Page 9 of Twisted Steel

“Yes.”

“Was she a pretty thing?”I look at him, and he lifts both hands.“Question withdrawn.”

Mama M ties off the stitch and slaps my hand.“There.Try not to redecorate any more walls.”

I stand.“Thank you.”

She eyes me.“That girl shook you.”

I stop.Mama M has been around the Sons long enough to know when men are bleeding in places she can’t stitch.It makes her dangerous.

“She did her job,” I say.

“And you’re doing that thing where you make your voice flat because the words got feelings in them.”

I stare down at her.Most people look away from me eventually.Mama M never has.

“She doesn’t belong near this,” I say.

“No woman does ...until she does.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“It means men like you are always really sure what women can survive.Right up until one of us survives you.”

I hate that.Mostly because it’s true.I leave before she can say anything else that cuts too clean.

The war room is full when I step in.Savage at the head of the table.Saint beside him.Crimson stands near the far wall, his arms crossed, suspicion sitting ugly on his face.A few officers and two road captains, men who have earned the right to speak and the sense to know when not to.

Savage points to the screen—hospital security, street cameras, and grainy footage from three angles.Saint has already started building the map.

“Shooters came in from the west,” Saint says.“Left towards the east.They swapped vehicles six blocks out.”

“Are there any witnesses?”Crimson asks.

“Too many,” Saint says.“But they’re all too scared to say a fucking thing.”

Crimson looks at me.“What about the medic?”

I go still.

“Careful,” Savage says softly.

Crimson glances at him, then back at me.“She saw faces.That makes her club business.”

“No,” I say.One word.Flat and final.

The room shifts and Crimson’s eyes narrow.“No?”

“She’s a civilian.”

“She was at a club shooting,” he counters.

“She was at work.”

“She saw us armed.”I know what he's saying is true, but I’m not happy to hear it.

I take one step toward him, and Saint says my name under his breath.I stop because I am loyal, not because I am calm.