Ashley’s life.
The lives of all the club brothers.
Failure wasn’t an option. This had to go off without a hitch. Unfortunately, I knew the likelihood of that was next to none.
Still, what else could I do but try?
I had to protect the woman I loved with everything at my disposal.
I wouldn’t let that fucker and his guys touch her. I wouldn’t let them destroy Scott and the club.
No matter what I had to do, tonight the Rogues would take their last breaths.
My earpiece buzzed again. With a tap, I accepted the transmission, the sound of the bikers cursing and stomping towards Scott at the closed gates to the Rogues clubhouse blaring through my ear. He was keeping the line open to keep me in the know.
Scott ignored the comments and threats tossed his way and gestured at the prospect manning the gates. “Tell him Spartan’s here to make a deal.”
The kid moved to open the gates instead. Oh no.
Scott held up his hand. “Think I’m fucking dumb? I ain’t going in there. Get the old man out here.”
“You’re dying either way.”
“Not until I got this deal in the bag. Want my baby girl protected when I’m buried. So, get the fuck on it and bring that bastard Prez of yours to me.”
A creepy laugh sounded in my ear, making me cringe. I watched through the scope as Knox stepped out, holding his hand up to his guys. They all took a few steps back and cleared a path for him to meet Scott at the gates. “Chill, brother,” he said, derisively.
I watched Knox open the gates and start patting Scott down, searching him. “Don’t trust nobody else to do this. They don’t know your tricks like I do,” Knox told Scott.
I fiddled with my earpiece, shifting to another frequency, one that patched me into Deviant, Wrecker and Anarchy, the three go-to brothers on this op. “Advance,” I ordered. “Move in hard and fast. No mercy.”
“Copy that,” Deviant answered quick, then disconnected just as speedily, getting that we had a tight window to pull this off.
Three minutes.
I kept Knox in my sights, centered down the barrel of my high-powered rifle.
I watched him come away from Scott with a flip knife, keys, and his .45. Damn him. He’d had the balls to go in armed. He really was operating on emotion right now. He never would’ve made that call back in the day. It ran the risk of it being turned against him.
Sure enough, what I’d been concerned about happening, happened.
That despicable smug smirk flashed on Knox’s face and he flipped the gun, took aim at Scott, and cocked it, ready to blow a hole through his throat. “You really think I’m gonna bind myself to some deal when I can get what I want right here and now without any of that?”
“Enemies or not, we got a code.”
Knox scoffed. “That always was your problem, your weakness. It’s how your Old Lady ended up buried, how I blindsided you. You still think I’m the man you knew before that bitch got in your head and screwed everything up. The club, you softening, my plans getting fucked over.” He lunged forward, pressing the muzzle to Scott’s temple. “That man you knew is long gone. That shit that went down changed me. Forever. Ain’t no coming back from crossing that line. Once evil’s made, it can’t be undone. It’s like death. Real fucking permanent.”
“Don’t believe none of that,” Scott told him.
Knox laughed that sick, demented laugh again and stepped back. “You know, you’ve got me feeling sorry for you. All this time, everything between us, and you’ve still been hoping you’d get your best brother back, huh?” With his free hand, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “For old times’ sake, I’ll let you have some last words.” He held his phone out, showing Scott the screen.
Through my scope, I could see every detail. My blood ran cold.
Scott growled. “How the fuck did you—?”
“Get your baby girl’s number? Lou.” He jerked the phone at Scott. “So, here. Take it. Call her and say your goodbyes.”
I tightened my shot, my voice cold and detached as I relayed to Scott, “I have the kill shot.”
He shook his head. “Nah, this is personal.”
“What?” Knox snapped, confused, because he had no idea Scott was really talking to me.
What the fuck was he playing at? I knew it was personal, but we’d agreed he’d lock it up for the bigger picture, for Ashley’s sake, his club’s sake. Clearly, I’d miscalculated.
And we were all about to pay the price.
I fingered the trigger.
It was now, or never.
My rifle was sighted directly at the target. One clean shot through his skull and he’d drop cold.
I ignored everything else around me, blocking out their continued argument, the sound of tires screeching into the area, knowing it was the cavalry finally joining the party.
Everything was primed. I wasn’t going to allow Scott’s sudden change of heart to screw with all of that. I’d take the shot, then I’d pick off every last one of them that I could, our boys taking out any who managed to evade me and retreat back into their clubhouse. Then we’d burn the place to the ground.
But then a sound I’d programmed myself to react to instantly, even in the throes of the deepest sleep, shattered everything.
I eyed my phone lying beside me, my eyes widening when I saw the bright-red flashing alert filling the screen.
“Fuck,” I muttered, snatching it up quickly and scanning the details.
I’d had Jesse set it up for me. Hell, he hadn’t just installed it, he’d created it from scratch. It was part of the services he’d provided to me that’d helped me become a ghost and remain as one. An app that served as an early-warning system, informing me when any branch of law enforcement was within a certain range of me.
I pushed up off my stomach and set about packing up, as I spoke into my earpiece,
