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We’d just have to show them what we were capable of when we put all our might into this war.
A few more guys went in and out of the arcade, and I saw movement by one of the upper windows. This place was definitely the most active out of the bunch, which made it the most promising target.
“We’ll see what else Gideon can dig up on that spot,” I told Kaige as I jotted down a few more notes. “Let’s get out of here before they notice us.”
“You’re really going after these pricks?” Roy asked.
“Somebody’s got to. The Bend doesn’t belong to them.” I shot him a look. “Do you want to stay in hiding for the rest of your life?”
He grimaced. “Okay, I get your point. Well, I hope we helped.”
“It’s a start. Any news about the Storm himself?” I asked. “Has anyone seen him—or someone they think is him—in the Bend?”
Kervos shook his head. “No sign of him. He seems to operate his entire business through that crazy one, Xavier.”
“Keep your eyes and ears peeled for any news about him. He’s the one calling the shots. Him and this Red Shark dude.”
“Haven’t gotten any reports about him either,” Kervos said. “They obviously like to hang back while their lackeys do the work.”
“There’s one more place which we haven’t checked out yet,” Roy said suddenly.
Kervos glared at him. “We’re not going there.”
“Going where?” I asked curiously.
“The Storm’s people are rumored to have set up their headquarters close to the factory that you blew up a few weeks ago,” Roy explained, ignoring Kervos’s scowl. There was an awkward pause following his words. Back then, the former Claws members had been fighting for Colt, actively trying to kill me and the Nobles.
“They have their own headquarters here now?” Kaige asked. “The fucker’s moving fast.”
I gritted my teeth against the sudden wave of anger. Xavier was trying to take the Bend over, hook, line and sinker. “Where is this place?”
“I haven’t looked into it myself, but from what I heard, not too far from here,” Roy said. “There’ll be a lot of Storm people around, though.”
Maybe even Xavier himself. I sucked my lower lip under my teeth to worry at it and glanced at Kaige. He caught my expression and glowered at me. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
He might be right. But if the Storm’s people had established themselves that deeply, I wanted to know what we were up against.
“We’ll drive carefully in that general direction,” I told Kaige. “If we see too many people on the streets, we can always turn around.”
Kaige let out a wordless mutter of protest, but he started the engine. But we’d only made it a few blocks when my gaze caught on a figure on a corner up ahead, and I grabbed Kaige’s shoulder. “Stop!”
He swerved over to the curb and parked with a jolt. Kervos and Roy swore where they must have jostled on the bench.
“What’s wrong?” Kaige asked, staring at me wide-eyed.
I leaned toward my window, squinting. I definitely hadn’t seen wrong. “Axel’s up there. A couple of guys are coming over to him. It looks like they’re talking.”
“Axel?” Kaige bared his teeth and bobbed up in his seat to peer over the parked car in front of us. “What’s he doing skulking around here?”
“Who’s Axel?” Roy asked from the back.
“One of Ezra Noble’s top guys,” I said. “He… doesn’t like me very much. Maybe he’s doing some business for Ezra in the Bend.” We couldn’t let him see me and Kaige together, that was for sure.
“He might be keeping an eye out for us,” Kaige said as if he’d had the same thought. “Or just for you, Mercy. He was asking a lot of questions about whether we’d seen you since you left the mansion.”
I watched Axel for a minute longer. He nodded at something one of the guys had said and clapped another on the back. I thought I’d seen those two around the Noble mansion before—lower underlings. One of them had a lightning bolt shaved into his buzz cut on the back of his head.
The three of them definitely weren’t a big enough force to be taking on the other gangs. Kaige might be right about his reasons for being here. Axel could have assigned a few of the lesser Noble guys to lurk around hoping to catch us out. Asshole.
