Page 124 of Savior

We stomped up the wooden steps, utterly dejected, as vehicles began firing up all around us. I retraced my steps looking for my cell phone, checking first the living room and then the kitchen. Lauren was somberly eating a plate of tamales while Dakota chopped an onion. Using her forearm, she pushed her glasses up onto her head and wiped at her streaming eyes.

“No, no,” Gloria chided. “Con ganas, mija.Take pride in your work.”

“Did you see the target outside? I took pride in that.”

Gloria must’ve been some type of sorceress to have roped Dakota into a cooking lesson. She was about as likely to learn how to cook as she was to be seen reading a Batman comic.

“Baby girl, have you seen my cell phone?” I finally asked when it seemed that I wasn’t interrupting.

She nodded and pointed upstairs. “It was dying so I plugged it into Lauren’s charger in the bedroom. That was over an hour ago, so it should be good now. Do you need me to help you get it?” Her head bobbed up and down in a slow nod as if she was attempting to hypnotize me.

“No, I think Gloria needs you here—”

“I need to be out there,” Dakota insisted. “What good am I doing? Cooking? That’s not getting my sister back—”

“Mija,” Gloria scolded. “You are preparing food for the soldiers. They will need full bellies to have minds that are clear. So, we have the most important job of all.”

Dakota picked up the knife again and went back to cutting. “Can you at least tell me what the plan is?”

Her hopeful expression tugged at my heart. “Uh, Jimmy, Zane, and several others are heading down south—”

“What?” she screeched. “They’re leaving us? After all the hard work we put in—”

“Dakota.” Lauren rubbed her forehead. “Just chill. I’m working on it, okay?”

I left the two of them to sort out all our problems and jogged upstairs. When I reached the top of the stairs, I stepped into the bathroom, closing my eyes in an attempt to remain calm. The Sons had taken Kate because we were getting close. I couldn’t believe anything else.

We’d just leave it in Jimmy’s hands and wait.

It felt like a cop-out.

“You can stay here and continue to live like a mouse, Celia Quinn,” I told my reflection with a jerk of my chin, repeating words I hadn’t spoken in years. “Or you can stand up and fight for what’s yours.”

The warrior met my gaze, and my lips tipped up into a smile as she urged me to fight.

It was time to do things our way.

My cell was lying on the comforter, fully charged, just as Dakota had predicted it would be. I was about to call Angel when I saw a missed call and voicemail from a blocked number.

“Celia, it’s me. I need help—we’re outside of Mirror Lake. Me and Katy. Gonna try to make it to Wolverine’s old cabin, but we’re in bad shape, darlin’. If—if I don’t make it… need you to know that you were the best thing that ever happened to a poor fuck like me. I, uh, I love you, princess.”

I dropped to my knees against the hardwood floor with a startled cry. Jamie was alive, and he had our baby. The Sons were leading Jimmy south when we needed to head west.

“Nate!” I screamed. “Dakota!”

Everyone in the house came charging up the stairs in a panic. I mashed the speaker button and replayed the message, my heart filled to bursting with frantic hope.

“Mirror Lake! I know where that is!” Dakota exclaimed. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Wait.” I stopped at the top of the stairs as my brain played Devil’s advocate. “If they’re at Mirror Lake, it means that the Sons are too.”

Was this Saint’s big plan? To send half of our team south while lining up the other half like dominos just to watch us fall?

“We’ve been chasing them for years, Celia,” Lauren reminded me. “If this is our only chance to get them, we have to take it, ready or not.”

“We need to call him, Lauren,” I urged.

No more walking into traps.

---