Page 53 of Mad Max

Flint continues on his rant before anyone talks again. “And before you ask, yeah, he said enough to get me believing he’s got eyes on them. Kitten’s at another Misfits practice, and both Lady and Mama Bear are home, last I knew. You know where Ruby’s at.”

Fuuuuck.

I don’t say it out loud even if we’re all thinking it. I don’t envy the prez right now. No one wants to make this call. But how does a man choose his own people over strangers? Do we stay and help or protect our own?

“Chains, Bulldog, grab a few brothers on the way out and secure your women. If you see someone out of the norm, take them out. No need to keep the fuckers to ask questions. Flint, get Domino on the comms, then get to yours as well. Take General with you. Bring them all back to the compound.”

Might be the only time the club’s happy to have another brother wounded and forced to stay behind with our team’s doctor. None of us but Flint, and maybe the prospect we sent with Bass up north, know half the shit Flint does on his computer. But we all know enough, including Domino, to work what we need to in order to keep communications open between the groups.

“What about Ruby?” Kooper asks.

Ruby is the only woman the prez will lay down his life for now that his Special K is gone. If he leaves, I won’t hold it against him. Each member of this club is strong; we can get shit done if the boss is here or not. To make matters worse, she isn’t even local tonight. Doing a college thing out of town. Not sure if Duke’s men would have followed her or not. If it was me, I would have.

He waits a beat to answer, probably warring with himself the whole way. “Go. Take a few other brothers.”

Kooper nods and follows the path the current and former VP took to get to their women.

“And Koop?” The guy doesn’t turn back, but we all know he can still hear us with the comms link still open. “Don’t care what you have to do, just bring my daughter back home. Kicking and screaming if you have to.”

“Affirmative.”

Not sure when Kooper became the single person responsible for Ruby’s safety, but no one seems to question the dynamic. Kooper and Ruby can’t stand each other, probably half the reason Law keeps tagging him with babysitting duty. There’s no temptation to go against the prez’s rule that no Hound can touch his Ruby.

As the rest of us stay hidden in the cornstalks surrounding the barns, I can’t help thinking this is a trap. That Duke baited us with detail on the girls, and not one brother can dispute it till we get eyes on them. Splitting up makes us vulnerable for a larger attack now that our group is smaller. I don’t think he knows we’re here, but I know he doesn’t trust Fairy. Guy just said he uses women for what he wants. And a woman walking in, giving him orders on what she wants and possibly taking away the money he sees as his to go to another trafficker? Yeah, I can see how well he’s probably taking it. Don’t know much about Duke, but from his willingness to kill Kitten, probably being involved in Mama Bear’s kidnapping, too, with the way he’s talking, and now the skin trade? Yeah, this guy seriously sees women as disposable and there for his own personal use.

Like I said before, I really don’t like this.

“I see. Well then, let’s stop wasting everyone’s time and get to it.” There’s a pause, and I breathe through my anger of not knowing what Fairy is doing as she takes more time to talk. “You’ve brought me three blondes and a brunette. Is red not an option?”

I’m assuming she’s close to the girls now. They were down on their knees on the right when she walked in. I make note of it, like the rest of my team. I feel the energy buzzing between us. We won’t be waiting much longer to go in. Not till we know the other old ladies are safe. We just have to wait for Flint to confirm no eyes are on his woman, and then we’re in the clear. Then we can breach.

But if he finds someone watching Kitten? Then we’ll need Fairy to stall a lot longer than she expected when she first walked into this place. Even I know we’ll have to secure the other families before we can make a move.

I just hope to God that Fairy doesn’t do something stupid to draw too much attention to herself. I might like her mouth, how she thinks, and the way she talks, but I know not many others get it, and it bugs the shit out of them.

“That’s a specialty and comes at an additional cost. As do younger models if your client is so inclined.”

I want to vomit at the idea of kids being involved in this, even though I’m old enough to know it’s a big part of the skin trade. I can’t wait to kill every single motherfucker involved. Not sure Law expected the club to get this deep, but after this meeting? Doubt a single brother listening ain’t thinking the same thing I am: we’re in for the long haul.

“I see. Well, let me keep the Asian, and I would like one with brown eyes, another with green eyes, and the last with long hair if you’ve got it.”

“Excellent choice. I’ll get those wrapped up for you.”

We hear screams a second before three of the women are pulled out of the barn and walked toward the other facility.

This is our chance. In the middle of the swap, we should take them out.

One small problem, though, and it comes over the comms link from Flint.

“Hold position. I repeat, hold. Just took down two who were watching Kitten. Going to drop her off at the compound, then head over to Mama Bear’s to help with her lot. No clue how many are on the rest.”

“Motherfucker,” Bulldog growls as Chains also curses over the comm links.

The only one who’s silent is Kooper, and we know why. He’s the farthest out from his target, and it’s the one who could bring the club to its knees if he can’t get to the prez’s daughter in time.

We all know this, so we hold. We’ll wait till Law has to choose who to save, because he might not get to save everyone.

And right now, Ruby’s the one who’s going to lose the battle.

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