team than the men following you from Phoenix. Those guys are still in jail waiting for bail.”
“How’d Wrath pick them up?”
Gunner lowered himself into a chair in front of one of three computer screens. “Rock and Ghost were tasked with a mission no one else at the Brethren was privy to.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Ethan arrested one of the Night Devils for possession and other stuff I don’t recall. The idiot was still high when booked. The sheriff took advantage of his impaired condition and passed along what he learned to Wrath.”
Taking a seat, he glared at Gunner. “Dammit, just spit it out.”
“Geez, man. Never known you to be so frazzled.”
Sucking in, then letting out a frustrated breath, Fuse motioned for Gunner to continue.
“All right. Vulture, the Night Devils national prez, sent a new local man to replace Mario.”
“They never found his body?”
“Come on, man,” Gunner said. “We all know Vulture had Mario eliminated after the CF that went on with Junior Blackmore. Seems Vulture knew nothing about Mario’s side business. The new prez is someone named Grizzly. Grayson’s people are putting together a dossier on him, but according to the man Ethan arrested, he was Vulture’s enforcer. The big deal is the Night Devil in jail boasted to another inmate about a new job going after a senator’s daughter.”
“Son of a bitch! So now we have the Devils going after her?”
“Seems so. That’s why we showed up. Not that Wrath doesn’t trust you and Mitch to keep her safe, but Grizzly is a mystery. We don’t know anything about the way he operates. Burn was cool, somewhat levelheaded. Mario was a complete psycho.”
“Which is Grizzly?”
“Wish we knew. We wanted to introduce ourselves to Brittany, make sure she’s comfortable around us because the three of us are going to rotate. Banner, Iggy, and Boomer will be surveilling the roads coming this way.”
Standing, Fuse walked to the door, opening it. “Let’s get you all something to eat. We can talk strategy after.”
“Raider will be out in another hour, make certain your security still has his approval.”
“Whatever we need,” Fuse said, his voice not alerting his teammate to the turmoil tearing up his gut. Stopping a few feet from the family room, he allowed himself a moment to study Brittany. She wasn’t the woman he used to know, and thank goodness for that.
Swiping a hand down his face, he steeled his resolve. Could this situation get any worse?
Chapter Twelve
Long after Brittany went to bed, Fuse, Gunner, Mitch, and Raider, with Wrath on speaker, hammered out a plan and schedule, leaving Fargo and Bas to continue surveillance. They went with the belief Grizzly and his crew knew where each of the Brethren lived. Which meant no place was totally safe, including the clubhouse.
The Brethren hadn’t been trained to sit back and wait. They took control, put others on the defensive by swooping in, getting their shit taken care of, and jetting out. Or more often, exfiltrating by sea, air, or land. Helos were their friends, as were Mark V SOCs (Special Operations Craft). This operation was no different.
“Grayson is evaluating approval of going directly at the Devils,” Wrath said through his phone.
“The target?” Fuse asked.
“Grizzly.”
“It’s a huge risk, Prez,” Raider said. “We’ve stayed away from direct action against their president for a reason.”
“I said the same to Grayson,” Wrath said. “The Devils still believe us to be a rival MC gang. If we take Grizzly, we could be exposed in a way detrimental to our undercover existence.”
Fuse ran a hand through jet black hair. “It’s out of our hands.”
“For now.” Wrath’s voice hardened as it always did when faced with a lack of direction and the inability to move ahead with his team. “We protect our asset, and wait for Grayson’s response on action against the Devils.”
Silence spread through those in the room until Fuse broke it. “We’ve got this, Wrath. No one is getting to Brittany.”
The call ended without a go order. Nothing had changed except for the men assigned to protect Brittany. They spent several minutes setting up schedules and positions around the large property. Three men on, three men off, all on twelve-hour rotations. The one change would be Raider leaving, replaced by Banner.
Fuse, Mitch, and Gunner left to get a brief amount of sleep, Raider taking off to give Banner his new orders. He was pretty certain one of the youngest Brethren wouldn’t have an issue with trading his road patrol for a position closer to the