Page 204 of American Hellhound
Fifteen steps away, inside the designated warehouse, their parlay waited.
Or it might have devolved into a trap at this point; he wouldn’t know until he walked in.
“Second thoughts?” James asked.
Ghost took a deep breath and glanced out across the riverfront, the water glittering like cold jewels in the moonlight. His breath misted, pluming like smoke, but soon the nights would be warm and muggy, the pale glow of the sodium lights alive with moths, the air heavy with the algae tang of the Tennessee River.
He knew the sights and smells and changes of this city better than he knew the lines of his own tattoos. It was a part of his blood. It washis; he felt this in a gut-deep flash of knowledge. Knoxville belonged tohim, tohisDogs. No one was going to turn it into a lawless nightmare, not even his own uncle.
“No,” he said, and meant it. “No second thoughts. I’m ready.”
James nodded and they headed inside.
Collier was waiting at the door – the only brother Ghost had trusted with this mission – gun held in a deceptively loose grip. “We ready?” he asked as they approached.
“Yep,” Ghost said, pretending his voice wasn’t tight. He could be as sure as he wanted, but the nerves were still skittering through him, raising unwilling goosebumps down his arms and back.
He thought about Maggie, the last thing she’d said to him when he dropped her off with Bonita and the girls. “You’re gonna be great.” Like he was a kid she was sending off to school to give a presentation. An athlete headed to an important game. Almost silly and shallow on the face of it –great. But it was confident, too. A simple statement for what was, in her eyes, a simple truth: she had every confidence that he would, in fact, dogreat.
The notion warmed him.
Collier led the way through the propped open door, taking point. Ghost and James walked side-by-side, as equals.
Everyone else was already there: three reps from each of the outlaw organizations in the city. Though “organization” was being generous with some of them.
There were the Ryders, the Gonzales brothers, Molly Love and two reps from her crew. There were faces Ghost didn’t recognize, their expressions uncertain. With a jolt, he realized the Dogs were the celebrities among this crowd, and that they would have to live up to the hype.
“Good evening,” James greeted. He came to stand at the head of the loose circle of outlaws, hands hanging casually at his sides. “I think you all know me.” There were indistinct murmurs among the crowd. “This is my vice president, Ghost. I believe you know him also.”
“Vice president?” one of the Gonzales boys said. “I thought you was the VP, James?”
“Yes, well, the club’s in the midst of a realignment…”
And the meeting started.
~*~
Maggie swallowed, or tried to; her throat wouldn’t work. “Hi, Duane,” she whispered.
“Hi, sweetheart.” His voice was pleasant, light. Completely at odds with the gun pointed at her face. “Sorry to interrupt girls’ night, but I’m gonna need you to come with me.”
She took a deep, shaky breath, heart pounding just beneath her skin. Her thoughts raced: could she run? Would he shoot? Her gun was in her purse in the other room; she hadn’t anticipated using it in the house like this. What did Duane have planned for her? Rape? Murder? He wouldn’t really…would he?
“No,” she said.
He took two long strides around the kitchen island, jamming the gun into her face, smile never faltering. “If you don’t come with me,” he said, pleasant and up-tempo, “and one of those bitches comes in here, I’ll blow her goddamn brains out.”
“Duane…”
His free hand shot out and grabbed hold of her arm, a hard, punishing grip. “Right now. Don’t make a sound.”
Ghost would have told her to fight, she thought. But Aidan was in the next room, and more than any of the women, she wanted to protect him. She couldn’t forgive herself if anything happened to that sweet boy.
“Okay,” she said, following as he manipulated her toward the back door. “Okay, okay.”
She’d always thought of herself as someone who would resist capture, too independent to go along with anyone’s demands like this. But the cold gun barrel pressed between her shoulder blades quieted all her resistance. She marched out the door and into the dark yard ahead of him, trembling.
“Duane,” she tried as they walked around the side of the house. “I don’t know what you–”
