Page 15 of Rogue’s Path (Sweet Chaos #1)

Rogue

I twist the throttle and fly out of the parking lot.

The desire to turn around and return to Peaches wars with fear for my brothers.

The closer I get to our compound, the more brothers join me on the road.

Together, our bikes naturally form a procession.

A chill runs down my spine.

Will we be doing this again for a fallen brother?

Let it be just an accident. Something that can be fixed.

We roll through the gates and slip into our spots almost in unison.

All eyes turn to me.

There’s nothing for me to tell. I shake my head, and a somber silence follows us as we walk in.

There’s a handful of old ladies huddled in the corner, crying.

Someone’s dead.

There would be a hive of activity if someone were in crisis.

Church will tell us all we need to know.

I follow my brother into the specially designed room.

It used to be that we called this space the church to remind people that what was said inside these walls was never to be repeated outside of them. It was like we all walked inside a confessional without the absolution for whatever deeds we might do.

Now the walls and doors are lined with sound-deadening material as well as a Faraday cage.

The steel doors make it almost impenetrable. Though it’s not even close to the bunker underneath us.

We picked this spot because it was built on an old decommissioned military base. The bunker was an added bonus.

Men line the walls. No one wants to sit when there’s someone dead among us.

Do we grieve, or do we spill blood and then find a way back to dealing with our loss?

I make my way to Havoc’s side. As the VP, my job is to support him in any way I can. Today, it might be to rein in his anger, which is edging towards a meltdown stage.

Bodies are going in the ground, and they won’t all be ours.

When the doors close, all eyes turn to Havoc.

“This morning our family suffered the gravest loss any of us can experience.” Havoc’s fists clench.

Berzerker steps forward. “This morning, my old lady walked in to check on our son because he was late for breakfast.” His voice breaks on the last word.

“All of you know that boy never missed a meal. I should have gone in and checked on him. But my old lady can’t sit down for five minutes.

She was the one who found him hunched over next to his bed.

There were two more pills sitting in a little bag next to his body. My son overdosed last night.”

Protecting our neighborhood is one thing. Protecting our children is a whole different thing. This just turned into a war.

Berzerker steps back.

Havoc says, “These drugs took the life of one of our own. Today, we stop playing around.” He lifts a folder off of the table.

“These images are some of the only information we currently have. Pass them around. Take your time. Look and see if you recognize any of the artists who might have done these or the art itself. We need to find out who these men are.”

The papers spread out through the room silently.

“Rogue suggested a possible way for us to start getting more information. But the risks will be higher.”

“What can be higher than losing a child?” Cobalt steps forward. “Every man in this room would die to bring these people to justice. So tell us so that we can get it done.”

“They’re targeting children, mainly high school and college kids.

We need a couple of men to step in and go undercover at the colleges in the surrounding counties that are being hit, too.

It’ll be dangerous. Though we’ll have brothers around to back you up, whoever steps up will be putting their life on the line. ”

Before Havoc can get the last word out, Vandal, Ryot, and Torque move to the center of the room. “Where do we start?”

“Stay after the meeting, and we’ll go over the details. For everyone else, we’re going to up our patrols.”

All the men nod.

“Before you go, talk to your children. Make them realize just how serious this matter is.”

“If you need to, bring them to see my son.” Berzerker’s eyes fill with unshed tears. “Don’t lose them like I lost my boy.”

A few minutes later, after everyone moved out into the main room, Havoc addresses the three youngest members of our group, “What we want is for you to get invited to parties, start finding out who the dealers are, and then give us the information. We’ll hunt them down and find their suppliers.”

“What if we try to become dealers? We could get deep inside their ranks and find out who the suppliers are ourselves.”

“That would be too dangerous.”

Havoc’s right. These boys don’t have the control to play a long con like that.

“What could be more dangerous than losing our kids?” Vandal asks.

You dying. Even though you’re a grown man and a full brother, you’re one of our kids.

“No. We play this my way or you’re benched.” Havoc doesn’t fool around.

The three of them nod.

“We’ll get the details settled and find you places on or off campus to live in the next couple of days.”

They nod and walk off to join the others.

“How long before they get themselves killed?” Havoc asks.

“Vandal a week. The other two will make it a month, maybe.” That kid has more money than brains.

Havoc shakes his head. “Do you think we could ship them out to the Deathadders for a week or two and they’d send us back trained killers?”

“Probably not.” But it’s a nice dream.

“If only Bishop’s kid wasn’t deployed.”

I chuckle. “There’s no way anyone mistakes Deacon for a party kid.

He was born a mini Bishop, and they’d have let him in the special forces based solely on his father’s name even if he wasn’t already top of his graduating class.

Unlike Vandal, who looks and acts the part perfectly.

” Too perfectly. “They know what they’re getting into.

All of them have killed drug dealers. They’ve seen kids left lying on the side of the road after drug deals went wrong.

” I don’t know who I’m trying to convince, him or me, but it does nothing to settle the worry.

After a long moment, Havoc snaps out of it, saying, “Make sure all the bills are paid at the funeral home.”

“I’ll take care of it today.”

“Schedule someone to cover all Berzerker’s work for the next six months. If he wants to come in, he can, but he doesn’t need to. And make sure our accounts are set up to pay the family’s bills. We don’t want them to have to worry about anything but grieving.”

This is all standard for when someone in The Children of Chaos dies, but Havoc probably needs a distraction. His kid was friends with Berzerker’s kid.

That’s going to be a hard conversation.