Cricket stood there in Raine’s arms and watched the new day’s dawn breaking. When the sun was past the horizon, she turned to go back inside but stopped when she saw a man standing at the edge of the woods beyond the fence staring at them.

She thought at first he was Bane but Raine’s sudden breath told her otherwise. When she looked closer, she saw the man was leaner and dirtier than Bane. His long hair was greasy and blew in the slight breeze. His eyes were too far away to see clearly but his body language told of his rage clearly.

“Do you know him?” she asked Raine.

“Not yet, but I will,” he vowed angrily. He turned and dragged her back inside and slammed the door. He went directly over to Deke. “We have a visitor other than Bane. He was standing at the edge of the woods as bold as brass.”

Deke’s lips tightened and his whole body stiffened with rage. “Fuck this shit.” He looked around and chose a half a dozen men.

They were all armed and rushed outside to find the man and bring him back for questioning.

A short time later, gunshots rang out.

Cricket began to shake as they waited for the men to come back. It took forever for the front door to open.

Mountain and Bones dragged the man inside and dumped him on the floor in front of Deke. The man sported a gunshot wound in his shoulder and was bleeding all over the floor.

The women were all gathered in the kitchen, except for Cricket. She stood in the safety of Raine’s embrace.

When the man on the floor looked up, he glared at her.

“Who the fuck are you?” Deke demanded.

“They call me Pound,” the man growled.

“Why are you here?”

“I’m looking for a woman.”

“Why?” Deke asked.

“Because my president wants her fucked up, if it’s any business of yours.” Pound glared at him.

“Why what did she do to your president?”

“She fucked him over but good. Even sent him to prison,” Pound told them.

“But I had nothing to do with that!” Cricket cried out.

“Who the fuck are you bitch?” Pound asked.

“I’m Cricket.”

“The fuck you are.” Pound shook his head. “You aren’t anything like the real Cricket. She was a real bitch.”

“That was Cordy. I’m Cricket.”

Pound frowned as he continued to glare at her. “I’m looking for a woman named Cricket but she ain’t you.”

“Cordy is dead. She’s been dead for a few months now,” Cricket informed Pound.

“Who the fuck is this Cordy chick you keep talking about?”

“She’s the one you think is me. And she died about four months ago.”

“Fuck, that ain’t gonna make Stark happy. He wanted to be the one to end her.” He snorted. “After he found out where she hid the money, that is.” Then he paused and glared at her. “Do you know where the money is?”

Cricket just glared at him without saying a word.

“Damn girl.” Pound shook his head. “You do know where it is don’t ya?”

“What makes you think there’s any money left? It has been four years?” she asked him.

“There better be money left.” Pound snarled. “Stark is pissed enough the way it is. If the money is all gone, he’ll tear this club apart and leave nothing but the nails in the walls.”

“He would declare war on us over some bitch?” Deke demanded.

“He’s got four years of prison to work off.” Pound shook his head wincing as the movement hurt his shoulder. “He don’t care who gets in his way. He’ll take them down and not worry about it.”

“Your president is gonna get his club killed over nothing. Does he realize that?” Bones stated.

Pound snorted. “Tell me about it. He’s going fuckin off the grid. He really wants blood and nothing is going to satisfy him but that.” He looked up at Cricket. “He’d even settle for your blood. She was your sister after all.”

“Well, he isn’t going to get it.” Raine growled.

“If one of us doesn’t make it back, he’ll come looking for us.” Pound got a calculating look in his eye. “He’ll go through all of you to get to her.”

Deke looked at his men then back to Pound. “Not if we get to him first.”

“Fuck, you guys are nuts.” He shook his head. “If this is all the men you got, Stark isn’t even going to notice you knocking on the front door.”

“This isn’t all we got boy.” Deke stood tall. “We got Sin’s Bastards, Sinners out of Boston, Bastards out of Maine and so much more than that if we need them.”

“Sure you do,” Pound snorted.

“My name is Sam Tory, the Bastards was my club,” Bones stated.

“I’m Iceman and the Sinner’s was my club,” Iceman called out.

“My name is Mountain and my club was the Son’s of Satan out of Texas. I’m sure you’ve heard of us.” Mountain called out softly. “I’m sure if I called them they’d love a field trip.”

As each man called out, Pound grew paler. Looking around the room, he saw their faces.

Deke knelt beside Pound and told him, “Your president sent you as a declaration of war. He called this, we didn’t. We don’t want this but we won’t run from it either. For every man he sent out, he declared war of every MC he sent them to. You knew you were dead men the moment you left your club. You had to know that.”

Pound hung his head. Then he lifted it and looked at Deke. “Yeah, we knew but he gave the order. He’s supposed to be our leader and he gave us a fuckin order.”

Deke shook his head. “If he told you to blow your head off would you do it? You’re supposed to be a grown man. Grown men think for themselves.”

“You don’t know Stark. He was just this side of crazy before he went in the joint, when he came out… something had snapped inside his head. Now if we question his orders, he just puts a bullet in our head.” Pound shook his head. “That’s how Chico bought it. He questioned Stark’s order to fan out and find this Cricket bitch and Stark put a bullet in his head. He just walked over and shot him with no warning at all. No one questioned him after that.” He looked over at Cricket and grinned. “Or whatever the fuck her name was.”

“We need to know if you called him and told him she was here.” Deke stared hard at him.

Pound shook his head. “When the old dude got Scooter earlier, Crank and I took off. He went one way and I went the other way. I lost him then had to come back to see what happened to him. I never found him then your men found me.”

Deke nodded. “By the way, did you know Stark put the money up as payment for the hit? He said whatever was left of the eight million dollars was the fee for Cricket’s life.”

Pound stared at him. “That don’t sound right. Stark wants that money almost as much as he wants her dead.” He nodded at Cricket. Then he shrugged. “Stark would have killed the shooter and got the money back that way. Killing a man wouldn’t bother Stark.”

“Do you know the name Bane Jessin?”

Pound groaned. “Yeah, I think everybody know that psycho’s name. Why? What’s he got to do with this?”

“Bane took the contract on Cricket,” Deke told him. “I don’t think Stark would have gotten the money back from Bane, do you?”

“Oh, fuck.” Pound swore quietly. Then he looked around fearfully. “Is Jessin here?”

“He’s around outside, in the woods. He’s the one who shot Scooter and who we think got Crank.”

“Son of a bitch.” Pound swore.

Deke snickered. “Oh, and Cricket is his niece. The real Cordy was his own fuckin daughter. Think about that for a minute before you wet your pants.” Deke got to his feet and walked away from the man on the floor. He went over to where Raine and Cricket were standing.

Cricket gave him a dirty look. “You know Bane doesn’t care a fig about being my uncle. Family means nothing to that man.”

Deke gave her a look. “I know this and you know that and every man here knows it too, but Pound has no fuckin clue and that might work to our advantage. Right now, we need all the help we can get.”

The other men joined them.

Deke looked around the room at them. “Stark has declared war on us and on every MC between us in just about every direction. He wants blood and he thinks if someone else kills Cricket, he’ll still get the money back. Of course, that means the shooter will have to die too, but Pound doesn’t think that will bother Stark over much.”

“So are we going to war or what?” Deacon asked.

“That will depend of what Bane does tomorrow,” Deke declared.

“Yeah, we all know how that’s going to go, don’t we?” Mountain growled.

Every man nodded but with Cricket standing right there, they didn’t want to say the words.

She pushed away from Raine’s embrace and went to the kitchen where the rest of the women were waiting.

Cassie wrapped her in a hug and just held her. Cricket cried on her shoulder for a moment then raised her head. “I don’t want this. I don’t want this thing going to war.”

“Honey, we know that,” Cassie assured her. “They don’t want this either but when push comes to shove, they will defend their territory with their lives if that’s what is called for.” She shrugged. “That’s the kind of men they are. That’s what we love about them. They will put their lives on the line to protect what’s theirs.”

Everyone in the club heard the single shot as it rang out from somewhere in the woods beyond the fence.

The women screamed and ducked for cover, as they were unaware of where the shot had come from. When there was no second shot, they all got to their feet and looked around in confusion.

Everyone rushed forward and they all watched in stunned horror as the man named Pound slammed down to the ground. The shot had taken half his face. Blood poured from the wound and he was left staring at the sky with dead empty eyes. He must have escaped…or tried to.

Cricket gasped and tried to get to the front of the line of men standing in the doorway but Raine held her back. Wrapping his huge arms around her, he held her close to him. Deke and the others rushed over to the door. They looked down at the man lying there then looked towards the woods.

Bane came out of the shadows and just stared at them for a moment before turning and disappearing back into the shadows. He still had the smoking rifle in his hands.

Deke glanced at Mountain and Bones then nodded at the body.

Both men grabbed one of Pound’s arms and hauled him away.

Iceman went to the kitchen, grabbed the bucket and mop. Filling the bucket with water, he carried it over to the doorway he began mopping up the mess.

Deke urged the women back to the kitchen.

No one spoke until Cricket turned her head from where it was planted in Raine’s chest to look at Deke. “Why? Why would Bane shoot him?”

Deke shook his head. “I don’t know. And I’m not sure I want to know.”

“Does that mean he’s coming for me sooner than tomorrow?” She could barely whisper the words.

Deke shrugged. “I don’t know. I won’t lie to you but I just don’t know what he’s up to. I don’t think Pound was able to get word to Stark about you’re being here but that won’t stop Stark from checking in with the men he sent here. I don’t know how he runs his club but I do know I wouldn’t just send my men out without checking with them.” He thought for a moment then added, “We need to know a count of the men he’s got left with him.”

“Do you think Stark would come here?”

“I don’t know but I will tell you this, Reaper from the Hellspawn MC called me early this morning. He found two men watching his compound. They were Dragon’s. Let’s just say Reaper wasn’t happy about it and leave it at that.”

Bones and Mountain rejoined the group.

Bones nodded. “Hawkeye called me back. He said he found two men watching the compound. He tried to talk to them but they didn’t want to talk back.” Bones shrugged.

Iceman added, “Hawk called me from Boston. He detained a couple of guys too. At first they were uncooperative but he finally got the info he needed. They were there looking for a woman named Cricket.”

“Damn.” Deke swore as he looked at his men. “He really is declaring war, the stupid fucker. His club is gonna be wiped off the map.” Running his fingers through his hair, he searched the faces of the men around him. “I’ll make some calls and find out what’s going on.” Looking around he warned, “Nobody goes outside. I’m not giving Bane another target to shoot at. I’ll be right back.” Deke turned and walked down the hall to his office where he slammed the door shut behind him.

The men and women of the club looked worried. Tension grew as time passed.

It was a full half hour later when Deke came back. His face was a thundercloud looking for a place to rain. “I just heard back from Reaper, Hawkeye, and Hawk. The Dragon MC has about two dozen members more or less. We had three, Hawkeye has two, Hawk had two and Reaper had two. That leaves about a dozen or so still at home with Stark. We’ve heard at least four of his men just kept going when they got the orders.”

“What do you think they’ll do next?” Mountain asked.

“I think Stark is getting ready for a battle he’ll never win. Whether it’s us or one of the other groups, war is coming and unless he’s a total idiot, he’s getting ready for it to come to his front door.”

“What are we going to do?” Bones asked his son.

Deke looked at his men. “Cricket belongs to us. We should be the ones that face him.”

The back door opened and Bane walked in. He was dressed for hunting. His clothes were dark in color and he was carrying a rifle across his shoulder. Around his waist were a couple rather large knifes sheathed in leather. On his shoulders, he wore a double holster housing two weapons. “Personally I think you should wait on going anywhere.” He told them as he reached the group.

Deke froze then turned slowly to face him. “And why would we do that?”

“Waiting for death or a showdown plays on a man’s nerves. The longer you make him wait the more nervous he gets. When he gets nervous, he makes mistakes that might work in your advantage,” Bane stated then shrugged. “Stark is losing it. His club, his authority over his men and his mind.”

“How do you know all of this?” Bones dared to ask.

Bane snarled. “His man Crank filled me in before he passed. He got very chatty, very quickly. It was too easy. He barely put up any fight at all. Lord, I hate a coward.”

“We can’t just sit here and wait for the man.” Deke glared at him. “That would make us look like cowards and that’s not something I can do. We protect what’s ours in a timely fashion.”

“I didn’t say wait that long,” Bane said dryly.

“I thought you would be gungho to see this contract done,” Deke stated.

Bane smiled. “You misunderstood what I said yesterday. All I came here to do was to let Cricket know the contract existed. I never said I was going to fill it.”

Cricket pushed her way through the lineup of men between her and Bane. “Then you’re not here to kill me?”

“I never was,” Bane stared her.

“Then why did you agree to give me three days?” She practically screamed at the man.

“I never agreed to give you anything,” Bane reminded her. “You asked for three days. I allowed you to think you had made a bargain, that’s all I did.”

“You bastard.” She swore at him. “Why would you do something like that? Why?” She turned and walked away from him.

Deke, Raine and Bane watched her walk down the hall and a moment later, they heard a door slam.

“Answer the question old man,” Raine demanded. “Why would you do something like that to her?”

Bane glared at him for a moment before answering his question, “I wanted to test her, to see what kind of woman she really was. You see, from the moment I met her, Cricket has intrigued me. She was more like her mother than I was comfortable with.” He sat down at the table and glared at the men around him. “I cared for Grace in my own way but I can’t say I ever loved her the way my brother did. I know that doesn’t make any different to you and it means nothing at all to any of you but when I first met Cricket, I knew what she was and who she was. She was her mother’s daughter in every way and I was curious. “

The men around the club stood and listened, some looking fairly stunned.

“For thirty years I wondered about what made Grace tick. What made her so different from me. I will admit that I used what Grace and Orrin did against her and I did threaten your club to get her to do my bidding.” He shrugged then looked at Deke. “I would have killed whoever I needed to, to get my task done and I let her know it, in no uncertain terms. I wanted to see what she would do. When she came through for me, let’s just say I was intrigued by her actions.”

“What did you think she would do?” Deke had to ask.

“I thought she would run and let the chips fall where they might,” Bane replied, keeping the other man’s stare.

“But she didn’t,” Deke stated.

“No she didn’t,” Bane admitted. “She went out of her way to protect this club from my wrath. Then she broke into my home to return something her parents took when they left a long time ago. That impressed me. After all, she had no ties to this club. She could have run but she didn’t.”

“She damn near got herself killed doing your bidding.” Deke snarled.

“I know and that made me want to study her even more. I watched over her even after I found my son. And when I brought him here to meet her again, I was impressed by her actions. She gave up a big part of her father’s past to safeguard that child after Michael kidnapped them both. I never understood that part of her. She even warned me against Michael’s betrayal when she didn’t have to. When we left that day, I asked him if it was true. He admitted it. I don’t know why I was surprised or maybe I just felt disappointed by someone else who I should have wanted to be close to. It doesn’t matter. I am who I am. I can’t be anybody else.” He shook his head. “It was then I realized it never mattered. Nothing I ever did in my life mattered. No one would ever miss me if I were no longer on this earth. My wife was long gone, my brother was dead, and both my children were out of the picture. I realized that she was the only person on this earth that might care about me. She might spare me a fleeting thought every once in a while. That’s when it hit me. I was her only living relative too.”

“What difference would that make to a man like you?” Raine asked. “You’ve done nothing but hurt her since the day you found her.”

“That’s true enough. I’ll give you that much but if I were you, I’d not show your disrespect so blatantly.” Bane snarled.

Raine started to take a step forward but Mountain pushed him back.

“So why did you let her think she only had three days left to live?” Deke asked. “That seems cruel even for a man like you.”

“I don’t know?” Bane admitted. “Maybe I wanted to test her yet again, to find out if she would finally run to save her own life or if she would stand her ground.”

“Well, she stood her ground, didn’t she?” Raine commented.

“You have to know that I had to see it for myself. I’ve never found her kind of courage before. The people I deal with in my profession would have offered me money or tried to run to save their own miserable lives. She did neither.” Bane reasoned. “If those men wouldn’t have shown up and tried to kill her, she would have been fine.”

“But they did show up and they did try to kill her and now we have to go to war to protect what’s ours.” Deke glared at him.

Bane got to his feet crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m demanding twenty four hours before you do anything.”

“What makes you think you can demand anything from us?” Deke asked.

“Because I want one last chance in this life to do something right. Cricket has proven herself worthy in your eyes by doing something right, by giving up a piece of her soul she knew from the start she might not ever get back. She brought your children back to you and your wife when she knew it could cost her, her life, she stood before a tribunal and faced a death sentence to allow the truth to come out about crimes she’s been accused of but was innocent of. And now she put her whole life on the line for this club without hesitation. She offered herself up to die in your place.” Bane paused then went on to say, “All my life, I’ve never had emotions like normal people. It was as if I was dead inside, or maybe it was that I had no soul. I don’t really know nor do I care, but I did care for another human being even if it wasn’t enough to keep her. I did care in my own way for Grace. I cared enough to look for her after she escaped me when she was pregnant with Michael, and I cared enough to allow her to run away from me with Orrin. I don’t think I would have come after them if he hadn’t taken the key to the safe. And I finally admitted to myself that I cared enough about her mother to want to protect Cricket by coming here to tell her about the contract on her life.”

The clubhouse went stone cold quiet.

Bane shrugged. “I know that may not to mean much to you guys but it means a hell of a lot to someone like me. So yes, I am demanding one day before you move against this other MC. I want to find out, no I need to find out if I possess the same kind of courage Cricket has.”

Deke just stared at the man as if to judge his sincerity. Then he nodded. “Okay, I’ll give you just one day. Tomorrow at this time we’ll make our move, but not until then.”

Bane didn’t say anything, instead he turned and walked out the back door, leaving in his wake a group of men who were confused and a bit stunned by his request.

“What do you suppose that man is up to?” Bones finally asked.

“I’m not really sure Dad,” Deke answered. “If it was anybody but Bane Jessin, I’d say he wanted to find out if he had the same courage Cricket does, just like he said. But Bane Jessin doesn’t have to prove anything to the world. He’s already made his mark in history and there’s no one left alive to say otherwise.”

Deke glanced over at his father and the rest of his men. “And that scares me just a little bit.”