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We have a warning, which means the Outlaw Sons have the advantage. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself so I don’t go completely out of my mind.
"Why can’t you come with us?" Anne's grip around my waist tightens as she presses her face against my chest.
“You know why I have to stay, and you’ll have Savage and Crank with you. They’ll make sure you guys are protected. I’m sure everything will be over in a couple days, so pack some books and get ready to watch lots of TV and eat junk food with Bonnie, okay? It’ll be super boring and then we’ll be together again.”
Please don’t let that be a lie.
Behind her, waiting in front of the van that's going to take her to a safe house somewhere outside the city is Bonnie. She nods at me, and smiles. I don’t know what I would have done without her. Probably not gotten close to Riot, Tex and Ghost, because there’s no way I would have let Anne stay with a random biker, no matter how trustworthy they seemed.
"But you're going to do something dangerous. What if something happens to you?" She pulls back to look up at me with tear-stained cheeks.
"I have Ghost, Tex, Riot and all the other Outlaw Sons protecting me. I'll be safe too. I promise." I do my best to keep the nervous quaver out of my voice, but I'm not sure I quite succeed.
I haven’t said anything to Anne about the messages from my maybe mother, or what exactly our plan is, but it’s pretty clear that something big is going on even without the details. I want to protect her, but I guess sometimes it’s safer to know the reality than to live in a fake bubble.
"Everyone's going to be fine," Bonnie chimes in, repeating it again for Anne's benefit. She holds out her hand for Anne to take. "The safe house walls are armored, the windows are barred, and there's even a secret escape tunnel underneath it. No one's going to find us." She nods her head at the box Savage loads into the back of the van. "And we're bringing the games.The TV there is huge, and the boys will have nothing to do but wait on us hand and foot. We'll make this fun until it's safe for us to come back, okay?"
Both Savage and Crank give her skeptical looks, but they keep their mouths shut. I've seen how all the guys here seem to respect Bonnie. She's a tough chick.
Anne still looks unsure, but she nods and takes Bonnie's hand, letting Bonnie help her into the van. I wave at the door before they shut it. "You're smart, tough and resourceful. You'll be fine. Be good to Bonnie, okay?"
"I promise. Just… just come back to me." Anne takes a deep breath and her expression turns serious. “I know Dad’s not a good person. The way he treated you, even Marissa. Or me.” She pinches her lips a moment. “I… I think I could handle losing him. I…” She swallows. “I know I probably will. There’s a lot of people after him. But I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.”
Savage shuts the door. He bangs the side of the van a couple of times with the flat of his hand, then gives us a thumbs up as he climbs in. Crank takes the passenger seat.
I let my hand drop, knowing they can't see me anymore, and a tear runs down my cheek. She’s tougher than she thinks. So I have to be, too.
"They're gonna be fine," Tex says as he puts a hand on my shoulder and pulls me against him. I let him, taking comfort in his sturdy presence. "Savage and Crank are a pair of mean motherfuckers, but they’d walk through lava for Bonnie. General was the beating heart of this club for a long time, but Bonnie was the soul. It’s why not a single man here complains about Hellfireletting her stay on. She might not be a member, but she’s earned her place. The girls'll be safe."
We sit on the church steps and watch the van drive away. "God, I don't know what to believe."
Riot sits down next to us, sandwiching me in. "It's a lot to take in," he agrees.
"Do you really think it's my mother? If she's alive, why haven't I heard from her until now? Isawthe boat explode. I went through a phase where I pretended they were going to come and get me and he… he showed me the autopsy reports." And they gave me nightmares for years.
I kick a stone that's found its way onto the steps down, watching it bounce a couple of times before sliding off the side.
"Who else would know she called you her little owl?" Tex asks.
“Um, Dad would, obviously. I suppose I might have more family somewhere. He was in the military so we moved every couple of years and I don’t have any real memories of relatives. I remember a funeral I went to for a grandmother when I was little. I don’t even remember if it was Mom’s mom or Dad’s.”
Ghost comes over and joins us, standing a couple steps down with his back to the railing and his strong arms crossed over his chest. "You said she worked with computers, right? That would be a point on the side of it being her. Is this the sort of thing she could do?”
“How am I supposed to know? I was eleven when they died. I know she had security clearance because her office had to be off limits. That’s it. I might as well be Amish when it comes to technology. I knew Victor’s number in case of emergencies, butI’ve never been allowed my own phone, and the only time I’ve used computers was when I was doing online schooling. They monitoredeverything.Most of what I know is from watching TV with Anne.”
"Alright." Riot blows out a puff of air that turns to smoke. It's chilly today. "So it's at least potentially plausible. But if she's so goddamn good that she’s transmitting messages to us and to some random store, I agree that it seems odd that she wouldn’t have tried until now. Unless…" His eyebrows knot as he focuses far away. "Maybe."
"What?" Tex pulls me a little closer, nice and warm.
"Her being dead wouldn’t be that hard for Kane to fake. Jessica was eleven and probably too scared to really understand what was going on. If he took her, he could have taken someone else, too. The autopsy reports could be for anyone.”
“No! I—” I stop, thinking back. The memory of the photos still hangs with me, but they were burned beyond recognition. Would he really be so cruel? Stupid question. Of course he would.
"Think. If he wanted your mother’s cooperation, what better way to get it than to dangle her daughter’s safety right in front of her? It's a long shot, but it would explain why he's so hell-bent on getting you back. Without you, he can’t control her. Boom. Hacker gone rogue."
Ghost nods. “It’s not a bad plan. I don’t know if it’s true, but it would fit.”
