Page 27 of Wilder’s Mistake

“Just bring the fucking goods.”

The call ends. Kane pulls the map toward him. “Judge takes the north tree line with Gray and Colt. Griz stays with me. Tank stays on the truck. Cash handles the transfer. Wilder stays where Lucy can see him.”

“If I get a clean shot, I take it,” I say.

“Use your head, Wilder,” Kane says. “Her life comes before your anger.”

The wooden crates come from the locked garage. New rifles lie beneath canvas inside, the same shipment Bishop tried to move through Ransom after Kane closed Perdition’s access. Cash loads both steel boxes behind them. Bundled money shifts with a heavy slide.

Kane could send scrap or plant a tracker. He does neither. We take the real cargo because Lucy comes home before anything else. Kane climbs into the truck beside Tank. I take my bike. Judge, Gray, Colt and Griz fall into position behind us.

The ride south narrows to blind turns and broken asphalt. Tank drives the truck carrying the crates and cash while the rest of us ride around him. Judge scouts ahead. Gray watches the rear. Kane holds the center.

The old boat ramp appears below us, cracked concrete sloping toward black water.

One Perdition SUV waits beside the river with its tailgate open. Six bikes stand higher on the logging track, riders spread around them.

Lucy is between the SUV and the water. Her wrists are bound in front. A red mark cuts across one cheek, and a Perdition brother has one hand locked around her upper arm.

She’s alive. Relief lasts until I see his fingers digging into her. Then everything inside me turns violent. Lucy finds me across the open ground. Her shoulders loosen, but she doesn’t move.

I stop eight yards away. Tank brings the truck in behind me while Kingdom Come spreads across the ramp. Colt takes the bridge. Judge and Gray disappear into the trees. Cash stays with the cargo. Griz steps off his bike beside Kane with a shotgun resting against his thigh.

Bishop waits near the SUV.

Chains stands beside his bike, still wearing Kingdom Come colors. The sight of that cut hits harder than the guns. He wore it at our table, rode beside us and drank after we buried brothers. Then he used that patch to take my wife through our gate.

Kane’s gaze settles on his back. “Take it the fuck off.”

Chains rests a hand near his belt. “Come take it.”

“You used our colors to steal one of ours. You lost the right to wear them.”

“I chose the club King built. Cyrus still knows what a club is. Not the weak shit you turned Kingdom Come into.”

Kane looks past him to Bishop. “Your president sends you onto my road while he hides behind his own gates.”

Bishop’s mouth tightens. “Cyrus gives the orders.”

“A president stands with his men.”

“Like King did,” Chains says.

“King sold anyone he could make money from and called it club business,” Kane says. “I kept the brothers worth having.”

Chains looks toward Griz, and his confidence returns. “Still time,” he says. “You remember what this club was before it was handed to this weak fucking excuse of a president.”

Griz looks along our line at Kane, Tank, Cash and the younger brothers waiting beside their bikes. His gaze reaches me last. For one hard second, I can’t tell what he is weighing.

Chains smiles. “You coming?”

Griz spits into the gravel. “Nah. I’m good.”

Chains’s smile disappears. Griz lifts the shotgun and settles it against his shoulder. “Take off our cut before somebody takes it off with skin attached.” A low sound moves through Kingdom Come.

Chains’s face turns ugly. “You ungrateful old bastard.”

“You’re mistaking loyalty for weakness,” Griz says. “You’re the one standing with Perdition.”