Page 45 of A Brother's Secret

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Data…

“Go with Reaver, baby.” I held her face between my hands and kissed her forehead which was salty from sweat and her smeared tears. She didn’t take killing a man lightly, even though she’d done it twice and wouldn’t hesitate if it came to it again. Strong, brave, but so very human and with a heart… some of the qualities I would forever love about mygirl.

“Soon, I’ll see you soon, right?” she demanded and I felt the bitterness of the lie on my tongue, even as I spoke it anyway.

“Yeah, I’ll see yousoon.”

“Okay… okay…” we’d taken two alive, and both of them were on their knees, bleeding from superficial injuries that were about to get a whole lot worse. Some of the rest of the club were already on their way out to begin a rapid clean-up. Doc was among them to tend to Zeb, who’d taken a shot to the outside of his thigh, more substantial than a graze, but nowhere near the femoral artery and it didn’t look like he’d broken the femur.

Still, Rush was with Zeb as he grunted and huffed, and tried not to scream as Rush tightened the tourniquets high up, dangerously close to Zeb’snuts.

“You catch one of the boys in this medieval torture racket, we ain’t gonna be mates anymore, yeah.” He said and Rush laughed.

“Don’t be a fuckin’ baby,” Archer grunted, lighting a cigarette.

“Come on, Queenie,” Reaver said, adopting the nickname given to her by Revelator. “We've gotta go.” He hefted her messenger bag, plastic bits from my slaughtered systems and glass from some of the monitors slipping off its red vinyl top flap to tick and tinkle against the cement floor.

“Right behind us, right?” she asked, and I nodded saying, “As soon as we clean up thismess.”

She followed Reave reluctantly. They had a bit of a hike through the woods to get to where the bikes were parked and get the fuck out of here. I watched them go, kissed my fingertips and held them up and out to her. She did the same, and then she was out thedoor.

I turned grim, went over to the first guy and pulled the gaffing tape off from over his mouth. He instantly spit in my face and I punched him right in his fucking mouth, his teeth scraping my knuckles and taking some skin. His head snapped back and he groaned, and when it fell forward again it was right back to the tape over his lips. Fuckthat.

I pulled a bandana out of my back pocket and wiped away his spit and went to the nextguy.

“Now I got some questions, we all do, and if you answer them, this might not go as badly for you as it’s going to go for your friend… you feel me?” I asked.

I’d seen these interrogations more than once in my life since joining the club, but this was the first time I’d taken a willing step off that ledge and into the abyss of no return. I couldn’t think of a better reason on this good, green earth to do it than for Amalia Rose, either.

The man looked wary and nodded slowly. I smiled and I knew it wasn’t friendly. He’d picked the wrong boss to work for, and I wanted to know exactly who that was. I was much nicer about peeling the tape off of him. A little kindness in these scenarios went a longways.

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