Page 63 of The Devil's Pair

“Briley.”

At the sound of their voices, Rebel opened his eyes. The rage in those golden depths took them back for a second, then they realized that it was the anger that had kept Rebel alive, kept him holding on. He had been waiting for them to get there, because he had a message for them; he was damn sure going to deliver it, even with his almost-last breath:

“Two guys – took Briley – for Crusher –Crusher…”

“When?” Dux asked in a quiet tone. “How long ago?”

“Two – three –” Rebel gave a hacking cough, spat blood. “Hours –”

“OK, man, don’t talk.” Drake reached for his cell phone. “I’m gonna call for some help… you’ll be fine.”

“No.” Rebel’s voice was suddenly very strong, very clear. He was fully there and present with them, and more than anything, that told them that it was all over. “Look at me.”

Drake dropped his phone, took Rebel’s shaking hands in both of his. At the same time, Dux stretched out next to Rebel, ignoring the fact that he was lying down in a pool of blood. They held their brother’s bright gaze with their calm blue ones, held his failing body against their warmth, their strength.

And when Rebel closed those astonishing eyes for the last time, Dux and Drake were there. He didn’t die alone.

**

Wolf got to the twins’ house less than nine minutes after Dux had called him. He tore up the path, and saw that Scars and Ice had already arrived.

He reached Rebel’s body, felt his knees give out under him. Wolf had seen plenty of corpses in his life – God knows, he’d created more than one personally – but he never,nevergot used to losing one of his brothers.

Gently, he touched Rebel’s cold cheek, felt his throat close up when there was no reaction, no response. He looked up and away from Rebel’s too-still face, took stock of the men around him. Dux was covered in blood, from chest to mid-thigh and looked oddly teary; Drake was bloody too, but not nearly as badly, and he had a smoldering anger radiating off him that his twin hadn’t tapped into yet. Scars looked like he’d bypassed sadness and launched himself into full-on fuckingfurious, and Ice hadthatlook on his granite face… the one that assured Wolf that Crusher Alcott was already a dead man, Ice would see to it.

Wolf touched his fallen brother one last time, silently wished him godspeed, promised him that The Road Devils wouldn’t stop until his senseless death had been avenged withtheverymeaningful deaths of his killers. Then he got to his feet, and looked at Ice.

Before he’d said a word, Ice said, “I’ll take care of him, Wolf. I’ll get him to a friend who can keep the – keep Rebel safe until we can figure out what – the arrangements.”

Wolf nodded tightly, still not quite trusting his voice, then he looked at Drake.

“Rebel said it was Crusher,” Drake told him. “Not that there was any doubt, but still… he willed himself to live long enough to tell us that, Wolf. It – it mattered to him.”

“He died just twenty seconds after,” Dux added. “He held on for us to hear that.”

“Understood,” Wolf rasped, relieved that he sounded hard, not broken. “Scars?”

“I’ve already called Jinx,” his Vice-President said. “I told him to look through all the security footage from when Rebel – when Rebel left Satan’s. I’m hoping that whoever killed – whoever did this to him and grabbed up Briley was caught on camera. No way it was Crusher himself… somebody would have seen him.”

Wolf nodded again, his mind now busy. “The man is fuckin' impossible to conceal, unless he stayed hidden. Then again, he ain’t the type to skulk and shield. He’s always right in the action, man, so if he’d been here personally, he’d have left a callin’ card.”

“You thinkthisisn’t it?” Dux said, gesturing at Rebel.

“No way.” Wolf exhaled hard. “He’d have – killed Rebel differently. He’d have made a point of – of crushin’ his throat, just to let us know without a doubt he was responsible. We all know that, right?”

The other men thought for a few seconds, then as one, they nodded.

“So,” Wolf said. “Crusher was behind this, no fuckin’ doubt, but he wasn’t here in person. He sent someone else.”

“Well, whoever the hell he sent, they have Briley,” Drake said. “And I’m assuming that she’s now on her way to Utah.”

“I’m not sure that I agree with that,” Scars said slowly. “They’ll take her to Crusher, that’s for sure… but how? I mean, they can’t put Briley on aplane.Imagine Briley being dragged into economy class after all of this, being asked if she wants some peanuts. Impossible. So unless The Highway Hellions’ budget stretches to a private jet, flying is out.”

“Yeah,” Dux conceded. “But going by road all the way back to Utah is equally unlikely. Why would Crusher take the chance of us catching up with his asshole kidnapping goons en route? Between the whole of the MC, we could fly and drive. We could have ten of our boys standing in front of The Hellions’ clubhouse in just a few hours, or a bunch of us on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, or maybe at the state border. Or even allthreelocations.”

“Agreed,” Ice said in a clipped, cold tone. “The only thing that makes sense is that they’re driving, but a short distance. Crusher is here, in Colorado, and he’s waiting.”

“So what do we do?” Drake asked. “What’s the play, Wolf?”

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