Heartless (Steel Demons MC #6) - Crystal Ash Page 0,65

knew, or at least suspected this, or was trying to look unafraid.

“We’re facing a general who has also used MCs to do his dirty work for him,” Reaper went on. “If we come at him with military force, he’ll be ready. Expecting it, more likely. What we need to do is slip under his defenses, just like he did here. The only thing is,” Reaper sighed, leaning back, “he’ll recognize most of us. Fuck, any traveler approaching his territory from this direction will be regarded as suspicious. So we need to get creative. It’s not just scouting we need anymore. We need to know what General Tash is thinking, planning, even feeling. We need someone to plant inside who can get us information. And we’ll need them to stay there, for an extended amount of time.”

My president took a moment to meet the gaze of everyone in the room. “This isn’t going to be easy. I will order someone to do it, although I’d much rather not do so. I wanted to put it out to anyone, see if there’s any volunteers or another solution that I’m missing. But no one is leaving this room until we have a mission set in stone.”

Slick stepped forward. “How will this inside person get information to you, president?”

“We’ll have rendezvous points where you can leave coded messages for either Horus or Munin to pick up.”

“And how long will this assignment be?”

“As long as it takes,” Reaper answered flatly. “Until we have enough information to invade Tash and wipe him out. Could be months, could be years.”

“You’re not going.” Jandro cut Slick off from asking another question.

The youngest Demon’s mouth flapped open. “Sir, I’m—”

“You’ve prospected for us long enough for one of Tash’s inner circle to recognize you. Really, that goes for just about everyone rolling with the Demons, whether they have a patch or not.” Jandro nodded his head toward Larkan. “Same for the Sons. Too recognizable.”

“But not their women,” Mari pointed out.

All four of us at the table whipped around at the same time. “You are not going,” Reaper snarled. “It’s completely out of the question.”

“I know.” Mari folded her hands demurely. “Tash’s guards would recognize me from the Sandia outpost.”

“What she says is true, though,” Gunner piped up. “A woman might be our best chance of getting close to Tash and arouse the least suspicion.”

Reaper made a noise of disagreement. “I don’t like it. It’s fucking dangerous.”

“It’ll be just as dangerous for a man,” Gunner replied. “If not more so, because he’ll be more likely to be interrogated the moment he steps foot in the territory.”

“I’ll do it.”

Everyone’s heads swiveled to the woman who spoke. Andrea, Dallas’s widow, stepped forward, her face a calm, blank mask.

“Drea, no.” Behind her, Tessa’s face was white as a sheet, her arms holding her infant daughter starting to tremble.

“Andrea.” Reaper’s voice was heavy as he addressed her. “Not you. Tessa’s right.”

“You’re both wrong,” the woman retorted. “None of Tash’s people have ever seen my face. I can charm his soldiers and make them tell me their secrets. It was what I did before Dallas and I got together. I’m the best person to do this, president.”

“Your children need you,” Reaper argued. “You’re all they have left. It’s not right for their mother to just leave them for months, if not longer. And that’s if we get you back after this is over.”

“They’re big enough to get by without me, and to remember me if I don’t return. The Steel Demons will look after them.” Andrea remained tight-lipped, insistent. “Or did you forget that this club is a family, Reaper?”

A few beats of silence fell over the room, no one daring to interfere.

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” Reaper answered. “But they just lost their father, Drea. To lose their mother right after—”

“And I lost my husband,” she cut him off. “One of your best, and the love of my life. He would never be hanging back, never have a second thought about hitting Tash where it hurt. If you called for battle, he’d be leading the charge.”

“I know.” Reaper closed his eyes, his shoulders sinking with the weight of Dallas’s death. “I know, Drea.”

“He wouldn’t want me to hang back either,” she added. “To sit here waiting for news, when I could be doing something for the good of all of us. When I’m the only one who can.”

“There could still be someone else,” Reaper protested.

“There isn’t. All of your men will be recognized. The other women