Pax

 

Alex dropped me off at the house. I’d given him very stern, very specific instructions. First, to make sure that no one but me got into that cabin without my say so. Second, to make sure that Kato didn’t try anything funny. I made myself clear that I wouldn’t appreciate any attempts on Jamie’s life and that I didn’t want him even harassing her, but Kato was hard-headed. Worse, if he felt like I was neglecting my duties as leader of the Hellriders, then he might think he was doing me a favor by ignoring those orders.

 

Which was why I insisted Alex keep an eye on him. It wasn’t that I trusted Alex more, per se. Instead, I knew that Alex was too much of a punk kid to have the balls to go against me. He was loyal in the way a puppy is loyal. A little stupid, but tail-wagging happy to see you.

 

I headed into the house, digging out my cell phone. I had some calls to make. Now that Jamie was out of the way, I could focus on actually taking down the Chaos Disciples. When she was around, I was fucking distracted, and I didn’t care for that. I needed to be on my game to deal with the Disciples.

 

Dialing Travis first, I moved towards the basement as the phone rang.

 

“Boss, what’s up?”

 

“I need you to start getting people together. We’re going to make a move on the Chaos Disciples.”

 

There was a pause, then, “So they were the ones who got to Kato?” I could hear the low anger in his tone. He and Kato were buddies. Even if they weren’t, he’d be pissed at anyone who tried something against one of our own.

 

“Yeah,” I confirmed, switching on the basement light. There was some crap piled down there, but it was mostly pretty neat. Boxes were lined against the wall, marked so that I could tell easily what was what, the more important stuff on top since it was easier to reach. A table was set up towards the back, and two trunks were set on either side of it. “I want to make a move on them as soon as possible.”

 

“I’ll start getting the boys together,” Travis told me evenly. “We got a specific timeframe?”

 

I hesitated as I knelt down in front of one of the trunks. Digging a key out from my back pocket, I unlocked it and popped the trunk. Lying inside were a couple of nicer shotguns—a Benelli and a Remington, both pumps. Strictly speaking, I didn’t keep a lot of weapons here at the house. There were a few stashed around in case of emergencies, but mostly, I wanted the house to be clean in case someone decided to come snooping around. But these babies were personal property of me. I could claim them as hunting or sport rifles and no one was any the wiser.

 

They happened to be my preferred weapon, though I’d grab a handgun, too. They were easy to conceal, carry, and shoot. Hard to go wrong with that.

 

After a long pause, I finally told Travis, “Twenty-four hours. I want to hit ‘em hard at their headquarters in one day.”

 

“Got it. I’ll send out the call.”

 

We hung up then, and I started to get my shit together. I knew that the boys would be doing the same. I took out the Benelli and checked the sights on it. It was a two-hander, which meant I wouldn’t be having a Rambo moment, shooting everything in sight, but the Benelli had a nice kick to it.

 

I grabbed a black bag out of the crate and unzipped it, pulling the sides open. Then I started dumping ammo inside. I threw in several boxes, knowing that I’d probably go through most of them. I also made sure to grab several clips for my pistol, an FN Herstal. Low recoil, lightweight. A damn fine gun.

 

It was actually upstairs in my room, so I was planning on finishing up here before grabbing it.

 

When I’d loaded up with ammo, I headed back upstairs. I started dialing again, this time getting ahold of Marco. It rang once before he picked up.

 

“Detective Roberts speaking.”

 

“It’s me. You available in the next twenty-four?”

 

There was a long pause, then he made some ‘uh-huhing’ noises that clearly weren’t meant for me but rather whoever was walking past his desk at that moment. Finally, he said, “What do you have planned?”

 

I hesitated. I knew that Marco’s first priority wasn’t necessarily to the law but to what was right.

 

And that was where we occasionally started to disagree.

 

I wasn’t sure if this was one of those moments where he might think that my doing what I had to do was the wrong thing. And if he did…well, that could go sour for us. He wasn’t likely to turn us in, but I was talking about a lot of murder right now. I didn’t expect the Chaos Disciples to walk away unscathed.

 

“There’s a woman,” I began, figuring that telling him about how they’d almost killed Jamie might soften him up. He was a fucking marshmallow inside, and I knew he couldn’t resist a damsel in distress.

 

“You got yourself a girl?” Marco sounded legitimately surprised. Not that I didn’t have a hearty sex life, but I knew what he was talking about. This was a girl I was actually talking about. Big news.

 

Clearing my throat, I nodded, which he couldn’t see. “Yeah. And she’s off limits to anyone and everyone.” That probably went without saying, but I wanted to be clear that she was not up for sharing. Some of the guys did that with their ladies. Not all of them but some. I didn’t discourage it unless I thought it would cause problems. Like with Jarren. Jarren couldn’t fucking share, and everyone with half a brain cell knew it.

 

“Whoa, easy there, boss. I doubt anyone’s going to test out your new lady.”

 

I grunted into the phone. “Good. Listen, the Chaos Disciples are behind what happened to Kato.”

 

Marco cursed into the phone, but before he could say more, I pressed on.

 

“My woman found him on the road that night and has been taking care of him.” I didn’t mention that I kept her here because I hadn’t trusted her. No need to put yet another seed of doubt in someone’s head. “Yesterday she was headed out—” I didn’t use the term escaping, though that was more or less what she was doing. “—when she was run off the fucking road by three of those assholes.”

 

“Fuck, man,” Marco said into the phone, his voice rising slightly.

 

“Yeah. So now I got her holed up because they’re coming for her. And you know they won’t stop.”

 

I let those words sink in. I knew when they had because Marco let out a long sigh. I could imagine him slumping back in his chair, making it squeak as he leaned back in it, probably rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. “You want to take care of them, don’t you?”

 

“That’s right. And now you know why I have to.”

 

There was a long pause, and for a second, I thought Marco was still going to argue with me. I wanted him in on this in case this all went south. Not necessarily to be there, but if we were fucked by the Chaos Disciples, I wanted them fucked, too. Even if it was by the law, so long as they were no longer a problem for Jamie.

 

How the fuck did she become so damn important to me?

 

“What do you want me to do?” Marco finally asked. He didn’t sound thrilled, but I knew that he was caught up in protecting what he would call an innocent.

 

Not that Jamie had seemed all that innocent when I was between her legs, but I didn’t tell him that.

 

“I’ll text you when we’re headed out. If you don’t hear from me after, I want you to send in your boys in blue. I want those assholes nailed to the wall by whatever means necessary. Make sure they’re down for the count.”

 

“You serious?”

 

I could hear the honest disbelief in his voice. I wasn’t exactly the type to be using the cops against someone else. It was a bit like ratting someone out, and that was a serious misstep in my book, but this was different. They wanted to play dirty? I’d play dirty right back.

 

“Yeah, I am. Just wait for my text.”

 

Marco agreed and we disconnected.

 

I made a few more calls as I headed up the stairs to my room. I grabbed my Herstal from beneath my pillow, then shoved it into the waistband of my jeans. Doing a quick sweep of the room, I decided I had what I needed. I moved downstairs, grabbed the bag of ammo I’d left there, and headed towards the door. The boys were getting their shit together. Marco was on standby. All I needed to do was get everyone rallied together and head out.

 

For a quick second, I let my mind wander to Jamie. Her soft, pale skin. Her long hair, silky to the touch. The way she moaned and whimpered beneath me. But also the fire in her eyes when she got angry with me. She was a real spitfire, and I fucking loved it about as much as I loved settling between those long fucking legs.

 

She’ll be fine, I told myself and forced my mind away from her. I needed to focus on what was happening, then I could go to her and figure out what the fuck was happening between us.

 

I gave my men time—time to collect their weapons and time to say their goodbyes to whatever sweethearts they had. Maybe fuck a few women before risking their lives.

 

But time passed both slowly and quickly. I slept fitfully checked in with Alex four times, and finally ran out of time. The twenty-four hours was up.

 

I headed out the door, slung my back onto the back of my motorcycle, and then put my Benelli and the Remington into the side bags. Straddling the bike, I revved her up, then I headed out. I met up with Travis outside his house. He was shouting with his old lady before kissing her passionately enough that I thought they might try to knock her up right there on the porch. Then he came down and saddled himself up. He told me the others were already on their way to join us. We rode off, headed to war.