Sam looked around the room and shook his head.
James was quiet but he looked troubled too.This Bane was slipping back into the older version of the man.
Mountain looked over at James and asked aloud what they were all wondering, “Is this the new Bane we met when we got here?”
James looked at him and shrugged.“At the moment I’m not sure.Sometimes he slips into the old role all too easily when we at the VIM needed it and it's harder for the real man to come back.But honestly, when he sees Sarah and his baby daughter I think he’ll bounce back.”
“Well, let us know if we have to duck,” Hound joked.
“Duck?”Deke asked him.“Man, there will be no chance to duck.This guy has more kills than all the Marines we have in our fucking state.”
“Yes and he can kill in a myriad of ways,” James said.“So far, I have seen him kill with his favorite pistols.The ones with the pearl handles that he is wearing right this very minute.Then by bow and arrow, knife, hanging, blow to the heart of all things and a single blow to the head if he was in a hurry.Then recently in Boston...he killed without weapons of any kind.”
They all stared at him while looking confused.
“And not using his bare hands either, which he really likes to do.No, he sabotaged a railing that he knew this big fat criminal would lean on, the fat guy did just that and fell five stories to his death.Then, he poisoned the oxygen supply a few criminals counted on in their underground lair.Then he tied up two murderers as they sat in a wooden pew and torched that old church...”James slowly shook his head.“But I helped with that one.”
The room went quiet.
Looking up at them James added, “All of his victims were terrible human beings, and some were not really human in the true sense of the word.Due mostly to the horrific murders they committed.Not one of the people he’s killed since I’ve known him was righteous in any way.They were all the worst fiends we have on planet earth.”
Sam nodded at him.“I get it, kid.I’ve been in war so I do get it.But if killing turns him into Mr.Ice, or if it feeds his dark beast, you might be in some deep shit, brother.”
“I’ve known just two men like him,” Mountain stated.
They all looked over at the very large biker.
He said nothing more.
Sam tisked and snapped at him, “AND...?”
Mountain shrugged.“They had to be ended.A man cannot feed off of darkness for too long.It just isn’t realistic to expect that he can be an angel and have burning wings.”
Deke looked around at the Sins then he spoke, “We all remember this man from when he first came to our compound and was after Cricket.”
“I didn’t know Bane before he joined Bastian.”James stared at Deke.
“You’re lucky you didn’t, we all wanted him dead,” Sam said.
Mountain agreed, “Raine told me about what Bane said and did to his wife, Cricket.”
Three years ago...
Cricket stared at Bane.His eyes looked endless as if he had no soul and that frightened her.
Bane dragged her back to the table and sat her down.Sitting down next to her, he leaned close and whispered, “When your parents left my home and began their life together as lovers, they stole something from me.It had no value to them, only to me.Orrin took it only because he knew I would miss it.”
“What did they take?”Cricket asked.
“An heirloom from our grandfather.Something he passed down to me alone.He had no right to take it.”Bane squeezed her fingers.“I want it back.”
“But I don’t know where it is!”Cricket cried out.Tears of pain welled in her eyes but she didn’t struggle against his hold.
“I have been looking for them for more than twenty-three years.They betrayed me.My wife and my brother running away together like that.”He glared at her.“Now, I have only you.The revenge I planned all these years will never happen.They both escaped my wrath by dying too soon.”His eyes glinted and he got a weird kind of smile on his face.“But all may not be lost,” he murmured.Leaning toward her again, he fixed his cold stare on her.“Why are you still here?I would have thought you’d have been long gone by now.”
Cricket didn’t want to answer.Closing her eyes against the new pain he presented her, she bit her lip.Glancing over at Raine, she saw his worried gaze but shook her head when he tried to step forward.
“Cordy kidnapped Deke’s children a couple of days ago,” she explained what her sister did.“I helped return them.We faced a tribunal and Cordy and I pled guilty.I have to serve the club for a year as my penance.”
