Ash brought him a coffee, and Vike drained it in one go, tapping the mug on the table for more. “You get the message from Styx?” Vike said.
“No. Just got up.” I looked around for my cell, but fuck knew where it was.
“Gotta be at church in twenty. Tanner finally got us a lead.”
My pulse started slamming in my neck as my heart tried to cope with the sudden rush of adrenaline.
“Thought you’d like that.”
“He’s found her?” Phebe. A picture of the redhead rushed to my mind. Not that I hadn’t been thinking about the bitch non-stop since we’d found out she was missing.
“No idea.” Vike leaned forward, running his hand down his beard. “But I’m getting real fucking bored lately of standard runs and all the talk of Prez’s damn wedding. Who gives a shit about that? I want Klan scum to hunt.”
My fingers twitched on the tabletop at the thought of tracking Phebe down, of taking out the fucker who had her. Too many nights I’d stayed awake, imagining cutting that fucker apart. Slitting his stomach open and watching as his blood and guts spilled at my feet. And I’d smile. I’d smile through it all with Phebe by my side, watching the asshole die a slow and painful death.
It had taken Tanner longer than he’d thought to get any kind of shit on this Meister dick. And I was restless. I agreed with Vike. Things had been too quiet. I may have been out of the Marines, but I still needed the fucking rush of the fight, of the kill, in my life.
With the Hangmen that shit came in spades.
And it looked like it was about to kick off again.
Fuckin’ A.
“I’ll get dressed.”
I got up and threw on my shirt, cut and boots. We were out of my cabin in minutes, Ash behind us. If it was church, the prospect would be pouring drinks and whatever the fuck else Styx told him to do. I leaned against my cabin and lit up a smoke as Vike hammered on Flame’s door. “Get the fuck out, Flame! Gotta go!”
Through the window of Flame’s cabin, I saw Flame head to the door, Maddie rushing behind him. He turned back to her, and the closest thing Flame had to a smile spread across his face, then he leaned down and kissed his bitch.
My chest tightened. My smoke burned away, untouched, in my hand. I couldn’t believe Flame had something like that.
“AK!” Vike’s voice cut through my thoughts. “You ready?”
I nodded, seeing Flame walk outta his door.
Flame flicked his chin at me, then his eyes tracked around the yard. I knew who he was looking for—he did this every day. Only I noticed. I was the only one trained to not miss a thing. When he saw Lil’ Ash, Flame’s shoulders relaxed.
Ash waved his hand. “Hey, Flame.”
“You good?” Flame asked curtly, running his gaze over every inch of his brother.
“Yeah,” Ash said. He was smiling a little. I knew he had recognized Flame’s attempt at affection. I winked at Ash to confirm that what he thought was true.
Maddie’s small frame appeared in the doorway. “Viking, AK.” Flame instinctively moved toward her, like they were fucking magnets or some shit.
“Madds,” I said.
Vike smiled. “Mornin’, sugar tits.”
Flame’s lip curled at our brash brother, but it was Vike. Weren’t no one stopping that car crash.
“Hello, Asher,” Maddie said to Ash. She nudged Flame’s arm, her eyes urging him to do something.
Flame’s jaw clenched, then, without looking at Ash, he said, “You’re comin’ to dinner tonight.”
Maddie shook her head in exasperation. She wasn’t pissed at the possessiveness. She knew he wasn’t being a dick, he was just . . . fuck, he was just being Flame.
“Ash, what Flame was trying to ask was would you like to have dinner with us tonight? I will cook something special.”
Ash looked to me, and I flicked my chin, urging him to accept. “Yeah. Thanks. I’d love to,” Ash replied, and Maddie smiled at him so big.
Flame backed her into the house. He came back a couple of minutes later and stood beside me.
“You good?” I asked. Flame nodded without meeting my eyes. We did this every day, hell, several times a day. You good? was more than just a passing question. It was Flame telling me that his head wasn’t full of fucked-up shit. Shit from his past.
“Good.” I threw my smoke to the ground and pushed off the wall. I led the way up the hill to the compound.
To church.
Where Tanner better have some fucking good news.
’Cause I was motherfucking itching to hunt.
*****
“Well?” Ky asked.
Tanner ran his hand over his head. The brother hadn’t attended one of our cookouts or slutfests in weeks. Not that he ever entertained himself with sluts—still too hard for his spic pussy down in Mexico. He’d been busy trying to track down Meister. Unlike most of the white-power shit Tanner and Tank grew up with, this Meister was untraceable and off the grid. As much of a computer whizz kid as Tanner was, Meister was proving to be one slippery fucking snake to pin down.
“Gotta be honest, I didn’t think I was anywhere close to finding anything on this prick.” Tanner nodded toward Tank. “We knew of him, of course. I knew he had dealings with my father and uncle, just never met him myself. He’s Aryan Brotherhood, but works closely with the Klan. And there’s nothing on him. No email traces, no invoices, no texts. Nothing.”
I gritted my teeth and glanced at Styx, who was listening closely. Ky wasn’t originally gonna tell the prez about the plan to get Phebe, because of his fucking wedding, but that didn’t last long. Styx knew something was up with his VP. He read him like I read Flame and Vike. So Ky fessed up, and Styx was all for the plan. He’d had to push his wedding back by a month anyhow to get the pastor Mae wanted to conduct the ceremony, so he had time to kill.
“But you found something?” Ky translated as Styx signed.
Tanner sighed, the black circles around his eyes showing how hard the brother had been working. “I got something.” He shook his head, and my blood ran cold. I knew whatever he had found wasn’t good.
Tanner opened the file in front of him and threw a photograph toward the prez. Styx looked at it, then gave it to Ky. “Some middle-of-nowhere ghost town?”
Ky passed the picture around. Vike handed it to me, and I studied it. It was an aerial shot, and the picture was grainy, but from what I could make out, it was just a huge piece of land scattered with decrepit old buildings.
I passed the picture along. “Fucker owns this?”