Marcus

 

After I leave Emory, I head over to Jensen’s house so we can discuss the possibility that Krista is involved with Branson’s escape. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that she’s involved. I’m positive that there has to be a paper trail to lead us to her front door, and I won’t stop until I uncover the evidence I need to confront her and have her arrested. As we’re sitting here going over what we know is to be fact, and going over the files we have once again, my phone rings. I see that it’s Tic and I pick it up.

“Hey, man,” I answer.

“Levi was supposed to be here over an hour ago for his shift, have you seen him?” No pleasantries, and straight to the point. I sit up taller in my seat when it finally sinks in what he said.

“No, he wasn’t at the shop either when I left a little while ago.”

“I have a naggin’ feeling in my gut, he’s never late, and is always where he’s supposed to be or else he calls. He won’t answer his phone, I’m heading over to their house.”

“I’m with Jensen, we’ll meet you there.” I say. Hanging up the phone I relay my conversation to him and we jog out of his house and jump into my truck.

“What if he’s using him to lure us out?” Jensen asks me.

“It’s a chance we have to take, this is our problem and he’s family. We take care of our own and never leave a man behind,” I say, releasing a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding until I had to speak. I knew this could be a possibility, but I had hoped that no one else would become part of how this unfolds. I’d rather have a target on my back than have anyone I hold close to my heart be affected by Branson’s madness. We pull up to Rainey and the guys’ house the same time as Tic and Wasp. The house looks normal on the outside, I round the truck and meet Wasp and Tic where they’ve pulled up.

“Didn’t bring anyone else with you?” I ask them.

“Didn’t think there’d be a need yet,” Wasp answers. I know alone he and Tic are some badasses, but I would’ve thought they’d bring the entire brigade with them.

“What if it’s something bad?” Jensen asks them.

“We’ll handle it, but I’m not taking everyone out of their jobs if it turns out to be a bunch of bullshit,” Wasp states.

I shrug my shoulders, because at this point what else can I do? It’s his club, his call, I just want to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.

“I’ve got a key to the front door,” I tell them.

“Why the fuck do you have a key to my brothers’ house?” Tic asks.

“We all have a key to each other’s houses. It’s in case of emergencies or if one of us needs to drop something off to the others. It’s the way the girls set it up, you have a problem, take it up with them, because I have no other answer for you than the reason they gave us.”

“I guess coming from a woman’s perspective that’s understandable,” Jensen says.

“Channeling your inner woman, now are you?” I can’t help but be a smartass, what can I say, it comes natural to me.

“Funny, you’ve got jokes today,” he replies.

“Enough! Let’s see what’s going on with my wayward brother,” Tic all but growls out. Guess he’s not amused by our antics. He stops in the driveway and notices a puddle on the pavement. He leans down and sniffs and says one word, “gas,” he and Wasp share some sort of look that I’m not privy to.

I hand him over my key, and he walks up to the front door as if he owns the place. I follow dutifully behind Tic and Wasp as they breach the doorway. We walk through the house and it’s quiet and dark. There are no lights turned on anywhere in the house, and it seems as if no one has been here in a while.

I pick up my phone and call Levi. I can hear the phone ringing and follow the sound until I find it on the kitchen counter next to the back door. It’s sitting next to his wallet, but I don’t see his set of keys. “Guys,” I call them over and show them what I found.

Then we hear yelling from the back and we all open the door to see Levi down on his haunches cursing out his bike. “Motherfucking piece of shit!”

“The fuck is goin’ on?” Tic hollers out.

Levi jumps and turns away from his bike to face us. “Son of a bitch, you scared the fuck outta me,” he says, holding his hand to his chest. “What the fuck are y’all doing here?” he asks, I can see anger written all over his face.

“You didn’t answer your damn phone and didn’t show up for your shift at the garage!” Wasp hollers back, but I have a feeling his is out of fear of what could’ve been.

“I didn’t answer my phone because out of anger, I threw it on the kitchen counter along with my wallet. I went out front this morning and noticed my gas line had been tampered with. I should’ve called, but I was angry and frustrated that someone had the nerve to fuck with my bike!”

“Someone purposefully messed with your gas line? It couldn’t have come loose or something?” I ask him, trying to put together what the fuck exactly is happening here.

“No, man, it’s been sliced clean through. You can see where someone took a knife to it here,” he says pointing. Sure enough, someone sawed right through the line. Fuck!

“This is a distraction,” Wasp whispers. And with that statement, chills run up my arms. My body is suddenly covered in goosebumps, and I have a feeling that someone wanted us otherwise occupied.