Page 99 of The Devil's Scars

“Last chance, guys.” Wolf met every one of their eyes. “You stay here with me, you’re with me all the way to the end.”

Silence. Stillness.

“OK.” Wolf exhaled hard. “We need a plan.”

“Besides shooting out The Blood Crew’s clubhouse?” Ice asked coolly. He was so clearly back on well-worn, familiar ground, Wolf wondered if he’d ever really left. “And leaving no survivors?”

“Yeah,” Wolf said. “We need more weapons, for starters. We need everyone in an assigned position, too, military-style, Ice, the way you and Cain did it overseas, so you and your Enforcers plan that for us. Finally, we need to work in waves, you get me, man? Separate assaults, and we need one group to stay outside and pick off any runners.”

“No problem.” Ice’s blue eyes were pools of zero emotion. “Give me and Cain and the twins an hour to pull shit together.”

“Good,” Wolf said. “I want to hit them in no more than four hours. Call in every favor we have, get our weapons stash way bigger.”

Dux and Drake nodded, and Cain said, “I’ve kept my old contact with someone local. He’ll get us what we need.”

“How fast?” Wolf asked.

“Two hours, tops.”

“Go, man. Go.”

Cain headed out, closely followed by the MC’s other former – or not really ‘former’ anymore – Enforcers, Ice and the twins. Wolf watched them go, then switched his attention back to the rest of his brothers.

“Stay here,” he ordered. “If Dawson hit the parlor, then there’s a damn good chance that he also set up bombs or whatever the hell that thing was at Satan’s and the garage. Maybe our houses, too.”

A dark ripple went through the room as the men muttered to each other. Wolf waited, and they fell silent again.

“Silver, Cole, you guys are up,” he said. “Pull all footage you have… everythin’ and everywhere. If you see anythin’ weird, you let Kansas know.”

“Me?” Kansas asked, surprised. “Usually I do the surveillance and intel stuff with Cole…”

“Yeah. But you’re my temporary right hand man, just while Scars is out of commission, so Silver’s with Cole for now.” Wolf stared around, fiercely daring anyone to contradict him, to even breathe a hint that Scars being down and out wasn’t temporary. “Everyone reports to you from this moment forward. Call Ice and his guys, make that clear.”

“And what about you, Prez?” Jinx asked hesitantly. “You going off the grid?”

Wolf sighed heavily. “I’m goin’ to be with Zee. She’s all alone with her baby, and I don’t like that. But I don’t want this shit creepin’ into that little girl’s room… this all stays outside that door, you follow me? As long as I’m in with her, no calls, no visits. I’ll come back here and check in every thirty minutes. So unless the fuckin’ Blood Crew are standin’ in this very room and openin’ fire, you wait for me to come back. We clear?”

They all nodded again, and Wolf gestured to his remaining men. “You all stay here… you keep an eye out. It’s possible that Dawson’s boys might start somethin’ here at the hospital. They got us all in one place, pretty much, and that may be one hell of a temptation.”

“Gotcha, Wolf,” Rebel said. “A few of us will be outside and some on each floor. We’ll for sure put someone outside Scars’ door, wherever he is.”

“OK. I want Arrow and Holt on Scars’ door first shift.” Wolf pushed back his wild hair with two hands, wondering if he’d ever been so enraged. “I’m goin’ to check on Keira now.”

They parted so he could get through the group, and Wolf headed down two floors. He took the stairs, and took a few minutes to calm himself down. The last thing that Zee needed was to see him in President mode and persona. She needed her friend, the one that she’d known since the age of ten, and Wolf was damn well going to make sure that she got that comfort. She had no use for a cold-blooded killer.

He paused outside the door, listening. There weren’t any voices, so he gently tapped, then eased the door open a few inches. He stuck his head in, and there was Zoe sitting next to a crib. She was holding a tiny hand through the raised bars, and staring at her daughter. It was hard to see Keira, though, because of the tape holding a tube in place down her throat.

“Zoe?” he whispered, shutting the door quietly. “Hey, baby girl…”

Zoe looked up and over at him, and Wolf froze. God, he hadn’t seen that dazed, lost look on her face since that night in the bar back room. It was a look that he’d hoped hard that he’d never see again, and his heart hurt for her. Wolf moved to her now, wanting to hold her, to show her that she wasn’t alone in her fear and worry. Zoe stood up and took a few steps forward – to meet him he thought – and he opened his arms to her.

“Zee –”

The shove against his broad chest shocked him, and he staggered a bit. Yeah, OK, he hadn’t seen it coming, so that was part of the surprise, but what really stunned him was the rage behind it. She hadn’t held back, not even a bit, and she was a strong, tall woman. The push had some serious power behind it, and Wolf just couldn’t fucking believe it.

“You prick!” she said, not bothering to keep her voice low. “You lying sack of shit!”

“Zoe…” The rest of his sentence was knocked out of his mouth by another hard shove. “Hey…”

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