Sealed In Strength

by Ryan Michele

30

  Crow

  Two days since the memorial service and Greer was still holed up in his room. He’d come out for food, not look at anyone, and go back inside shutting the door. Locking all of us out. He was grieving, but this needed to change. If it didn’t, he could fall into a pit so deep he wouldn’t be able to pull himself out.

  I felt his grief because it was still so raw for me, losing my dad. Hated he needed to feel this.

  Everything in my power would be used to stop him from spiraling out of control. Therefore, he was getting two more days of being locked up. Two days because the Cruz family was coming over from Sumner for a family dinner on the third. Everyone had gone home right after the memorial, but the plan was to come back on the weekend. It would be a full house, and he had people who wanted to meet him. Mainly Pops and Ma, his grandparents.

  They didn’t come when everyone came before. Ma was just itching to get her hands on Greer and Van. She’d talked to Van on the phone several times, but had yet to meet face to face.

  Rylynn’s family was coming too. A large family affair. They didn’t want to be away for too long, and that was understandable considering they thought their daughter was dead.

  My cell rang jolting Rylynn who lay on my lap. Her eyes flicked back to me. “Sorry, Pixie. Go back to sleep.” Her eyes were already starting to fall. The pain meds she took made her sleep hard. Van smiled at me from the other couch, watching the television and making some bracelets with beads. The girl was creative. That was for sure.

  The phone said Brewer calling. I took the call. “Crow.”

  “Wrong Way has a lock on the funds, currently floating around in the tech world.” That fucker wiped out three of our accounts taking over three million total. He’d better pray he died in that fucking blast because that would be paradise considering what I’d do to him.

  Brewer had been feeding information over the past few days about the hunt for Lemon and our money. Wrong Way was working on cracking whatever fucking code Lemon put on the cash and getting it back in our accounts. This could be really good news, or shitty. I was hoping for the former.

  “Yeah.”

  “Offshore account in the Cayman’s under the name, get this shit, Crow—Bethany Morris.”

  My head fell back to the couch. “That bitch he said he scraped off after he joined Ravage, sayin’ she was a pain in the ass.”

  “Yep. And get this shit. They’ve been off and on since then. She has a place out on County Road Thirty-eight. It’s rural and a perfect place to hide out until all the dust settled from the fire.”

  This didn’t make sense to me. “If he’s alive, wouldn’t pulling the money be the first thing he’d do and get out of town. Why would he hide out?”

  “Don’t know, brother. The past few days have been fucked up. Maybe he got hurt. Maybe he’s fuckin’ dead. But we need to roll out there. Now.”

  I looked down to the sleeping woman on my thigh. “I’ll call Goldi and Bear to come to the house. You get Jimmy here as well.”

  “On it.”

  “Anything on Rodney?” I made a move to get up, stopped when she moved, then grabbed a pillow and stuck it under her head. She settled as I went to Van and kissed the top of her head.

  “Dropped off the cash this morning. It’s currently in the safe at the clubhouse.” That fucker. “After that, we took care of him.”

  There had been four men and one woman still alive who tried to take us out. Now, the only one alive was Ebony, only to see what else we could find out about the explosion. She’d been in the tomb for days, kept alive with water and a small bit of food.

  She was going to die too. It was up to her whether it was fast or slow.

  No one fucked with Ravage. No one. They may have been part of the web Sophia put in place, but they were willing participants.

  “Good. Swing by here, and we ride.”

  “Out.” He disconnected.

  Calling Bear, he and Goldi were on their way over to look after my family. It would take me awhile to feel comfortable leaving them alone in the house. Being a father, there was always fear of something happening to my kids. Now, with what had happened to Rylynn, it was ten times worse. No one would touch Rylynn, Van, or Greer again.

  Their lives had been tainted.

  Going in my room, I changed into jeans, a black T, and boots. Grabbing my shoulder holster and putting it on, the cut was next. The knives went into my holder on my leg. Two other guns sat on the dresser that would be coming with me as well.

  We had always been careful, but after this, we were even more vigilant. Especially with Lemon possibly still out there.

  Knocking on Greer’s door, my hand went to the knob and turned it. Greer was sitting on his bed with his Beats on. “Greer.”

  His head popped up, and he slowly removed his headphones. “Yeah.” His tone was agitated and dismissive. He may only have two days to come out of his room and join the living, but he would not be disrespectful to me.

  “Goin’ out. Bear and Goldi are comin’ over. Keep your eye on my girls.” I didn’t feel it was a low blow asking him to do this. He was part of this family and being a part of it, we protected our own. Like it or not.

  He chuckled, but it wasn’t happy. “Right.”

  “Son.”

  Greer looked up to the ceiling. “I still don’t like her.”

  “You don’t have to like her to keep your eye on her.”

  “Whatever.”

  “You talk to Lucia today?” His little sister had called him every day from her father’s house. She came to the memorial with her father, but he kept her back. That was another conversation that sucked, telling Lucia’s father, knowing he’d need to tell her.

  Greer’s head popped up. “Yeah.”

  “You gonna go see her?”

  “Next week.” He sucked in a huge breath, met my eyes and asked, “What do I say to her, Dad? She keeps tellin’ me she misses Mom, and I just keep tellin’ her I know. This last time though…” He looked away from me chewing on his bottom lip. “I blew up at her and told her Mom was never comin’ back. She started cryin’ and hung up on me.”

  “She’s very young, and it’s a hard thing to process in general. You have to be patient, and don’t say that kind of shit to her. You call her and apologize. Tell her that you’re havin’ a hard time too. That you understand how she feels and you miss her too.”

  He swiped his hand over his face. “It’s weird because I saw her every day. Now, not. Instead, I see Van. Makes me feel bad.”

  Walking over I sat down on his bed. “It’s a shit hand, Greer. No other way to put it, but you’re Lucia’s and Van’s big brother. You protect them both. Just because you don’t see Lucia every day doesn’t mean you’re favorin’ one sister over the other. You keep in contact with her regularly and let her lean on you. You’ll help her pull through this.”

  “Not sure how I’m gonna pull through it.” He stared off into space. Thinking. Mourning. Loving. Hating. All of it wrapping itself tight around his soul.

  “That’s what I’m here for. You talk to me. Tell me how you’re feelin’. Get back to school and meet up with your tutor. When someone you love dies, it changes everything you do. Everything you are because that void is so deep you never think it will be filled again. Normal changes to something new that you create a path to.”

  My heart broke for my kid. If it were in my power to pull him away from this pain and take it on my shoulders, I would.

  “I have to go get my stuff from the house,” he said quietly. “Not sure if I want to go in the house.”

  “The guys and I’ll help ya.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Maybe tomorrow mornin’ you’ll come out for breakfast. Van would love to see ya.”

  His gaze lingered on me, so many emotions pouring through. “We’ll see,” he said then looked down at his phone.

  “Alright, I’ll be back later,” I told him, getting up from the bed and walking to the door.
r />   Opening it, Greer said, “Dad?” I turned around giving him my attention. “Be careful.”

  Fuck, that killed. Now he was afraid of losing me. That part hit me like a blow. “I will, son.”

  Shutting the door behind me, my back pressed to the wall, head going back and resting on it. Parenting wasn’t always fun. This right here was the shittiest part of it.

  Grabbing my guns from my room, the doorbell rang. Van yelled, “I’ll get it!”

  Fear struck me as I darted through the hall into the living room and barked, “No!” Van stopped, her body rigid. When she turned around her eyes were filled with tears. Guilt plagued me as I knelt in front of her. “Sorry, peanut. Daddy just wants to get it so I can keep everyone safe.”

  “Are we not safe?” she asked, her bottom lip quivering.

  There was rustling on the couch, but I didn’t turn from my girl. “We are. I just want to check things.”

  She nodded.

  “Come here, Van,” Rylynn said from the couch. Van ran to Rylynn, stopped short just as she got to her, sat down and Ry wrapped her arms around my girl. I was fucking this shit up royally.

  Looking out the peephole then punching the code in the alarm, I opened the door to a smiling Goldi and burly Bear behind her. “Thanks.”

  “Of course!”

  “Where are ya goin’?” Rylynn asked as I made my way over to her.

  She was beautiful. Nothing would ever dampen that. Ever. “Gotta run out with the guys. Be back in a bit.”

  Rylynn nodded as I leaned down and touched her lips gently. Then I moved to my girl and kissed the top of her head.

  It was time to go see if Lemon was hiding out.

  31

  Crow

  Rural. How about in the middle of fucking nowhere. On either side of the two-lane road were crop fields that went on for as far as we could see. We hadn’t passed another vehicle in miles. We were about an hour and a half out of Rebellion to the south.

  The ride was good, but the reason for it plagued my mind the entire way. The big question of if Lemon was alive needed to be solved so we could get our money and deal. It appeared he was the last missing link to this fiasco.

  Wrong Way went through all the tapes from the warehouse, and there was no sign of anyone running out of the building, leading us to believe he was dead. But we weren’t taking any chances.

  Off in the distance to the right was an old large farmhouse. The white paint on the wood siding had seen better days. Around it was several buildings, large and small. Anyone could be hiding here. Fuck.

  Raising my hand, we pulled off to the side of the road and gathered around.

  “One car in the drive is all I can see,” Rooster said, holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes. “No movement and all blinds are closed tight.”

  “Plan,” I called out as everyone listened. “Leave the bikes here. Everyone in the back of the van.”

  Nods were seen from my brothers as we grabbed our guns and made our way to the van. I hopped in the passenger seat. Ethan drove, and my brothers all climbed in the back grabbing the larger weapons.

  Lemon, come out to play.

  Ethan pulled into the property and off to the side of the house. The doors to the vehicle were flying open before it came to a complete stop as we jumped down and surrounded the place.

  Tex and Phoenix were the first to go in the front door, guns raised.

  Hornet and Rooster were set to go in the back. When I heard, “What in the hell?” I stepped around Tex to see Bethany Morris hogtied on the dirty as fuck green living room carpet. Her eyes were wide with fear. Tear streaks covered her cheeks.

  “Clear!” I heard Hornet just as he came around the corner. “No one’s here,” he said, looking down at the sobbing woman. “Except …”

  “Undo her gag,” I ordered to whoever, not giving a fuck who did it.

  Tex bent down tearing the tape from her lips. She cried out as the tape ripped part of her skin from her lip. Her sobbing turned worse.

  “Where’s Lemon?” Phoenix asked, bending down, holding a large bladed knife out to her. Her eyes widened, head shaking. He reached down and grabbed a chunk of her very long brown hair, slicing it clean off. “You were telling us something,” he said to her.

  Fear so stark gripped her. Snot ran down her face and into her mouth, while the tears kept coming.

  “Talk!” Phoenix barked, and she continued to shake her head.

  “Boss,” Rooster said, moving to the door. “You hear that.”

  “Shut her up,” I ordered, moving next to Rooster in the doorway.

  Faintly the sounds of screaming were heard. “Fuck, he’s here. Gag the bitch again and get outside to check the buildings.”

  We made our way outside. Phoenix, Tex, Wrong Way and Brewer out in front. The first two barns looked as though one kick would make them fall to the ground in a puff of dust. That left the large bright red one that looked like something out of a fucking movie. This barn someone actually took care of.

  Screams could be heard, and I nodded to Phoenix who reached over and pulled the lever on the door swinging it open wide. “What the fuck?”

  Brothers started going in, and I followed Brewer with Rooster coming up to my back.

  My feet stopped dead.

  My breaths went out in a whoosh.

  “’Bout time you fuckers show up,” Warden, who stood well above six-three, said, wiping off the blade of a very sharp, thin hunting knife. “Dad took me huntin’ from the time I could hold a gun. Took me fishin’ too. Taught me how to filet a catfish so close to the skin we didn’t waste any meat.”

  Warden pointed up to the sky where Lemon hung, rope tied around his ankles. The rope was looped around a large beam, then wrapped around a stake in the beam holding Lemon up. Lemon’s hands were bound and tied by rope around his waist. He was only a few feet off the ground, but no doubt felt like he would fall at any given moment. Blood dripped from Lemon’s upturned body as his eyes came to us.

  “Nice of you to join us,” I mocked Warden, putting my gun away and crossed my arms over my chest. Looking up at Lemon, a smirk played on my lips. “Seems you caught a bad one.”

  “Yeah, got the call and went huntin’,” Warden responded, searing off a piece of skin from Lemon’s arm. The knife dug in deeper. “What did I tell ya about movin’? You’re makin’ this worse on your own damn self.”

  He chuckled. Lemon had several pieces of skin missing. Never fileted a man before. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

  “How’d you find him?” I asked, taking a step closer, lifting my boot up, and kicking Lemon savagely in the chest. He cried out and swung far and wide from his bindings. It did nothing to alleviate my anger toward the man.

  Warden was a kick-ass tracker. It stemmed from his time in the service. A time in which he didn’t talk about. Whatever he learned made him one of the best. The problem with Warden was he was used to being on the road hunting and not sticking around in one place. He’d tried the Nomad thing, but I tied him to us tight.

  Just like always, he showed up with what we needed.

  “Got the call from Brewer. Led me here.”

  He also wasn’t big on details. Warden saw a job as point a to point b, very precise. In actuality, in the moment, I didn’t give a fuck. The target was hanging, ready for whatever we dished out. Fuck him.

  “You ready to come back to Rebellion?” I asked, jumping him to another topic.

  His eyes closed off for a moment. “No.”

  It wasn’t just that Warden was one of the best trackers I knew, that I wanted him back in Rebellion. We could call on him and he’d come.

  It was just time to let the past die. Warden spent so much time on the road, he hadn’t lived in a long damn time.

  I let it go. “Right. We all get licks in here, and he needs to answer some shit.”

  Warden reached in his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper, holding it between two fingers to me. “What, like the password?”
/>   Snatching it up, the twelve-digit code stared back at me. “How the fuck you get that?”

  He smirked. “I’m good at what I do.”

  Vague. I handed the code off to Wrong Way. “Get Buzz on this shit. Let’s make sure it’s right, then call ‘em.”

  “You’re like a fairy godmother,” Phoenix said, coming to stand next to me as I lifted my chin to Wrong Way in response.

  “Don’t try me,” Warden warned, and Phoenix smiled. We all knew what Warden could do. What he had done. No need to let the beast free.

  “Now, you,” I barked then spit on the man I had welcomed into the Ravage MC, who shit all over our patch. Nothing we did would be enough. Nothing. We’d damn sure do the best we could though.

  Ethan hauled in the large duffle we kept in the back of the van. “Here ya go, boss,” he said.

  “Thanks, man. Stay for this one.” Ethan was only one church away from being a member of this club. He wanted in, he’d see what happened to those who fucked us over.

  “Who’s that?” Warden asked.

  “If you were around, you’d know.” He said nothing so I answered, “Prospect.”

  “Those days seem like so long ago,” Warden said, taking a slight step back. He didn’t like looking back at the past, and one could see him shutting down. Fuck no.

  “Stay here, Warden. You owe us this.”

  He shook his head. Whether to tell me he didn’t owe us shit or to clear his head, I wouldn’t know until he spoke. “Plannin’ on comin’ to Rebellion for a bit.”

  I turned fully to him. “You just said no.”

  “You want me to stay for good. I’m stayin’ for a few days. Two completely different things.”

  We didn’t have time for this shit now, so I let it drop and nodded to the bag. “Get out the shot.” My sole focus went on Lemon. “We’re gonna make sure everything you say is the truth.”

  My fist landed in his gut, making him swing back and forth once again. Lemon made a noise that sounded as if he was going to throw up. There was no doubt in my mind he would be by the time we were done with him.