you know it. Someone let that fucker onto the property.”
“Fuck,” I breathed, looking over his shoulder at the men who were still roaming around, looking for any type of clue or threat.
“They might not see it, or just don’t want to admit it,” Eli said. “But we’ve got a problem. We can’t stay here.”
“We weren’t planning on staying,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, I know,” he agreed. “But we were planning on having bikers escort us to Eugene.”
“And if we tell them we don’t need them, they’ll know something’s up,” I said. “Goddamn it.”
“Pretty much.”
I wasn’t sure what the right call was. On one hand, I felt a loyalty to the club that had been ingrained in me since birth, but on the other hand, I couldn’t ignore what was looking me in the face. We had a mole, and worse than that, we had someone willing to risk getting caught in order to bring the enemy inside the gates.
“We need to talk to Casper,” Eli said. “Now.”
I nodded. “Grab Cam, too.”
“Will do. I’ll round everyone up.”
“Make sure you do it quietly,” I said as he turned away. “No need to make people nervous.”
“I’ve got it handled,” he replied dryly.
I wiped at my face again as I strode back toward Casper’s room. Jesus, how much pull did this Drake guy have, and how the fuck had he gotten to one of the members so quickly? Was there some kind of connection that predated this shit with Olive? And how the fuck were we supposed to find that connection?
Farrah’s hand was on the pistol in her lap when I re-entered the room.
“How’s it going?” I asked, leaning down to kiss Cecilia’s bent head. Olive was nursing sleepily, and I breathed a sigh of relief that at least that was going okay.
“She’s still quiet,” Farrah said cautiously, her worried eyes meeting mine. “But we’ve got the baby settled now, so that’s good, all things considered.”
“That is good,” I said, sitting down carefully next to CeeCee.
The slice along her ribs was superficial, thank Christ, but I couldn’t imagine how badly it had hurt. The thought of how scared she must have been made my skin crawl, and watching her stoically let Forrest stitch it had been one of the worst moments of my life.
“How you doing?” I asked, wrapping my arm around her back. I let out a breath as she silently leaned against me for support, her head resting on my shoulder.
The door opened, and Farrah’s head jerked up, her hand back on the pistol.
“Just me, Ma,” Cam said, coming into the room. “You can put that thing away.”
“I think I’ll keep it where it is,” Farrah retorted.
“You’re surrounded by armed men.”
“So was Cecilia,” Farrah reminded her son darkly.
A few minutes later, Casper came in, Eli behind him.
“I left Forrest and Lu out with the others,” Eli told me, leaning against the closed door. “I can fill them in.”
“What’s going on?” Farrah asked, looking from one person to another.
“You know what’s goin’ on,” Casper said with a frustrated grunt. “Can’t stay here.”
“We aren’t,” Farrah replied. “We’re leaving in a couple hours.”
“And takin’ half the club with us?” Casper said. “Possibly the man that let that motherfucker in to terrorize my daughter?”
“Our daughter,” Farrah muttered.
“We need to find out who the fuck it was before we leave,” Cam said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“No,” I said firmly. “Not with your sister and the baby here. Not with your mom here. We don’t have the time and we don’t have the fucking resources.”
“So what’s your big plan?” Cam shot back.
I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t have a goddamn plan.
“Well,” Eli drawled from the door, “I have an idea.”
Casper looked at him in surprise, like he’d forgotten Eli was there.
“We’ve got three rigs,” Eli said quietly as he stepped further into the room. “You two stay on your bikes. Me and Lu take mine. Forrest takes his. Farrah rides with Cecilia and Chief.”
“And how does Lu switching rigs change a goddamn thing, exactly?” Cam asked.
“You didn’t let me finish,” Eli said with a short bark of laughter.
* * *
Two hours later, we were loaded up and almost ready to head out.
“You sure, man?” Chunky asked Casper as they stood next to the long row of motorcycles. “Seems like a bad fuckin’ idea to leave with no backup.”
“I’m sure,” Casper said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand. “Best bet is to keep shit as quiet as possible. Drawing attention to us with a big convoy