“We got a problem, babe,” he said without greeting me.

“What’s the problem?”

“Your brother’s made a deal with another club. Somehow he’s getting information about our business and he’s feeding it to them. In return, they’re supposed to snatch you and hand you over to him. These are bad guys and this is going to blow up in his face, which sucks for him, but I’m not letting it spill over on you. We’re locking you down, only way to keep you safe until it’s worked out.”

I stared at him, gaping.

“He’s trying to save you,” Horse said, shaking his head. “I swear, he’s either the stupidest fuck who ever lived or has the worst luck of any human being I’ve ever met. He reached out to the Devil’s Jacks, who in addition to being our enemies are quite possibly the least trustworthy group of bastards ever born. They’ve been looking for a way to fuck us up for a long time and now they have it. Could be a war, we don’t get this under control. The first step is to lock your shit up tight until we find Jeff.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “What could he possibly be giving them? How did he go from laying low to plotting a war to get me back? You said he was against the wall—where is he getting this leverage?”

“No fucking idea where it’s coming from,” Horse said, his face grim. “I swear, if he’d put half this much effort into doing his job in the first place we’d all be fuckin’ millionaires. Instead he’s playing us like his personal chess game, which would be pretty impressive if it wasn’t for the fact that all the chess pieces have guns. The guys are all worked up, pissed as hell, and it’s a damn good thing everyone likes you because this is not a good scene. You’re gonna be moving into the armory for a while, into one of the apartments upstairs.”

“How long?” I asked, feeling a little panicky. Horse shrugged.

“Long as it takes, babe. The Jacks manage to take you, the club goes to war,” Horse replied. “Jeff’s set them on you, and for now he’s got enough info to make the effort worth their while. You stay inside and lay low. Tonight you don’t even leave the apartment. We’ve got guys from other charters coming in, a lot of them already here, could get a little wild. You stay in your room, you keep your mouth shut and you do not do or say anything to draw attention to yourself.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling a little sick. “Is that all?”

He gave a short, abrupt laugh that had nothing to do with humor.

“No,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Another change of plans. It’s time for you to try to get hold of your brother. Email him, call him, call anyone who knows him. We need him to end this, for your safety and for the club. Then he needs to disappear. Permanently. He can make that happen or we will. I’m telling you this because I love you, babe. You want your brother to live, you get him to cooperate with us. That’s his only shot.”

I grew very still.

“Are you planning to kill him for this? That’s two strikes now,” I said, feeling lightheaded. “You already threatened to kill him over the money. Now he does this. I won’t lure him in for you to kill.”

“Not gonna lie, babe,” Horse said, looking me right in the eye. “He has one shot here. He starts a war, he ain’t gonna make it. He’s hired our enemies to take one of our women. This shit will not stand. He has to make things right without sucking you in. You got me?”

I nodded, feeling like I might throw up. Why did Jeff keep doing this crazy stuff? I shouldn’t have listened to Horse, I should have called Jeff a long time ago and worked with him to figure something out—or at least stayed in close enough touch for him to really believe I wasn’t in danger. I’d followed Horse’s directions because I thought it was safest for Jeff. At least, that’s what I’d used as the excuse to ignore my brother while I built a new life.

Had I been lying to myself?

“Let’s go to the apartment now,” Horse said. “Remember, lay low. You need something, call my cell. Don’t come looking for me or anyone else. I already talked to Em, she’s packing up some clothes and shit for you.”

He took my arm, opening the back door and leading through the hallways to the stairs. I saw a few new faces, male and female, and the palpable air of tension everywhere sickened me. Nobody said hi or even looked me in the eye. We climbed the stairs to the third floor, where they had remodeled the original offices to make studio apartments. I got the smallest, all the way at the end. There were bars on the windows and Horse told me to keep the shades drawn.

I sat down on the queen-sized bed, alone.

I pulled out my phone and sent an urgent email to Jeff’s anonymous account. Then I started making phone calls to as many of his friends as I could find numbers for. I had to reach him, although I wasn’t sure what I would tell him. Could I really trust the Reapers if he came in?

I wasn’t so sure about that.

Horse

Church was standing room only. Picnic presided, the visiting presidents from Portland and LeGrande flanking him. Horse leaned against the wall, eyeing Max across the room. He hadn’t forgotten what he’d done, but he’d paid his price and was back in the fold. He might not like the guy but he was still a brother—and if war came, they needed every man.

“We’ve lost three shipments so far,” said Deke, the Portland president. Horse had spent a lot of time visiting that charter, and he knew Deke didn’t fuck around when it came to security. If someone was hijacking their product, things had gotten bad. “Couldn’t figure out how they were getting their information. Devil’s Jacks aren’t exactly the brightest assholes in the bunch, but it’s like they’re reading our minds or something. This last time we caught one. He didn’t talk much, but we searched his cell and found some contacts. That’s how we learned about your boy.”

“What’d you do with the guy you caught?” Picnic.

“Got him at a safe house,” Deke replied, giving a feral smile. “Holding on to him for now. Figured it might be useful to have him, goddamn bastards are loyal, if nothing else. That’s more than I can say for this Jensen guy. Business is out of hand, Pic. Why didn’t you take him out?”

“That’s my fault,” Horse said. “His sister’s my old lady. The man’s got incredible skills, really thought we’d be able to turn the situation around and keep using him. Obviously I made a serious error in judgment.”

“Whole club made that decision,” Duck said. “Mistake? Maybe. But you go around putting talented people down all the time, eventually you run out of talent. In this case we fucked up. Could’ve gone the other way just as easy. And we all know the Jacks have been looking for a way to move in on us for years. We’d be facing this sooner or later no matter what.”

There were grunts of agreement all around the table.

“So how’s he getting his information?” asked Deke. “That’s the real question here. You know him. What are we missing?”

“I have no idea,” Horse said, shaking his head. “Hacking? Only explanation I can think of, although it’s a long shot. We aren’t stupid, not like this shit is on a spreadsheet or something. The other explanation is a rat.”

The room grew quiet. Then Deke spoke.

“We do business online all the time, banking, transfers, you name it. Money’s gotta move somehow, can’t do it all in cash. That’s the reality. Someone could be giving out clues without even realizing it.”

“Maybe texts or personal emails?” Ruger piped up. “We all got burners for business, but we’ve got personal phones too. Email. All that shit. Can’t get by without it and I’m thinkin’ someone’s gotten sloppy. Could even be a kid or a woman, no idea what they’re doing. We need to lock information down, take it from there and see what happens.”

“Marie’s upstairs trying to get in touch with him,” Horse said. “I gave it to her straight. She knows this is serious. If she finds him, she’ll let me know.”