Page 48 of Lockout

Thirty minutes later,I was inside Keely’s house, scowling at the walls. The fuckers had written shit all over them. Some were pretty uninspired, like bitch and cunt. But the one on the living room wall read, ‘we’ll find you’. “Is that blood?” I asked, my lip curling at the copper scent in the air.

“Yeah,” Priest said, rubbing a hand back and forth over the top of his head. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Lock.”

“There was a chance this could happen,” I said with a shrug. I’d spoken to Keely about it before I’d stopped posting guards here. She knew the risks as well. Clapping a hand on his shoulder, I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it cleaned up. I really didn’t think they were going to hit her place since they hadn’t done anything up until now.”

“They obviously picked up on the fact that she hasn’t been staying here. So for them to come here is just…fucking petty,” Rip said, motioning toward the message.

“Yeah, well, Hangman is a pro at getting inside people’s heads,” I said with a shrug.

“They want her to come out of hiding,” Code said, his arms crossed over his chest. He hadn’t said much before now, but we all nodded at him. “Fuck that,” he said in response to our agreement. “She’s not going anywhere.”

I grinned at Code and gave him a slap on the back. The fact that fuckers like the LoS threatening women brought out that protective side in him, was the exact reason we were working with the Saint’s Outlaws. They had damn good men. Code was young, around twenty-five, but he was proving why the Phoenix crew had patched him in.

A low whistle split the air and I turned my head and watched as Warrant walked through the front door. “Well fuck me,” he said, staring at the mess they’d made of the place. “They tossed this place like feds trying to find a joint.”

We all chuckled at that. The FBI was notorious about executing a search warrant and leaving the place a wreck afterward. This was obviously worse than the feds, but the joke was needed. Especially when I thought about having to tell Keely what these fuckers had done to her place. It didn’t matter that she knew it was a possibility. The reality was going to be difficult for her.

They’d sliced and diced her couch. The recliner cushion was spilling its contents out onto the floor. Her mattress was soaked in gasoline. And they dumped buckets of blood randomly on the wooden floors. There was more, but I was too fucking pissed to catalogue it all.

The only thing they hadn’t done was break the dishes, because that would have made too much noise. They didn’t want any of Keely’s neighbors to be alerted that they’d been here.

Rip shook his head and looked around. “Keely’s going to be upset.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “But she was the one who made the decision. She didn’t want me to keep posting guys here and take the chance that we were short-handed at the clubhouse. She’ll understand.”

“Wish I’d been watching the cameras like I normally do,” he said with a sheepish grin.

“We all deserved to take last night,” I replied. “None of us knew this was going to happen.”

“Looks like Hangman has gotten whatever he needed to squared away,” Priest said, “and now he and his crew are coming after her.”

Gritting my teeth, I thought about what might have happened if Keely had still been here when they made their move. I clenched my fists, trying to keep hold of my temper.

“Don’t worry, Lock,” Warrant said. “They come after her and all they’ll find is us.”

“Thanks, Warrant,” I told him. “Get with Ruck and make a schedule for the apartments and school and the clubhouse. Make sure Ruck’s guys are on a rotation.”

“What about the ranch?” Priest asked.

“My guys have got the ranch,” Warrant said. “At least until you need us to go beat some ass. Want us to watch over the house, too?”

“They’ve already seen that she’s not here,” Rip pointed out.

“Yeah, but if they can’t find her they might come back,” I told him. “Yeah, set up some of your guys here, too,” I said, answering Warrant’s question. I met Priest and Rip’s gazes. “Leave Code here with Warrant, you two meet me back at the clubhouse.”

“Church?” Rip asked.

“Church,” I said in confirmation.

By the time I got back to the clubhouse they’d woken up the others. I’d taken a longer way home because I needed a few minutes to cool off. The fact that these fuckers had gone into my woman’s home last night and trashed it made me want to kill someone. They obviously knew I no longer had guards out front, so there was no doubt in my mind they knew we were involved in this.

“Time to stop fucking around,” I said, as I walked into church. Everyone looked like hell. Except Rip and Priest. Hellfire barely had his eyes open and Ricochet winced as I spoke. Smokehouse was pillowing his head in his arms on the table.

Toxic and Butcher didn’t look quite as bad, but that was just because they were used to downing large quantities of alcohol and still functioning afterward.

“Toxic,” I said. “Is Billie’s grandfather moved in?”

“Yeah, as of last night. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but Pops took him under his wing and they spent the whole night drinking and bitching about me. Pretty sure Billie joined them for most of the time,” he said with a grin. “She and Robert aren’t thrilled I made them come here.”

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