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“No, she’s not,” Shield says. “She must be rusty, because the intel I have on her points to her being more experienced and skilled than this.”
“She’s been living a protected life away from all our bullshit for a long time. She ain’t used to it no more. She’s scared, so she’s running to Ax.”
“You need to direct her to turn back around. I need her to make her way to the Sundown Motel ASAP.”
“The site of the Mavs shootout that nearly took out both Rox and Ax a few years back? Jesus. Why that shithole?” Sin asks.
“We’ve got a sniper in position. He’ll take out the hostiles without exposing any of us to the Gatekeepers or the law.”
“Spartan’s got confirmation that it is Priest and his Gatekeepers then?” I ask.
“Yeah, it’s confirmed.”
“All right, Shield, I’ll handle it. Sin, I want you down there running interference. Don’t touch the bastards. Shield’s right about not exposing us. I got no doubt with this organized effort on their part that this is Priest trying to draw me out on his terms.”
“Got it, brother.”
“Good. I’m gonna call Roxana, then I’ll head down there.”
“I’m giving Ax a heads-up.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Shield says. “It could compromise us all.”
“I ain’t keeping this from him. It’s his wife we’re talking about. If anything happens to her—”
“It won’t come to that if you follow the plan,” Shield insists.
“Nothing’s certain. We can’t risk him not knowing. Tell him, Sin.”
I hear a disgruntled sound from Shield, but he don’t push it further. Him and his club might be helping us out here, but he knows that nothing and nobody is gonna override us when it comes to our own family decisions.
“All right, stick to the plan. I’ll be in touch,” I tell the two of them, before I hang up.
In the next, I’m dialing Roxana.
I hear it pick up, but there’s no greeting or nothing from her.
“Roxana?”
There’s a pause down the line, then I hear her cursing.
“Princess?” I press.
Relief courses through me when she finally responds, “Sorry, Dad, I had to make a sudden turn, I needed to concentrate. You calling right now isn’t a coincidence, I’m sure. You know about the tail hounding me?”
“Yeah, I’m up to speed.”
“I’ve already tried to shake it twice, but another takes its place. There are three different vehicles at my last count, so far. Shit, Dad.”
“Breathe, princess. It’s all okay, it’s gonna be fine.” My words sound so sure, so certain that things ain’t gonna go south for her. But it ain’t what I feel on the inside. Nah, all I can think about is the tons of things that can go wrong, what they’ll do to my baby girl if they get their hands on her. I swallow it down and press on. “Where are you at right now?”
“Well, I was driving aimlessly, making sure I didn’t stop and get out. But now I’m about to hit the highway to head back to Reirdon Falls.”
“Is Ava with you?”
If she is, it’ll limit the options of how to deal with this. There’s a lot less Roxana can do with a little kid there with her.
“No, she’s at pre-school. Neil’s picking her up in a couple of hours.”
