Page 83 of Traitor

I looked at him in shock. “How? We’ve been trying to identify this bastard since last January and you found him just like that?”

Jeremy shrugged. “Guy fucked up. I started tracing the message sent to Lauren tonight and that led me back to the original message sent to you last year. Once I had the phone in question, I knew where to look.”

I gave him an incredulous look. “You knew where to look?”

He grinned and clicked the mouse again, pulling up the surveillance cameras inside the station.

“Holy fucking shit,” I breathed out.

“I knew when and where to look once I traced the phone. Monica was sitting in jail when the first message was sent and I played off a hunch that the phone had been with her when she was arrested. See anybody that looks familiar?”

I stared at the black and white images, watching my colleagues come and go. None of it seemed noteworthy and I was ready to tell Jeremy we had shit when I saw him.

Detective Aiden Rangel.

He’d been the first one on scene after Lauren’s car was blown up. God, he’d even asked for Jimmy’s information—knew he was a Fed before we did. I hadn’t considered him a suspect at the time—hadn’t considered anything but getting Lauren somewhere safe. I pointed him out to Jeremy. “That’s him. Let’s go. Call it in to Grey.”

He nodded and I jogged up the stairs, emptying my gun safe into a bag. We were taking out a cop—a dirty cop, but a cop nonetheless. I wanted to be prepared for anything.

When I got back downstairs, Jeremy was loading his gun. “Talked to Grey. He’s sending Torch, Carnage, and Crossbones. The others are almost back from a run and will meet us at the clubhouse. We torture him and we could bring this whole thing down on their fucking heads, Mike. This war might be over by sunrise.”

I smiled. This was it—we knew at least one of the men responsible for Monica’s death. By taking him out, we were destroying any chance of them getting away scot free on this. Taking away their police protection was cutting off the head and this time, instead of three more growing back, they were going to bleed out thanks to the intel I was going to get from this guy.

I pulled up Rangel’s home address when it was determined that he wasn’t at the station. Jeremy tapped away on his laptop as we drove back into town, informing me that he had a wife, but no kids.

Good.

I wasn’t messing with kids, but I bet anything that Aiden would be willing to give up the Sons if he thought it’d save his wife. We parked down the street from his house and waited for the others. Everything in me screamed to run in, guns blazing, but I forced myself to wait until I heard the low rumble of bikes.

Torch, Carnage, and Crossbones met us and the latter two demanded we treat it like a stealth mission. There would be no blazing guns. In and out without waking the neighbors. The two of them had served in the Army together; most likely doing recon missions and shit.

Carnage noted a light on upstairs before bringing his finger back to his mouth. Crossbones picked the lock and silently pushed the door open. We moved throughout the downstairs, weapons drawn. The house was dead silent around us, which made me optimistic that we could get Aiden and his wife out without having to make use our weapons.

Torch moved up the stairs, followed by Carnage and Crossbones, while Jeremy and I brought up the rear. My body was tense with anticipation of what was to come. I’d done SWAT early on and the feeling was the same. Ambushing someone came with too many fucking variables.

The bedroom door was closed at the end of the hall and without a word, everyone began moving along the walls, just in case Aiden got the urge to shoot through the door. Jeremy and I had tactical gear on, but the same couldn’t be said for the other three.

We reached the door and with a nod, Torch opened it silently before we stormed in. The copper scent of blood hit my nostrils as we made our way toward the closed bathroom door and my heart sank.

Carnage must’ve realized it at the same time I did because he threw the door open without even trying to mask our presence. It was the one room of the house that had a light on. And it confirmed what I’d already suspected.

Aiden lay in the empty tub with a gun resting near his hand. His eyes were open, but unseeing; the back of his head was splattered across the wall and along the rim of the tub behind him.

“She’s gone,” Jeremy whispered from the bedroom and I cursed. No matter what it looked like, they’d gotten to him first. Sirens began to wail in the distance and Crossbones rolled his eyes.

“They knew we were coming. It’s a fucking setup.”

We raced out of the house and down to the end of the block where our vehicles were as the wailing grew louder. It was obvious that they’d been tipped off by someone inside the club,but who?We’d gone in with gloves, so leaving fingerprints behind wasn’t an issue. But as we drove away, I couldn’t help but think that we’d just lost our one opportunity to end things before they got worse.

Lauren

June 2016

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Elizabeth asked as I fastened the small pearl buttons on the back of her baby blue gown.

I brushed off her question. “Why wouldn’t I be fine? My best friend is getting married…again.”

She caught my eye in the full-length mirror in front of her. “Lauren, you couldn’t make rehearsal last night. I know you’re trying to avoid seeing him again, but it’s inevitable. I just wish that you and Jimmy had worked out—it would’ve made today easier.”

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