I owned it.
After Afghanistan, I disappeared. I told no one where I was going, not even my family. I just walked out of the hospital with my belongings and never looked back.
Along the way, I met some not-so-savory individuals who wanted something I refused to give, while others were nice and eager to help. Then there were the ones who needed to be put in a padded cell for the rest of their lives.
That’s who I was talking to.
The padded cell moron. No matter where my life took me after I left the hospital, I cultivated friendships and made enemies along the way, some tentative at best.
Story of my life.
“You better not be fucking with me.”
“Now would I do that?”
“Yes.” He growled, but when I didn’t say anything more, I heard him sigh as he asked. “What do you want?”
“I need everything you’ve got on a man called Gideon St. James. I mean everything Kyle. Don’t leave anything out, or I won’t give you the location.”
“The Guardian? What the fuck do you want with him?”
“Long story. Just send me what you have.”
“Look Lena,” he whispered. “As much as I want my brother’s location, I can’t get involved with anything regarding that bastard. The man’s reach is worldwide. There won’t be a place I can hide and as much as it pains me to say this, you need to disappear too. There’s a rumor going around the dark web that he’s looking to clean up what went down in Afghanistan seven years ago.”
“That makes no sense. He wasn’t even there.”
“Believe what you want, but I can’t help you.”
“He’s dead.”
“Then it’s started. Shit. Wherever you are, leave. Now.”
Before I could ask him what the fuck he was babbling about, the line went dead.
My mind reeled with what Kyle told me.
Why would the Guardian care about what happened seven years ago in Afghanistan?
The man wasn’t CIA or NSA.
He wasn’t affiliated with any government agency. He seemed genuinely concerned for my welfare and wanted to help the Golden Skulls. Hell, he even helped fill in some of the missing blanks we all had. As much as I didn’t want to believe Kyle, the man never lied to me. He may hate me with every fiber in his body because I fucked his brother instead of him, but he wouldn’t fuck with me about this. Kyle was cagy, never truly trusted anyone. He lived so far off the grid that man may as well be in outer space.
Leaning back in my chair, I let out a long breath as my mind tried to absorb what Kyle had just told me. The club was under the Society’s thumb from two fronts. The head of the Society wanted to make an example out of Reaper and then there was Ascari, who was coming for me and had no problems going through the club to do so
Two major players, both with their eyes set on this club.
Then there was the Guardian. A man this club was slowly starting to trust until the truth about him surfaced and got him killed.
I got the Society and Ascari. Their intentions were clear, but St. James was another story. He was hell-bent on getting the club to his island. He came from a family that was emersed in the Society. His own mother worked for the Division, a subsidiary of the Society. The man knew a lot about everything but had yet to divulge his motive. Was he so hell-bent on stopping the Society?
Why change sides all of a sudden?
Why was, it so important for him to save the Golden Skulls?
How was he going to find Reaper’s missing kid?
Kyle didn’t trust him and though I was inclined to ignore the paranoid freak, he never steered me wrong. If Kyle feared the Guardian, then that meant I was missing something. Something big and I needed to figure it out fast before Reaper made a decision that would kill us all.