Page 87 of Daughters of Chaos

"Those fuckers will pay."

"They will. Once we have aplan."

"What about the—"

A shrill ringing silences everyone. I turn wide-eyed to find my dad staring at his phone. He picks it up a moment later with a quick greeting to whoever is on the other line. His face gives nothing away as we all sit, holding our breath as he speaks to the caller. It feels like forever has passed before he hangs up. When he does, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Officer Normandy says they have a lead on Scar's new base," he finally tells us.

My heart skips a beat. "Gave me an address in Manzanita. He'll keep it quiet for a couple days before telling his supervisor. Let us handle this how we see fit."

He prattles off the address while Jesse pulls it up on his computer. "Old warehouse it looks like. Big. Lots of buildings. Plenty of places to hide someone." Jesse looks up from the screen, his face somber.

Dad and Bear take the computer from him, frowning at the monitor. "We'll need everyone on deck. And we'll need to scope it out before we go in guns blazing."

More time to waste. The angry thought runs through my head before I can stop it. I know we have to do this right, but we'vespent too much time already not taking action. Every second is precious, and we can't throw away any more of it.

"I say we go in now. Kill 'em all and torch the place." Reaper's low voice is murderous as he speaks. I'm inclined to agree with him, but I know we have to do this right. We'll only get one shot at rescuing Rae. Our plan has to be solid, which means having everything worked out before we charge in guns blazing.

Dad holds up a hand. "We scope the place out. Come up with a game plan, then we act. If we go in halfcocked, things will go south and Raven—" His voice catches as he curls his hand into a fist. "Raven will get hurt or worse if we don't play this right."

Reaper's jaw clenches, but he stays silent. Everyone does. We're all thinking the same thing—we have one shot to get her out safely. Mistakes are not an option.

The tense silence passes as the club starts making their plan. Everyone has a job. Everyone knows the score. They'll send out a team to scope out the warehouse and find out where the weak spots are in Scar's defenses. Then, they'll go in, work in small groups to search the place for Raven, and end this for good.

52

Phoenix

Manzanita was a three-hour drive away—a decent-sized city with plenty of places to hide and little to no police presence. The perfect place for a criminal enterprise to hide a kidnapping victim. A place the Bastards would gravitate to, or so we hoped.

Once we had a basic plan in place, we moved—all of us. Dad didn't want to leave Lace or me behind, not after Rae's abduction. He said it was too risky, and he needed every one of his guys to get this done. There would be no one free to keep an eye on us if we stayed behind.

It was fine by me. I'd feel better being closer to them, knowing what's going on. Waiting at Bear's while they did what they needed to would be excruciating. So, we piled into vehicles from Dad's shop and headed to Manzanita in shifts. Dad, Bear, and Hammer left last, keeping their distance.

Once the plan was set, Dad would provide a distraction while the others swooped in for Raven. The Bastards would be on high alert. We knew rolling into town with twenty-plus men on Harleys wasn't exactly inconspicuous. So, Dad, Bear, and Hammer would draw attention away from the rest of us as soon as they rolled into town. We knew Scar and his men would spot them the second they showed up and likely tail them.

So, we used that to our advantage. The three of them would stay in Manzanita, drawing the Bastards' attention. The rest of us would split between different motels outside of town. While the Bastards were watching Dad and the others, the rest of us would be setting things in motion.

Waking up in a strange bed in a dingy motel is disorienting. We drove here in the middle of the night, hoping to arrive inconspicuously under a shield of darkness. We checked in under aliases and paid in cash, so there was no trail pointing back to us. So far, it seems to be working. No one has seen any of the Bastards or heard a motorcycle since we arrived.

We assume we're far enough outside Manzanita that we're safe, but there's rarely such a thing where the Bastards are involved. The lack of activity should make me feel better, but it doesn't. What if we're wrong? What if this isn't the right place? The tip from Dad's cop friend was all we had to go on, and I pray they were right. Rae's life depends on it, but if they had it wrong . . .

That isn't something I can fathom. Ithasto be good intel. There is no alternative.

I feel the bed next to me dip under someone's weight. Mason watches me through tired eyes as I sit up. None of the guys got much sleep last night between travel, planning, and taking shiftson watch. It was rough for all of us, but no one complained. We all have the same goal here—get Raven out safe and take down Scar and his men.

Rubbing what little sleep I got from my eyes, I shift closer to him, melting into his side when he holds up his arm for me. "How'd you sleep?"

With a shrug, I answer, "Okay, I guess. There's so much running through my head about all this. It's hard to rest when that's going on."

"We'll get her back, Nix. We have the Devils out doing recon in town now. Any word of the Bastards or sightings of their men, we'll know. And we've got some of our guys scoping out the warehouse."

I bite my lip. Things are moving right along like we planned, but it still doesn't feel like enough. It doesn't feel like we're moving fast enough with Raven still in their hands.

As if sensing my fear, Mason pulls me closer. "We'll get her back, Nix. I promise."

I let his words sink in, forcing myself to believe them. This will work. We have a good plan, and it will succeed. It has to.

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