Page 47 of Vendetta
* * *
Vendetta
The roar of their bikes faded when they stopped and dismounted in the dense tree line just outside Oak Grove.They weren’t far from the Cottonmouth compound now.The sun cast long shadows across the abandoned logging road Razor had suggested they use as cover.Vendetta crouched beside Shade and Outcast as they gathered around the map they’d brought, his gaze scanning the ridgeline.
Vendetta felt calm in that moment, the kind of calm earned by surviving the worst.His heartbeat was steady, his breathing even.Beneath the surface, every nerve he had was lit with purpose.He wasn’t just after revenge anymore.Now he was chasing justice, reckoning, and elusive closure, all of it wrapped in one cold, focused mission.The weight of the cut on his back --Tank’s cut -- reminded him what had been taken.His brothers beside him reminded him of what he still had.
He was ready to finish this.
“This is it,” Razor said, voice low and even.“We go quiet until it’s time.”
“The compound is about a mile out,” Ripper added, adjusting the scope on his rifle.“They have spotters on the roof.”
Vendetta nodded.“Then we don’t walk in the front door.Shade, you still remember the drainage tunnel?”
“Yeah,” he said grimly.“Runs up behind the equipment shed.Low tech, low visibility.”
Vendetta looked toward the fading sun, thinking about the best ways to hit the Cottonmouths.“We take two teams.One goes in quiet through that tunnel.The other circles and keeps them busy once we’re in.We hit hard and fast.No hesitation.”
“What about Eli?”Crash asked from behind, shotgun resting on his shoulder.
Crash’s question lingered in the quiet, and all eyes turned to Vendetta.His gaze swept the horizon like he could already see the fire coming.His gaze cut to Razor and Outcast, wanting their take because they knew what it meant to take back what had been stolen.
Razor gave a short nod, his hazel eyes sharp.“We’ll split the crews.My team will circle east with Crash, Beast, and Player.We’ll raise hell, draw eyes.You take the tunnel team with Shade and Ripper and a few of ours.”
Shade adjusted the strap of his rifle, glancing at Vendetta.“Once we breach, I’ll lead right.You take left with Ripper.We clear the main floor, then converge in the center.”
Vendetta nodded.“That will work.”He blew out a breath.“Leave Eli to me.I want him alive long enough to look me in the fucking eye.”
Crash gave a dark grin.“Copy that.We’ll bring the fireworks.”
Razor stepped closer, his voice low but steady.“This ends tonight, brother.No more girls disappearing.No more needles on our streets.No more cowards wearing cuts they didn’t earn, selling out kids to line their pockets.”
His gaze swept across the men gathered around him and every one of them was ready to bleed for the patch on their back.“I want Sinister Skin out of our Goddamn territory for good.We’re shutting down what they never should’ve gotten away with in the first place.”
Clapping Vendetta on the shoulder, Razor’s voice was firm and final.“Let’s burn it all down.”
* * *
Dylan
The sun dipped low behind the hills of Mercy, painting the sky in streaks of crimson and gold.The Hounds’ compound was almost too quiet.Dylan sat near the window, watching the dusky horizon with restless eyes, her knees drawn up beneath one of Deva’s old quilts.It was peaceful, but that peace felt borrowed.Fragile.
Margot double-checked the locks on the front and back doors, her deputy’s badge tucked away but her sidearm visible.Deva moved with her usual calm, but even she had ditched her sandals for boots and kept a knife clipped to her belt.
Jade lounged with her phone, pretending not to glance out the windows every five minutes.This was the first time Dylan had met her; Hero’s old lady and Razor’s daughter.Somehow, that combination should’ve been intimidating.But it wasn’t.Jade had long dark hair that spilled over her shoulders in loose waves, and eyes sharp and cool like her father’s.But her easy manner made her feel instantly approachable.There was a quiet confidence about her, like she’d grown up around danger and decided to smile through it anyway.Dylan liked her immediately.
Ryder stood in the center of it all, arms crossed, calm as a man watching a storm he knew wouldn’t touch down.
“They’ll be fine,” he said, mostly to Dylan.“Vendetta’s got half the damn Hounds with him.Razor, Axel, Outcast?That place will be ashes before they’re touched.”
Dylan tried to smile.“I know.I just --”
A low rumble cut her off.Not the familiar roar of bikes.What she heard was something else.
The sound was the slower, steadier cadence of a car engine, idling just beyond the tree line.
Jade sat up straight from the couch, phone forgotten in her lap.“Anyone expecting company?”
