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Damen walked in the shadows as he followed Jase back to where he was staying. Jase was as bold as brass, almost like he didn’t care who knew he was there. Damen had learned that was dangerous. If you were here to kill someone, you shouldn’t advertise the fact. You wanted to get in, do the job and get out clean but Jase was doing everything he could to get noticed.
Damen slid deeper into the shadows as he watched Jase enter into his motel room. He stood there and waited for a long time before he saw the door open again. He followed the other man around town for a few more hours then back to the motel. After he watched the light go off in his room, Damen finally went back to his cabin.
But as soon as he walked into his room he sensed someone else had been there. They weren’t there now, this much was obvious but as he looked around the room he sniffed the air. A lingering scent of something that shouldn’t have been here. He couldn’t put a finger on what was different but something wasn’t quite right.
His sixth sense kicked in as he began wandering around the small room looking for some sign that someone had been in here while he was gone. As far as he could tell, nothing had been moved, that is until he got to the bed. The mattress was askew just enough he knew someone had lifted it.
Damen paused then felt almost betrayed. He carefully lifted the mattress himself. He was prepared to find his weapons gone but his eyes widened slightly when he found they were still there and every one of them accounted for. He also knew they hadn’t been disturbed, just observed.
He lowered the mattress again and sat down in the chair beside the bed. “Damn, who found him and why?” he asked himself. Maybe a better question was why had his things been found but not touched?
He looked toward the door and wondered, “Could I have trained Jase this well cause if it was Jase, Damen knew his weapons would have been fucked up in some way. There was no way Jase would have just not touched them. Lifting the mattress again, he pulled out his rifle and began checking it over. He checked the barrel and the hammer plate, he also checked the firing pin and the sights. Everything was as it should be. Yes, the firing pin was missing but that was his doing. He always removed the pins in his weapons and stored them somewhere else, so no one could use his weapons without his knowledge. The pin someone would use to replace the original just wouldn’t allow the weapon to be fired. This was his own sense of defense and no one else knew about.
He replaced the weapon and sat there thinking. If Levi had sent a third man in after his text about Jase, Damen would have been surprised. Levi thought he was invincible and his own people would just blindly follow his orders. He hadn’t believed Damen about Jase but that was his mistake and he would have to learn a hard lesson when Jase took his daughter’s life. But Levi wouldn’t ever understand much less learn, Jase would eventually end him with a bullet through his head.
As Damen sat there, he made up his mind that if Jase took another shot at Becky he would take Jase out and walk away from the SANG group. They had begun with high hopes but all four men had lost their way. They turned toward greed and that same greed had all four of them by the throat now... none of them could stop what they were doing and go back.
Damen had served these men for too long not to see what they were capable of. He knew he had no choice, his position had been compromised, so he began packing his things and moving out. He hadn’t lived this long in a cutthroat business by being stupid. He still had a trick or two up his sleeve. Tricks he never shared with the others when he’d trained them. Tricks that might just save his own life one day. Well it appeared that day—was today.
When he got to this town several weeks ago, he set up a new identity for himself. He bought all new clothes and a new cell phone. Then he stashed them in a third location, intending not to use them unless his first two locations had been compromised. He did this with every new job he took on. Now his habit would pay off. He felt his position was compromised and now the hunted would become the hunter. He gathered his weapons and packed the few things he knew couldn’t be left behind.
This game was one he was well familiar with. He stripped his clothes off and showered under very hot water. Breaking his own safety seal, he got dressed in fresh clothes and gathered his things. He left behind clothing and anything of his old life that could be traced back to him or the SANG group. Damen had found a few years in, that Levi often used tracking equipment to keep track of his people.
But Damen knew he couldn’t track his weapons they were never out to be seen when Levi was around. He sent one last text to Levi, telling him Jase shot his daughter and he didn’t think the girl would come to him alive. He told Levi he knew he wouldn’t believe him but that would be on him. Then the last thing he did before he left the room was to carefully place his phone on the desk and smash it with the butt of his gun.
He smirked. “Catch me now old man, if you can find me that is.” He knew Levi would come searching for him or have someone do the deed but he wouldn’t be here. Then he turned and walked out the door leaving his old life behind. When he closed the door to his room, he finally felt free.
James watched from down the block. Standing in the shadows, he had followed Damen, as he’d trailed him while the man had been watching Jase, since they left the MC’s compound. Neither man knew he was there.
James knew Damen would stay and watch Jase for some time before returning to the cabin, so he went and searched Damen’s room, then just for his own interest he’d left a camera behind. He was interested in knowing if Damen was as good as he’d been told. James watched the video as the other man didn’t disappoint him. He knew the moment he stepped into the room, someone else had been there and he did exactly what James would have done if he had been compromised.
He’d left everything behind. Only problem was it wasn’t Levi Silvers who had compromised him. Only Damen didn’t know it yet.
James carefully followed him to his new position. He wasn’t a bit surprised when he saw Damen pulled out a key and unlocked the door to a duplex. He knew Damen would have set this up as soon as he got to town. James found that he appreciated Damen’s abilities more and more as he watched the other man.
Becky snuggled into Patriot’s arms in her sleep. Patriot held her tighter but he wasn’t sleeping. His mind was too full of the events of the day. He knew the MC was on full alert now and had been since the shot was fired.
Someone had compromised the clubhouse. Annie and Harry were working overtime to find out what they could about Levi Silvers. Rigger was right there with them but he was looking into the business side of things.
He glanced over at the window and above the plywood that covered most of the opening, he could see a streak of light, so he knew it was daylight already. He’d been awake all night again, and Patriot was tired.
Becky had fallen into a light sleep but he knew she needed her rest, so he held her. But now her sleep was deep and he felt he could let her go and find out some answers. He untangled himself from her and carefully got out of bed.
He went to the door and let himself out. Walking down the hall, he joined everyone in the main room.
Annie, Harry, and Rigger were still at the laptops.
When he entered, Annie looked up. “Is she finally resting?”
Patriot nodded as he went over to the table and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Yeah, she’s out for at least a little while.”
“What about you?” Harry asked. “How much longer can you go without sleep?”
“As long as I need to. Did you two come up with anything else we should know about?”
Annie and Harry both shook their heads.
“We were able to confirm Becky and Levi have the same blood type and that it's very rare,” Annie explained. “But we already knew that much. I did find out that Randy knew this all this time. He had her blood tested when she was a kid. Blacky’s sample just confirmed it for Levi.”
“He’s known all along hasn’t he?” Patriot wanted to know. “He just never needed her before now did he?”
“Children should be born of love, not need.” Annie growled. “He only had her because he needed a fresh blood supply in case his turned on him. That’s just wrong.” She shook her head.
“I don’t think he ever would have a kid if he hadn’t gotten sick,” Harry added.
“And what happens if I don’t want to share my blood with him?” Becky asked from the doorway. “Is there any law that says I have to?”
Annie turned her head and shook it. “No baby girl there’s no law stating you have to do anything, you don’t want to do.”
Patriot brought Becky into his embrace and whispered, “I left you sleeping, why are you up?”
“Because you weren’t there. I couldn’t hear your heartbeat anymore and I woke up cold and alone.”
He drew her in closer to his body and kissed the top of her head. “The question is can you live with that decision? To not save him with your blood?”
“If you think I can’t, then you would be wrong,” Becky stated. “I very much could live with it.”
“Baby girl, you don’t even know this man,” Annie told her.
“I don’t need to know him,” Becky insisted. “He let my mother be murdered and did nothing about it. He let me be kidnapped right from her womb and he never looked for me for years. He allowed me to live with Randy Sheen until I was twelve then you and me were out there alone for a number of years more. He never found me when I was kidnapped and sold to Blacky, hell he didn’t come for me when he all but knew where I was. If it hadn’t been for you and these men, I would have died in that damn warehouse.” She marched angrily up to Annie. “Now because he needs my blood, he sent two men out after me. One wants to take me back to him and allow him to drain my body dry and the other one wants me dead. Am I really supposed to care whether that bastard lives or dies?”
Annie just stood there and let the tears run down her face.
Becky reached out and took her hand. “From the moment I came to your house, you were the one who took care of me. You were the one who gave me comfort in the middle of the night when their voices were too loud. You were the one who hugged me, kept me safe and kissed my booboos. The one who made sure I had food and clothes growing up. And you were the one who came after me when I was lost. You, not Levi Silvers. He may have donated the sperm but he was never my dad. And he never will be. To me, he will always be nothing more than a stranger I share blood with. You are my family, you and Patriot and these men.”
“Becky—”
“No Annie,” Becky cut her off. “I found my place here and I want to stay right here.” She turned her head and looked at Patriot. “I found love here and I want to stay right where I am.”
Annie looked over at Harry then back at Patriot. At that moment, she knew what she had to do. She had to give Becky her wish. She had to make sure Becky got her happy ever after. If anyone deserved one, she did. She only hoped she could do it.
She had but one hope left. She’d been keeping him a secret until now but now, she would make contact with the legend. She knew of him online, he’d asked her for some information, back when and she gave it to him. At the time, he’d been after someone that she knew was very bad. They called him Ghoster and no one really knew who he was but from what she knew, he was the best of the best. So if anyone could break through the secrecy of the SANG group, it would be him. He’d said at the time, that he would now owe her a favor.
Annie watched her sister for a moment and she noticed something that made the decision even easier... Even while wrapped in the arms of the man she’d come to love ... worry and fear remained in Becky’s eyes. She wasn’t sure anyone else took note of it but she did. Annie knew what she had to do. Becky had gone through too much already. The last anxiety attack had shown them all—that Becky couldn’t take another trauma.
Annie could give her at least some small form of peace by attempting to have this Ghoster payback that favor now.
She quickly compiled an email explaining everything and with one click, she got the ball started. If the email address was still good, she would hear back from him. Annie let out a huge breath as she gently closed the lid of her laptop and sat there wondering if she’d just made the biggest mistake in her life.