Page 94 of Savior

As if there’d been a concern that he might survive, they’d gone ahead and sliced from throat to groin, eviscerating him. Blood dripped steadily from the organs hanging from his body, mimicking the sound of a leaky faucet as it splashed onto the counter and floor.

My phone vibrated against my thigh.

Lauren:

911. We need to go now.

“We need to leave.”

Zane nodded, lowering his hand. “Do we—fuck, do we call it in?”

I stared at him in silence, waiting for a punchline or grin—anything that would give me some indication that he wasn’t as stupid as he looked. “Call it in?”

“Yeah, we can’t just fucking leave him like this.”

“Sure,” I said casually. “Let’s call it in and explain how we picked the lock to find them like this. I’m sure we’ll find a way to explain how our fingerprints are all over the fucking place; you know, when we’re sitting behind bars!”

“A simple no would’ve sufficed, asshole.” He shouldered past me and out the back door.

“What?” I called after him. “You’re the guy who does his job like a good Boy Scout, and I’m the guy who’s keeping us out of a cell. Takes all kinds, right?”

Zane stopped right before we reached the truck and hissed, “Look, I’m not a fucking criminal. I didn’t grow up in this world, so I think it’s safe to say that I’m a little out of my goddamned element here. If you could just cut me a little slack or, I don’t know, give us some fucking clue as to what we’re all doing, it’d be great. Okay… pumpkin?”

The sharp retort died on my tongue when I saw Lauren’s face through the window.

“What happened?” I asked as I climbed in.

Her jaw settled into a hard line, and she shook her head. “Jimmy called. The Sons knew we’d be busy here, so they torched the storage facility. Any evidence that might’ve helped us find them is currently up in flames. Did you get anything in there?”

I ground my molars together. “They got Rogers… and his wife. As the list of things we don’t know keeps growing longer, can anyone here tell me what we do know?”

Dakota looked up from her cell phone with a grin. “Kate got something. They were reviewing the hospital tapes from the night my father was shot.”

“And?” I waved my hand, silently urging her to get to the point. Every second we spent sitting here was another second that the Sons had to come up with new ways to fuck with us.

“Does the name Kyle Barton ring any bells?”

Zane let out a heavy sigh. “Barton’s in with them?”

Barton…

The name briefly registered as the rookie who’d pulled me over a couple of years prior. Instead of hauling me off to jail for drunk driving and indecent exposure, he’d let me off with a warning. Other than the one encounter, the name meant nothing to me.

By now, it seemed as if everyone in the department was on the Son’s payroll.

“You know him?” I asked.

He nodded. “Worked undercover together. He was also at our wedding, probably gave the Sons all the intel they’d ever need, too.”

“I’d say we could track him down, but it’s pretty fucking apparent that if he isn’t already dead, he will be soon enough. So, back to square one withabsofuckinglutelynothing to go on.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Lauren said slowly. “Dakota and Zane were able to figure out that Bear isn’t the one behind this—”

“About that,” Zane spoke up from the backseat. “At the clubhouse, he had his armed guards with him. Tonight, he was all alone, though. There’s still a chance that he’s working against Silent Phoenix.”

Using my thumb, I cracked the knuckles on my left hand before moving over to the right. While I did it, I tried to piece together everything I’d learned from watching Grey over the years. “If he was working against the club, then he would’ve killed you both tonight.”

“The Sons have killed off anyone who could be used as a witness against them.” Lauren’s eyes widened. “Bear’s not the traitor.”

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