Page 10 of The Devil’s Escape (The Devil’s Soldiers #7)

CHAPTER NINE

BULLET

Alliances are about to fall apart.

Arson and the rest of the Misfits pile into the room, grim and angry looks on their faces.

A common theme since Cobra came back all beat up.

Any other time, I might be sympathetic, but right now, I’m barely managing to contain my rage.

I’ve done it enough over the years that it’s second nature now.

Instead, the minute the door is shut, I bang my gavel and call Church to order.

“Report,” I bark, looking around the room.

“There is no sign of Hulk or where they took him,” Frost announces grimly. “Bowie and I searched the area he was taken, and the roads around. The tracks end once they hit the main road, and then there are two sets, one going left and one going right.”

“Probably a diversion technique,” Bowie adds.

“And it worked. Going left means it’s back to the city, and to the right is coming back toward us.

We did both directions and haven’t found any signs.

We also used some of the coordinates that Thea decoded to see if we might be able to find someone we could nab or follow to where they might be, but nothing.

All spots were empty. Even the product looks to be moved. ”

“They’re on to us and they’re not taking any chances,” Shadow muses gravely. “Vlad knows it’s only a matter of time before we figure out all the locations, and also close in on his.”

“Where is he going to take it if he’s only using the places that were in those journals?” Twigs asks with a frown.

“Hopefully out of our city,” Timber replies. “The issue is going to be if he’s found new spots that Dagger and Bull didn’t have in those journals. Maybe ones that Dmitri was using.”

“Dmitri used businesses so it’s possible they might be moving them to whatever new business they’re planning on using,” Torque points out. “Maybe we should look into checking the ones we know about. Cryos, could you see if they set up any new businesses in the city that might sound about right?”

“I can look at any that have been in the last six months,” Cryos agrees, already typing away. “More than likely they’re going to use a shell company but we’re catching on to the way they do things now, so it might not be as hard.”

“Do it,” I say with a nod. “The faster we get this figured out the faster we get Hulk back home.” I look at Sniper. “How is Thea doing with the journals?”

“She’s been working as hard and as fast as she can.

She’s got more done, and I just gave the information to Cryos to pinpoint.

She said that the pattern with them is starting to emerge, but she needs to see it on a large map.

She’s resting now because her arms are hurting, but as soon as she wakes up, Cryos will show her a map with the locations we have already done up there. ”

I nod, but before I can reply, I hear a scoff come from the other end of the table.

My head turns and I stare down at Silver, who looks like he’s smelled something rotten.

My eyes narrow, but he holds my stare, uncaring.

“You’d think she’d be more concerned about getting our brother home than napping.

Maybe instead of waiting for her, you put the map up and let the rest of us look at it.

She’s not the only one with a brain, you know.

Though, I guess that’s how things are being done here.

The men can’t look at something without a woman getting her eyes on it first.”

I can all but feel the violence rolling off Sniper at the blatant disrespect. “Arson,” I say in a sharp warning tone, pinning him with my stare instead.

Arson glances at Silver before he holds my gaze and replies calmly, “He’s not wrong, Bullet.

Why are we waiting for your VP’s Old Lady to wake up before we look at it?

I get she’s a big shot on this kind of thing, but that doesn’t mean we waste time waiting for her.

” He dares to look at Cryos and orders, “Pull it up and let us see.”

Cryos doesn’t move, just looks at me. A move that has Silver’s jaw clenching and his mouth thinning, and Arson’s eyes narrowing.

“Perhaps you forget that you are a guest here, Arson,” Sniper states, voice icy.

“You have no right to order anything.” Then his eyes move to Silver.

“And if you insult my woman again, I’ll beat your ass.

You’re already on thin ice with me, and one more word from you about her, and brother and allied club or not, we’ll be finished. ”

Silver’s face flushes angrily, but Arson stops him with a hand when Silver opens his mouth to retort.

“And you would do well to remember that our club brother was beaten and left for dead and we want justice for him,” Arson returns shortly, tone sharp and biting.

He doesn’t bother addressing Silver’s disrespect.

“And our brother was taken,” Sniper returns. “Do not think that one is worse than the other. Cobra has his life, and you have not lost another brother in recent months due to these fuckers. Do not sit there and talk and act like it’s anywhere close to the same thing.”

“Enough,” I say before anything else can be said.

I give Arson a hard look. “You are here as an ally, and you don’t order our club around.

Just like you wouldn’t appreciate me doing it to yours.

Further disrespect to our women and I’ve already told you what will happen.

” I look at Silver. “That was your one shot. Any more and he has every right to take you down. And I might just help him.” Silver’s gaze is hard, but he nods anyway.

“Now, before all of this stupid pissing contest started, you’d have noticed that Sniper never once said that we wouldn’t look at the map first. Just that when his Old Lady woke up, she would have a look too.

So all of you can calm the fuck down. Cryos, please pull up the map. ”

Cryos nods and clicks a few keys. I asked Shadow and Viper to carefully keep an eye on any expressions while we’re having Church.

Someone is going to slip up. The emotions running high in this room right now make it the perfect time for someone to reveal something when they think no one else is watching them.

The moment the map is up on the screen, people shift in their seats, and they lean forward to take it in. I look at it myself, and I can instantly see some of the spots that Bull liked to frequent when we were young and stupid.

“It looks like a broken spiral. Kind of. Loosely,” Milk says after a moment of silence.

“There’s too many breaks and the plots don’t really make a shape,” Whiskey chimes in. “Need to start reviewing your shapes, kid. They’re just a bunch of dots on a map. If your old President was smart, he wouldn’t want a pattern that would be easy to identify anyway if someone figured it out.”

Milk doesn’t react, but his lips turn down in anger at Whiskey’s statement.

“Do all the coordinates have a four in them as Thea mentioned?” Sniper asks Cryos.

“All of them but a few, just like the original ones she mentioned.”

“Is there any significance in the ones that don’t have a four in the coordinate?

” Frost asks, leaning forward. “Maybe we’re focusing on the fours, but maybe it’s the ones without that are important.

If the guy who did this knew the rest of the club knew his obsession with fours, then maybe he’d try to avoid that number just in case. ”

Interesting. I rack my brain to try and remember what it was that Bull liked as well.

It would be just like him to make sure that his own spin was on things.

Pain sears me because Hammer would have known.

He always knew shit like that. And the ass never wrote anything down, so I can’t go looking for it anywhere either.

Cyros clicks a few more keys and takes off all the coordinates that don’t include the number four, leaving only about ten dots, but nothing immediately stands out to me. I peer at the locations closer, trying to place them in my mind of what is in those places.

“Son of a bitch.” Viper laughs humorlessly. He looks at Cryos. “Put the locations of our businesses over them with another color.” Cryos’s eyes widen and he quickly does as asked.

I straighten when I see the locations are almost an exact match, with mirroring dots almost right on top, but just slightly off.

“You mean to fucking tell me that Vlad and his men were operating right under our noses this entire fucking time?” Stone hisses. “There’s no way that we wouldn’t notice that shit. Especially not the security office. We had cameras everywhere.” He looks at Cryos for confirmation.

Cryos nods, his lips pulled down into a deep frown.

“What are those buildings?” Arson asks. “The ones that aren’t right on your locations?”

Cryos answers after a quick search, “The locations put them one block either behind or ahead of ours. Other than the bar location. That one is a bit further down the road, but that makes sense considering how far out we have the bar. And from what I can see, they’re all at other businesses.

A bakery, a coffee shop, a jewellery store, and a storage facility.

The storage one is closest to the bar. Could be where they are storing things before they send them out to the next location. ”

“We need to check those out,” Arson announces. “Maybe your man is in there, and if not, we might be able to grab one of theirs to get some answers.”

I nod. “We’re looking for our man, so Arson, I’d like our men to work together. One of our guys with one of yours. Then?—”

“The last time that happened, it ended up with one of our own almost dying,” Magnum snaps. There’s an agreement through many of the others. “Your man might be gone, but he didn’t protect our guy, and you expect us to put ourselves in your hands again?”

“Cobra went off on his own and didn’t stick with Hulk,” Shadow returns icily. “If he had stayed with Hulk, maybe this would be a different outcome.”

“You trying to blame our brother?” Crook demands, getting to his feet, fists clenched as they pound down on the table. “How do we know that your man didn’t leave ours for dead?”

“Enough!” I roar, silencing them all. “Everyone out but Arson, Sniper, and Angel. Frost, Bowie, make sure no one starts anything. Arson, order your men outside of the clubhouse. It’s not a request,” I bark when he opens his mouth to presumably argue with me.

Arson gives the order, reluctantly, and the room empties but for the people I ordered to stay behind.

The minute the door closes, I spit, “The only reason I haven’t sent you home yet is because your man was injured.

You need our route, and I’m about to yank it out from under you if one of your men spits out another ounce of disrespect.

We will handle this ourselves just as we have been.

Or I’ll call in someone else that will help us and actually give a damn about getting our man back.

Don’t you fucking dare insinuate that our man was responsible for anything that happened to yours.

The evidence is out there that Hulk went in the correct direction and yours went off on his own.

I am only concerned with getting Hulk home, alive or not, as quickly as possible.

We can figure the other shit out later, but tell your men to knock it off or leave.

“Our men are trained and former military. They do this all day every day, and if anyone is going to find Hulk, it’s going to be the them.

The ones that work with him every fucking day.

Your men are going to go in like battering rams and try to get the information and end up scaring them off or getting Hulk killed.

You do this shit how we want or you leave. Simple. Got it?”

Arson looks like he’s not sure if he wants to argue with me or be furious that I’m daring to speak to him that way. Finally, he nods and says, “Bullet, this is a hard time for all of us. You’re right, our club shouldn’t be saying shit about your man, but Cobra almost lost his life and?—”

“Just like I almost lost a Prospect that has put his life before mine, my Old Lady’s, and many others already in a short time,” I interrupt.

“We’ve already lost one brother, so don’t speak to me about almost. We have lost far more in a short time than you will understand.

I will not lose another brother.” I turn to Sniper.

“You good to head out with one of their men?”

“I’ll do whatever I have to, to find Hulk,” Sniper answers simply.

“You got a problem going out with him?” I ask Angel.

Angel shakes his head. “I think all this fighting is a waste of time.” He looks at Sniper. “You good to leave now?” Sniper nods. “Good. We leave in five minutes. Where are we going?”

“We’ll check out the storage locker,” Sniper says after a moment’s thought. “I ran the bar and I know that area around it very well.”

Angel nods. “Alright.” Then he looks at Arson and adds, “I’m telling the men to get their heads out of their asses and team up.

Bullet’s right. We should be focusing on finding a fellow brother, not arguing over how we get there or with who.

We’re brothers first. See you outside.” Then he walks out.

Arson glares after Angel before finally looking back at me. “You and I heading out together too?” he asks me. I don’t expect an apology, but it looks like he’s not in agreement with his VP. Makes me wonder what else they don’t agree on.

“Yes,” I say with a nod. “We’ll check out at the mechanic shop and the bakery behind it.” Then we head out of the room.

The time is coming for us to end this alliance, but we won’t be doing it now. Does Arson know what his men are up to? Is he aware of the betrayal that one of them possibly committed against us? Time will tell, but we’re going to find out, and we’re going to bring Hulk home.