“Sorry, brother,”the muffled voice says.
I’m about to curse, but stop when I hear a new voice, this one deeper and with a distinct Russian accent say, “Consider this the first step to your repayment.”
Who the fuck is that? Nikolai? Vlad? And what the fuck are they talking about?
“What’s going to happen to him?”another male voice asks, a slight hint of something like guilt in the tone.
“That is not your concern. Now, get out of here before I kill you and be done with it,” the Russian replies, and then the only thing we can hear is shuffling and an order barked in Russian before the recording is done.
I look at Viper, and the rage on his face matches mine. “We have a fucking traitor,” Viper hisses.
“But who? Cobra? Why?” I wonder. “But I can’t tell if that’s him on the recording or not.”
“Get it to Cryos and tell him to be careful,” Viper orders. “We need to talk to Bullet.”
My phone vibrates and I see Bowie’s name on the screen. “I found Cobra,” he says grimly. “He’s hurt pretty bad, looks like he was jumped.”
“Call Bullet and tell him we need Medic,” I order. “And tell him we found Hulk’s phone. He’s been taken.”
“Fuck. On it.” Then the line goes dead.
I look at Viper and I can see the same question on his face as I’m feeling. Why would they take Hulk and not Cobra? Why were they separated? Something is rotten around here, but we need to focus on getting Hulk back as soon as we can.
“We need to talk to Bullet,” Viper says grimly. “And we need to do it as far away from Arson and the Misfits as possible.” On that, we can agree.
“We need to call Frost. He’s our best tracker, and if anyone can find where Hulk is after this, it’s him.”
“I’ll call him.” Viper nods.
I send the video to Cryos and text Bullet at the same time.
Shadow: Need this analyzed ASAP. Keep it quiet. We have a traitor.
We need to find Hulk, and we need to find him soon. Vlad won’t keep him alive forever. Hulk is one strong son of a bitch, but even he will have limits.
Who dared to call him brother and then feed him to the wolves?
CHAPTER FIVE
BULLET
I never leave a brother behind, and we’ll do whatever it takes to get him back.
I’m goingto rip some heads off before this is fucking over, and I don’t give a damn if it’s going to ruin an alliance of over a decade. I listen to the video again, my blood boiling but my head already spinning on what this means. What it signifies.
After the second play-through finishes, I motion for Cryos to start talking. I need details and fast. We don’t have a lot of time to get Hulk back. Who knows what Vlad and Nikolai are doing to him. And why the fuck did they take him and not Cobra. None of this is adding up.
“I analyzed the voices,” Cryos says, typing away on his computer. “The problem is that it’s so low I can’t quite make out a definite answer on who it might be. I did, however, isolate some of the sounds once I took out the voices. You can hear a couple of car doors slam, and a bike engine rev. It’s faint, so Ican’t make out any sounds on the bike that might pinpoint who owns it, though.” Frustration covers his face.
I, Sniper, Shadow, Viper, Stone, and King, are sitting in Syn and Stone’s living room, one of the only places that we know the Misfits won’t be listening, with Cryos trying to show us things on his small laptop screen. All the rest but Frost and Bowie, who are back out looking at the area where Hulk got taken, are at the clubhouse watching over Thea and Rose, and keeping an eye on the Misfits. We don’t have a lot of time before Arson and his guys notice that we’re not there so we need to figure this out and get back there.
“Is there any way to tell who it was that betrayed Hulk?” Shadow asks him, his voice tight.
Cryos shrugs. “I’d need voice patterns on everyone and that would take a long time. We don’t have that.”
“What about Cobra?” King asks, eyes narrowed. “I mean, why would they take Hulk but only beat him up?”
“Maybe Vlad only asked for Hulk and wanted Cobra to be a warning,” Stone replies, though he doesn’t look convinced. His eyes are lined with worry, and I know most of that has to do with finally convincing Syn to go with Sage and Izzy out to California.
