“He’s getting kids hooked on drugs and prostituting them,” she sobbed in a watery blubbering mess.
Shock hit me. How the fuck did I not know this was going on in my area? Maybe she was mistaken. He was a dick, but fucking hell, he was a cop.
She seemed to calm down after crying it out a bit.
“Are you sure?”
“No. But that’s what the kids told me. I went to get proof. I found his disposable phone, but it was locked. I was afraid the drugs would wear off and he would wake up, so I left.” She sniffled. My heart stuttered, and my stomach bottomed out at the insane risk she’d taken. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to prevent losing my shit. What the hell was she hoping to accomplish with her ridiculously dangerous stunt?
“Okay, where does he keep it? I can send someone in to retrieve it and try to hack it.”
“I took it,” she softly admitted, and my blood ran cold.
“Holy shit.”
“Damn, he deleted shit, but it’s all still here. At least for the last month. Shithead in the dungeon must’ve been right; looks like he switches burners once a month.” Hacker was tapping away at lightning speed on his laptop.
“Fuck.” It was all I could say. We only had the last month, but it was something.
“What do you want to do with this?” Reaper asked. He was my new SAA since losing Lock and Gunny; I knew he was making mental preparations.
Once I’d found out what Hailey had done, I knew she’d painted a huge target on her back. Even if he didn’t remember what happened last night, it wouldn’t take a genius to put the pieces together when he realized his “business” phone was missing. At least we had something to go on, but if we didn’t get to the bottom of this ASAP, Hailey would have a price on her head and never be safe.
Fucking hell.
“Goddamn it. I wished she’d come to me instead of trying to play secret agent. We need to find out how far this goes. If Chet Edwards works for some shithead higher up or if he’s an opportunist piece of shit that works on his own.” My hand raked through my hair. I had no issues hiring Venom’s club to make Officer Chet Edwards disappear. Except other than possibly keeping Hailey safe, it would be a pointless move if he was merely a cog.
“Well, we know he’s getting his supply from somewhere, because he’s not manufacturing the shit. And we know he’s supplying kids to sickos, but we need to find out how he gets hooked up with those sick people,” Soap inserted.
“I’m working on that too, but there’s a reason people do that shit on the dark web. It’s hard as hell to figure out where things originate. I’m good, but these people are just as good, and some are better,” Hacker said with an irritated sigh.
Looking around the table, I took in the serious expressions on the faces of all of my brothers. No one would refuse to help with this, but I owed them the truth about why I was set on rescuing Hailey. By bringing her to our clubhouse, I’d brought her trouble to our doorstep.
Working my jaw, I dropped my gaze to the scarred tabletop, then met my brothers’ eyes one by one. What I was about to announce was unprecedented for me and as such was difficult to admit.
No coward, I hardened my expression and lifted my chin. Daring anyone to question me, I finally said, “Hailey is mine.”
Confusion marred their faces before several broke out in grins.
“Bossman, are you saying you’re claiming a woman?” Hollywood asked with a stupid-ass smile splitting his face in two. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Shut the fuck up,” I grumbled. “I said it, didn’t I?”
“Ho-ly shitballs,” Cash murmured. Being around since I was a prospect, he knew how out of character my declaration was.
“Moving on,” I pointedly said. A few smothered chuckles made their way to me, and I sent out a glare.
“Like Soap said, we need to find out how deep Chet Edwards is in this shit. Find out if he’s only selling the shit or if what we uncovered on the phone is actually implying he’s tied up in the mess with Danielle. I’m leaning toward that being the case, because I don’t like how he showed up at Hailey’s office to tell her about them finding her. It didn’t sit right with me. It seemed like he was fishing to see if any of the kids had said anything.” I leaned back in my chair.
“Well, the shit on his burner phone sure sounds like he was involved. I’ll see what I can find.” Hacker closed his eyes and raked a hand through his hair.
“What the hell was her plan anyway?” Reaper asked. I rolled my eyes.
“She didn’t really have one,” I muttered. “She thought she’d find out who he was working with and tell the authorities.”
“Jesus, didn’t she know that wouldn’t be admissible?” Vinny questioned with bugging eyes.
“Obviously she didn’t think that through,” I said as I dragged a hand down my face.
“No shit,” Hollywood agreed with his astonished expression matching every other brother in the room.
“Any other questions?” I asked after a heavy sigh.
Silence filled the room.
I ended church, and we filed out. Hollywood beelined for his ol’ lady. He, Reaper, and I were heading over to see Baker, but he only had a small window of time for us, so we needed to get on the road. Tash was in the common area talking to Hollywood’s ol’ lady, Becca, who Hollywood was now draped around as she laughed.
With a wave of my hand, I flagged Tash over. She broke away and approached me with a quizzical expression. “Yeah, Snow?”
“I need you to check on Hailey. She’s in my room. I don’t think she’s eaten anything since yesterday. See if you can round something
