’d waited until then to tell him so he didn’t get hasty and blow the house up on his way out toKilleen.
I watched Bear sit up straighter, puffing his chest out. “Consider itdone.”
“Bear and Jaxon, Holt and Ryder, you and Mac—that’s only three,” Trent remarked from the end of thetable.
“Trent, you’re going to take Jett with you and be the fourth.” I slapped him on the back. “We all know you feel responsible for what happened before. Shit happens, brother, but we’re going to make it right, and you’re a key player in it. We all know how important this is toyou.”
Buck slammed his gavel. “I don’t think this needs a vote. We’re all in this. I spoke to the other presidents this morning and they send their blessings along with a small present of extrafirepower.”
Our Sweetwater and Arkansas charters weren’t sending enforcements yet; we wanted to have a second wave as backup just in case we needed it. We were trying to be as smart as possible when it came to this retaliation. We were already hurting from the previous casualties, and we didn’t need anymore.