I can see her brain working, computing my actions and words.
“How Eli? How will you get revenge?”
“Fuck knows I know everything there is to know about the compound, Liv. We were both there. No one knows better than me all the paths in which outsiders don’t have a clue are there. Or where the security is and isn’t.”
“Are you sure, Eli? Sure you’re doing the right thing?”
“Not one man, not one woman raised a fuckin’ finger to help me, Liv. I fucked up, and instead of helping to find out what was going on, they made it all ten times worse. You know how badly it’s affected me. I can’t live with all this anger burning inside. And you’ve borne the brunt, haven’t you?” I smooth my hand over her hair, acting like I’m trying to persuade her. “They kicked us both out, didn’t they? Though I begged them to let you stay until the baby was born.”
That’s complete fiction as we both know, but hopefully persuasive for any ears listening.
“My mom, my dad?” Her voice shakes showing she’s genuinely scared for them, but I’m so fucking proud of my wife when she looks me straight in the face.
“They hurt us, Liv. Stood by and did nothing.”
“I don’t care about anyone else,” she lies, calmly. “Not after what they did. But if you can, will you spare our family? I hoped they’d come around after the baby is born.”
I hope my expression conveys I’ll save everyone on that compound, but something else comes out of my mouth. “I know you did, Liv. But as I’ve said before, we’ve got all the family we need right here. You, me and our baby. We don’t need anyone else.”
When she sobs, she’s not acting. I pull away her hand that’s gone to cover her mouth and instead place my lips on hers briefly. “This is our chance to start a new life, baby. Put the past right behind.”
“You’re really going to betray them? I’m not sure…”
Her expression lets me know she understands the game I’m playing. “Sweetheart, whether you like the idea or not is not the point. I’m your fuckin’ husband and it’s your job to do what I say and stand by me.”
The door opens. A slow clapping sounds. “Fuck, I wondered how long it would take for you to find your balls,” Archangel’s amused voice butts in. “Sorry to call a halt to this family reunion,” he begins in a tone conveying he’s anything but. “It’s time to start talking, Eli. Leave the little woman behind.”
I stare down at Liv again, memorising every feature of her face, then, rest my hands on where my baby lies inside her. “I’ll be back,” I promise. This time when I speak, total honesty shines out of my eyes.
She grips hold of the material of my t-shirt. “Eli...”
“Stay here.” Stupid remark, she’s got no choice.
Behind, Archangel snorts loudly. Then as I hear the stomping of feet, I pull away from her, preferring to walk out of the room voluntarily rather than unceremoniously being wrenched away by his men.
I stand with my hand to my forehead as the man guarding Liv locks the door to her prison again. She may be in fairly comfortable surroundings, but she’s still jailed within four walls. I hate that I’m leaving her here. I know what I promised that I’d be back and take her home soon, but I wouldn’t trust Archangel as far as I could throw him. He’d get the information out of my head then kill her and me as well without so much as breaking a sweat. I can’t forget how he callously arranged the murder of his own wife and child. No one means anything to this man if he thinks it might get in his way.
I’ve got to be clever.
I love you, I tell her again in my mind, hoping somehow my thoughts will pervade through the wall separating us as I’m led away.
“This way,” Archangel instructs sharply. “In here.”
I’m pushed into an office and directed to a seat in front of the desk. I’m unarmed, but that doesn’t stop a guard taking a sentry post in front of the doorway.
“Talk,” the man instructs, wasting no time as he seats himself behind the desk.
I point to a notepad. Realising my intention, he tears off a sheet of paper and passes it across with a pen. Placing it in front of me, I start to sketch.
“This is the gate to the compound. The auto-shop is just inside. The clubhouse is further up the track.”
I glance up to find Archangel paying close attention. His eyes reach mine. “You’re not telling me anything that can’t be seen on Google Earth.”
I roll my eyes signalling give me a fucking chance. “Google won’t show you the security, I can.” I do so, laying it on thick, talking about non-existent compression points, trip wires, armed guards and of course, cameras with sensitive microphones to pick up sound, finishing up with, “You won’t get in easily via the front gate, if you can make it in at all. Security is airtight, and so are the fences around the compound.”
“Dogs?”
I shake my head.
“That’s something. So, we come heavily armed. Explosives, percussion grenades.”
I widen my eyes and shake my head. “Are you even listening to me? You don’t have a fuckin’ chance via the front gate. But,” I hold up my hand and give a smug grin, “I can get you inside without them having a clue you’re there.” I have to stress they need me with them, else I’ll be dead once they’ve milked the information from my head. And worse, so will Liv.
He’s looking at me carefully. “You’ve just told me it’s impossible. What do you propose? We drop in by fucking parachute?”
I snort as I’m supposed to. “Don’t forget I know this place like the back of my hand. Look,” I draw something else. “Up here, at the back of the compound is another entrance.”
“One equally well guarded I suppose.”
My grin widens. “Not at all.”
“No? Well, what’s up there?” His eyes sharpen.
“Houses.” I look up to see if I can reel him in. “Where the members with old ladies live.”
“Drummer and Wraith?”
I nod, trying to push down the feeling I want to vomit, wondering if I can pull off convincing Archangel I’d happily see my father dead. “Theirs were the first houses built. Others now live alongside them, Wizard, Heart, Rock, Joker and Lady—”
“I get the picture,” he interrupts. “But surely security is tighter than a virgin ass?”
“Nothing much more than a trip wire alarm, and that’s more than likely switched off.”
His eyes widen.
“Oh, we tried all sorts of early warning systems, even a laser beam, but the wildlife kept setting it off, deer, foxes, even the odd javelina. We’ve never had an attack via the rear of the compound because there’s no road to the forest, so you need off-roaders for a start, and even then you can’t get particularly close. It’s a long hike up from the road, so they’ve gotten lax. Most times the gate itself is unlocked and they rely on their reputation to keep people away from the compound.”
“Vehicular access?”
“Nah, on foot only, as I just said. Is that a problem?”
“Maybe have to leave the tanks and heavier grenade launchers behind.” Problem is, I don’t think he’s joking. “So you’re suggesting we can get in that way. I presume it’s best to use the cover of darkness. That area lit?”
After I shake my head showing no, it’s not, Archangel drums his fingers against the desk. He fires off some more questions, and I answer them all, hopefully to his satisfaction, praying he’ll take the bait and walk into the trap Wizard will have prepared.
“I like this idea,” he tells me at last. “We get the lead members, maybe end up with some product to sell if we can take the women unharmed. Your woman alone has got three sisters.” He gives me a look. “Can you control her if she kicks up a fuss?”
For the second time I swallow down bile. Liv would go crazy if Archangel got close to her sisters. She’d never forgive me. Fuck, I wouldn’t forgive myself. If that happens, I won’t be here to tell the story, I’ll have died before I let anything happen to th
em, or to Isabel, Maya, Amy, Lisa, Rose, Hope, Alexis, Sabrina, Maria, Tanya or Yiska. As I run through all the women and girls, I hope Wizard has got them locked down securely. Even Mouse’s kids who normally live at his stables, and others who live off compound will have been brought in on lockdown.
This has to work.
He looks up at the man standing behind me. “Get everyone ready. We’ll go in tonight.”
Tonight? So soon. Too soon?
No. Wizard will have sprung into action after my warning.
I could have fucked up. He might be waiting to call church tomorrow.
Whoa. I again tell the demon on my shoulder to shut up, forcing myself to think of the man I supported as my prez, calming my heart rate down so I can relax. To Archangel showing how unfazed I am by clasping my hands behind my head. Wizard won’t have wasted one second. Even now everyone will be safe in the clubhouse, women moaning about the lack of space and teenagers seeing it all as a game. My brothers will already be on standby, some guarding their families, the rest at the top of the compound preparing the trap, ready for whatever is likely to approach. The main gate unguarded, of course.
Archangel is watching me. If he misinterprets my pose as pleasurable contemplation of the forthcoming take down of my supposed enemy, that’s on him.
“How many men have you got?” I ask him.
He studies me for a moment. “Enough.” He taps the drawing. “I’ll send in one team to cause a commotion at the main entrance. That way they’ll be looking in the wrong direction. They’ll all head down to the gate and be taken by surprise when we hit them where you suggest.”
I force my features to remain composed as they are, again calming myself with the thought Wizard would do exactly what I would. Mouse will be watching the monitors carefully and be on the lookout for a fake attack. Fuck knows, when there’s danger about, that man never sleeps.
“More security that end of the compound,” I warn him.
“So they’ll see us coming,” Archangel smirks, “and all come running, leaving their families unprotected. Don’t forget, they don’t even know to expect me.”
Oh, but they do. I stare across the desk at the man who tonight will take his last breath. The thought is a cheering one and makes me smile. “They don’t know what’s coming at all,” I agree.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Eli…
We’re back in the truck I arrived in, but now there are others following behind.
Archangel had picked my brains for how best to approach the compound. I took some joy in knowing we were in for a bumpy ride, taking the trucks as far into the forest as possible, then proceeding on foot. The men bitched about carrying loaded packs. In the end, Archangel relented and left some of the heavier artillery behind once he saw the terrain and understood just how far men would have to carry it. I revise my opinion about whether these men had ever served. Wannabe soldier boys just playing games, no way would they pass their fitness training as anything more than rifles, handguns and ammunition appear too heavy for them.
The discipline, I notice, also only extends to standing to attention and looking the part. Archangel took longer than I’d have expected getting them to move in something resembling formation. Once we got moving, several fell behind, and we were further delayed waiting for them to catch up.
As a kid I played in amongst these trees, as a teen I hunted for deer. I know the forest intimately. I could have been evil and taken them on a long, circular route but I’d tossed up tiring them out against getting this over and done with. Of course, the darkness also helps both sides. When dawn breaks, Archangel will see the trap he’s heading into. The sooner we get there, the quicker we can get this finished, and Archangel will cease taking in air. Liv will be free and we can go home.
This time, I make a silent promise to her, I won’t clock out. I’ll be right there beside her. Belatedly setting up the nursery, making sure everything’s ready for when the baby arrives. I’ll get a job and we’ll make a fresh start in Tucson. A sense of loss floods through me. I know they’ll let Liv and I stay while I get my head straight and we welcome the baby, but at some point we’ll have to strike out on our own. My fault. I fucked up. Club life is behind me. But we’ll make do with our small family, which might even grow in time, and I reckon we won’t be ostracised as previously, and maybe some of the brothers will stay friends.
There’s a thrashing behind me as yet again someone stumbles over a downed tree I automatically stepped over. My bad, I hadn’t warned anybody. Archangel had managed to find a small stock of night goggles from somewhere. I hadn’t wanted to ask him what for. But insufficient to equip all his men. Unlike the Devils who’d have helped each other, his men didn’t buddy up with the ones unlucky enough only to be guided by the light of the moon. I’m hoping on at least a twisted ankle or two to slow them down.
We reach the off-road racing track under which uncountable numbers of bodies are rotting. Road, an F.O.G. who transferred out years’ back, was a trial bike rider, and used this track to practice on. It will probably need to be extended yet again after tonight, or hopefully. I wonder how many will die tonight, or whether Archangel’s men will run when they realise their attack comes as no surprise. I wonder what welcome party Wizard has laid on, and trust it all goes to plan.
Shooting out my hand, I bring everyone to a halt.
“We’re at the fire break,” I tell them, speaking softly once they huddle around. “It’s a hundred feet of cleared ground. Need to go quietly and carefully from now on.”
“No cameras?” Archangel’s scanning around.
“No. As you saw, it’s not easy to get here this way.”
“Trip wires?”
“There. About ten feet in from the forest, and another ten feet before the fence. But as I said, they don’t work.”
“Watch out for the trip wires,” Archangel instructs anyway. “Quiet from now until we get to the fence.”
Archangel’s men are all dressed in black. I’m wearing blue denim jeans and a navy t-shirt. We’ll be difficult to see emerging out of the darkness. I make a mental note that we, they, should have more security out here. But I hadn’t lied and why we don’t is quite clear. Even motion sensor lights are likely to disturb people’s sleep when set off by a deer. We do normally have cameras though, and true to his word, Wizard has removed them.
Slowly we make our way across the hundred-foot-wide strip of cleared ground.
We’re on our way, Wizard. Can you see? Can you hear?
A shout, a call would get me dead, and worse, warn Archangel away. I remain restricted to shooting off the telepathic warning in my head.
What if I’m wrong? What if Wizard’s not as prepared as I expect him to be?
I’m a guide only. I’ve no weapon as Archangel doesn’t fully trust me.
I do hear a collective sigh of relief when we reach the six-foot fence. Archangel peers through the slats.
“How many houses?”
I haven’t really stopped to count. “Eleven, twelve?”
“We split up,” he decides. “Eli, you’re with me. Heath too. We’ll take Wizard’s.”
To pre-empt his question, I point it out. I notice all lights are off, the illusion being everyone is in bed asleep. As they would be at three a.m.
“Open it.” He nods at the lock.
I left the compound with my bunch of keys, which includes one to the back gate which is lucky as it’s locked. Wizard must have realised it shouldn’t have looked easy. Fuck knows why the key wasn’t taken off me, but Archangel’s pleased when I explain that our entrance will be easy. As far as I can tell, he’s not suspicious. The apparent lack of security seems to have given him a sense of superiority. Men as lax as these will be easy to take.
Once inside, Archangel doesn’t waste time, giving the signal for everyone to split up and move, his non-verbal signals giving instruction as to which group goes where.
This far up the compound, far away from the well-guard
ed gate and Mouse’s security system, no one bothers to lock their front doors. Except, I’d expected and hoped for the extra precaution tonight—a lock shot off, a door kicked in which would alert everyone something was up. But Wizard’s front door opens easily, and Archangel pushes me inside, with his gun to the small of my back. Another sign he still doesn’t quite trust me.
I can’t do much else but obey the finger to his lips signal and keep quiet as we move through the house. I’m tense, expecting Wizard to jump out at any moment, and hoping he recognises me before he shoots.
But nothing moves.
“Master bed?” Archangel whispers directly into my ear.
After I point it out, a prod with the gun gets me moving that way.
Yeah, sure. This is a good idea. Walking unannounced into the bedroom of a prez of an outlaw MC in the dead of night. What’s his first reaction going to be? Yeah, right. Shoot the intruder first then ask questions later. Archangel isn’t stupid, he’s using me as a human shield.
Archangel moves to one side, then flips on the light. Wizard sits up fast, his hand reaching for his gun.
“I wouldn’t,” Archangel says, showing his got a line straight to Wizard’s head.
I inch back. I know this place as well as my own. All of us keep spare weapons ready and handy, and I happen to know Wiz has a spare gun taped behind his door. He’ll probably have to rearrange shit when his kid’s born, but for now… I reach behind me breathing a silent sigh of relief as I find it exactly where I expect to.
The quiet thump of a man dropping to the floor behind me isn’t unanticipated. It coincides with Wizard barking out, “What the fuck are you doing in my house?”
Archangel didn’t hear he’s a man down, instead he sneers at Wizard, “Where’s your pretty wife?”
Hawk's Cry : Satan's Devils MC Second Generation #2 Page 22
