Page 38 of Dragon Strife
The bike comes up to the side of the road as I roll down the window to find Cash with a huge grin on his face. “You snuck out.”
“I’m guessing you want me on the bike.” I snicker as my stomach swirls with apprehension. Just the thought of going back to that compound and into the hands of my brother makes me nauseous. “We don’t want to leave it out here. It looks sparklingly new.”
His jaw tightens and I hope it’s due to the memory of the bonfire I created outside of his club. “Get on the bike, Princess.”
The ride back to the compound is like a sick version of déjà vu, and when the gates open, Cash doesn’t go to the front to park, instead, he drives around back. I already know what’s waiting for me there in the dark shadows, but my heart pounds nonetheless. He stops the bike and drops the kickstand before cutting the engine. Another cloud of nicotine envelops me as I strain to see what’s lurking in the shadows.
“Good job, Cash.” His voice reminds me of a snake, the heavy rasp akin to a hiss.
“She came without much of a fight.” Cash chuckles as he gets off the bike.
Suddenly a hand is ensnared in my hair as smoke is blown onto my face. “Welcome back, sister.”
“They went east,” Jones states as he absently wraps a copper curl around his finger while looking at his laptop screen. “I could get a look through traffic cams, but that will take me a while to hack.”
“I don’t have a while.” I begin to pace Jones’ small room when my phone rings and I quickly pull it out, expelling an exhale when I see Ajani’s name on the screen. “Hello?”
“What did Jones find?” Ajani asks, his voice sounding near frantic. He’s stuck in the medical wing, looking after the prospect with a missing toe while I try my best to get a location on my sister.
“They went east,” I say as I press my fingers into the bridge of my nose. “It’s all industrial out that way. They could be anywhere.”
“We call Laith back and demand he release her, or we bomb that compound again.” Ajani sounds murderous and it mirrors my own emotion. I count myself lucky that Ajani considers my family his as well.
“I can’t take the risk of them hurting her.” My chest tightens as I think about my baby sister in the hands of the enemy, and then I nearly pass out when I think of what happened with Genevieve when she found herself in a similar situation. My fingers curl tighter around my phone as my heart skips in my chest.
“Jones needs to hurry the fuck up, and I’m releasing this prospect. He’s fucking healed enough.” Ajani hangs up the phone just as Malik comes into the room, his face looking irritable.
“What is it?” I step toward him as he shakes his head.
“Her car is here. Everything is in it. Her purse and her phone.” His fist hits the wall and I realize he’s feeling just as useless as I am.
“Where’s Genevieve?” I ask, hoping it’ll take his mind off things.
“She’s having a drink at the bar. I can see how this whole thing is weighing on her and she’s blaming herself. Do we have any answers for her?” He comes to stand closer to Jones as he taps into his laptop, running strings of coding, none of it making any sense to me.
“Only that they headed east,” I ground out, my frustration becoming harder to hide. “Jones is going to hack into the traffic cams, but that will take a while.”
“We don’t have a while. We need to call my pussy brother. Who the fuck takes a female like that?” Malik barks as he hauls out his phone.
“You?” I know the minute I say it, I shouldn’t have. His eyes become dark with anger as his knuckles whiten around the phone.
“You know I had no choice. Besides, I wasn’t willing to take a bullet to the head for her at the time. So forgive me.” His words are clipped and filled with barely contained rage. I don’t blame him.
“Sorry,” I mutter as my shoulders fall forward with shame. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just worried and fucking pissed.”
“Cool,” he snaps as he presses his thumb to the screen of his phone, his eyes avoiding mine. I know he won’t hold a grudge, but I still feel like shit. “I wish I actually aimed for this fucker’s brains.”
It’s no secret how fucked up Malik’s relationship with his brother is, and if Laith wasn’t in possession of my sibling right now, I would muster up some pity for the estrangement. Now, all I want to do is shoot his fucking head off his shoulders.
“No answer,” he growls. “I’m going back to those stripping whores and I’ll strip the fucking skin off their bodies until they give me some answers.”
“What stripping whores?” I turn to stare at him as Jones’ fingers tap a quick rhythm throughout the room. The sound slams into my skull with painful precision.
“Oh!” Malik snaps his fingers and finally looks up at me with wide eyes. “Two strippers from Glitz showed up saying Jaeger sent them. They’re being held in a room.”
“Don’t you think you should’ve started with that when you came in here?” My voice is filled with exasperation as I throw my hands into the air. I know we’re all feeling anxious, but every fucking detail would be helpful right now.
“Sorry, they seemed to be here to spy on Slayer.” He shrugs as his mouth curls into a devious grin. “Do you want to go flay them together?” Jones turns in his seat with an amused look on his face as I try to decipher if Malik is genuine or not.
