Page 144 of Dagger

We were blessed to live in a part of the country that saw all four seasons. The rural setting boasted lush green fields and a lifestyle that wouldn’t be out of place in a Hallmark movie. It was late summer, and the flowers were in full bloom, emitting a heady fragrance that fed the soul.

I loved my beautiful corner of the USA, which was why I was so determined to protect what it stood for from the likes of Henderson and the Burning Sinners. Hambleton was so safe, people didn’t have to lock their doors at night and could call on their neighbors for help. I lived in a town where Sunday service was still the place to catch up with your friends and help your community.

If my boys and I wanted to be around to enjoy the fruits of our efforts, we needed to avoid being seen, which was just one of the reasons we’d left under the cover of darkness. Colt had looped our cameras from a meeting a week ago where all the brothers were in attendance. That way, if the sheriff wanted to see proof we hadn’t left the clubhouse, it was there.

My men—all experienced soldiers—were getting in the zone, which was evidenced by the air around me slowly turning from lighthearted to heavy.

I knew from experience that Kit’s zone included shedding his humanity. The only way my boy could cope with his own brutality was to alter his personality until he became a machine. I could tell he was morphing into soldier mode by the way his shoulders tensed as we rode closer to our destination. My son’s military experience may have been extreme compared to others,but it didn’t mean my other brothers hadn’t gone through their own personal versions of hell.

Asking them to fight would no doubt set some of my brothers back in their recoveries, but I knew they didn’t care. Our club’s survival was worth fighting for, and we’d all be there, for each other, in the aftermath.

The scenery became sparser as we drove past the sign for Mapletree.

Although the town neighbored Hambleton, the residents weren’t quite as affluent, which meant lower taxes and minimal upkeep. We came over here to buy a lot of our shit from the Superstore, and some of the boys had friends here, so we weren’t strangers to where we needed to go in order to be strategic with our attack.

As planned, I raised my hand and pumped my fist to indicate my intentions. Then, slowing down, I pulled off the road and motioned for the boys to pass me by.

The vibration of my brothers’ engines filled my chest with a sense of determination, and twenty-five hands raised to give me thumbs-up as they rode on by.

After waiting briefly for the roar of engines to fade, I swiveled my head toward a softly steeped hill covered in woodland about thirty meters to my right. Then, revving my engine, I turned my bike and slowly rode up the slope toward the position I’d picked to look out over the house where the Sinners were. Finally, I reached the large cluster of trees, brought my bike to a standstill, and cut the engine.

It was like I’d been cast back thirty-five years. I was so focused on the task at hand that my mind was transported back to the Kuwaiti desert. I felt the uncomfortable dry heat and the biting wind filled with grains of sand whipping my cheeks raw.

I booted my kickstand on and reached toward my back, shrugging off the black tubular-shaped weapons bags I’dtransported my M4s in. Crouching to the ground at my vantage point, hidden by a dense patch of foliage, I unzipped the carriers and pulled out the rifles, the long-range sights, and silencers, and clicked everything together in such a familiar way, it was as if I did it every day of my life.

Cracking my neck from side to side, I licked my finger and held it in the air while looking up at the trees and noting which way the leaves blew before hunkering down on my front.

It took about forty seconds to calculate the trajectory of my bullets, wind speed and direction. It was like riding a bike—excuse the pun—my sniper training thirty-five years ago was so intense it was still like second nature.

Thank God.

For the last time, I checked the ammo on both rifles before pulling one into position and aiming it at the house before me.

My eyes slashed right at the movement of my brothers approaching the house on their bikes, riding in like the goddamned calvary.

I made myself breathe slow, quiet, and steady, listening to the air whipping hard around my ears, whispering directions. My racing heart began to thud steadily, the adrenaline in my veins making the world around me shrink inward to a small point of tunnel visionthat only existed through the sight of my rifle.

And I waited.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Breaker

My fingers tremored in anticipation of a kill.

It had been so fucking long since I’d fed my monster that I felt him in my blood, moving through my flesh, trying to burst out of my skin.

The military made me a monster, but these days, the nightmares full of the evil things I did in the name of my country were gone. Riding in to put the Burning Sinners down wasn’t about war or patriotism; it wasn’t even about winning.

It was all about keeping my wife and children safe.

Kennedy owned me heart and soul, as did Kady, Kai, and the boy my woman carried in her belly. The Sinners had already tried to raze my world apart by taking my baby girl for their sick, perverted needs. Now it was time to ensure they’d never take mine or anyone else’s daughters again.

This was a day of judgment, and I had not one qualm about raining fire and brimstone down on their sorry asses.

No fucks given.

The house we were about to storm was big and ostentatious, not quite as tacky as the house I blew up by the country club, but just as flashy. The metal gates were surrounded by an eight-foot-tall wooden fence, which I already knew was rotting in areas andwould be easy enough to kick through. However, if everything went the way we’d planned, I wouldn’t need to.

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