Page 116 of The Deals We Make

“I’ll handle it. I’ll be in touch.”

It’s funny that she thinks I’m going to call the police. She has no idea the power of who we really are. And let’s face it, the police won’t take a missing person’s report seriously for twenty-four hours.

I’m just about to call the number Becca gave me when something hits me. It’s a real stretch to think that a stalker would know Calista was in New Jersey, given how she made her trip here to avoid detection. At best, someone might have figured out where her mom lived.

Wait. There was the car that she thought followed her from her mom’s house.

I breathe out again.

My initial thought had been nobody could know she was at my house. But over the last few days, someone could completely have picked up her trail. She’s been to her mom’s since then. Perhaps they changed vehicles.

Perhaps they’re a team.

I think through the fact I have no power in my house. A line was cut, which meant having someone on the team who knew exactly which wire to cut and to be able to cut it safely.

I start to dial Orson’s number when I realize the tracker has stopped.

When I look at where it is, I realize there is absolutely no mistake and that we’ve seriously underestimated our enemy.

This isn’t about her stalker.

It wasn’t Calista they wanted.

It was me.

I slam the lid on my laptop and shove it and some other equipment into a backpack I keep in here.

I grab my leather jacket, my helmet, and my keys.

On the way out the door, I call King.

“What’s up?” he says. His voice is muffled. He’s riding.

“The tracker has stopped. I think they’re looking for me.”

“What? How do you know?”

I think about the money I stole from the Righteous Brotherhood. Eleven million dollars. And how it led to Switch’s injury.

We thought we were free and clear. In a planned attack, Iron Outlaws across the country took out the Righteous Brotherhood cells, including their headquarters. Their whole infrastructure was decimated, and a significant portion of their members were killed. And we took out their leader. Well, Ari did. Fired a shot that took him down before he could kill Halo, who was tied to a tree.

Which also happens to be the current location of Calista’s tracker.

“I know, because the tracker has stopped at your cabin.”

33

CALISTA

“Isaid to bring me the Black biker, not the woman,” says the woman with toasted red hair that sits frizzily over her shoulders. It took me all of two seconds to recognize her as the woman in the black sedan.

A sweat blooms over my skin, even though I’m freezing. The farm building I’m in offers limited protection against the elements. A couple of small heaters are plugged in but do little to warm up the space of the barn. The floor is dirty, chipped concrete. The roof is tall.

There’s a pungent smell too. Like gasoline and horse shit.

The cold and damp envelop me. Vex’s denim shirt that I’m wearing over my jeans does little to keep the cold out. My body shakes involuntarily, and my teeth chatter.

I emerged from unconsciousness on the ride here to a man moving a hand scanner up and down my body. It beeped furiously when it neared the tracker in my locket, but I dropped back under, moments after the locket was ripped from my neck.