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Cage’s cell phone vibrated in his back pocket and he slid it out with minimal movement, pressing the button and blocking the lit screen so he could read the message. The text was from Judge. He assumed everybody got it since Rook and Shade were pulling out their phones, too.
Found Dyna.
Was she safe? Cage’s heart thumped heavily.
Before he could shoot off a response another text came in. And kept coming.
Can’t get to her.
Can hear her crying. Good sign.
In a shed w/ heavily armed motherfuckers.
AR-15s. Shotguns.
Not sure what else.
Around shed heavily booby-trapped w/ trip wires.
Need a way in. Not thru woods.
Need to use lane. Only safe approach.
Safe except that made them an easy target. Since his brothers were out-armed, they needed to outsmart the clan, instead.
“Now what?” Rook asked after reading the same texts.
“Need to find the key for the lock,” Shade murmured.
“What?” Cage wasn’t quite picking up what the man was trying to put down.
“Need a negotiation tool. That’s the key. Need to find the right key to open that fuckin’ lock,” Shade explained.
“Eye for an eye,” Cage whispered, finally getting it. Sort of. “That’s what this was. We need to look at it in the same way. They got what’s mine. We need to take what’s theirs. Do a hand-off.”
“Yeah,” Shade agreed softly.
“Got any idea where they’d take their kids? Their women?” Rook asked.
“Bunker, if they got one,” Shade answered. “Couldn’t find it, though.”
“Sure they have one?” his brother asked. “They’re on a fuckin’ mountain, hard to dig deep before hittin’ rock. Could see them hidin’ their weapons underground, but not diggin’ a hidey-hole big enough for a bunch of people.”
“They knew we’d hit the main house first. There’s another good-sized house, not a cabin, up a few more hundred yards. Could see them all huddlin’ there, with armed guards to protect them,” Shade informed them.
“You said eighteen men remain,” Cage said, “If we had a count for the number with Dyna, we’d know how many were left. How many might be either guardin’ the women or hidin’, just waitin’ for us to fuck up.”
“We got the advantage. We know how many they have. They don’t know how many we have.”
“We got less than them. Ain’t armed like they are, either,” Cage reminded Shade. AR-15s were no fucking joke.
Rook looked up from his phone. “Got six with Dyna from what Trip could see. Could be more, though. They couldn’t get any closer.” Rook read another text that came in. “They inspected one booby-trap... Handmade nail bomb. Old grenade with a trip wire under a container of nails and screws, glass, metal, shit like that.”
“Jesus fuck,” Cage whispered, scraping a hand through his hair, then down his beard.
“We need one of their kids for an exchange,” Rook said.
“No, the fuck we don’t,” Shade started.
Rook and Cage waited for him to finish.
“Need three of their fuckin’ kids. One for each of us. Gonna use them as shields and then as bargainin’ chips.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
“Jemma...” Cage breathed.
“Ain’t gonna ever know,” Rook finished, giving him a look. “We’re gonna save your kid and gonna do it any way we can.”
Cage thought about what Ox did when Jemma was only five. How that incident haunted her her whole life. But then, Ox was someone who was supposed to love and protect her.
Like Cage was supposed to do for Dyna.
They didn’t owe the Shirley kids shit. And, while Dyna was too young to remember today, the Shirleys hadn’t cared about fucking up Autumn for the rest of her life.
So, fuck them all.
They were going to do just that. Take three of their kids and use them to get his daughter back.
“’Kay, we need a plan to get three of their brats,” Rook agreed.
“Need to find them first,” Cage reminded his brothers.
“Oh, we’re gonna find them,” Shade assured him in a low voice. “We’re gonna fuckin’ find them. Just a matter of time.” He pressed the screen on his phone and talked into it. Even though he spoke slowly, using talk-to-text was probably faster than typing it out. Their phones vibrated a few seconds later.
Cage read the text.
Hold your positions. Keep them in shed. Keep eye on baby. Gonna get bargaining chips.
Bargaining chips.
Just like Dyna was.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Stick with the fuckin’ plan,” Shade said beside him with their backs plastered to the mismatched clapboard siding of the house deep within the woods.
Dutch, Judge, Trip, Sig, Deacon and Rev kept their positions around the shed where Dyna was being held.
Once Shade, Rook and Cage found where the Shirley women and children were being holed up—exactly where Shade predicted—they hunkered down and waited for Dodge and Ozzy to join them. All of them, except Shade, palmed their handguns. Shade still had a firm grip on that crazy-ass knife.
“We go in and split up. Gonna use the element of surprise and anyone with a gun or hair on their balls dies. No exceptions. It’s the only way we all walk off this mountain breathin’. And with Cage’s girl. Need three kids minimum as insurance to get his girl back. No matter fuckin’ what, we’re gettin’ her back. Even if my plan goes sideways.”
