No sooner do I pass the threshold to my room, there’s a sharp prick to my neck then Gavel and Giblet’s arms wrap around me.
“Sorry, Prez, but I knew we’d need to catch you off guard before you changed your mind.”
“Fuckers,” I mumble, my eyes growing heavy.
My body grows taut at the thought of what’s waiting for me when I fall into my slumber, but I’m unable to fight the effects of the drug.
Right before I fall under, I hear Gavel whisper, “Still breathing for you, kid.”
There’s still a grittiness to my eyes when I wake up hours later, but my mind and my body feel more alert.
“How are you feeling?”Gavel asks when I sit up and scrub my hands over my face.
“Better.Did Cypher come up with anything new?”
“Not yet.Nyla and Callix made him get some sleep, too.Chimera has been working while Cypher is down.I’m sure they’ll have something soon.”He climbs to his feet, exhaustion and pain sitting heavy in his eyes.“Let’s go grab something to eat until we hear some news.There’s no sense in leaving here without a direction.”
I climb to my feet and twist my back left, then right, sighing when it cracks.
That mattress fucking sucked.
“Let me grab a quick shower.”I peer down at my shirt and grimace.“Can you see if someone has a shirt I can borrow?”
There’s not much to be found, food-wise, in this fucking town, but the small diner has a decent enough selection to fill us up.
I’m tossing money down on the table when my phone rings.
Cypher’s name flashes across the screen, and adrenaline shoots through my veins.
“Talk to me,” I answer.
“Chimera found a contact about an hour from where you are.One of the primary clients Frankie sells to.Chimera picked up chatter that this client has a package of Frankie’s that he’s been holding onto, and Frankie’s ready to collect.Something about a family reunion.”
This is fucking it.
I don’t know what we’re going to find, but the fire in my gut tells me this is the lead we’ve been waiting for.
“Appreciate you, brother,” I tell him gruffly.
“They’re my family, too.I’ll keep digging just in case this turns out to be another fucking dead end.Sending you the location now.”
After ending the call with Cypher, I rush to my bike.The others pick up my urgency and hurry after me.I double check my weapon before I throw my leg over the seat.
My phone pings with the incoming message from Cypher.I study the location on the map and lock it into my memory before shoving it into my pocket.
I flick on the ignition and fire my bike up, twisting my hand to send my pipes roaring through the sky.We fly by a church just getting out of service, and people stop and stare, their expressions judgmental and hateful.They know we’re not supposed to be here, but they’re too terrified to say anything about it.Instead, they’ll stay in their safe little spaces, in their rich ass fucking town with their big fancy houses and their expensive ass cars, and gossip about us when we’re gone.
They’ll call us thugs, say racist shit about my men whose skin is darker than theirs, and they’ll bitch about how we need to go back to where we came from.All the while pretending they’re happy with their mundane lives.The men will act as if they don’t leave their dutiful wives to go fuck their side pieces, and the wives will pretend to know nothing about it as long as their rich, insignificant lives don’t get interrupted.They’ll go fuck their personal trainers, the pool boys, or the yard workers.Then they’ll show up at Sunday service and pretend for a day that they’re a good person with a cross on a chain around their neck.
Those are the biggest hypocrites.The ones who will ignore the struggling moms as they count their pennies to feed children they were forced to have.The ones who ignore the men and women who gave their service to a country that doesn’t give a shit about them.The ones in those pews will be the first to snarl at the thought of dropping some loose change in a cup so someone can eat, or ignoring the injustices going on in the world to people who aren’t like them while tossing out slurs like fucking confetti.They’ll protect the pedophiles or become them.They’ll lay their hands on their spouses because their deity in the sky said they should honor and obey them.Then they’ll cry with some fake apology and explain that if they would have just listened to them, they wouldn’t have had to hurt them.
People should just own who the fuck they are.If you’re a shitty person, accept the consequences of being one.
Their judgment of my family pisses me off, so I make sure to flip them off with a big smile as we ride by.
Fuck, people like them make me angry.
Who the hell are they to judge me and mine when they wake up in the morning and aren’t even happy with the person they see staring back at them?
