“He seems like a live wire,” Phoenix observes.
“He’s a handful for sure, but his heart is in the rightplace. He’s an excellent Road Captain, frankly, which is surprising, given the fact that the rest of the time he acts like he’s on drugs. He’s also very creative with violence, which I find can be useful on occasion.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Ace heading toward the doors to go back outside.
I shake my head at him and shout, “Ace, where do you think you’re going?”
“I just need to do something before we sit down for the meeting,” he calls back.
“That something better not have anything to do with cutting fingers off any of those idiots in the cooler,” Ghost shouts from where he’s sitting at a table to the right of me.
Ace turns from the door, sidles back up to me, and says in a low voice, “I just need to go feed the cat, Prez. Is that okay? We might be gone awhile, and I don’t want the kittens to go hungry. Their mama needs food so she can feed them.” Then he adds, “Don’t tell the others.”
“Fine, but be quick.”
I roll my eyes as he walks away.
“Kittens?” Phoenix asks.
I scratch at the label on my beer bottle. “Yeah, he’s always rescuing things.” I can’t recall if he told me about the kittens or not. I hope he got rid of that damn turtle that took a bite out of him.
Big Mike stands from where he’s sitting and comes to join us. “This club that we’re going to be raiding, how big is it, exactly?”
“I don’t have exact numbers,” I state, “but they’re around two-thirds of our size, and that’s without you guys.”
The guys nod, and I look back down at the maps and the routes Ace has worked out for us.
“We should be able to keep any injuries to a minimum if we plan this right.” I tap the map on the table.
“You worried, Mike?” Phoenix asks.
Mike laughs and shakes his head. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s been quite some time since I’ve enjoyed any mayhem. It’s been pretty quiet since you guys moved out here, Jack. I’m looking forward to a good old-fashioned fight.”
In normal circumstances, so would I. But this time there’s far too much on the line for me to be excited about the coming raid. All I feel is dread and worry.
Camile could find herself in the crosshairs. If any harm happens to her, I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.
The odds are huge, and I can’t fuck this up.
10
CAMILE
The men tiedRook and me to a thick, solid metal pipe in the corner of the room after they’d finished beating him and left us like that.
We must have been this way for a couple of hours now. Time passes so slowly, and Rook seems to be dozing on and off, and in too much pain to talk much.
It means I have time to let my mind wander to the worst-case scenario. I wish Rook was alert enough to talk to me. But at least if he’s dozing, he’ll have an escape from the pain. The position we’re in is uncomfortable, and every now and then, he winces and groans, so I know he’s aching from the pounding they gave him.
The door opens, and the sound of scraping metal sinks into my stomach like a heavy stone.What now?
I’m surprised when Ginger walks in with a mop, a bucket, lots of paper towels, and starts to clean up the room.
What the hell?
I’m not complaining, because I will be so grateful notto have the smell of vomit hanging over us anymore, but it seems a bit strange.
He’s not alone.
