Page 22 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
I snarled at him. “Just wanting to make sure you’re thinking this through clearly. Because it’s obvious you’re taking this personally, and I’d hate to see any one of us die because you have a vendetta to settle.”
He gnashed his teeth. “Get on board with the plan or give me your leather cut. Your choice.”
I knew that everyone was on a trip-wire in terms of their patience, but this was a side of Link I’d never seen before. And to be honest, it worried me. Link had always been the level-headed one of the bunch, but there was something behind his eyes that he was desperate to play out. There was a bullet he was desperate to fire and a life he was desperate to take.
And I didn’t like that look on him one bit.
“Why don’t you take a breath and let’s try this again. Yeah?” I asked.
Link’s eyes danced between mine before he backed up. “There are fifteen places on the map that Skeleton has been around more than once. We’ll split up with coms in our ears and each of us will take three areas.”
I scoffed. “You want us to venture out alone?”
Link shrugged. “Only chance we’ve got at winding this up and down tonight. You guys in?”
I looked around the room and saw all of the guys staring at me. As if they were waiting for my answer first. I saw the hesitancy in Bowser’s eyes and secretly chastised him for not speaking up. For not saying something. But when I looked back at Link, I saw something in his face I’d never seen before.
He was begging me to do this.
“All right,” I said.
Link breathed a sigh of relief. “Sly’s in. Who is else in?”
And one by one, the rest of the guys nodded their heads.
Link swallowed hard. “Then, it’s settled. Ten minutes, then it’s time to congregate outside and get on the road. On my desk are files with each of your names on them as well as addresses for the places you’ll be checking out. Once you get your file, go into the panic room and set up your coms microphone. I want all of us plugged into each other so we can move as a steady group out there.”
Bowser interjected. “And no firing your weapon unless you absolutely have to tonight.”
There was so much about this that I couldn't stand, but I also didn’t have a choice. So, I did as I was told. I walked over and scooped up the file folder on Link’s desk that had my name on it, then followed Ash to the panic room in the very back of the bar. And despite its name, our panic room didn’t hold a place to sleep or a way to contact the outside world.
We used it as our primo-weapons and storage place.
I holstered each of my hips with weapons and stacked myself to the brim with magazines. Then, I set up my comms unit in my ear. With my folder in hand and my ear filled with the gruff grumbles of the other men around me, I headed out to my bike.
But, not before catching the time on a clock.
Five forty-five.
I was hoping this would take long enough for me to catch Tara and tell her how sorry I was, but that we’d have to reschedule. I didn’t want her to come to an empty bar and learn some bullshit third-hand information about the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to show up. However, the guys got themselves ready much quicker than I figured they would. Usually, when Link said ten minutes, that meant somewhere in the realm of thirty.
But this time? The guys were actually ready in ten minutes.
Of course, they are.
I wanted to stay behind. I wanted to sit down and have a conversation with the girl who had sunken her hooks into me. But as I mounted my bike at a few minutes before six, I hoped and prayed she would understand.
Then, right as the clock struck 5:55 P.M., we were off.
I had my GPS set for the three areas I was supposed to comb all by myself. And luckily, they weren’t too far out. The first place I needed to search was less than thirty minutes away. And the other two places were only fifteen minutes in opposing directions from that original spot. Maybe I’d have enough time to look through these places, brief the guys, then call Tara and ask her to meet me for a late-night coffee at a diner somewhere in town.
The further out I drove, though, the more worried I became.
There were still so many loose ends to all of this fucking nonsense. I mean the Red Pythons, for one. We acted like we had simply forgotten their absolute betrayal that helped put us in this scenario in the first place, and they still hadn’t been dealt with. Then, there was Skeleton, who somehow always dodged us at the exact right times. It made me wonder what kind of equipment he had on his side.
