Page 31 of Twisted Road

“Made it pretty clear he’s claiming this one. I heard every word he said to Code,” Czar said. “He wasn’t fucking around.”

“The fact that he didn’t tell anyone he was going to visit a woman and he didn’t bring backup with him is so far out of his wheelhouse it alarms me,” Steele said. “He hadn’t changed his ways, not that I could see. I questioned Destroyer, and he said Keys was fuckin’ anything that moved while he was here. How is that a relationship? How could he be claiming some woman as his own and still be acting the way he does?”

Czar was silent for a moment, turning the information over and over in his head. “Yeah, that raises more than one red flag. But Keys is as hard as they come. You know that, Steele. He doesn’t let anyone in. He’s even careful around us. Always has been. Loyal as hell, but he puts on a mask. Seems friendly. Always first one to lend a hand. Works hard. Plays harder, but there’s that distance no one has ever been able to breach. Not even me. Maestro is closest to him, and even he said he didn’t have a clue what Keys was doing or where he was going when he would disappear.”

“It’s possible this woman got to him somehow and set him up,” Steele reiterated. “Absinthe’s in the other helicopter. We’re going to need him on this.”

Czar shot the VP a sharp glance. “You just remember how we totally fucked up with interrogating Anya. We can’t be making that mistake again. And Keys isn’t Reaper. Keys would come after us if he really claims this woman and we don’t back him.”

Steele nodded, looking out the open doors to the ground below. All he could see were trees. The tops of thousands of trees. “He’s always been loyal, Czar. He’s always been willing to take a bullet for me. For any one of us. But you’re right, he has his own rules, and it’s only the code that keeps him from going to the other side. He’s strict about that. If he asks for this woman’s protection and we don’t give it to her, he’ll believe we broke the code, and that will be a bad, bad day for all of us.”

Czar sighed. “Then we protect her and let Absinthe find a way to ensure she’s the real deal. If she is, it should be easy enough.”

Steele continued to keep his gaze glued to the forest. Somewhere in those massive woods, one of their brothers was in trouble. Head injuries were the worst. Keys was important to Steele. All of his brothers were, but Keys lived with him in his home on and off. He protected Breezy, Steele’s wife. He looked after Zane, his son. Keys might wear a mask, but he cared deeply about Steele and his family, and he protected them with fierce vigilance.

The second chopper was also running a search pattern and the radio crackled. Maestro’s voice sounded different over the airwaves. “Burned-out truck below.”

“We’ll set down there and see if we can figure out what happened,” Czar said. “Keep searching for the peak where he threw the cell phone. You find anything there, alert us.”

“Copy that.”

“Find a place to set us down, Storm,” Czar directed. “We’ll check out the site.”

Storm nodded, his face a grim mask. None of them were happy that they hadn’t questioned Keys about all the absences lately. It was unlike him, but they all believed in freedom. If Keys needed some time, they were willing to give it to him.

They should have followed him. That was the general consensus. Had it been any other member of Torpedo Ink, they would have. Keys was just—different. Edgy. He appeared easygoing and affable, but there wasn’t one person in the club who didn’t know it was all a show. Keys was lethal all the time. He kept a tight rein on it, but there was no doubt under the right circumstances, he would be the most dangerous man they had in the club. And they had plenty of dangerous men.

He wasn’t obvious like Savage or Reaper. He faded into the background, a shadow barely noticed. When he came out of the shadows to work with wood or play with the band, he wore that mask, the one everyone outside of the club believed.

And there was the thing with women. They had Alena and Lana, two female members their crew held tight to. Those women had always been protected by the club, although they were every bit as lethal as the men. It didn’t matter. They were toddlers when Sorbacov brought them to the schools, and it took every member to keep them alive. Keys was absolutely loyal to them. Steele was certain of it. Just as he was certain Keys gave his loyalty to Breezy, Steele’s wife. He was the same with Blythe, Czar’s wife. All of them. Every woman in the club. He respected them, and he was utterly loyal to them. Steele had no doubt Keys would lay down his life for those women. But loyalty wasn’t love.

He’d often wondered if Keys knew the meaning of love. He knew the man didn’t trust women at all. He had no desire to have one for his own. Steele would have known. Unlike most of the brothers in the club, Keys didn’t have to command his cock to cooperate. He was always ready for sex, and he treated the act casually. He was rough, even brutal at times. He expected his partners to give him whatever he wanted, and they always did. It was said that he returned the favor, and the evidence that he did was in the way the women kept coming after him. Steele had never met a man more indifferent toward women than Keys.

“I failed him,” he said as he set the headphones aside, ducked his head and ran toward the burn site.

Czar sprinted beside him. “We all did, Steele,” he admitted. “But we’re not going to fail him now. We’ll find him and his woman and get them home.”

Czar had put the entire club on the line for Keys. They had committed an act of war, riding into Sid’s territory and all but threatening to kill every member of his club. Someone could report their ride to the cops. That would bring them right under a microscope once word got out. Steele knew Czar was angry with himself for not paying attention to Keys and letting this happen to him.

Every club member was protected. That was a sacred vow they all took, and they followed it to the letter. It was how they stayed alive. Until now. They had all failed a brother, and every one of them felt it. They were pulling out all the stops to find him and set things right. If that meant exposing the club to enemies, it wouldn’t be the first time.

Storm, Savage, Reaper and Steele followed Czar to the wreck of the burned-out truck. They examined the ground and the remains of the truck.

“He left us a mark in the tree,” Savage pointed out.

“He killed them all,” Reaper said. “Burned their bodies.”

“Others came.” Steele walked over to a split tree. “He hid in plain sight. Right here, listening to them, gathering information. He knew they’d come.”

“Tracks of two vehicles. Looks like eight men,” Storm said. “They didn’t bother to hide their tracks.”

“The hunters,” Czar commented. “They never even noticed their prey just feet from them. That’s Keys, blending right into the background. Best I ever saw.” He looked over his shoulder at Reaper. “No offense, Reaper.”

“None taken. I’ve watched him do it dozens of times. Fades right into whatever he’s standing next to or in.” He indicated the tree.

“He waited here when the hunters got in their vehicles and left,” Storm said, indicating the tracks.

“Waiting. Figured they sent out the bait and a couple more hunters,” Czar said. “Big mistake if Keys is in play.”