I focused on the ones around the warehouse, seeing the moment Bull and Tank arrived to relieve Crow. Slash, Ash, and Zane were there too. I needed to get cameras inside the warehouse. Fuck my orders and the threat of Styx’s fists, I was speaking to that bitch about Lita.
I upgraded what I could with what I had, then I ordered more cameras from a local store and jumped into one of the club’s trucks to go pick them up. By the time I got back and installed them around the club, it was dark. I checked my screens. Tank and Bull were still by the warehouse. Beauty must have been inside. I assumed the prospects were near too.
Sitting back in my chair, I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath. What the fuck would I say to Lita’s cousin? How the fuck would I get her to trust me? To get a message to Lita?
“Fuck!” I spat. But Adelita’s face was immediately in my head. Driving me forward. Fuck, since the day that bitch had entered my life, she was all I could see. The one who controlled me.
Snatching the camera and tool kit from beside me, I left my room and walked past the bar. Brothers were inside, as usual. But I ducked past and got in the truck. My pulse raced faster the closer I got. For the first time in two years I was going to speak to someone who knew Adelita . . . someone who, after she was released, could get a message to her.
Tank stood off the wall he was leaning against as I parked up the truck. “Cameras?” I nodded, pointing at the stuff in the cab. Bull came over and started taking the cameras into the warehouse.
“Bitch still calling y’all out?” I said, gesturing to the warehouse.
“Yeah,” Tank said. “Beauty’s been in there a while, and that seems to have shut her down some.”
“Where exactly is she in the warehouse?” I pushed my hand through my hair. “So I know where to point the cameras.”
Tank stepped closer to me. “When you’re in there, don’t mention shit about Adelita. Right? Keep quiet. Don’t piss Styx off. We’ll work out a way to get Adelita. Now ain’t the time.”
I nodded and went into the warehouse. Bull showed me where he’d dumped the stuff, then left to stand guard with Tank. Tank had warned me . . . but I didn’t fucking intend to keep my mouth shut. I needed to know about Lita.
The three prospects were standing outside the small room I knew the cousin was in. I tipped my chin to them. Slash and Zane came over. “Bull told us to help you,” Slash said.
I tore my eyes away from the closed door of the back room. “Good.” I cleared my throat. “We’ll start over here. I show you one, then y’all can split up and do some of the others.” I led them to the far side of the warehouse. Ten minutes later I was installing the first camera, talking them through it, while Slash held the ladder I was on.
“You learned all this in the army, right?” Slash asked.
I looked down at the kid. He looked like Smiler. I knew he was Smiler’s cousin, around nineteen. Didn’t know more of his story than that. “Yeah, communications.”
“Cool,” he said. “Been thinking about the army too. Smiler thinks I shouldn’t bother. Just work on bikes and stay with the Hangmen.”
“My uncle said the same,” Zane, AK’s nephew, said. I watched the kid as he ducked his head and looked away. Because it wasn’t just AK who had served. It had been his old man too. The guy who, because of a fucked-up mission that led to his kidnapping and a truckload of PTSD, killed Zane’s mom and then himself. Kid was raised by his aunt, fucking orphaned.
When I got off the ladder, I said, “I served because my old man told me it was my patriotic duty.” Zane put his hands in his pockets, but both he and Slash listened. “I learned a lot in the army. But I’ll tell you now, kids. Don’t go into war unless you fucking believe in the cause you’re fighting for.”
“Like now, you mean?” Slash asked. “This war we’re in now with the cartel and the Klan.” Slash’s eyes widened. “I mean, you . . . them . . .”
I put my hand on Slash’s shoulder. “It’s all good, kid. I know it’s fucked