Page 32 of Bayou Knights

My phone rings and it’s Jace.

“Yeah,” I bark into it.

“I am sending you the maps I found. I have circled some things on them, Ranger can interpret.”

“Good. All good there?” I ask since I haven’t heard from Bones. Jace goes silent.

“Jace?”

“Prez, it’s bad here. We don’t know who yet, but Bones is dead. The clubhouse was shot up the other night. We didn’t want to tell you because of all this other shit. Gator is running things and has a clean-up crew.”

“Fuck,” I sag onto the bed. Sly is dead, my best friend is dead.

“I’m sorry, Prez.”

“These assholes are trying to split us up,” I mumble.

“Smart move if you think about it,” Jace replies.

“Yeah, I should have thought about that. Fuck. Tell Gator to call me,” I hang up.

“Bones?”

“Dead. This club is using Beast Vibes colors and has been causing havoc. This started a little bit before Plum showed up, but by coincidence Plum’s soon-to-be ex is ex-Beast Vibes.”

“You think he’s trying to cause problems with the club?”

“Both of ours. We think it’s Beasts, we could start a war, and another club could come in and destroy us both if we’re in the midst of a war.”

“True. Fuck, this is a mess. I think you’re onto something. This could be human trafficking. And it could be a way to take over your territory.”

“What the fuck do I do?” I’m at a loss. Bones was good at this.

“You let me and Capone along with Rip do our jobs. Keep Army and Ranger here, they can be our eyes in the skies. You need to go home,” he tells me.

“Yeah,” I nod as my door is throw open and Dixon looks like a beast ready to tear apart some prey.

“Dixon?”

“They found Lyra and it’s not good. And it’s not what we thought,” he says.

“Diablo get Cupid to rent a truck,” I say as I make Dixon sit.

“Tell me from the beginning,” I tell him, pouring a full glass of brown liquid for him, he looks like he needs it.

“My men found her. Capone, your guy helped. She was found in the basement of her own house. It’s why no one saw her leave,” he says.

“In her basement?”

“She’s alive, but she had been chained up,” he says.

“Fuck,” I say, “D, tell Cupid to drive straight to California. Trick and Stetson should still be close. Bring Lyra home.”

“On it,” Diablo does just that as Ziggy runs in breathless.

“I was with him,” Ziggy says.

“We’re going home. Bones is dead,” I state and Ziggy reels back.