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The pins get lodged in Smarty’s chest, and the sudden surge of electrical currents has the poor guy on the ground and flailing like a ragdoll. “Oh, fu-hu-hu-huuuuck!” Smarty cries out in sheer agony as Orion keeps the current going for a good thirty seconds before he turns it off.
Kai takes Smarty’s shotgun away, and I settle my knee onto the boy’s chest. This is our last chance to get some useful intel out of these spineless bastards. I’m starting to lose my patience, and I know Kai is just seconds away from blowing somebody’s head off—thus ready to piss all over our promise to Dalton and the Feds. It’s a dangerous line we’re treading.
“I’m only going to tell you this once, Smarty,” I say, while the boy struggles to move. I apply more pressure with my knee, making it harder for him to breathe. “You look like a smart kid despite your otherwise sarcastic nickname. Colton took our old lady. And I need you to tell me where he might be hiding her.”
“Are you crazy? I don’t know anything about no—”
“Wrong answer,” I say and drive my knee downward. Any more force and I will break a rib. “Where’s your club? This place is empty. Surveillance told us that much. What the fuck are you doing out here all on your own?”
“Drake, I can’t—”
“Kid, you’d better start talking unless you want to die,” Orion says. “We’re not fucking around.”
“I … I can see that,” Smarty manages, still struggling to get out from under my knee and miserably failing. “Please, I don’t know anything.”
He’s having a hard time breathing. “Last chance, son. You must’ve heard something,” Kai encourages him. “The prez thinks you’re an idiot so I’m sure he let something slip. Come on, help us out here, and we’ll keep you out of jail.”
“It’s not jail that scares me,” the boy says.
I give him a cold smile. “I should scare you more. I don’t think you heard me the first time. Colton has my woman, and I will tear the whole world apart until I find her. You don’t want to fucking push me, Smarty. We tried this the nice way, and we got your message. But we’re doing it our way now, and you’re not going to like where it ends if you don’t dig through that coked-up brain of yours and give us some information that we can actually use.”
“Okay!” he cries out, and I pull my knee back for a few seconds. “Jesus …” He coughs, desperate to breathe again, but it takes a while and plenty of wheezing for his face to lose its purplish hue.
Kai goes into the clubhouse and comes back out in just a few seconds. “Yeah, they’re all gone.”
“Come on, Smarty. Clock’s ticking,” I say.
“I heard the guys mention something about Foothill Ranch,” Smarty replies, his eyes bulging less and less as he starts coming to. “Colton arranged for a meeting of the clubs there tonight at midnight.”
“What’s at Foothill Ranch?” Orion asks, his brow furrowing while he checks the map on his smartphone.
“I don’t know, but everybody knows to get there if they want to make a permanent deal with the Black Devils. Colton said he’s getting the Blackthorn Riders MC by morning, so he is drafting a new agreement between all the MCs. He’s going to be the de facto leader or something.”
Orion takes a couple of steps back. Kai watches him, curiosity twinkling in his eyes. “Foothill Ranch,” Orion mutters. “I just texted Dale.”
“Okay. What’s the word?” Kai asks.
“One of the Black Wolves MC seniors owns a ranch and a hunting lodge up there,” Orion says. “The farm is closer to the main road, but the lodge is obviously deep in the woods closer to Silverado.”
“He wouldn’t keep Nadia at the ranch,” I’m quick to conclude.
“Definitely the hunting cabin,” Smarty sheepishly chimes in. “The guys were saying that it’s where Colton takes anyone who steps out of line. Why don’t you just give him the club and be done with it?”
“And die like fucking cowards?” Orion scoffs. “You’ve got some terrible role models in Black Sabbath, Smarty. You need a better crowd, I’m telling you.”
“Give me your phone,” Kai tells the boy.
With a trembling hand, Smarty pulls his phone out of his jeans pocket and hands it over. Kai quickly removes the SIM card and crushes the device with the thick, heavy sole of his boot. “Hey, I had a plan on that,” Smarty protests.
“Pray that we all survive, and I’ll get you a new phone,” Kai replies. “As a thank you for not being too stupid and helping us out here, kid.”
Finally, some useful information, a way forward. We’ve been at this for hours, and nightfall is rapidly approaching. The sky is a dark pink now with purple streaks of clouds stretching across it. The moon and stars will be out soon, and we’ll need infrared goggles for that cabin.
If Colton is keeping Nadia there, we will have to be stealth-like and particularly careful. I only hope the Feds will stay out of our way when we do come face to face with that bastard. He can’t be allowed to see another sunrise. A man like him is dangerous even as he rots in a prison cell.
Only death will stop him.
We just need to find Nadia first.
