Page 2 of Hounds of Hellfire MC, Vol. 2

I pushed a folder in each of their directions, then leaned back in my chair and tapped the keyboard of my laptop, where I had all of the same information pulled up in front of me.

“That’s pretty much everything we know about this group,” I said, beginning the briefing.

“There’s also a chart for the hierarchy and an info sheet on each of the key players. ”

I walked them through everything, with Ace jumping in from time to time while mulling it all over in my head. From the thoughtful expressions on everyone’s faces, I had a feeling we were all digesting the information and forming ideas about where to go from here.

When I finished, they asked several questions before we began to brainstorm. Suggestions were tossed out randomly while some of us analyzed the data more thoroughly and worked the problem from every angle we could see, attempting to come up with a plausible solution.

“Hold up,” Shadow murmured, staring at one of the sheets of paper in his hand. “Jean has been married six times?”

I nodded. “Younger men. No prenup.” Honestly, from everything I’d learned about her, I was a little surprised that they were all still alive. Jean definitely seemed like the Black Widow type.

“She was already filthy rich when she started this shit?” Kevlar blurted, tossing his folder on the table with a disgusted huff.

“Yup,” I replied, with a pop on the P.

“She does it for the thrill then,” Shadow surmised.

“Fair assumption,” King agreed, his gaze locked on Shadow. “You think it would work?”

“Would what work?” Ink asked, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.

“Maybe,” Echo grunted. “Only if there is a compelling reason for her to get back in the game.”

I stopped typing and frowned as I tried to puzzle out the cryptic conversation.

“The fuck are you three not talking about?” snapped Blaze, voicing my thoughts.

Shadow scratched his chin, then set down his folder and tapped his finger on it. “If we want to take down the entire organization, we have to get Jean. Not just the underlings because she’ll just hire new ones.”

“We need to catch her in a con,” Echo added as he sat back and propped an ankle on the opposite knee.

“Exactly,” Shadow agreed.

King folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against his chair. “How do we get her back in the game?”

“Bait,” Cross tossed out. “A fish so big and illusive that she can’t help herself.”

“Appeal to her ego and her love of the thrill,” Echo mused.

Ace rapped his knuckles on the table twice, then snatched my laptop out of my hands.

“What the hell?!” I bellowed in outrage.

Everyone stared at Ace, absolutely dumbfounded at his temerarious action. Touching my equipment was tantamount to treason in my mind. And the motherfucker had just stolen it. He was a dead man.

“Chill the fuck out, man,” Ace said distractedly as he quickly typed. “Not like I stole your kidney or something.”

I was so irate that I couldn’t even form a sentence. My face was probably turning purple as I seethed, glaring at Ace venomously. My hands curled into fists so tight my knuckles turned white and cracked.

“You gonna save his ass?” I heard Echo ask quietly. Probably to Blaze, who was sitting next to him.

“Nah,” Blaze responded lazily. “Fifty says Ace ends up in the hospital tonight.”

A pretty safe bet, I thought.

There were several murmured agreements, and King chuckled, making me glance at him with astonishment.

He watched the two of us with amusement, something we rarely saw from the prez unless he was with his old lady or son.

“You have a death wish, Ace?” Cross murmured, watching me warily from the treasurer’s other side.

He grunted and tapped hard on one key, then slid the laptop back over in front of me. Saving his life for the moment.

Taking a deep breath, I slid my eyes to my computer screen and scanned it. Irritation bloomed in my gut when I had to grudgingly admit, “This is good.” Then I gave him another death glare and snarled, “Not gonna save you from being stabbed in your sleep when you’re least expecting it, though.”

Ace rolled his eyes. “It will if you want my help with the financial shit.”

Fuck. Knowing I’d never decipher all that crap by myself, I ground my teeth into dust so I wouldn’t say anything else.

“You two done?” King grunted, his face back in its usual scowl.

Ace gestured to the computer and explained, “Wizard and I have the beginnings of several aliases set up for cases when we need to get someone gone fast.”

The Hounds of Hellfire were known for our ability to make people disappear…

for a price. Not the hired killer kind of disappear, though.

We gave people a new life. Under the right circumstances, we did it for free, but mostly, it was the MC’s main source of income.

Seeing as how we had experts in all the fields necessary for that kind of shit—a wizard at the tech stuff (hence my road name), a forger, a money guy, etc. , etc., etc.

We’d long ago learned that it was helpful to have some of the legwork already done for several identities in case it was an emergency that required an immediate extraction.

“One of them is for a high roller,” Ace explained further. “Someone who wants to disappear with their fortune and can afford to pay us to do it since it takes a fuck ton of work.”

I nodded. “Won’t take much work to get this up and running. The backend is as solid as they get. Breaking this identity would take years for the best of the best. Once it’s live, we filter word of the new man through the grapevine, and as long as we’re reading her right, she’ll bite.”

“Volunteers?” Ace asked with a smirk.

Echo sighed. “It’s my op, so I’ll do it.”

Blaze and King shared a look, then they both grinned and King suggested, “Bring Violet in here to tell her.”

Oh, that’ll be good . I highly doubted Violet was gonna let her man date another woman, even if it was pretend.

“Why?” Echo questioned with narrowed eyes.

“Protection,” Blaze drawled.

Echo scowled. “Why would Violet need protection?”

I hid my laugh in a cough, but the dirty look Echo shot my way told me I hadn’t done a good job.

“Not Violet, Echo,” King muttered as he stood and walked around his desk to take a seat behind it. “You.”

“What?” Echo shook his head, clearly confused.

Blaze swept his hand around the table and grunted. “Out.”

Disappointed at missing what was bound to be a fantastic spectacle, we all protested but shut up and left when King growled. “Now!”

Later, we were sprawled out in the lounge of the clubhouse, drinking and taking a break from all the shit we were currently mired in.

Courtney, Blaze’s old lady, was teasing Echo about how he’d basically forced his way into Violet’s life after overhearing her narrating a book.

“Stalker much?” she asked with a giggle, making Blaze shake his head with a sigh.

Echo shrugged. “A guy’s gotta do what he’s gotta do to get his woman’s attention.”

“Damn straight,” King agreed, cupping the back of his son’s head with a soft smile that had his woman, Stella, blushing.

I shrugged and commented, “I’m sure some light stalking wouldn’t scare Violet off after she narrated that book for Thea Drummond with the hero who took his masked stalker rep very seriously.”

The room went silent as we all turned to gawk at me.

Oh shit .

Violet’s eyes were wide as she asked, “You’re familiar with The Monster Behind the Mask ?”

Thinking fast, I said carelessly, “Stumbled across it when I was looking into you.”

The comment turned Violet’s attention back to Echo, and I should have simply left it at that…

but when King got defensive about his ability to sweet-talk Stella, I couldn’t help murmuring, “Chill, Prez.” Then I shot a wicked smile at Echo.

“At least you don’t need to worry about your woman recording sex scenes with another guy. ”

Watching the ensuing argument was hilarious as fuck.

Eventually, Ace elbowed me in the side. “Another one bites the dust,” he joked.

So it seemed.

My thoughts turned to Thea, and I felt a trickle of relief that I wouldn’t have to worry about her working with another man—in any capacity. And I’d be the one she used to research any steamy scenes in her books.

I shook my head. “When I claim my woman, I’m not gonna be pussy-whipped enough for her to act out hot-as-fuck sex scenes with another guy,” I stated.

“Quit starting shit,” King rumbled. “I read somewhere that babies are sensitive to their environment. Don’t need Cadell to get all worked up.” His face softened when he glanced at his newborn son.

But even though I hadn’t been trying to make a dig, just a statement of fact, I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry, Prez.”

Cadell suddenly let out a little wail. Everyone turned their attention to the baby, leaving me free to down the rest of my beer and grab another one from behind the long bar.

I thought about Echo’s comment to Violet about falling for her when he saw her picture.

It seemed Ace was right. Another one had bitten the dust. But it wasn’t Echo.