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Murphy
“The girls are working on dinner. We’ve got about half an hour before they get bored and find trouble.” King closed the door to the garage and stood next to Rigid.
“What kind of trouble can they get into while making dinner?” Creed asked.
Bear grunted. “You haven’t spent much time with Greta, have you? She gets bored easily and likes excitement. I say we’ve got twenty minutes tops before they start dying someone else's hair.”
“Someone else’s hair?” Apollo asked. “They already dyed someone’s hair?”
King nodded to me. “They got their hands on Tatum while we were busy avoiding getting blown up.”
“Uh, what?” I asked. “They didn’t do anything to Tatum.”
King snickered. “You might want to take a closer look, brother.”
I opened my mouth but closed it instantly. I thought back to Tatum picking us up, driving us back, and even talking to Meg and the girls. “She looks the same as she did earlier.” Hell, I had even hugged her.
“Look closer.” Creed’s eyes darted down. “Closer,” he drawled.
“For fuck sake,” Apollo grumbled. “She did not dye anything south of the equator.”
“How would you know?” Creed asked.
Apollo shook his head and pulled out his phone. “Let’s call Leo. The sooner we figure out our next move, the sooner we can get out of here.” He connected the call to Leo and put it on speaker. “We’re all here,” Apollo noted when Leo answered.
“They didn’t get arrested while you guys were getting blown up?” Leo asked.
“Not this time,” King grunted.
“Why don’t we talk about us barely escaping being blown up?” Frost questioned. “What the hell shit are you guys caught up in?”
King glared at Frost and shook his head.
Frost held up his hands defensively. “Sorry for wanting answers,” he muttered.
“He’s fine,” Leo called. “I would be concerned if you guys didn’t want answers.” Leo sighed. “The problem is we don’t have many answers.”
“Well, what do you know?” Rigid asked.
Some answers were better than none.
“It’s Brandt. I got in touch with the rental agency, and his name is on the rental agreement. He rented the place for three nights. He was scheduled to check out tomorrow.”
“Instead, he planned for all of us to check out this afternoon,” Easy muttered.
Leo ignored Easy. “I’m assuming Brandt purposely let Murphy and Tatum escape, thinking he would come back with me, Apollo, Creed, and Princeton.”
“Instead, he came back with two of us and a bunch of bikers,” Creed muttered.
“Bounty hunter,” Bear grunted. “I’m not a biker.”
King waved his hand at Bear. “Fucking details, Bear.”
“So he figured I would come back with you guys, and then he would blow the house with us inside.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Which very well could have worked.”
“He had to have cameras on the house or something,” Snapper pointed out. “How else would he have known we were there?”
Rigid held up his hand. “Or it was on a motion sensor or something. There are lots of ways he could have detonated that bomb at the right time. We’re just lucky we got out before it blew.”
“Barely,” Frost muttered.
“What’s our next move?” Creed asked. “We need to do something before Brandt finds out his plan failed.”
“He probably already knows,” Leo sighed. “He’s going to strike again, but we’re going to be ready for him this time. His surprise element is gone now. We know he’s gunning for me, and he’s not going to stop until he succeeds or we end him.”
“I vote on ending him,” Snapper called.
“I think we all vote in favor of that,” Rigid pointed out.
“Once we get a vehicle, we’ll head back to Wyndemere.” Apollo glanced at Gravel. “You think we can borrow your van, old man?”
Gravel nodded. “I don–”
“No,” Leo interrupted. “No one is coming back to Wyndemere. Brandt wants all of us to be in one spot. That’s what he tried to make happen today. He didn’t consider you would stumble on Gravel and get the Knights to help you. We need to stay one step ahead of him. Princeton, Kitty, and Larry are already heading somewhere safe. Greer and the kids are headed out, too. I texted you their destination, Apollo. You guys are going to do the same thing.”
“Just you guys, not the club, right?” King asked.
“I can’t tell you guys what to do. Do I think Brandt is going to go after you guys? No, but I can’t say for certain. The fact he went after Murphy’s ex is a little surprising. He knows I have a connection with the club through Fayth since she’s with Slider. I wouldn’t put it past Brandt to go after my sister. Battening down the hatches at the club wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
“Jesus,” King muttered. “Never a dull moment.” He nodded to Rigid. “Call down to Hero and tell him to lock it down. Everyone at the clubhouse.”
Rigid nodded and headed out of the garage.
“If we separate, Brandt will only come after me. He doesn’t have the manpower to follow each of us.” Leo cleared his throat. “I’m going to draw him out and take him down finally.”
“I’ll be there in three hours,” Creed called. “I’m going with you.”
“No,” Leo called.
“Yes,” Creed insisted. “You’re going to need someone with you, and I’m the only one that makes sense. Apollo and Princeton have their families, and Murphy has Tatum to worry about. I don’t have anyone.”
“He’s right,” Apollo chimed in. “You know if Greer and the kids weren’t a target, I would be there with you, too.”
“That’s what he wants,” Leo reminded them.
“Just let Creed come to you,” I called. “It makes sense the rest of us spread out, but you need Creed. In the end, Brandt wants you. He wants what you have.”
“But he’s not going to get it,” King called. “The club won’t be on his radar if he’s having to split his resources on you guys.”
“He can’t have more than three guys working with him,” I pointed out.
“It was four, but we nabbed the one at Wyndemere,” Creed added.
“We all go off the radar; Brandt focuses on Leo because he can’t get all of us at once anymore, and we can get the jump on him.” Apollo nodded. “It will work.”
“As much as I hate putting you guys into more danger, this is what we need to do,” Leo grunted.
“We all signed up for this,” I called.
“Hero is locking down the clubhouse and getting calls out to everyone to get to the clubhouse.” Rigid tucked his phone in his pocket. “We should get back, too.”
King nodded. “We batten down the hatches at the clubhouse, and the rest is up to you, Leo.”
“Princeton, Apollo, and Murphy, scatter. Creed comes to me, and we take care of Brandt one last time,” Leo ordered.
“Creed can ride back with us,” King offered.
“Ethel and I will head back to the clubhouse, too. She’s been bugging me to get back to town for a while. Seems like now is as good a time as any.” Gravel nodded to me. “You and Tatum can borrow the car on the side if the garage if you want.”
I nodded and folded my arms over my chest. “Thanks.” For all the times I had complained about the Devil’s Knights, they were now stepping up to the plate when we really needed them.
Easy raised his hand. “If you go into hiding, how will Brandt find you? Don’t we want him to find you so that you can take him out?”
“Oh, trust me. Brandt will find me when I’m ready for him to, Easy. Be here in four hours, or I’m leaving without you, Creed. Apollo and Murphy, get the hell out of dodge. I don’t want you guys to be in the same state as me.” Leo ended the call.
Gravel headed to the backyard. “I better get that fire put out. You guys can handle wrangling your women.”
The Knights followed behind Gravel.
“You think this is the best idea?” Apollo asked.
Creed shrugged. “I think we can all agree that Brandt needs to be taken out once and for all.”
“And this is the way we do it,” I grunted. “We know what he’s trying to do, and we’re not going to give it to him. Creed goes with Leo, and we spread out.” I held up my hand. “But we’re close enough to pounce when Brandt shows his face.”
“You know Leo wants you guys to get as far away as possible. You gotta follow wherever the hell he sent Greer,” Creed pointed out to Apollo.
Apollo glanced at his phone. “Greer and the kids are headed to the safe house in Michigan.” He threw his hands in the air. “Fuck, man. How the hell am I supposed to be at the ready when I’m hours away?”
“Just head there for now. At least until I figure out where Leo wants us to go,” Creed pointed out.
“Leo isn’t going to go for us moving closer to him.” Apollo ran his fingers through his hair. “Fucking Brandt,” he growled.
“Leo doesn’t have to know. At least not until he needs to.” Creed held up his hands. “We all know Leo blames himself for this shit, and he’s doing what he can to get us out of the crosshairs. So we can do what we can to make sure he gets out of the crosshairs, too.”
“He’s gonna be pissed when he finds out we’re doing shit behind his back,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, well, at least we’ll all be alive, then. I’m heading back with the Knights. You go to Greer, and you take Tatum somewhere.”
I looked around the garage. “What if I just stay here with Tatum? There’s no way that Brandt knows about this place. And even if he manages to connect the dots and trace me here, that will take a long time.”
Apollo shrugged. “Not a bad idea. If Greer weren’t already halfway to Michigan, I would steal this place out from under you.”
Creed agreed. “Good. Though you know you are going to have to ask the old man if you can stay here.”
It wasn’t that we were afraid of Gravel; it was just that we all knew to respect our elders.
A smirk spread across my lips. “I’ll get Tatum to ask him. The old man took a shine to her. He won’t say no to her.”