Page 32 of Ghost’s Obsession (Savage Legion MC #14)

Ghost

S iege, Rigs, and I are in Zen’s office. He pulls up the image I just sent him.

“See there on the lower back panel?”

Zen zooms in on the writing. “Where did you say you got this from?”

I glance at Siege before answering, “Some kid on a skateboard sent it to me. He said he saw the message had the word ‘help’ and my phone number, so he snapped a picture of it and texted it to me.”

Rigs asks, “Did he happen to say where the van was parked?”

“No, but I asked him. He says the van was parked outside a convenience store an hour ago. Some thug bought a shit ton of beer, loaded it up in the back and drove away fast. Said he thought it over and decided it’s better to be safe than sorry. So, he sent it to the number on the van, my number.”

“This is the thing about small towns,” Siege responded. “Everybody is in everybody else’s business. This time it seems to have worked out in our favor.”

Zen grins. “Looks like your girl sent you a message.”

My heart thumps in my chest. “Heather is so fuckin’ smart to put my phone number on her help message.”

Rigs walks up to the screen and points to what she wrote underneath. “I’m more interested in what she wrote here. It says three men.”

“She’s clearly telling us that there are three men there with her.”

Siege murmurs out loud, “I can’t imagine that he’s going to try to face off with our whole club with just three men. That would be full on stupid, right?”

I sigh before pointing out what I noticed earlier when I’d looked at the schematics of the factory. “If they take up positions on the catwalk which runs along all four walls, they could set up a kill box. Anyone who walks in just gets gunned down from above.”

Rigs chimes in with his two cents’ worth. “I think it’s a mistake to assume that just because he only had two men with him when Heather wrote this message that he doesn’t have more now.”

“Well, either way my woman is doing everything humanly possible to assist us in rescuing her, right down to letting us know how many people are in the warehouse when she wrote this.

Zen tilts his head. “You’re saying that like it surprises you?”

I exhale slowly. “Nothing surprises me about Heather. She’s smart and resourceful, and I would never underestimate her.”

Rider says, “We’ve verified their hideout is North Ridge Confections, the recently closed factory on East Road. I think we should move as soon as possible. Within the hour. Why give them more time to rally reinforcements? Also, every minute she’s with those assholes puts her in more danger.”

Siege agrees immediately, “We gear up immediately. I’ve already called in enough brothers to get the job done. We’ll move in, silent and fast. Using the element of surprise will work to our benefit.”

Rigs speaks up, gazing at the floor plan that Zen just pulled up on the screen. “We need to breach through the back loading bay, not the front.”

I point to it on the floorplan. “The loading bay is the best choice because if they’re on the catwalk, there is an access point we can use to get up there in the back.”

Siege starts thinking out loud. “I want everyone wearing a bulletproof vest. Something about this situation is giving me a bad gut feeling. It’s too easy, which makes me think we’re missing something.”

“What about the guy who flipped?” Tank asks as he strolls into the room.

“Merc rides with us,” Siege says. “In cuffs. If he’s lying, he’ll be the first body they trip over.”

Zen is typing away, already uploading map overlays and tactical notes.

“Ghost,” Rigs says. “Are you going to be able to refrain from shooting this fucker on sight?”

“It depends,” I tell him firmly.

Rigs’ expression darkens, “We need you to control yourself. There are a lot of interested parties that want to get their hooks in Carnage. We’d like him breathing if possible.”

I shoot back hotly, “If that bastard has done anything to hurt her, I’m not making any promises.”

“Fair enough,” Rigs says.

A short silence spins out in the room, as we all think over the gravity of the situation.

Then Siege says, “You know your club brothers are your ride or die.”

“Yeah, let’s ride,” Rigs echoes.

“Ride,” Tex adds, rougher.

I breathe easier, knowing we’re all on the same page.

Gearing up with my club brothers draws us together.

It takes no time at all for us to pull on our bulletproof vests and then carefully cover them with our leather cut.

It’s not a perfect solution but one that works as long the people we pass don’t stare too hard.

We move to the armory, checking the gear crates and securing silencers. Merc stands a few feet off, quiet, eyes darting too fast to hide the fact that he’s not sure we won’t put a bullet in him before this night’s done.

“There are three entry options,” Siege tells us.

“Rigs wanted to breach from the back loading bay area, which is a good call. The front’s too open.

The east wall has a steel door, but we believe it might be welded shut.

The back loading dock is our best play. There’s a drop behind it, the truck ramp is also not operational.

If you scale the back ladder, you’ll hit a secondary service door. ”

I study the layout as Rigs speaks, “That’s our point. Siege will lead the breach, like always. Me and Ghost will follow.”

I speak up, “Until I get Heather back, Merc sticks to me like a fuckin’ shadow or I give him a dirt nap.”

Merc just grunts, “Got it.” He’s still wearing borrowed clothing. Just black gear. He’s clearly carrying the weight of someone trying to undo years of wrong.

I turn to him. “Now is not the time to get cute and betray our limited trust in you. If you so much as breathe wrong, I will put you down. Clear?”

His jaw flexes. “Yeah, I just wanna make sure things go off without any bloodshed.”

“Use our encrypted chat to communicate,” Zen reminds us. “Carnage never used to be tech savvy, but we can’t take anything for granted.”

I check my weapons over and over again, just to pass the time, as the others finish preparing.

Siege can see how anxious I am and tries his best to be supportive. “Heather is tough,” Siege says quietly, behind me.

Glancing at my club president, I tell him, “I wish Carnage had left her the fuck alone and took out all his aggression on me.” My voice sounds wrought with emotion.

“We’ll get her out of there,” Siege tells me one last time before walking off.

Merc zips up his vest. “I want a shot at him.”

“Not a fucking chance,” I say. “He helped Butch kill Claw. Siege’s kids don’t have a fucking grandfather because of that bastard.”

“You know none of the rest of us had anything to do with that particular fuckery, right? It was all Butch, Hawk, and Carnage. None of the rest of us found out until the deed was done.”

I look him in the eye. “You need to tell that shit to Siege. He’s been grieving over his old man’s death for years. He deserves to know the real truth of what happened.”

Merc gives me a firm nod and glances away. “I wish it hadn’t turned out the way it did with Claw. He was a good man.”

***

When we step outside, a flash of lightning lights up the sky and thunder rolls over the ridgeline. No matter what the weather’s like, this mission goes forward. Those fuckers took Heather from me. Now, I’m coming to take her back.

We walk out to our bikes and Merc gets into one of the vans. I call out to Merc, “I’ll meet you there. Be on the lookout for me.”

Our engines come to life, their throaty roar sounding off one after another in unison. Time to bring her home, I tell myself.

The road snakes through the pines, all blacktop and shadows. We ride staggered, lights off, only the faint red glow of taillights blinking in the dark like heartbeats.

Every mile, bump, and curve in the road brings us closer to her—but also closer to him. I am personally looking forward to taking Carnage apart, one piece at a time. That man is an arrogant piece of shit, in need of a good ass-kicking for far too long.

The wind blows through my clothing, but it’s not what’s making me cold.

It’s the heavy weight sitting on my shoulders, the kind of feeling that won’t go away until Heather is safe at my side and scores are settled.

I’ve felt that same weight before, in war zones mostly.

But never like this. Not when the thing on the line is someone close to my heart.

Siege leads the front, with Rigs at his side with a rifle strapped tight to his back. The rest of the brothers are all lined up in neat rows of two.

Heather was desperate enough to scratch that message into a van.

Took her shot when she had it, believing I would find it.

And I did. Now, there ain’t nothin’ or nobody gonna get between me and him.

As my bike eats up miles of the open road my mind is filled up with images of my woman.

How she was when I left her this morning.

That can’t be the last image I have of her. I can’t let that bastard take her.

I am pulled from my internal thoughts by the thunder of a dozen or more bikes surrounding us.

They’re not enemies, though. Every single one of them is wearing a Sons of Rage cut.

If I didn’t already know, I wouldn’t have to be half-smart to figure out why they joined up with us on this lonely stretch of highway.

They’re Brittany’s people—her family. And they are here to take apart the man who hurt her.

If they want a piece of Carnage, they’ll have to get to the back of the line.