Page 50 of Shadow Strike
CB glanced toward the window, then back at Regan.“You okay?”
“I’m fine.”She wasn’t fine.She was terrified and trying to hide it behind a bartender’s competence.
He called her on it.“Rule 8, remember?”
“Ugh.”She tossed the bar towel into the bin.“What are we supposed to do?Wait for them to come in and trash the place?”
“They’re not here to trash anything.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yeah, I do.”CB straightened, rolling his shoulders like he was preparing for something.“Ryder’s making a point.Showing you what he can do, how many people answer to him.But these guys?”He nodded toward the parking lot.“Half of them don’t even know why they’re here.They got a call saying to show up, so they showed up.That’s how it works.”
Regan stared at him.“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“It is.”He held her gaze.“Ryder’s power depends on people following orders without asking questions.The minute they start asking questions, he’s in trouble.”A faint smile crossed his face.“And I’m about to make them ask questions.”
Before she could reply, CB walked to the front door and pushed it open.
She watched through the window as he stepped onto the porch, hands visible, posture relaxed.A few of the Outlaws turned to look at him.Then a few more.She saw recognition dawn on some faces—these were men who knew him, who remembered Wade’s son.
CB raised a hand in greeting.Called out something she couldn’t hear through the glass.
One of the older Outlaws laughed.
Regan’s breath caught.That wasn’t the reaction she’d expected.She’d braced for confrontation, for threats, for the tension to erupt into something ugly.
Instead, CB started walking into the crowd, shaking hands, clapping shoulders.She watched him stop beside a gray-haired man in a faded cut and exchange words that made the man throw his head back and laugh.
“What is he doing?”she murmured.
Lynx smiled.“What he’s good at.”
Over the next twenty minutes, Regan watched CB work the parking lot like a politician at a fundraiser.He moved from group to group, talking and listening in equal measure.
Some of the men stayed stiff, arms crossed, clearly loyal to Ryder.
But others warmed to him.She could see it in their postures, the way they leaned in, the occasional burst of laughter.
By the time a black SUV pulled into the lot, the atmosphere had shifted entirely.The threat that had felt so imminent when she’d counted those first motorcycles had dissipated into something closer to a tailgate party.
Two people climbed out of the SUV.A man and a woman.The man was tall, dark-haired, with a bearing that reminded her of CB—controlled, watchful, but not aggressive.The woman was Claire Dawson.
They made their way through the crowd of Outlaws, neither rushing nor hesitating.CB met them at the edge of the parking lot and exchanged a few words before leading them inside.
“Regan.”CB gestured to the man beside him.“This is Garrett Cross, my CO at Shadow Point.”
Garrett extended his hand.His grip was firm, his eyes assessing her in a way that felt professional rather than personal.“Ms.Hill.CB’s told me a lot about you.”
“Has he?”She glanced at CB, whose face revealed nothing.“Good things, I hope.”
“He said you don’t back down.”Garrett released her hand.“I’d say the evidence supports that.”
“And my mother?”
Garrett chuckled.“She’s told me even more about you.”
“I can just imagine,” Regan said on a sigh.
