I rake my hand down the side of my face. Carnage. It’s everywhere. There’s no other word for it. Fifteen dead in total. Three of my own. All prospects, but they were good men—men who now are denied time to live a full life. Diesel lost his Vice President Bell and five other men. I feel the weight of their deaths, too. The rest of the casualties were civilians. Innocent bystanders who walked into the diner for lunch and will never leave. Their blood is on my hands, too.

“Boss?” Torch asks, worried. I pull my eyes away from the county coroners and paramedics who are covering bodies with sheets while the cops interview witnesses.

“Yeah?” I ask, my voice hoarse. I’m feeling fucking old.

“You going to let them look at your arm?”

I glance at my shoulder, the white cloth tied around it soaked in blood. I had forgotten it. It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing compared to what my men took, compared to the lives lost.

“Nah. I’ll get our man to stitch it up when we get back home,” I tell him, clearing my throat. My eyes can’t stop going back to all of the chaos in front of me.

“We’re coming with you,” Diesel growls. I turn to look at him. I can see the fury in him. He’s normally easygoing, reminding me more of Torch. Now he looks ready to kill everyone in his sight.

“I think this war has cost you enough, brother. I didn’t mean for—”

“Fuck that shit. You know what it means when we go to war. We live this fucking life for a reason. We’re the men our forefathers envisioned for this country. Not the watered-down bureaucrats who run it now.”

“I should have thought about snipers. This is on me. The Donahue’s calling card has always been ‘go big’. I had our men monitoring for bombs and toxins. Jesus.”

“Colin’s calling card is bombs, ese. This Redmond is different. All bets are off.”

“We’re going to need more intel on him, Torch,” I order, feeling old and tired. I want blood as much as Diesel does. I’m fucking wondering how many are going to die before we’re done here. “You sure about this, hermano?” I ask Diesel.

“We’re at war and we band together. I’m going to need a couple of hours to see to my men and have their bodies sent home.”

“Same here. You got a cage Pistol and Keys can use for transport?”

“Yeah. Got you covered. My connection with the state police and the sheriff’s office are running interference, too. You should be good to go.”

“I’m not sure it’s going to be easy to get the bodies right now, Skull. No matter what Diesel says. Besides, he was the one who picked this damn place. Perimeters should have been more secure,” Pistol says.

“Make it easy. Grease the wheels, use your charm if you have any, or fucking guns. I don’t care, I just want my men home.” My hand goes to Diesel to hold him back. He growls at Pistol, shooting him a look that could kill.

“Got it,” says Pistol, looking at Diesel, but not adding fuel to the flame right now.

“Okay, we’ll meet up at Pigeon River in two hours. Everyone have their shit together and be ready to move out. Torch, Sabre, and Briar, you’re with me.”

“Where’re we going, boss?” Briar asks.

“We’re gonna see if we can figure out where the snipers went. If we can capture one of them, that might be useful.”

“We’ve been looking for the last hour, Skull,” Pistol says. I’m really getting tired of the bastard. If I didn’t need Cade’s men right now…

“Then it won’t hurt for us to look some more. Didn’t I give you a job to do?” I ask over my shoulder, already walking off. I hear him grunt and take that as acceptance.

Diesel slaps me on the shoulder, which jars my fucking arm and hurts like hell, but I ignore it. “Your man needs to be taught who is in charge.”

“I’ve taught him. He’s just too fucking thick to remember.”

“Cut off his testicles. That’s not so easy for a man to forget.”

My hand rubs my sack in reflex.

“I’ll keep that in mind. For now he stands though, I need his brother’s firepower. See you in a couple hours, hermano.”

“See you then,” he says, slapping my back again before walking in the opposite direction.

I hop on my bike and take off, my men following me. I need to get this shit done and get back to Beth. I’ve got to keep her safe. This attack was different from anything the Donahues have done before. I have to tighten the circle around her even more… and soon.