Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 47615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“Rat Man,” Jag snarled, the name falling from his lips like a curse.
Knight nodded. “Multiple hits over the past week. He’s been careful, but not careful enough.” He pulled up another feed. “This is three blocks away from the compound perimeter yesterday.”
The footage showed the same man standing in the shadow of an abandoned building, staring directly at what I knew was one of Knight’s security cameras. The guy wasn’t hiding. He wanted to be seen.
“Motherfucker’s gettin’ bold,” Gunnar growled, shifting his weight.
“That’s not all.” Knight’s voice dropped lower as he clicked to another window. “This is audio from a bar downtown. One of the prospects was having a beer, heard someone asking questions. He activated the recording app I installed on their phones.”
He hit play, and a gravelly voice filled the room:
“…Gunnar Gill. Heard he’s connected to Cain from Bones. That true? Cain’s blood running through Kiss of Death now?”
My eyes flickered to Gunnar, whose expression had hardened into stone. Knuckles straightened, placing a hand on Gunnar’s shoulder.
“Why’s he digging into Gunnar’s past?” I asked, breaking the tense silence.
“Because Cain killed Kiss of Death’s president before Rat Man took over,” Knight explained quietly. “It’s old blood, but it never quite dried.”
“Yeah,” Gunnar bit out tersely. “Before my time, but my brothers and my other sister remember him well. Dad killed Slash, the old Kiss of Death president, when he came to the Bones clubhouse and tried to take Mom and Suzie.”
Jag shifted his feet and moved away from me slightly. I looked up at him and saw the look of surprise before his features shut down once more. “You’re Angel’s kid?”
Instantly the temperature of the room dropped several degrees. I found myself inching closer to Jag before I realized it, then stiffened and eased back.
“Be careful how you say my mother’s name, Jag,” Gunnar said.
Jag shook his head. “Not meaning disrespect, man. I didn’t know her by any other name. And only because I did my best to distract fuckin’ Gremlin the night he met her. Thought it worked too, but he fixated on her. A week later, probably the night he took Angel, was when I took the fall for Rat Man.” He took a breath and shook his head. “I was a kid, man. I tried to do the right thing, keeping Gremlin away from women he fixated on. When they caught on, I guess they made me a pawn. The fall guy when Rat Man got careless.”
Knuckles grunted and gave Jag a hard look. “You were in the right place at the right time. Just with the wrong people.” He shifted his gaze to Gunnar. “I’d never have brought Jag here if he’d had anything to do with your mother’s mistreatment. Jag’s not like Gremlin. Jag was easy prey for that swine because he was new in the area and struggling to fit in.”
“Rat Man told me that, because I wasn’t eighteen yet, they’d likely give me a couple years in juvie and I’d be out.”
“Sounds like the son of a bitch,” Knuckles grumbled. “I was already on the inside, but Griffin gave me a heads-up you were coming.”
“You saved my life, Knuckles.” Jag then shifted his gaze to Gunnar. “I tried to protect that woman.”
Gunnar sighed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t even born, but I know sometimes my mom still has nightmares. Suzie too. If Cliff and Daniel do, they don’t talk about it.”
“Christ,” Knuckles muttered. “I feel a fuckin’ nightmare comin’.”
Gunnar shot him a look. “Well, you know I can’t keep them out of this. Wouldn’t want to even if I have to go against you to tell them.”
“Fine.” Knuckles straightened. “Get through this briefing, then me and you got some things to discuss, Gunnar.”
I felt the change in Jag’s breathing before I looked up at him. His face had gone completely blank. Sweat erupted over his brow and trickled down his temple. His breath now came in shallow pants. No doubt the memory of everything he’d just relived in his explanation was overwhelming him. I recognized the signs of a flashback or panic attack. The former could be dangerous, the latter embarrassing. And sometimes dangerous.
“Jag?” I said softly, not touching him but wanting to pull him back from wherever his mind had taken him. The others continued talking, seemingly oblivious.
Knuckles recognized it too. “Jag,” he said sharply, the command in his voice cutting through whatever nightmare had gripped him. “You with us?”
Jag blinked, his focus returning to the present with visible effort. He swallowed hard, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “Yeah.” His voice was sandpaper rough. “I’m here.”
No one mentioned what had just happened. Instead, Knight continued.
Knight clicked to another screen that made my stomach drop. It showed my office building downtown. The timestamp was from yesterday morning. I watched myself walk from my car to the entrance, unaware of the figure lingering across the street, watching me.