Switch

My orders were to go straight to Sly’s house. My head felt a little fuzzy and my legs were a little stiff from everything Kitt and I did last night. God, she was incredible. But I hadn’t meant for it to get that far. I don’t even know what I meant. I wanted to drive thoughts of my father out of my head. It was wrong of me to lay that on Kitt. She didn’t deserve to get dragged into my world right now. The trouble was, everything about her just felt so right.

As I made the turn up to Sly’s house, Ford, Big John, and Gunn came from the other direction. We fell into formation, Gunn bringing up the rear. Always the tail gunner. I made a gesture to Big John, wondering what the hell was up. Whatever it was, I knew it wasn’t good. Dex had been short and sweet on the phone. I half expected him to call for another lockdown. The second I thought it, a tremor of fear for Kitt ran through me. If anyone saw me at her place last night, or leaving there this morning, it could be a problem. I needed to get one of the probies to the Hansen to keep an eye on her.

Dex was waiting for us at the garage door. Sly and Scarlett’s new place was tucked in the woods up on a hill near the bluff. You couldn’t see it from the road or the air. He had cameras all along the trail leading up. It was a fortress. Nobody could get in or out without Sly knowing about it.

Dex’s eyes were dark and menacing as I dismounted and hung my helmet over my handlebars. I nodded to him and waited for the others to catch up. As I got close to Dex, I saw the beginnings of the problem. He had a cut above his left eye and a bandage poked out beneath his left sleeve. Something was wrong with his shoulder.

“Before you go in,” Dex said to me. “You should know, Scarlett’s going off.”

“What the fuck happened?” Ford said.

“Trouble at the warehouse out on Ridley Road,” Dex said. “Sly and I were taking a meeting with Ed Londo’s number two, Chick Morelli. He’s dead.”

“Chick’s dead?” I asked. This was bad. Chick was kind of a dipshit, but he was a connected dipshit. His wife was the late George Pagano’s oldest daughter.

“What happened to you?” I said, pointing to Dex’s eye and shoulder.

“Bullet grazed me,” he said. Shit. There’d been gunfire. “Sly got the worst of it. He took a round in the leg. Ava’s got him patched up though. We didn’t think it was safe taking him to the hospital.”

“Fuck,” I said. “Who the hell knew about the warehouse meeting?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Dex said. “And that’s why Scarlett is losing her mind. She wants to talk to you.”

“Me?” I said. Just as I was about to ask Dex what he meant, Scarlett came flying out of the house. Dex was right. She looked half crazed.

She didn’t see me at first. Her color was ash-gray. Her hair bounced behind her as she strode toward us. When she saw me, a change went through her. Scarlett launched herself at me.

“You!” she shrieked. “Where have you been?”

Gunn got to her before I did. He grabbed Scarlett by the wrist as she was about to haul off and hit me. What the actual fuck?

“You think this was me?” I said. “Jesus, Scarlett. What the hell is going on?”

“Let’s get inside,” Dex said. Scarlett was like some wild thing. Gunn was gentle, but he didn’t let go of her as Dex walked past them. Dex gave Scarlett a hard stare but it did nothing to calm her. Shit. I worried Dex had downplayed Sly’s injuries. It’s the only thing that would explain why Scarlett was losing it like that.

We went into the house. Sly was laid out on one of the couches, his leg up on a pillow. Ava ministered to him, checking his pulse and adjusting the huge white bandage she’d wrapped above his knee. Sly’s jeans were cut away. He looked pale, but smiled as the rest of us walked in.

Gunn and Dex hung back, probably trying to help Scarlett get herself under control. I still had no idea why she was angry with me.

“Everybody just calm down,” Sly said; his voice was a little ragged. Ava had probably given him something for the pain. He was lucid, but his eyes were glassy.

“Did you get a look at who did this?” I asked. Scarlett was in the corner of the room, glaring at me. Dex had said something to her. Her nostrils flared and her chest heaved with her hard breaths, but she didn’t look ready to scratch my eyes out just at the moment.

“Two shooters,” Dex said. “A driver and one guy in the passenger seat of a black van. The shooters were in the back. The door slid open and they opened fire. Sly saw it before I did. Angel shoved us both out of the way.”

Angel. My heart lurched. Everyone else was here except him. Since the day he started hanging around the club, Angel had acted as Sly’s bodyguard. He’d saved our prez’s life more than once.

“Everyone’s accounted for?” Sly asked, grimacing in pain. Ava had a hand on his shoulder. She shoved him back against the couch. Scarlett came to him.

“Yeah,” Dex said. “They are now.”

“Where’s Angel?” I asked.

“He went out looking for you!” Scarlett said, whipping her head around to look at me.

“He just checked in,” Dex said, putting a hand up to placate her. “He’s on his way back. He’s got the plate number of the van. I don’t expect it’ll mean much. Probably stolen.”

“Chick’s dead?” Gunn asked. “Shit. That’s bad, Sly.”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s not going to do much for our bargaining position with Londo’s crew. They’re out for blood now. They think we owe them a body. Maybe we do.”

“Are you just going to all stand there and pretend you don’t know the obvious?” Scarlett asked.

“Look,” I said. “You want to tell me why you’ve been ready to scratch my eyes out since I got here? You think I had something to do with this?”

Sly put a hand on Scarlett’s knee. She had tears in her eyes. I couldn’t blame her. Her man had almost gotten whacked. I could barely even process the thought. If anything had happened to Sly …

Scarlett turned to me. “I think you need to be more careful with the company you keep.”

“The company I …”

“Calm down,” Sly said, rubbing his wife’s shoulder. I’d never seen Scarlett like this. She was always level-headed and calculating. I could forgive her for it. She was three months pregnant and her husband had almost died today. Still, I didn’t like the implication. Only Dex and Sly knew that I saw my old man yesterday. She couldn’t honestly think that visit and this hit were connected. Mad Max couldn’t work that quick even when he was on the outside.

“Look,” I said. “If anybody here thinks I’ve done anything but put the club first in …”

“Stop,” Dex said. “Nobody’s accusing anybody of anything. We had a close call today. I’m okay. Sly’s okay. Chick’s death is a real problem. But we need to focus on our next move.”

“I want to know where your new hire was last night after she left the office,” Scarlett said. Brenna had just walked in the room. Gunn put a protective arm around his wife. “I want to know who she’s been seeing since she came to town. And Charlie? Where’s your guy on her background?”

Charlie stood against the wall. His eyes dropped to the floor. White-hot rage flooded my chest. “Wait a minute,” I said. “You think Kitt had something to do with this?”

Scarlett rose from Sly’s couch. “I think she’s been asking a hell of a lot of questions about Sly since she came to town. And she could have easily heard about the warehouse meeting at the body shop. I knew it was a bad idea to bring in new people right now.”

My head was spinning. Scarlett wasn’t making any damn sense. She was talking out of emotions or hormones or whatever.

“There’s not much.” Charlie stepped out of the shadows. “My guy is on his way down. Angel’s meeting him at the truck stop on Dunham. He gave me the highlights of what he found out over the phone.”

I wanted to punch something. Every man and woman in the room was staring straight at me. Kitt was all of a sudden on trial. This was crazy.

“Look,” Scarlett said, softening. “Switch, I’m sorry for coming at you hard like this. If I’ve given you the impression I’m blaming you for anything, I’m not. I’m just ... we didn’t …”

Tears filled her eyes. Sly reached up and grabbed her hand. “Baby, it’s okay,” he said. “I’m okay. You of all people ought to know I’m a lot harder to kill than this.”

He was smiling at her, but it only made Scarlett’s tears fall. He was right though. Almost seven years ago, when Scarlett first came into Sly’s life, she’d been hired to kill him. It made sense why she’d be suspicious now with everything swirling around. Only I knew she was wrong. Kitt was no contract killer. She was no mole.

I felt torn. Part of me wanted to tear some shit up to get back at the assholes who took a shot at my prez. But another part of me wanted to go to Kitt and keep her far away from what was about to go down.

Charlie came to the center of the room. He had the floor. “She’s got no past, man,” he said to the group, but focused his attention on me. My heart squeezed.

“What are you talking about?”

“My guy tracked her info off her W-2 and her license. She wasn’t lying about coming from Topeka. But she’s got a corrected birth certificate and a name change. She wasn’t born Katrina Holly. Far as I can figure, she made that up. I mean it’s legal, but it’s not a name anybody gave her. The chick’s original birth certificate lists her as a Jane Doe. Her parents too. She’s a ghost, Switch. I’m sorry.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” I said. “How the hell are we holding her responsible for however she was born?”

“I’m just saying,” Charlie said. “She’s got no people that we could find.”

“Half the men in this room have no people,” I said. “Jesus.”

“Switch’s right,” Dex said. “None of this has to mean anything. For now, it just means we do more digging. Brenna, have you had any kind of negative vibe from Kitt?”

Brenna’s eyes went wide. “No! Not at all. She’s been a lifesaver in the office.”

My heart eased a little until Brenna’s face changed. “She did ... um ... but Scarlett’s right about one thing. She did ask a lot of questions about Sly earlier in the week.”

My heart thundered in my ears. She’d asked me questions about him too. She wanted to know what kind of man he was. Still, it was innocent. She was trying to get to know me and the men she’d signed on to work for.

“We’ll check into her more,” Dex said. “That’s all. Switch, I know you’re into this girl. Nobody here is judging you for that. But right now, it’s shields up for all of us. Brenna, give her a call and tell her you won’t need her at the office this week. Temporary layoff. I’m not ready to cut her loose. If she is connected to any of this, we might be able to use it.”

“This is bullshit,” I said. “Kitt’s done nothing wrong.”

“And I’m not asking you not to see her,” Sly said. “The opposite actually. Scarlett has a hunch. I’ve learned not to question it. Just figure out what she’s really doing in town. If she is responsible for passing intel about the warehouse meeting, we need to know that. In fact, forget having Brenna call her. Switch, you do it. Tell her it’s nothing personal. Hook her up with some other job if you want. Then figure out who the fuck she is once and for all.”

“I don’t like it,” I said, my jaw clenched.

“Your prez didn’t ask if you liked it,” Dex said, moving next to Sly, tall as a mountain. “He gave you an order.”

I locked eyes with him. “And I follow every order he’s ever given me. Including yesterday.”

Dex’s eyes flashed. He had yet to ask me about my meeting with Mad Max. In all the commotion, we hadn’t had a chance to get to it.

“Good enough,” Sly said, catching the undertone. “Everybody knows where they need to be. Watch your backs. Stay close. Dex? Hang back here with Switch. We’ve got other things to talk about. Switch? You clear on it?”

My fists were tight enough to draw blood. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m clear.”

Sly had no gavel today, but his tone was all he needed. The crew dispersed, leaving me alone with Dex and Sly.