I grabbed a shotgun out of the back of the SUV Flir had driven. We started bringing more weapons with us after searching the first building. We didn’t need to come up against The Collective with just a couple handguns. I kept the shotgun inside the SUV though, as we spoke. Relay was doing the same with his rifle. Even in an open carry state like Arizona a bunch of men walking around an apartment complex with rifles would garner too much attention. That was exactly what we didn’t need because then the damn cops would show up.
“I’m not sure if her parents will think of me as a son-in-law,” I told them as I stuffed two more magazines into the pockets of my jeans. “They don’t really know our…ways.”
“Took our parents years to fully understand it,” Relay said with a nod.
“Exactly,” I replied.
“Can we cut the bullshit and do this?” Relay asked, getting bored of the conversation and the waiting.
“As long as we put off our families meeting each other, that’s all that matters,” I said, giving Relay a meaningful look. “This asshole would send my new in-laws running for the hills, their daughter in tow.”
“Fuck off,” Relay muttered.
“Let’s go,” Strike said. “Better to get this done before it gets dark.”
It was late afternoon and the August sun was beating down on us. Sweat tricked down my back as we walked toward theapartment complex. Relay and I did our best to be discreet as we carried our long arms across the parking lot toward the apartments.
We paused on the side of the building when my phone started buzzing. “Hold up. It’s Ruck.” I hit speaker and then turned the volume down by half. That way I wouldn’t have to repeat everything our president said, but the whole fucking parking lot wouldn’t hear the conversation. “Hey, Prez.”
“I think we finally caught a break.” he told us.
“You mean we finally get to bust some heads?” Relay asked, cracking his knuckles. He looked almost fucking delighted, with a hint of deranged, at the prospect.
“It’s looking more and more like this is the place,” Ruck told us. “Glitch is narrowing it down as we speak. Though I have to say, we need our own computer nerd. We can only use the Wyoming guys’ on a part time basis.”
“Well, it’s not going to be me,” I said with a laugh. I’d sooner use a computer to beat a man to death than use it to find someone. Icoulduse it, just to be clear, but I hated to.
“I volunteer Hype,” Strike said.
“Why him?” Flir asked.
“You’re too…” He made a face when Flir’s eyes narrowed. “Distractable to do it.”
“That’s not tru-”
“See?” Strike insisted, cutting him off. “Hype is young enough to learn—but not quite as young as Code—and he has some semblance of patience, which the rest of us don’t. Except Ruck and Drifter.”
“I’m not doing it,” Ruck’s voice floated out from the phone. “Drifter is busy enough keeping all you assholes patched up. We can discuss this later. I just wanted to warn you. It’s a high likelihood you’re going to step into the middle of a shit show in there. Want me to send more back-up?”
“No way,” Relay growled. “That’s less for us to kill.”
There was silence from the phone, then, “...I’m sending more back-up.”
Relay swore. “Not Kilo or OD.”
“Why?” Ruck asked, sounding suspicious.
“I want to hold it over their head that they missed this,” Relay said, sounding smug.
“I’m sending Merc, OD, and Drifter.”
“Fuck.” Relay’s tone was resigned.
“Does that leave enough of you there at the clubhouse?” I asked.
“That leaves Kilo, Hype, Code, and myself. The Collective shouldn’t be expecting this hit. There’s no reason to beef up security here any more than that. Not this time.”
No way Ruck was going to have Kilo helping out unless he really needed him. Camila had her baby a couple weeks ago and they were catching sleep wherever they could while living in what Camila called the Newborn Bubble. OD and I were going to figure out what that was all about soon enough.
