Page 50 of Loki’s Spellbinder (Hunters Creek Archangel’s Warriors MC #14)
When we rejoined Rage and Betty in the living room, a good hour after leaving, I saw the smirks between those waiting. And the number had grown since we left. In addition to Betty and Rage, they had been joined by Wrath, Jalisa, Storm, Crusher, Shadow, Ryder, Chaos, Bull, and Demon.
I ensured Braelyn was taken care of, which consisted of her hugging Demon and Bull before helping her mom and Jalisa prepare refreshments for everyone.
I knew Brae needed to stay busy, so I didn’t object.
As they left the room, I greeted the Pagans with handshakes.
As soon as those were out of the way, I jumped into the thick of it.
“Who’s coming with me on the hunt? Someone is dying and damn soon. I need a direction, a name, something. I’m not sitting around, giving them another chance to kill her. This nightmare ends now,” I snarled.
“Hang on, we know how you feel, but we can’t go out blind and kill someone.
First, we need to know who shot at her. Yes, we highly suspect it’s Attila issuing the orders to his men on the outside, and they farmed it out to others.
I think that’s to protect their asses. Think about it.
If Braelyn is killed, Attila would be a prime suspect.
However, if no one can show he’s been in contact with his people, how did he do it?
I can guarantee you, he hasn’t had a visit, sent an email, or written a letter to any of them,” Crusher stated.
“We kept coming up empty on how he got the order to them, and on the dark web side, they were smart not to attach a name to the hit offer or specifically name her, though the description was Braelyn,” Shadow added.
The Pagans of Georgia differed from the other clubs because they had two people handling their IT work.
Crusher was the main guy who worked with all the IT needs of the club and its businesses, and he did a lot of research.
On the other hand, Shadow was a pure hacker, and while he was more in the background, you couldn’t mistake him for being secondary to Crusher.
He was more in the dark and quiet. Hence, they named him Shadow, as he could come out of the darkness when least expected to enact vengeance.
“Then how the fuck do we stop them?” I asked angrily. I wasn’t mad at them. I was pissed about the whole situation and about feeling my hands were tied, and I wasn’t able to protect my woman.
Braelyn, Jalisa, and Betty re-entered the room with trays of drinks and, of all things, cookies and other holiday baked goods. It was like being home. They heard what I said. Brae nodded to Wrath.
“Wrath, I believe it’s time to bring Loki up to date on what I learned today. Did you tell the others?”
“I did. Bull and the rest of his guys know, and so do mine. We had to wait for you two to make up. And Loki, I don’t ever want to know that you’re sexing up my sister.” He glared at me. I grinned and shrugged.
“You be away from Jalisa for two weeks, and see what you do when you see her,” I teased.
Wrath’s glare changed to resignation. “That’s different. Okay, enough BS, let’s talk about what Brae learned from that asshole Eli Jenner. Brae, tell Loki what your boss said about clubs, and then Shadow will tell them about the person named and what he’s found.”
The prospect that Shadow had something made me eager to jump straight to it, but I gave Brae a chin lift after seating her on my lap.
She launched into her story. I was stunned and worried by the time she ended it.
The thought that Eli was focusing on a club that had ties to us worried the shit out of me and the others based on their expressions.
I was curious about this investigator who had no one but Braelyn know her identity. When she was finished, I had to ask.
“How the hell will you keep him away from the Black Outlaws and not expose the Warriors, Pagans, and the others working to clean up their chapters? Even if we’re doing good by helping, the law won’t see it that way.
We’ll be guilty by association. And if they find a way to build a RICO case, that’ll destroy us. ”
“Believe me, I know the risks. Trust that I can misdirect them and get the ones building the case to focus on other things or clubs. I just need to do it stealthily. My investigator can help do it.”
“Why are you suddenly doing so much work with clubs?” Bull asked.
Braelyn hesitated, then sighed. “Because about a year ago, after Cedric’s case landed in our laps, Eli and a few others in the local government decided to form a sort of task force.
The goal was to go after the dirtiest MCs in our area, like the Brutal Rebels, and destroy them.
They want the entire clubs, but if they can take away the head, it’s hoped the rest will wither away.
I tried to tell them it wouldn’t work that way.
They would only anger them and make the clubs more determined to fight, but they ignored me. ”
The news that she was part of a task force to stamp out one-percenter clubs shocked us. Before I could speak, Wrath did.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us sooner!? Don’t you see that this might affect us, put our clubs in danger?” he snapped.
“I do, and the reason I kept quiet was that I didn’t want you stressing.
Plus, if they began to move in the direction of the Pagans or any of your friends, I would’ve told you immediately.
By being a part of the task force, I’m perfectly placed to know if they are planning that.
However, when I leave the DA’s office, I’ll lose that advantage.
I’m glad this came out, now that I think of it.
You’ll be able to warn all the clubs. I’ll keep my investigator monitoring things as I know the clubs will do the same using their techs.
” She smiled over at Crusher and Shadow.
“You still should’ve told us,” Wrath grumbled.
“Wrath, you invoke club business when you don’t want to tell your families and old ladies things that the club does.
In my job, there are times, even if I hate it, that I have to lump legal business in that category.
Be angry with me if you want, but it’s no different.
Get over it and let’s get to what matters right now.
We can fight about it later,” Braelyn told him firmly.
Wrath’s astonishment slowly morphed into grudging respect.
“Alright, I don’t like it, but I see your point.
We’ll debate the merits of both club and legal business later.
Shadow, tell me what you found after I told you about the surprise person Jenner dropped on Brae.
Bull, I didn’t tell you and your guys about this because I knew it would be personal, and I wanted Shadow to be there to offset it.
” Wrath’s remark made my anxiety increase.
Bull and my other brother exchanged puzzled looks.
“When Braelyn’s boss was speaking of the other clubs, he named the person who brought his attention to the Black Outlaws due to Attila and his Brutal Rebels.
We kept checking for communication and visitors between members and associates of the Rebels and Attila.
What we didn’t do was focus on visitors who only had rare contact outside of those kinds.
If we had, it would’ve jumped out. We had tunnel vision, and I’m sorry we fell into that trap.
” Disgust was evident in Shadow’s tone. He kept going.
“It tracks back to a person released from prison, though not the same prison as Attila. He got out early due to good behavior over a year ago, though he should’ve rotted in there.
And the man has been trying his hardest to insert himself into his son’s life.
” Shadow paused to let what he said sink in.
As it did, I let my astonishment mixed with disbelief show. No, it couldn’t be.
“You don’t fucking mean Nelson Newman,” Bull growled before I could.
“Unfortunately, yes, that’s the very person Eli named,” Brae answered.
Her confirmation had all three of us Warriors swearing and muttering threats of what we’d do to him when we got our hands on him. I had to tell the others about our run-in.
“That explains why we saw him here in Georgia that day, Brae. We were at lunch, and he came into the restaurant where we were having lunch. He acted surprised to see me and came over. Nelson asked me to intercede with Iceman to get him to speak to him. I told him I would. I warned Iceman what he was up to, and while I offered to get Outlaw to check into why Nelson was in Georgia, Iceman said not yet. He wanted to wait and see what his dad did. Nelson shouldn’t be in Georgia.
His parole isn’t supposed to be up for five more months, unless they release him from parole early due to good behavior,” I said acidly.
“Honey, I checked into that the other day. He hasn’t been, so he was here when he shouldn’t have been. There was no documentation to indicate that his PO had given him permission. I know Iceman didn’t want his parole revoked, so I didn’t pursue it,” my woman told me.
“So the dirty bastard is somehow connected to the Brutal Rebels,” Bull muttered darkly.
“He is. Armed with a name and what Braelyn told me, I followed the trails Nelson Newman left. He’s not excessively tech-savvy, though he has learned some tricks.
Anyway, the gist of what I discovered is this.
While in prison, Nelson got in with some lifers who happened to be part of the Brutal Rebels MC.
When he found out he was getting out, they set him up to be the contact person between their imprisoned president, in the other prison, and their club. ”
That was another revelation that had us muttering and swearing.