to school with us. She was going to stay in a cabin on his land for a little while. Back in the day, it had been used during the winter as a base so ranch hands could check out the terrain at the farthest points of the property.
Nobody would think to look for her there. She’d stay there with Amaryllis until we found the rat in our midst, and then we’d bring her home. She’d have to lay low for-fucking-ever. There was no avoiding that. Or until Carlos Rodriguez was taken down.
Even as I thought about it, I wondered if Dagger and Flame were intending to go down that route. And if they weren’t, maybe I should make the suggestion, because the prospect of Lucie having to hide out for the rest of her life wasn’t acceptable.
Still, targeting Carlos would bring the entirety of the cartel down on us. Easier to ship a ton of ghost guns to the Colombians who he was engaging in turf war with. Arm them up, ramp them up, and get them to take the motherfucking Mexicans out.
“You tensed.”
I blinked. “Just thinking.”
“About this week?” she asked, and her miserable tone told me that she was sad about Ryan, but also about what was going to go down over the next few days.
“It’s fucked up,” I admitted, releasing the words on an exhalation, “but we’ll get through it.”
She swallowed. “I’d run again, but—”
“No!” I growled. “No running.” My hands slipped up her arms to cup the balls of her shoulders. “Promise me, Lucie. You run now, you’ll run forever. Hiding out is better than running.”
“Isn’t it the same thing?” she demanded, staring up at me with her heart in her eyes. I felt her fear, sensed it, and wished I could take it away.
“No. It isn’t.” I leaned down and pressed my forehead to hers. “We’ll get through this. Just give us time.”
“Time? That’s all I’ll have.” She sighed. “At least I can get the factory set up. It will take a while to get all the parts. Some of them are monitored by the Feds, so I’ll have to find a way to get them to us.”
I frowned—she hadn’t told us that. “Which parts?”
“Ryan developed two ways of producing guns. Each one had a purpose.”
“Like?”
“If you knew you’d need to dispose of the weapon, he developed a gun that can be 3D printed.”
I blinked at that.
“How do you dispose of it?”
“You need something like acetone to break down the plastic we’ll use.”
“What’s the other route?”
“Smithing. We have to make them from scratch.”
For some reason, the idea of Lucie dressed in blacksmith gear had my cock hardening.
She snorted. “Do you have an erection?”
“Just imagining you in a workshop.”
A laugh escaped her. “I know my way around a forge, but I prefer the other route. I’ll be glad to teach that part and let someone else take over.”
“I can’t believe Ryan taught you all this shit.”
She shrugged. “I don’t think he wanted to, but…”
When she didn’t continue, I pulled back so I could look at her. “But, what?”
Her lips quivered before she firmed them. “I think he had headaches for a long time before he finally caved in and went to the doctors.”
Fuck.
“He was trying to keep a low profile?”
“We were always moving until we reached Lubbock and found this place where we figured no one would find us. Hell, it was in the middle of nowhere. Even if someone had, he set up all these alarms that would warn us, and by the time someone could approach the property, we had an escape route planned.”
“Jesus,” I bit off. “You lived like that for years? But who did you think was following you? I mean, fuck, we didn’t know about the cartel, so how did you?”
“We didn’t. At least, I didn’t, but...” She tensed, but deep in her eyes, I saw the truth.
“No fucking way.”
Her swallow was all the answer I needed.
She and Ryan had believed the Hell’s Rebels were a threat to her as well.
For a second, I couldn’t even process what she hadn’t said, then I pushed away from her and began to stalk off, my intention to find a bottle of Patrón at the bar.
Then I heard her, heard her broken voice. “Axe, please.”
And I staggered to a halt.
Clinging to the rail that ran down the stairs, I froze in place, trying to get myself under control. But this wasn’t on Lucie. This was on her fucker of a father.
I couldn’t turn around, didn’t