The moment Deluca and I reached the garage, my gaze swept over the assembled men.

“We’ve got them on the run,” Ram was saying.

“The compound’s clear?” Gasket asked.

“For now.” Stewie.

“Where is he?” I exclaimed.

Heads swiveled toward me as I whirled across the garage.

“Sloane,” Spike started, but I wasn’t listening. Reason could go fuck itself.

“Gasket!” I roared, the revolver heavy in my hand. “Where’s Marini? Where’s my father?”

He grasped my shoulders and held me steady. I pressed into his palms, my hand tightening around the revolver. I hadn’t realized I’d taken it out.

“He’s alive,” Gasket said.

“I want—”

“Come here, kid.”

He let me go and guided me through the assembled men to a car sitting on the garage floor I’d scrubbed so diligently with my bare hands.

Gasket opened the trunk, revealing his prize. I stared down at my father, unable to feel a single thing. He was bound with his hands behind his back and ankles taped together. A blindfold covered his eyes, earplugs were stuffed in his ears—the super industrial putty kind—and a strip of duct tape was stuck across his mouth. Total sensory deprivation.

He was conscious because his head flicked back and forth as if he sensed the light on his skin.

“I want to talk to him,” I said.

“Not yet, kid,” Gasket said. “We’ve gotta get out of here first. The others will come back, and we can’t defend the compound.”

“How did you…”

“Someone tipped him off,” he explained. “Knew we were coming for him, just didn’t know when. If we’d waited any longer, he would’ve gone for you.”

I shivered and rubbed my hands up and down my arms. Had it really come that close?

“This won’t end here.” Chaser appeared beside me and attempted to peel the revolver out of my fingers, but they were glued to the butt.

Gasket slammed the trunk closed and turned to the assembled crew. “We can’t hope to hold the compound with our numbers.”

“We’re split down the middle. Fifty-fifty,” Rhodes stated.

“We’ve still got the women to think about,” Stewie said. “They’re tough, but I’m not about to put a gun in Kelly’s hand if I can help it.”

I curled my lip, and Chaser took my hand, knowing I would have a great deal to say about the abilities of the fairer sex.

Ratchet glanced at our linked fingers and narrowed his eyes. “Fuckin’ knew it,” he drawled, causing the others to follow his stare.

“That’s it,” Watts said. “Hell has frozen over. Chaser has a fucking heart!”

“Shut your mouth,” Chaser spat, letting me go. “We need a place to regroup. Somewhere that’s easily defendable with a road that we can watch from multiple angles.”

“I know a place by Joshua Tree, off sixty-two,” Deluca said. “Out of the way but still close.”

“What’s it like?”

“A cabin my old man passed down to me. In the desert, away from the city. It’s out in the open, but we’d see the others coming at least a few miles off. Nothing much moves out there.”

“Anyone else know about this place?” Gasket asked.

“No one knows about it, so we have a good chance of going undetected.”

“It’s a cabin,” Spike said. “There’s thirty of us, countin’ the girls, and we’ve got Marini.”

“There’s room,” Deluca stated. “You’ll see when we get there.”

“Right,” Gasket declared, taking charge. “Deluca, mark this cabin on a map for us. We’ll split into fives, take separate routes, and meet there in two hours. You’ve got five minutes to collect anything you want to take. That goes for the women upstairs. Merrick. Gage.” He snapped his fingers. “Do one last sweep of the compound, and clear it out. We don’t want to be leaving any presents for the others.”

I hung back as the bikers crowded around and synchronized their cell phones, watching the commotion unfold. Though, one eye was firmly stuck on the trunk of the car next to me. I almost expected it to burst open like a screwed-up jack-in-the-box, but all was still.

“Do you need anything from your room?” Chaser asked, lingering beside me. “We won’t be able to come back here for a while.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just stuff.” I had all I needed in my pocket.

“What about your laptop?”

“That life is gone, Chaser. I should’ve thrown it into the lake with my textbook.”

He narrowed his eyes but didn’t offer any commentary or reassurances. He knew I didn’t need them.

“Then we’d better get with our road crew.” He nodded toward the garage door.

Spotting his motorcycle outside, I tensed. It had been years since I’d ridden on one.

“I won’t let you fall off,” Chaser said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes and snatched up the helmet hanging off the handlebars. It was going to be a long ride.