When he was done he rose to his feet. “This is all fucking shit. More dangerous than not having a weapon at all.”
Shade, standing nearby, shrugged. “Besides some personal weapons, this is what we got.”
“We don’t run guns, so don’t have access to anythin’ else,” Trip informed the Shadow. “Best we can do if you want an army at your back.”
The six Shadows glanced at each other and Whip swore amusement filled their eyes, even though none of them smiled.
Since Trip didn’t want the Fury to be in constant battles and most of them were ex-felons, they didn’t have their own stockpile, only what they stole from the Shirleys knowing they would never report the guns missing.
Brick shook his head again and toed one of the rifles at his feet. “This shit ties you back to them. Get rid of it all after tonight. Whatever you take up there, leave there once all the targets are secure. This way anything you got from them will get blasted into oblivion and nothing but scrap metal will be left.”
Anything you got from them.
Those guns weren’t the only thing they got from the Shirleys. They got Red, too.
She was the main reason the conflict between the clan and the Fury started.
Was she worth the war? Ask any of them, and they’d all say yes. She was family, she was Fury.
Mercy stepped in front of his line of men, his icy gray gaze sweeping over the group and finally landing back on Trip. “Did our final recon last night and finished planting the remainder of the explosives in and under the unoccupied buildings. Figured you wanted every standing structure destroyed, even down to the outhouses, right?”
“Yeah,” Trip answered. “Don’t wanna make it easy for them to return. The more debris, the better, too. To the point they’d have to bring in some major heavy equipment to rebuild.”
Mercy nodded. “Yeah, that’s how we have it set up. Going to flatten that compound and fuck up the ground enough so that it would take a crazy amount of scratch to go in there and make it right. The point is to make it easier for that clan to walk away from the property and start fresh elsewhere.”
“Nobody’s walkin’ away anywhere,” Sig muttered. “None of their fuckin’ legs should be attached by the time you’re done.”
The Shadow named Walker jerked in a way that drew everyone’s attention.
Whip wondered what that reaction was about.
Mercy continued as if nothing happened, ignoring both Walker and Sig. “An explosion that size will make a clear statement of your future intentions if they do try to come back and settle up there.”
“You got numbers for us?” Judge asked, also pushing on.
“Numbers were lower than we expected. Makes me wonder if they’re holding off on bringing in more and, if so, why,” Mercy continued. “Especially with the way you described their cult.”
Ryder picked up from there. “Ten was the head count we got on the men. But from what we could see, only six women and thirteen kids. That includes a couple of older teenagers. We counted each time we went up there to get that number as accurate as possible. A miscount could be a misstep.”
Those numbers seemed manageable. Whip had no doubt that if they waited any longer the amount of women and children would double or triple. In the past, they had outnumbered the men since the men liked to take multiple wives and breed like fucking rabbits.
Trip nodded. “My guess is that they’re bringin’ them in slowly as they’re rebuildin’. By doin’ that, they’re also testin’ to see if the feds will storm in and remove them again. But since they’re confident enough now to begin increasin’ their numbers and the feds seemed to have ghosted, it’s another reason to make it difficult as fuck for them to return after tonight.”
“Was there a redheaded slit up there?” Sig’s question pulled all eyes to him.
Hunter answered after an awkward pause. “Yeah. Saw a redhead in one of the habitable cabins deep in the woods about a half click north of the main compound. A man and another woman seemed to be sharing the place with her. Five kids in total between them.”
“The redhead’s mine,” Sig stated loudly and in a tone that said he didn’t want any argument. “Three of those kids we’re separatin’ from the rest.”
Judge spoke up next. “Sig, the plan is that you’re gonna grab those kids while the rest of us deal with the remainder.”
“Fuck that. Someone else needs to grab them for me. I gotta handle the redhead.”
Mercy stared at the VP, his face reminding Whip of cracked concrete. “If you’re talking about dispatching one of the women, it isn’t smart.”
Sig’s head tilted to the side as he faced Mercy. “Don’t give a fuck how smart it is. She’s fuckin’ mine.”