Page 59 of My End
He checked the cylinder, snapped it shut, then tucked it back under his shirt.
“Start the car, Stretch. We need to get back to the house.”
I froze.
He just called me Stretch.
I hadn’t told him that.
“How the hell do you know that name?”
Adam turned toward me, calm as ever. “Your name is Stretch, and you’re part of the Iron Fiends Motorcycle Club. Boone and Gibbs have been targeting your club for months, and you finally had enough. You ghosted your brothers and somehow managed to get an in with Boone and Gibbs. I’m still fucking amazed by that.”
I blinked rapidly. “Who in the hell are you?”
“Name’s Brian,” he said and leaned back in the seat. “And while I do enjoy cooking, I’m not a private chef. I work for the FBI. For the past year and a half, I’ve been collecting evidence against Boone and Gibbs.” He reached across the console, popped open the glove box, and pulled out another gun. “An hour ago, Tilly called your club and told them Boone and Gibbs know about you.”
My chest tightened. “What?”
“I know because while I’m with the Bureau, I also have deep connections to the Banachi and Maranga crime families. As hard as it might be to believe, they’re actually trying to stay clean. They were going to come down on Boone and Gibbs for the Iron Fiends, but I asked them to hold off. I figured you were working on something.”
I stared at him.
He kept going.
“I didn’t think Tilly would fall for you the second she met you, but it worked out. You took her off the board. I was trying to figure out how to get her out of there untouched.”
I leaned back and tried to breathe.
“Have I answered all your questions?”
“The big ones, yeah,” I rasped.
“Good. Now start the car. We need to get back. I’ve got agents on standby. They won’t move unless I tell them. Shit could go sideways real quick or not at all.”
I started the car. “Does Tilly know anything else?”
“No,” he said. “She’s innocent in all of this. Everyone else in the house is, too. The only other guys who know the real shit are Jim and Kevin.”
That made sense. Jim had always been a prick, and Boone had dragged Kevin back the minute he felt his grip slipping.
“How did they find out about me?”
“I don’t know. They know the name Stretch. They don’t know who Stretch is. Yet.”
“They put me on gate duty. That has to be them figuring it out.”
Adam shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe they’re guessing. Maybe they’re trying to make you sweat.”
I drove in silence for a few minutes and gripped the steering wheel too tight.
This whole thing was unraveling fast. I had hoped for more time and more chances to get inside Boone and Gibbs’s circle. To see what they were hiding. To take them down from the inside. But now...
“We have to get Tilly out of there,” I said.
Adam nodded. “That’s your priority. Get her out. Get her safe.”
“What about you?”
