Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
We wind through a couple back roads, then get into a neighborhood that's mostly trailers. Some are done up real nice, with white picket fences marking off their yards, and others look like the local drug den. The one Grimm pulls up to is somewhere in the middle. There’s no washing machine on the front lawn, but the grass is a foot high and the curtains look like bedsheets.
“This is where he lives?”
“Far as I know. I'll go first.”
Sounds good to me. If Tanner's trigger-happy, Grimm can deal with it.
He rings the doorbell. The faint buzz of it sounds through the door.
“Fuck, I just wanna break it down,” growls Skyhigh. “If Tanner's touched her, I'm gonna break his body one bone at a fucking time.”
Dragon growls, “Only if I don't get to him first.”
Grimm rings again, and again. No answer. Fuck this. I yank him outta the way, pull my piece and aim straight through the lock. One shot, and the door swings open. “Ding dong.”
“Well, hopefully we got the right house.” Skyhigh walks inside and starts looking around.
“That's his jacket.” Grimm points at a leather jacket with a couple of bike patches on it. “No club, but he still rides.”
“Alright, search the place. Every second that we don't have Willow is another second she's with that motherfucker.”
Skyhigh heads towards the back while Dragon and I split up and look around. I look out the back window. There’s a DIY garage tent out back, and when I go to check it out, I find a motorcycle parked on slabs of paving concrete. There’s two rows of them in the grass, spaced for car wheels, too, but no car. The grass in between is dead in a spot where he’s been leaking oil.
“Get the fuck in here!” Skyhigh calls from the house.
I run in to find him and Dragon in what should’ve been the biggest bedroom but instead looks like a fucking military surplus store.
“Fuck, this is some sweet hardware. What the hell is that doing at his house?” Skyhigh examines a crate of grenades. Some flash-bangs, like the one he hit us with, but others that look a hell of a lot more dangerous. “This guy opening his own arms warehouse? Where the fuck is he getting these from?”
Dragon opens a crate and finds it stacked with uzis. “He planning a fucking revolution?”
“Probably his retirement fund.” I look over my shoulder at Grimm. “Know anything about this?”
He shakes his head, frowning. “Doesn’t surprise me that he’s doing some work on the side, but this is a lot fancier than his usual gear. As far as I know, he’s been working security for the past few years. I don’t—” Grimm sighs. “I don’t ask. Hellfire might think I was close to Tanner, but it’s just because we’re family, and I don’t think I have to tell you boys that sometimes the family you’re born with is the weakest fucking link.”
Skyhigh hefts a pack of what looks like gray play dough. “C4. Might just be to sell, but he looks fucking primed to start a war. If he's got Willow, we gotta find him, fucking ASAP.” His hard voice doesn't betray his worry to anyone who doesn't know him like I do, but it's there. If Tanner gets between him and Willow, I pity the fucker. Hell, that goes for all three of us.
“Well, he's not here.” I nail Grimm to the fucking wall with my eyes. “Any other ideas? Even if you hate our fucking guts because of whatever shit happened in the past, he’s got an innocent girl with him. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, then it’s probably for the best that we’re not calling you brother.”
Grimm frowns, obviously thinking hard.
Dragon drags one of the crates out into the room and points. “Check it out.” Chafik Trading Co. is printed on the side of the box. “Either we found Chafik’s leak, or we know who he’s talking to.”
“Is that where he’s working?” Skyhigh asks Grimm.
“Could be. His situation improved a couple years ago, and when he stopped needing money every other week, we stopped talking. I thought he was working for that other guy…”
“Kane?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Smug motherfucker,” Skyhigh says with a bitter laugh. “We told Chafik he expanded too fast. I bet he took on all sorts of Kane’s leftovers. Too bad he wasn’t one of the scum we took out, but I bet he wasn’t slick enough to be guarding the family.”
Grimm snaps his fingers. “Actually, I do have something. There's a storage unit he used to use to fence shit. I stored my bike there for the winter a couple years ago.”
“Show us.” Fuck, we might just be wasting our damn time, but we can't just do fucking nothing. If there's a chance, we're jumping on it.