Destiny didn’t asked Fabio who had supplied the Kate. A typical Marine weapon that she wasn’t familiar with in the military but had made her friend since she had gotten home. The Remington M700 was much like the rifle she had used in Fort Worth last year.
“How long till you can get set up?” Alec asked.
“If I can find me a nest pretty easily, I can have her ready to go in less than ten,” she informed him.
“You are taking Fabio to have your six then,” Alec ordered.
“Yes sir,” she muttered, feeling like it was her enlisted days all over again.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, Trent. She flipped it open. “Speak.”
“I’m on my way to meet the CI,” he told her, sounding even colder than he had this morning.
“Who is the CI?”
“Not a damn clue. The only one who did, the head assignment, was killed in Pride territory an hour ago. Execution style. Don’t know which player did it. I convinced the sheriff and the remaining FBI agent that I knew the CI and they trusted me.”
“We don’t even know for sure if it’s Bianca or Drew!”
“No, but I knew about the meet and no one else did. So I played what we have. I know your guys will be there. Will I see you?”
“You won’t see me, but I’ll be there,” she told him as the app lit up on her phone with Bianca’s new coordinates. “She’s moving this direction. I got to go.”
She put her phone in her pocket and gave a nod to the boys. “Let’s go.”
***
Her nest wasn’t exactly the best in the world but she didn’t have all the time to pick it out either, at least she didn’t expect to be here for long. She had the best range and the best view from where they sat up on the slight hillside in the cover of darkness. Night vision goggles they wore were of military standard and she was able to quickly assemble the Kate with all the personal handmade modifications that Fabio had preferred.
“Bryant was a SEAL. He could likely do this as well as I can,” she muttered to Fabio as she slid her bullet in the chamber and lay on her stomach in position. “Sniping is a waiting game. I hate waiting.”
“You’re as good as he is any day.”
“He had more professional training.”
“You might have learned on the side but you had something to prove and worked twice as hard for it. It came naturally to you and at any rate, it’s too late to back down, so shut up and lock and load. I can’t make that shot from here,” Fabio said and she glared at him with a pissy look before a small smile overtook her. He was scanning the meeting spot below so he didn’t see it.
Apparently, sex and admissions of love did not change their working relationship or friendship. And that was a relaxing thought.
Destiny removed her night vision and put her face to the stock of the gun and settled into looking through her night vision scope. She took calming breaths to settle her nerves and racing heart as they waited and waited. Staring at the emptiness of the old battered machine shed where Trent and, by the look of the tracking coming through to her new cell, Bianca Martinez were to meet. Houston and Alec waited in the shadows of the old barn.
At five till midnight, Trent’s SUV pulled into sight and he pulled off to the side of the shed. Trying to hide his identity until the CI left his or her vehicle. If they showed at all, it was a strong possibility that they had murdered the federal agent.
At midnight exactly, an old crossover Pontiac pulled into view. It stopped just short of Trent’s SUV and the driver got out. Bianca. Destiny lined up the shot. “Don’t do it just yet. We all need to have a conversation,” Alec’s voice came through the radio in the softest tone audible still from the walkie-talkie that Fabio had set up next to her.
Bianca and Trent’s conversation appeared tense, and as she started to back up, Alec and Houston came from the barn. She pulled a gun up on them and Destiny took the shot. She wasn’t risking the head shot at this distance but the chest shot she took blew Bianca to the ground, straight through the heart.
Just as the fight erupted behind her.
“Fuckin’ bitch!” the voice roared and Destiny rolled to see Drew charging at her. Still on her back and the Kate on its mount, she reached for her Glock in her cut next to her.
Drew fired a shot at her that just managed to graze the slightest love handle that protected her hip, as Fabio collided with him and they tumbled through the thicket that lined the hillside and rolled downwards.
Another gunshot pierced the night before she was on her feet and racing after them, heart in her throat, gun in her hand.
When she got to Fabio’s side, Drew was gone. She wrapped him in her arms as blood gushed from his chest and she screamed for her brother’s help, her uncle’s, Trent’s, God’s, anyone’s.
Houston was at her side first as she felt for the pulse that was still there. She found the bullet hole on his right side just below his ribcage and plugged it with her fingers. Houston tore his shirt off and handed it to her. She used it too.
“I’ll call it in,” Trent said, reaching for his radio.
“She just killed someone!” Alec yelled at him.
“Get your SUV. You never met your CI tonight. You were flagged down by us on the side of the road, we were caught up as innocent bystanders off the highway closest to BP territory. Leave her here, the gun’s untraceable. Houston will do clean up and have Fabio’s bike left on the side of the road and have all evidence of us wiped,” Destiny barked and Trent rushed for his SUV.
She climbed in the back, never removing her fingers from his wound as Houston and Alec wrestled him in. Trent hit the gas the second they closed the doors. They were almost fifteen minutes from the hospital. Trent got there in eight.
This was the third time in her life that Destiny thought that time couldn’t pass any slower. The night, waiting for help after she had been jumped in high school, and ridiculously hot day in the desert when her patrol had been ambushed.
Every second that passed she feared it would be Stephan’s last. Trent came in hot and heavy, lights and sirens wailing and slid to a halt outside of Sweetwater Memorial. Nurses, doctors, whoever they were, in their scrubs, gloves, and stethoscopes rushed to them. In a blink of an eye someone much more qualified than she took over the pressure point of the wound and Stephan was yanked from her arms, laid on a gurney and whisked away from her.
She half fell from the car and landed on the ground, scrambling to her feet and rushing through the automatic sliding glass doors and into the ER. By the time she made it, she had no idea which corridor they had taken him.
A pair of arms fitted around her as she collapsed to the ground. Shaken, blood soaked, and broken.
“They’re going to take good care of him, Destiny. He’s going to be okay. There is nothing more you can do.” Trent’s words drifted over her, barely registering. The minutes passed by more quickly in her haze this time. When she looked up at the clock, still wrapped in Trent’s arms on the cold floor of the ER, it was ten till one. Over twenty minutes had passed since they had brought Stephan in.
She peeled herself from Trent and stood carefully. Wiping the remnants of tears that no longer fell from her face away. More deputies had arrived and the sheriff himself. Trent stepped away to speak with them, while someone handed her a bottle of water. She took it but didn’t drink.
Her mind raced quickly through the last hour. Had Houston been given enough time to do a satisfactory clean up? Had Eric and Stella been reached? Poor Stella, after her desire for a second child had been ripped from her so literally, would she lose her only son?
Trent approached her quietly and guided her by the elbow off to the corner of the room. “No.” She shook her head. She needed air, and a smoke. So Trent followed her back outside and she wandered aimlessly down the sidewalk until she found the designated area.
She fumbled with her cigarette and lighter. “Houston had time. It’s done, deputy found his bike on the road where I said I found you just m
oments after. I told them you stated you were shot outside of BP territory on the main road. You we’re just out for a night ride to clear your mind after everything this week. You have no idea who pulled the trigger but the perps were wearing Pride orange.”
She nodded. “That sounds about right.”
“They’ll find the girl tomorrow, I suppose. Your crew did a quick clean up. I’m sure there’s physical evidence but we don’t have the resources or drive to process it.”
“That’s good.” Destiny choked back on emotions and washed it down with another drag.
Kristy’s SUV came barreling in and Stella jumped out of the rear and Eric from the front passenger before Kristy buzzed off to park. Destiny rushed to them.
Stella halted long enough to see the blood that was still spattered on Destiny’s face, arms, and hair. If she had been wearing anything but black, it would’ve been much more visible. Stella held her arms out to her.
“I’m so sorry. I’m a mess, Stella,” she cried.
“It’s OK.” Stephan’s mother wrapped her arms around her and held her close. When she stepped back, she would be wearing some of her son’s life blood.
“He did it for me,” Destiny’s voice was hoarse as she whispered in the woman’s ear. “He didn’t take this for the Bastards, he took a bullet for me. I’m so sorry, he should have let it be me.”
“You’re his world, Dallas, he never would have let that happen.” Stella’s tears were hot on her face.
“It’s all my fault. I should have known my place.”
“It’s never your fault.” Stella stepped back as Kristy joined them.
“There has been no news yet. He’s in surgery now, that’s all we know,” Trent told the collective group.
Stella reached her hand out to her husband and he gripped it tightly for a moment before ushering her in with Kristy. Eric turned to Destiny.
“They’re all at the clubhouse.”
“I have to join them. I can’t stay here and be so… so useless, playing a waiting game. I have to lead the hunt. He meant to kill me. ME, Eric! Goddamnit, Stephan just had to be the fuckin’ hero.” She glanced around but there was no one out here anymore. Even Trent had given them their space. “I got Bianca down but Drew came behind us in the midst of it all. I couldn’t get to my sidearm, Stephan tackled him. They wrestled and rolled down the hill. His guns were still holstered when we stripped them from him. It was Drew. He got off a shot and disappeared before I could reach them.”
“Don’t hunt,” Eric told her. “Whether he lives or dies, my son wouldn’t want you going this deep, this dark. Not because of him. And not without him to have your back.”
“He had my back tonight. That’s why he’s in there. I’ve got to go, Eric.”
Eric nodded. Fear and tears welled up in the eyes of a man she hadn’t realized had aged quite so much. But maybe tonight had done all of that. Slowly he reached into his pocket of his jacket, sans the cut tonight, and handed her the keys. “Kristy’s spare. Don’t tell her you got them from me.”
30
Destiny had no business driving, yet still she made it to the clubhouse whole. It was nearing a quarter after one. Her phone hadn’t rung yet with an update from the hospital and Trent had her new number.
She parked the car, made sure it was turned off, and climbed out. She walked tall to the clubhouse and threw open the door.
“Has anyone found him?!” she boomed to a nearly crowded room. In the hour since the call went out, the entire Sweetwater patch had crowded into the clubhouse. Prospects and all. All except Fabio and his father.
“We’re putting out calls. Fort Worth has been awakened, and we’re waiting on a reach out from Cochise and the Apaches now,” Bryant told her in the voice Fabio always mocked as his SEAL voice.
“What about Abraham?”
“Pride isn’t on our side, Dallas, especially not after what you fed the cops,” Houston told her.
“Fuck that. Someone get me a number for Abraham. Those worthless scum wanted to start a war. A war between any of us, it didn’t matter. Drew wanted a war, I’m going to give it to him!”
“Destiny! No you’re not!” Houston challenged her. He would be the only one dumb enough to do it. Fabio wasn’t here. Stephan, he wasn’t here to fight her back. She felt that darkness. The darkness he had helped stand down that day with Hesser. It was going to overtake her like it never had before.
“I am the reason for all of this. I killed Kyle Wellington in Fort Worth. I got Bianca and Drew itching for revenge. Tonight I dropped Bianca in the dirt like she was worthless. Like the nothing bitch she was. Drew wants me dead for that. I killed the love of his life and when he tried to get me he got the love of mine instead.” She was toe to toe with Houston. Although she would never be able to meet him eye to eye in height, she was giving it her all.
“Stephan will live because he isn’t stupid enough to die on me. But Drew will pay for what he has done to my family. For Leto, for Stephan. My knife will taste his blood! I will rip his heart from his chest! Have I made myself CLEAR?”
The roar of her brothers in cuts deafened behind her. “This ends on this day. Before midnight tonight, Drew will be nothing but a corpse. That gives y’all just under twenty-three hours to find him!”
Alec stood behind Houston. He was silent and he stroked his beard. Houston conceded and gave her a small nod. The hunt was on.
The Pup brewed coffee and someone placed it in front of her as she gave a quick and emotionless rundown of events to her brothers. She took a sip because her throat was sand and sawdust, but it was tasteless and empty to her. Dez still had a track on Drew’s phone but it hadn’t come back online. He had likely dumped it before the meet.
Houston headed toward the church room, Destiny stopped to watch her older brother walk away. Stephan flashed through her mind again and she knew that Eric was right. His son wouldn’t want to see what this was doing to Houston and her. He had spent his whole life fighting to keep the Callaghan kids in check. To keep their darkness at bay and now they were letting it be all-consuming. To retaliate and find justice for him.
Houston stopped just shy of the doors to the meeting room. The last place they had all sat as a family in Sweetwater before she shipped off. Destiny had no prospect patch but still Austin allowed her to come and sit with her brothers, him, Houston, and Fabio. Like their father had done when she was small.
Now they had gone from a brotherhood of four with the looming fear of becoming just a twosome. Houston lingered at the pictures on the wall. Drew’s picture hung there. He ripped it from the wall and threw it on the ground, shattering the glass, and jumped up and down on it in anger. He picked the remaining photo paper from the wreckage and held it up for all to see.
He struck his Zippo lighter on his thigh and lit it up. “Bastard no more!” he roared before leaving the dying flame to burn out in the ashtray where he tossed it.
***
By two a.m. the club had dispersed. Pairs rode off in search of Drew. They were stopping by any associate, any ally, waking anyone who might know where Drew had been. Alec and Destiny were left in the clubhouse, Houston had disappeared only God knows where.
Alec’s phone rang and he answered it. “She’s here,” he told the other person on his line. He was stressed, tired, and worried sick but his voice sweetened all the same. It was Aunt Kristy.
“I’ll let her know and spread the word. Keep me updated, I love you,” Alec said before disconnecting. The ‘keep me updated’ was hopeful. That and Alec was still standing.
“He made it out of surgery. He’s in critical condition but they removed the bullet and were forced to give him a blood transfusion. He isn’t awake and won’t be for what could be several days. I can take you back though, if you like,” the president told his niece.
Destiny’s heart dared to beat again but she couldn’t let all her fears dissolve. Stephan wasn’t out of the woods yet. She shook her head. “I can’t sit around a place li
ke that.”
“Then you need to shower, Destiny. You still have a few things in your apartment. Houston was just bitching about it yesterday.” Alec stepped up and handed her the black leather that made up her cut and the cool metal and synthetic of her guns. “Sleep if you can.”
Destiny nodded and mentally agreed to the shower. Sleep wouldn’t come. She wasn’t that naïve, no matter the depths of her exhaustion. She walked to her old apartment and opened the door. Houston always left it unlocked. If he had anything of importance, he kept it stashed somewhere else and usually hidden in plain sight. The talents gifted by having her and Austin as siblings.
She stripped herself naked in the bathroom and stared in the mirror. A small love bite Stephan had left her on her collar bone just hours before remained dark and purple from their moment of release, physically and emotionally. She smiled just a tad at the memory, imminently saddened that she had fought against it so hard for so long. Even if she had given in when she first came back, at least that would have given them just a few more days together.
Her hands slid over her stomach as she heated the shower water and the emptiness and soreness he had left between her legs made her want to scream and cry. If these were the only things she had left of him? She wished they hadn’t been so cautious and used protection. At least then she might have the hope of a piece of him growing inside of her, just in case. But Fabio was Fabio. Always cautious, always prepared.
“Fuckin’ boy scout,” she muttered out loud as she stepped into the scorching shower. She washed Stephan’s blood from her skin, lathered her hair and tried not to see the red as it rushed down the drain. She let herself cry again. Just for a few moments in the shower. Once she was back out and dressed there would be no time for tears.
So she cried. And then she dressed. Cut, guns, and all. She looked back at the bed she had laid on next to him that night before the bike ride. When he woke asking her all kinds of things about love and marriage, she had laughed, teased, and shut him down. How had that been such a short time ago but feel like so many years in her past?
The Devils Bastards MC: Destiny Dallas Callaghan Page 22
