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Ace nods. “Joaquin, take Devon and Jordi with you and keep an eye on every fucking inch of the port.”
“On it, Boss.” Joaquin sits a little taller in his seat, happy to have an important task for the first time. “I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t,” Ace growls. “Keep a close eye on the prospects. Especially the new one. I know you guys are all friends, but you’re a patch now, meaning the men in this room and the shit that allows us to live and thrive and breathe? He waves a hand around to make his point. “It comes first. Feel me?”
He nods. “Like Angelica Hernandez’s tits in the sixth grade.”
Dix roars with laughter. “Damn, I like that kid.”
Shades slams his hand on the table with the ferocity of a hungry lion.
“Jordi? Are you fucking serious, man? He couldn’t even keep an eye on one lone woman, and you’re trusting him with three million bucks in product? I wouldn’t trust that motherfucker to wash his own balls.”
Joaquin snickers and quickly schools his expression until it’s blank.
Dix sits up with a frown. “Wait. What?”
“Yeah,” Shades nods. “Motherfucker let her get away right under his fucking nose. That’s how she ended up inside the church when Hector and his goons lit it up.”
Dix stares at Ace, a look of confusion with a hint of betrayal in his eyes. “What?”
Ace nods. “Okay. I hear you. He did fuck that up,” Ace admits. His shoulders slump, and he says, “We’ll talk about it later, okay, Dix?”
That sounds ominous. I know Shades is still furious, but it feels like something else is going on here. “What about Hector and Nogales?”
Ace grins in my direction. “Soon enough,” he promises. “We need to tighten up security everywhere before those assholes make bail because they will definitely be back. And we need to hit them hard before they get out.”
“That should buy us some time, right?”
“Yep.” Ace opens his mouth to bring up the next order of business when a loud knock sounds on the door. He frowns. No one is supposed to interrupt us during church unless the club—or the nation—is under attack.
“Who the fuck is out there?”
“Uhm, it’s me. Kenna.” Her voice sounds so small and fearful, not as sassy as she’s been lately. “I know I’m not supposed to interrupt, like ever, but someone is here I think you definitely want to talk to. Immediately.”
Every member in the room springs to his feet.
“I’ll handle this,” Ace says and marches to the door, yanking it open with a scowl. “Kenna, babe. Is it really an emergency or is this just someone claiming—”
She cuts him off. “It’s really an emergency,” she says, no longer timid. “I understand how sacred this all is to you guys, and I told him you were busy, but then he toldmewhat he needs to tell you, and I don’t want to be the one to deliver the message so…yeah. Emergency.”
Her words immediately put all of us on edge. “Where?” Ace barks, and Kenna leads the way through the clubhouse to where Kelsey is rubbing her swollen belly and Letty is massaging her feet while music plays low in the background.
At the front door, Kenna stops and puts a hand to Ace’s chest. “He’s a friend, guys, so guns down. Especially you, Dix.”
At her warning, all the firearms vanish, and we follow Ace out into the sunny day.
“Doherty.” Ace breathes a sigh of relief that doesn’t last long. “Kenna said this is some kind of emergency?”
Doherty nods and scrubs a hand over his weather-beaten face. “All of the Kings were released early yesterday morning before I even got in. Not just the Iron Kings, a few others we swept up on the same night. All of them released with their charges dropped. It’s a hell of a thing.”
“You can’t just reverse it?” I ask, knowing damn well the man would do anything to avoid having to come here and give Ace bad news.
“Why the fuck am I just hearing about this now?” Ace growls, and his face grows red with anger. He’s about to get in Doherty’s face when Dix grabs his shoulder.
“Tried and tried again to reverse it. Had the boys lined up and ready to scoop ’em back up, but the IT department says a rolling blackout shut down the power and guesses it was just a glitch.” He shakes his head and turns to Ace. “Spent all damn day yesterday trying to fix it because the generators powered up, but it was too late,” he explains.
“A real fuckingfortuitousglitch,” Coop growls, so angry he’s practically vibrating.
