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Scout looked over his shoulder. “Mac? You’re being awfully fucking quiet. What do you know about this clusterfuck waiting to happen?”
Like Scout, I turned my focus to Mac, one of Taz’s two closest friends. Along with Eagle, Mac had known Taz the longest out of anyone in the club. He, Eagle and Mac had been in the USMC together before they’d come to join the Charons. They were as tight as blood brothers and always had each other’s backs. So, as Scout had pointed out, he was being a little too calm, as though he’d known the information already.
Mac’s gaze cut to me as he winced, then he looked back to Scout. “Sergeant Major Johnson rang me last night with the same intel. He didn’t call Taz directly because he was worried Taz would take off on his own without telling the rest of us or coming up with any sort of plan before he went hunting. I was going to talk to you about it this morning, but when you said Flick wanted to see us both, figured I’d wait till after we heard her out before I told you.”
Sergeant Major Johnson had been their C.O. in the Marines and like my old boss, he seemed to keep an ear to the ground when it came to things that would affect his men, both past and present.
The growl in Scout’s voice was a clear sign the man was not happy, “Next time you tell me as soon as you get intel. A phone call last night would have been good. Hell, we live on the same damn street. You could’ve walked over to my place and fucking told me.”
Mac stood straighter and gave him a nod. “Yes, Prez.”
He shifted his gaze between us as he spoke, “Now, have both of you forgotten all of a sudden that Taz is a trained sniper, for fuck’s sake? Tell me why we shouldn’t just let the man go hunting?”
I shook my head, but Mac spoke before I could. “Because he’ll be emotional about it. He didn’t get the moniker of Taz because he’s from Australia. He got it because when he loses his temper—like, really loses it—he goes fucking nuts. Like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil that spins real fast and destroys everything in its path. The Marines helped him learn to curb that shit, but it’s still in there. Pretty sure knowing Gordon is coming his direction will set him off in a huge way.”
“Especially considering the date.” Instantly I had both men’s full attention. If I didn’t know them like I did, I might have been intimidated. “We’re ten days out from the anniversary of their deaths.”
Scout sighed and crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back, switching his gaze between us again.
“What else did your former bosses have to say? Anything remotely useful?”
Mac shook his head. “Sergeant Major just told me it looked as though Gordon was coming for Taz and to watch out for him. He knows how the club deals with issues like this, knows he doesn’t need to tell us what to do with the fucker when we catch him.”
Scout turned to me, and I sighed. “At least one A.F.P. - Australian Federal Police - officer will be sniffing around. They don’t require any interaction with us. They’ll just be here, keeping an eye on things.”
“Another fucking cop. Just what I need.” He jabbed a finger at each of us in turn, “Either of you get any more calls, I want to know about it the moment you hang up, got me?”
Feeling like I was five and in trouble with the school principal, I nodded and was quick to echo Mac’s “Yes, Prez.”
Scout stood from the desk. “Flick, you get back to wherever it is Taz thinks you should be. Mac and I will go pay Keys a visit and see what we can do about tracking anyone new in town. Either of you have a photo of this Gordon fucker?”
Mac shook his head. “Sorry, Prez. Wouldn’t know him if I tripped over the bastard.”
I sighed. “I can get one, but it might cost me a favor down the line.”
Scout looked me in the eye. “Don’t go there yet. Let’s see what Keys can dig up first. The club doesn’t need a debt to the Feds hanging over us if we can help it.”
* * *
TAZ
With a high-pitched squeal, my girl’s spoon went flying. Again.
“Lola Grace, you’d have better luck getting food in your mouth if you quit throwing the spoon away.”
“Mamamama.”
I grinned at my cheeky daughter, unable to stay even a little mad at her as I collected the spoon from the floor and handed it back to her. Probably should rinse it off, but it was just gonna end up back on the tiles in a few seconds so why bother? Not like the floor wasn’t clean. Well, at least it had been before Lolly started eating.
“Yeah, she’s still upstairs so I’m all you got for now. But you’ll be all hers soon. Your mum thinks she’s going to go off to do whatever secret sh- stuff she’s been doing all week. But I got news for her.”
This no swearing around the kids thing was damn hard. I was getting better, though. I didn’t say the whole word that time. Without losing sight of my eleven-month-old daughter, I made myself a coffee before I returned to help her finish off her breakfast. Damn, but she really could make a mess.
I was wiping down both child and chair when Flick came racing down the stairs looking sexy as fuck. What I’d give to have a couple of hours to take her back to bed…
She walked over and gave our girl a kiss to the top of her head, ignoring the way her little hands rose up, clearly wanting to be picked up by her mum.
“Can you drop Lolly at daycare?”
