Page 43 of Lost King

No matter how old you get, there is nothing that will ever compare to a mother's comforting embrace. The fact that it's not my own mother holding me breaks my heart. But at the moment, I welcome the love Quinn's mom is giving. The more time I spend with Quinn's parents, the more I realize they are the kind of parents I strive to be. They love unconditionally and without judgment. They support their children in whatever path life leads them on while cheering from the sidelines. I hope that one day, my own parents will come to terms with the life I have chosen to lead, accept the man I love, and his club. But at least I know if that day never comes, I have the love of Quinn's parents, and the love of his club; the men he calls his family, because they are my family too.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The kings

JAKE

"Hold up," Ian's voice commands and the room falls silent. "Before we go traipsin' in the woods in the middle of the damn night, I have to get my drone in the air." Looking towards Kiwi who happens to be standing closest to the door Ian pulls a set of keys from his pocket and tosses them in his direction. "The van out there, grab the padlocked trunk for me but don't touch any of my other shit," he orders as he fires up his laptop and sits down.

Kiwi looks to Riggs who nods his approval. "Take Fender with you," Riggs orders.

Ian knows his shit, so I let him take the reins for the time being. The rest of us wait until Kiwi walks back in and plunks the trunk down on the table. "Careful," Ian says unlocking the trunk, lifting back the lid, and proceeds to pull out a drone. "I need one of you to get this to a remote area close to—" pulling out a map of the town he points to a location thirty minutes north of the clubhouse. "Here—" his finger taps the map's surface, "is where I want to deploy this baby."

Before I can speak and give the job to someone Logan steps forward. "I'll take it."

"These men are most likely keeping tabs on you. All of you," Ian's glance spans the room. "You have to find a way to get this out there undetected," Ian slips the drone into a pack and hands it to Logan.

"Got it," he answers and leaves without looking back.

Hours pass while we all mill around waiting for something—anything to help lead us in the right direction. The women and children have been told to keep to the upstairs rooms for now amid all the chaos taking place in preparation to rescue Quinn. I'm sitting at the bar with Austin when the church door swings open, and a tired Reid announces, "we found something."

In a flash, I'm off my stool sprinting towards the door straight past Reid stopping when I reach Ian. "Talk to me, brother."

"As you're aware, we've been flying our drone equipped with thermal technology for the past few hours. We've only detected bears, deer—normal activity you would find in the woods around here. But, this—" he taps the computer monitor. Leaning a bit closer, I try to analyze the white dots on the screen. "These three dots are a heat source. Fixed heat sources. It's a possibility these are air vents. Vents that may lead down to a bunker below," Ian informs me as he writes location coordinates on a piece of paper.

"Reid, go round up the men," I order and turn my attention back to Ian. "How far?"

Getting up from his seat, Ian strides across the room and flips the switch turning the overhead light on and walks over to the grid map of Polson hanging on the wall. Taking the cap off a red Sharpie, he starts marking. "Your club is here," he circles the area. Looking back at his coordinates, he studies the map and pinpoints the exact location of interest with an x. "If my calculation is correct that's where we want to be."

I study the map. "How soon you think we can be there?" I ask eager to bring my family home, and hope like hell, I can bring him home alive.

Ian shakes his head. "Looks to be at least a two-hour trek if we enter here." he checks the map.

"That's old river bend pass," I inform him.

"Good. You know where we need to go then. There's—" Ian checks the watch on his wrist. "We have eight hours until the sun comes up. We want the cover of night on our side, so I say we head out at midnight."

God dammit. "We don't have a lot of time, Ian. You saw the video. My instincts tell me this sinister motherfucker won't let him live much longer before killin' him and moving on. It's a game to them. One they don't mind losing as long as they take one of my men to the grave along the way." The church door flies open. Every one of my boys, along with the rest of the calvary pile into the room. Most of them dressed and ready to go to war for one of their own.

"Ready, Prez," Gabriel shrugs his cut on over his shoulders. Pulling his pant leg up, he places his sheathed blade inside of his boot.

"Hold up," I put my hand in the air halting the movements of every man in the room. "We have a couple of hours to prepare for this mission."

"So, we have to sit around here on our asses when we finally have a lead on where our brother is?" Logan runs a hand through his hair. Frustration etched across his face as he continues. "Don't get me wrong. We all understand the reasoning behind it, but it doesn't change the fact our brother is out there dying or dead."

The room goes silent. I can't be mad at him. Logan is only saying what the rest of us are thinking and feeling.

"Then let that be your motivation, men," Ian addresses the room.

I look at Ian, "Fill them in." Taking the lead, Ian explains to my brothers what the drone discovered and the reasons for waiting. Huddling around the table we all keep our eyes trained either on the computer screen or the map and pay close attention to Ian's plan of execution.

"We'll enter here," he points to the bridge pass, "it's going to be a two-hour hike north. This is our target location. There will be eight of us on this mission so no matter what stay in pairs. We know five assholes have your man. They may or may not have one or two of them posted somewhere around the perimeter of the bunker.

"Logan—" I turn to my right and look at him. "Fill your dad's men in on what's going on tonight. I need them to make sure no one comes downstairs. If Someone in the family needs something, they need to get it for them. Gabriel—"

He steps forward with his hands clenched at his sides ready for a fight.

Out of all his brothers, Quinn annoys him the worst, but the big Cuban would lay his life down for him any day of the week. We all would. "Double check with Ian on everything we need before loading up and make sure it's accounted for."