Page 69 of Tico

I hesitate, but until I know what Wire found, I can’t tell her anything. I shake my head. “Nah, go back to sleep, Vicious. If it’s something you need to know, I’ll tell you.”

I stand, putting my gun in my holster under my cut and pocket my phone. Then I hesitate and, once again, the rat comes to mind. “Don’t leave with anyone unless I tell you to. I’ll lock the door behind me.”

She hesitates and seems like she wants to say something but then she just nods.

I lean back down, kissing her again before crossing the room and leaving it, locking the door behind me. I quickly make my way down to Wire’s room and knock. He opens it and then quickly shuts the door and locks it behind me.

“What did you find?” I ask him.

He sits back down at his computer and pulls up a clip.

“I may have found our rat. Watch these.”

Wire plays ten clips in total—four from the clubhouse; one from a warehouse we run our guns through; two from the barn we grow our weed in; two from our bar, The Hideout; and surprisingly, one from a civilian security camera.

I scrub a hand over my face. “Chingada vida(Fuck my life).” The betrayal is even bigger than I thought. “Wake the officers. We need to make a plan.”

Within fifteen minutes, we file into Church, each of us with a cup of coffee in our hands. Once everyone’s seated, I bang my gavel.

“Wire thinks he found our rat. Wire? You’ve got the floor.”

Wire tells them what he found and then plays all the clips again. When he’s done, everyone’s faces are red with anger.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” someone mutters under their breath.

I look at each ofmis hermanos(my brothers). “We need a plan. Thiscabrón(fucker) doesn’t get to steal from us or fuck us over again.”

Taco rasps his knuckles against the table. “That said, we have to be careful about whatever plan we put in place. If he thinks we’re onto him, he could run.”

Three hours later, we’ve hashed out a plan and several back up plans. I scrub my face, tired as fuck.

Taco steps up beside me, clasping my shoulder while giving me a knowing look. “Get some sleep,hermano(brother). Later today, everything should be over with.”

I slowly blow out a breath. “I hope so,hermano(brother). I hope so.”

After everyone leaves, I close up behind me and make my way back up to my room. Ember hadn’t messaged while I was gone, so I hope she was able to fall back asleep. I can’t wait to slide into bed next to her and get some sleep with her in my arms.

Rounding the corner, I come to a stop.

Chingar(Fuck).

My door is slightly ajar.

I pull out my phone, firing off a quick text to Taco and Wire. Pocketing my phone, I pull out my gun and silently creep toward my room. When I get to the door, I listen, trying to hear if there’s any movement from inside, but all I hear is silence. Movement in the hallway has me looking up to see Taco approaching with his gun in hand. I give him a hand signal and I step in front of the door with my gun raised. A second later, I push the door open while Taco simultaneously reaches in and flicks on the light and the sight before me has me freezing in place.

Chingar(Fuck).

Blood is smeared on the floor and on a few walls. Corvus lies unconscious on the floor, a gunshot in his shoulder and a nasty, bloody cut on his temple, but he’s breathing. Next to him are a couple of syringes and Ember’s handgun.

But no Ember.

Panic claws at me.

“Where the fuck is she?”

Then another thought has me turning towards the hallway to see the rest of my officers behind me, guns drawn.

“Lock down the clubhouse. Someone go wake Doc up and see if he can wake Corvus up. Daemon and Cobra, verify Rochelle is still here. Claw and Shuriken, get my mother. Taco, you’re with me and we’re going to Pyper’s room. The rest of you, fan out. Verify that everyone is accounted for.”