Page 71 of Sophia, Property of Tracker

“Okay, what’s the plan?” I ask, looking to Prez for some sort of direction. He looks around the room and then focuses on Rhyder.

“Rhyder, what do you want to do? This is your woman.”

He narrows his eyes, then looks at me. Tapping his fingers together, he says, “He ain’t getting her, that’s for damn sure.”

I nod in understanding, then Hawke pipes up, “Okay, so the deal is… she goes in alone with only one other person, right?”

“Right,” Prez replies.

“What if we’re not far behind and one of us goes with Lexi. We get inside and then all start firing?”

“No!” Rhyder shouts. “I’m not putting Lexi’s life in danger. No fuckin’ way.”

“Rhyder’s right,” I state. “We can’t go in all guns blazing. Not when we could risk Lexi’s life, or even my brother. There’s gotta be another way.”

We sit there in silence all consumed by our own thoughts.

An idea occurs to me.

“He said he wants to meet at the marina, right? So that tells me he isn’t far from the drop-off.”

“What you saying, Tracker?”

“I’m saying, what if we can get to Tate before the drop-off tonight? He said ten o’clock, yeah?”

“That’s right,” Rhyder replies.

“Okay, well, let me do some checkin’. Maybe I can figure out where they’re staying. With our men and the Sinners to back us up, we have more than enough brothers to do this on our own without getting Lexi involved.”

“We will surprise them when they’re least expecting us,” Rhyder adds, understanding my thought process now.

“That’s right, brother,” I say, smiling.

Prez looks at me. “Tracker, if we do this, we need to get into action quickly. You think you can find that info in the next couple of hours?”

“I’m not sure, but I sure as fuck am gonna try.”

“Cable can help. He’s good with computer hacking and shit,” Flame says, and I give him a chin lift. Looking up at Cable, he’s nodding his agreement.

We continue the rest of the meeting and end with a time to meet again.

I know I have got to get my ass into gear if this needs to work. Gunner and Blaze are going to find our guns, and Flame knows a place not far from here where they store some of their guns and other weapons. I make a mental note to ask Tate exactly what he has going on if the Sinners have hidden weapons. But right now, we need those guns to get him safe.

Prez and the others make plans, organizing everything we need for tonight to make sure we don’t fall into any surprises. We agree on locking down and getting all the women and children here under our protection, where we can keep an eye on them. We just don’t know what to expect after tonight, and we need to know they’re safe.

We can’t take any chances if shit goes down, and who knows what they’ll do to the ones we love. So every man gets on their phone to talk to their loved ones.

Flame says they left a couple of men back at their compound and that he’ll organize his boys to do the same for their women and children back in Vegas.

Leaving church, the first thing I plan to do is grab my laptop and other equipment to see what I can find out about where Lawrence is staying.

As I exit, a hand pulls my arm, and I turn.

“Listen, Tracker… I know this is hard on you with Tate and all, and I’m sorry but I won’t use Lexi as bait. I just can’t. After everything she’s been through, I will not get her in front of that man again. I hope you understand?” Rhyder states.

I turn fully toward him, placing one hand on his shoulder. “Rhyder, brother, you don’t need to explain. I get it. I don’t expect you or Lexi to do what he asks. I wouldn’t want Sophia in that position either, so I sure as hell ain’t gonna ask you to risk Lexi’s life for my family. I’d be a hypocrite. Let’s just try and make our plan work, ‘cause it’s the best plan we got.”

“The only plan,” Rhyder adds with a small smile.

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