Page 124 of Steel

There’s no sound. No movement.

I know before turning the corner something’s not right, and when I see Sonny bloody on the ground, my fears are confirmed.

“Fuck.” Havoc drops to Sonny’s side, feeling for a pulse.

I’ve got my phone out, and I’m dialing Patch, but when Havoc shakes his head, I know it’s already too late.

“Never mind.” I hang up when Patch answers and dial Ghost instead. “Get to the bathrooms.”

Hanging up, I storm into the bathrooms, only to find them empty. There’s no sign of Tempe, Austin, or Reyes.By the time I walk out, Ghost is crossing the parking lot toward us with an ice-cold glare.

“This is not happening.” I grit my teeth, heading toward Ghost.

“We’ll find ’em, Steel. I swear on my fucking life.” Havoc pulls out his phone and calls Mayhem, who’s still back at the clubhouse.

I vaguely hear him giving orders to organize the men there, but I’m too focused on Ghost to pay attention.

“We have a problem.” Ghost stops in front of us.

“No fucking shit. Tempe and Austin are gone.”

Every ounce of sanity I have left is being tested, and those words cause something in my brain to snap.

I close my eyes and tip my head back, taking a deep breath. No good comes from me losing it right now. All it’ll do is put Tempe and Austin at risk. They need the man I swore I’d be for them. The man who runs this club and protects what’s his.

Exhaling, I look back at Ghost. “What is it?”

“It’s about Tempe and Austin.” He flips his phone around so I can see the screen; it’s a text message from an unknown number.

Unknown: How does it feel to lose, Steel? First your business. Now your girl. Your club is next. We’re coming for you.

Ghost opens the picture attached to the text, and it’s an image of Tempe and Austin in the back of a van. Both of them have their eyes closed, so I’m guessing they’ve been knocked out with something. Dimitri is holding Tempe’shead up so he can show her off to the camera, and his lips are so close to her cheek that it makes my skin crawl.

“They don’t mention a trade,” Havoc says, looking over my shoulder and reading the message.

“I noticed.”

And no trade is more concerning than if Dimitri was asking for something.

No trade means he already has what he was looking for.

What he said to Tempe at the bar rattles around in my head. He didn’t send her to the club for the flash drive.

He wanted her here.

But for what?

Havoc hangs up with Mayhem, and the rest of the guys have made their way up the hill toward us, either because Havoc waved for them or they sensed something was off.

I turn to Ghost. “Is there any way to tell where the picture was taken?”

“I need to get it back to my computer at the clubhouse to see if I can trace it, but if I had to guess, it’s a burner phone. And there’s no geotag on the image.”

“So, nothing?”

Ghost shakes his head, not looking any happier about it than I am.

We’ve been tracking Dimitri for weeks. And even when we found the house in his name, he wasn’t there. Now he has Tempe and Austin, and we’re still no closer to finding where he’s hiding out.

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