“Wait,” Apache called after me.
I stopped at my bike as he approached. “We'll come with you. All of my men and weapons are at your disposal.” He stuck his hand out. “Let's go get my little girl.”
* * *
I went back to the shop after making plans to meet up with the Forsaken after we prepared. Our entire arsenal was laid out on the poker tables in the back room. “Is this all of it?” I asked AK.
“Everything; even our personal stock.”
We had enough for a small army, and it still might not be enough to take on the cartel, but that wasn't going to stop me. I clapped him on the shoulder. “Good.”
Kojack came up to me. “Trey said they're on fifteen heading south. He doesn't think he's been spotted yet.”
“Think they're heading to Tijuana?” Cowboy asked.
“Not yet. They probably need to figure out how they're going to smuggle Dixyn in first.”
I hope.
“We need to have a meeting. Now,” I said, heading toward our meeting room. Once all my brothers were in their respective seats, I continued, “I know most of you don't approve of my relationship with Dixyn, so there will be no hard feelings if you don't want to come. I would love to have all my brothers by my side, but I understand that this isn’t your fight.”
No one said anything for a few seconds before AK spoke, “Your fight is our fight. I'm with you no matter what, brother.”
“Me, too,” Cowboy stated.
All my brothers spoke their agreement, and pride swelled within me. Then my gut twisted as I thought about telling them about my deal with Apache. “You should know that the Forsaken are going, too. I reached out to Apache since he has an invested interest in this, and we could use all the help we can get if we're going to war with the cartel.”
You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed my statement. I suspected a few men might change their minds with the bomb I'd dropped.
“Damn, you must really love her,” Cowboy commented.
I hadn't said the words to her or admitted it out loud, but there was no denying it. I was willing to go to war with the cartel and seek out our biggest rival's help for Dixyn. “Yeah, I do.”
“Then we're with you, brother,” my VP stated.
I looked around to all the faces of my brothers, who all nodded at me. “Let's go rescue my old lady.”
* * *
We met up with the Forsaken at a rest stop a few miles outside of Laughlin. Things were tense to say the least, but the men were being civil for their presidents' sake.
Kojack shoved his phone in his pocket and came over to me. “Just talked to Trey. He said they're still on fifteen just passing the Mojave Preserve.”
I nodded. “It's about five and half hours from Vegas to Tijuana without stopping.” I pointed at the map laid out on a picnic table in front of us. “If they're on fifteen, they're probably going to take that all the way down.”
“Think they'll stop on the way?” Raleigh asked.
I shook my head. “Doubt it. They probably won't risk it. They know I'll be coming for her.”
“We have to stop them before they get to Mexico. If they get her across the border, it'll be ten times harder to get her back,” Apache said.
I nodded. “I know.”
We knew the location and layout of his compound. With the men we had we could definitely infiltrate it, but there would be a lot of bloodshed.
We all stared at the map for several seconds before I pointed again. My mind raced as I tried to figure out the best plan. Dixyn needed me, and I'd promised her that Matteo would never hurt her again. I didn’t want to let her down.
I traced my finger on the map. “Let’s plan to take the forty to fifteen and intercept them there. Run them off the road, block them, blow out their tires, whatever we need to do to stop them.”