“Enough!” I roar, silencing them all. “Everyone out but Arson, Sniper, and Angel. Frost, Bowie, make sure no one starts anything. Arson, order your men outside of the clubhouse. It’s not a request,” I bark when he opens his mouth to presumably argue with me.
Arson gives the order, reluctantly, and the room empties but for the people I ordered to stay behind.
The minute the door closes, I spit, “The only reason I haven’t sent you home yet is because your man was injured. You need our route, and I’m about to yank it out from under you if one of your men spits out another ounce of disrespect. We will handle this ourselves just as we have been. Or I’ll call in someone else that will help us and actually give a damn about getting our man back. Don’t you fucking dare insinuate that our man was responsible for anything that happened to yours. The evidence is out there that Hulk went in the correct direction and yours went off on his own. I am only concerned with getting Hulk home, alive or not, as quickly as possible. We can figure the other shit out later, but tell your men to knock it off or leave.
“Our men are trained and former military. They do this all day every day, and if anyone is going to find Hulk, it’s going to be the them. The ones that work with him every fucking day. Your men are going to go in like battering rams and try to get the information and end up scaring them off or getting Hulk killed. You do this shit how we want or you leave. Simple. Got it?”
Arson looks like he’s not sure if he wants to argue with me or be furious that I’m daring to speak to him that way. Finally, he nods and says, “Bullet, this is a hard time for all of us. You’re right, our club shouldn’t be saying shit about your man, but Cobra almost lost his life and?—”
“Just like I almost lost a Prospect that has put his life before mine, my Old Lady’s, and many others already in a short time,” I interrupt. “We’ve already lost one brother, so don’t speak to me about almost. We have lost far more in a short time than you will understand. I will not lose another brother.” I turn to Sniper. “You good to head out with one of their men?”
“I’ll do whatever I have to, to find Hulk,” Sniper answers simply.
“You got a problem going out with him?” I ask Angel.
Angel shakes his head. “I think all this fighting is a waste of time.” He looks at Sniper. “You good to leave now?” Sniper nods. “Good. We leave in five minutes. Where are we going?”
“We’ll check out the storage locker,” Sniper says after a moment’s thought. “I ran the bar and I know that area around it very well.”
Angel nods. “Alright.” Then he looks at Arson and adds, “I’m telling the men to get their heads out of their asses and team up. Bullet’s right. We should be focusing on finding a fellow brother, not arguing over how we get there or with who. We’re brothers first. See you outside.” Then he walks out.
Arson glares after Angel before finally looking back at me. “You and I heading out together too?” he asks me. I don’t expect an apology, but it looks like he’s not in agreement with his VP. Makes me wonder what else they don’t agree on.
“Yes,” I say with a nod. “We’ll check out at the mechanic shop and the bakery behind it.” Then we head out of the room.
The time is coming for us to end this alliance, but we won’t be doing it now. Does Arson know what his men are up to? Is he aware of the betrayal that one of them possibly committed against us? Time will tell, but we’re going to find out, and we’re going to bring Hulk home.
CHAPTER TEN
HULK
I need a way to get out of here.
“What didyou talk about with the nurse?” Nikolai demands coldly, stepping right into my face, blue eyes hard and unyielding. The morphine wore off hours ago, and everything in my body is screaming for relief. My ribs are stretched tight in this strung-up position, and the wounds on my back have started oozing again. Not that the fucker in front of me cares. I can see it clearly on his face that he wants me to die. If he had the option, he’d put a bullet in my head and be done with it.
I’m almost at the point of telling him to, but not yet. Not fucking yet. My club will find me. Soon.
“Allergies,” I breathe out. I don’t have the strength to say much more. They’ve left me in here so long without water I’ll die of dehydration instead of infection.
He punches me in the gut, making me gag and groan painfully. “You might lie to Vlad and he believes, but you won’tget away with that with me. I saw the cameras. She was talking to you while she worked. Did she offer to help you get out of here?”
I rasp out a laugh. “How the hell would she get me out of here?” I sneer. “Do you see the size of her? She told me she was going to give me good shit for the pain and told me not to whine and cry while she sewed me up.” At least now I know that they have a camera in here, but not audio. If they did, he’d already know this.
He stares at me, and then turns and walks to the door. “Bring the nurse,” he yells out. Nothing about him changes, but I can feel it. The excitement over what’s coming next. My stomach sinks to my feet and I pray that this isn’t going to end in her death. Not my angel. The only one who’s given me any kind of relief and hope since I got here.
When she finally arrives, my angel is spitting mad. “What the fuck?” she snarls at Nikolai. She never once glances my way. She’s traded her trademark blue scrubs for something dark green, her hair is in a braid that sits at the base of her skull, and she’s wearing a bit more makeup today than she did before, but I can see her exhaustion and feel her fury. “I don’t give a flying fuck who you are, you don’t ever fucking touch them,” she spits. “That was the deal with Vlad, and I’ve held my end of it up. You will release them. Now.”
Wait. What? Did they grab her kids? Dread fills me.
Nikolai moves to strike her, but she easily and swiftly dodges, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Nikolai’s expression change. It goes from cold to menacing, like he’s battling the urge to kill her then and there. I can tell from the stiffness in her body that she knows it too, but my brave, and incredibly stupid, angel doesn’t back down. “Let. Them. Go.” The words are succinct.
Nikolai doesn’t move. Instead, he simply pulls his gun and aims it right at her head. Rage and panic fill me. I’m too weak to struggle, to try and get his attention. “What did you tell him?”
“Tell him?” Her expression goes from one of mild concern to incredulity. “I haven’t been in here in over six hours. How can I have told him anything?”
“Don’t get smart with me. Last night when you were patching him up, you talked. What did you say? And if you dare to lie to me, I’ll kill you now and then I’ll order my men to do the same to those two brats.”
She blinks at him once, then twice. “That’s what this whole thing is about? Me doing my job? I asked if he had any allergies, and told him not to be a baby.”
