Page 23 of Reaper's Rage

“An Ashlyn Barnes.” The cop replies, glancing around at all the women who surround Evie. When I hear my name, I gasp, which draws his attention to me.

“Officer, I’m Ashlyn Barnes and I can assure you I’m not here against my will. The Demon Dawgs have not kidnapped me. I’m here visiting my boyfriend and my brothers.”

“I’m sorry, but I need you to come outside so we can question you alone.” The officer insists. “You could be under duress.”

“As her mother, I assure you, my daughter is not under duress.” My mom chimes in. “I don’t know who told you she was in danger, but they are mistaken or they lied.”

The cop studies my mom and then each of the surrounding women before landing on me. “We received calls from several upstanding citizens who claim to have seen you kidnapped by a black man wearing a Demon Dawgs kutte. If you aren’t being held against your will, can you come to the station so we can sort this out?”

I glance at my mom and then at Chaos. I don’t really want to go with them, but I can understand their desire to question me outside the club’s influence.

“I can drive her.” My brother offers and I see that he’s no longer wearing his prospect kutte. I glance at Chaos, who is frowning at him, but he says nothing.

“And you are?” The officer asks.

“Ashlyn’s brother. I can drive her and my mom to the station, where you can make sure they’re both fine.”

The cop nods. “We need you at the station within the hour.” He says before returning to his vehicle.

“Where’s your kutte, prospect?” Chaos growls.

Axel shrugs. “I figure he’d only agree to let me drive them if he didn’t know I was a prospect.”

Chaos clasps him on the back. “Good call.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: REAPER

The place is a fucking mess. Glass is everywhere, so it’s impossible to walk without hearing it crunch underfoot. Considering the semi-straight line of bullets across the side of the truck, my guess is someone took his assault rifle out for a day of fun. But why?

“This place is a disaster.” Ghost says as he leans in to examine the office. Flame is walking down the row of tow trucks, his fists clenched at his sides.

“It’ll take time and money to get everything fixed.” I say. “I wonder how bad the other business are. If they’re as bad as this, we’re screwed.”

“The shooter stood here.” Flame says studying the damaged tow truck in front of him. He glances at the spots where we have cameras mounted. They shot all the visible cameras into obscurity. But Byte and Smoke never install one layer of security when they can up it to five layers or more. They have several cameras in places most people wouldn’t consider. Like inside the rearview mirror pointing directly at where Flame stands. They put the cameras there for the safety of our drivers, but they’re on constant record. Smoke and Byte live for data and collect video feed like squirrels hoarding nuts.

We clean up most of the mess before we agree to head back to the clubhouse. Dante will want updates from everyone. A part of me thinks this is the handy work of the Spades, but how they could organize a coordinate strike against five separate businesses at the same time is beyond me.

The three of us mount our bikes. After I put on my helmet, I get notification that I have several missed calls. I glance over at Flame, who is also pulling out his cell phone. My chest tightens as I read a series of messages from Axel, Chaos, and Ashlyn.

“What’s up?” Ghost asks as Flame and I share a look.

“They took Ashlyn and my mom to the police station.” Flame says. “Cops arrived at the clubhouse a few minutes after we all left. Someone reported Ashlyn as a kidnap victim. They went to clear it up. They’re on their way back to the clubhouse. We should get back there.”

“Dante’s likely to call Church again.” I tell them. “I wonder if all this was a distraction for someone to get their hands on Ashlyn.”

We all ride back to the clubhouse to find that everyone has returned, except for Ashlyn and her mother. Axel is missing, too, so I’m hoping he’s with them. I see Evie and Tally talking, so I head to them to see if they can fill us in on what happened. Dante squelches that plan by calling Church. I open my mouth to protest, but Dante shuts me down. “I’ve told Tally to come get us once Ashlyn and Cecilia return.”

I nod in acceptance and follow the rest of my brothers into Church once again. I’m feeling like we’re spending more time in Church than out of it lately. Our club has too many enemies right now. We’re spread thin.

We all summarize what we each found in our businesses. Each attack is so similar that we know the same group orchestrated the attack. But that doesn’t tell us who did it.

“Do you think it’s the Spades?” Chaos asks me. “In retaliation for their dead member?”

“I don’t see how. They carry handguns, not assault rifles. At least they didn’t have access to them before. Those aren’t cheap or easy to get.”

“Not sure they have enough members, either.” Byte adds. “We’re still going through the video, but first glance tells us that no less than three attackers hit each place. In the case of the construction site and Diablo, there were four at each site. That’s seventeen. I only counted twelve Spades when we rescued Ashlyn and they lost one.”

“I have someone I can call and get information.” I offer. “We’re still on good terms. He’s Deion’s cousin and their money guy. He’s smart, and Deion trusts him completely. Killian thinks Deion talks out of his ass most of the time, so he doesn’t have a problem doing his own thing. Which includes staying friends with a traitor like me.”

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