Ghost
As soon as the meeting was over, I sent out a text to my team. I needed to talk to them without prying eyes and everyone else listening in.
This whole mess was getting out of hand fast. I wanted them to have a chance. A choice to make an informed decision themselves without the club interfering. This wasn’t about club brotherhood anymore. This was now every man for themselves.
They had the right to decide for themselves if they stayed and fought or left. I wasn’t going to persuade them to stay and fight for a club we were no longer technically part of.
Walking into my house, I removed my cut, throwing it on the couch as I headed for the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I grabbed a beer and drank it quickly. When the last drop passed my lips, I threw the bottle in the sink, grabbed my cell and called the President of the Sons of Hell.
“What now?”
“We need to talk.”
“Then talk. I don’t have all day.”
“We’re out.”
King laughed. “You are a funny man, Ghost. I could have sworn I just heard you tell me what you are doing. Have you forgotten the terms of your surrender? Or do I need to remind you?”
“What do you care, King? You know what happened to your sister. You’ve got your niece back. The Golden Skulls are imploding. No one will be alive come tomorrow afternoon. I am not staying around to count the bodies. I have a wife and daughter that needs me. We’re out. All of us.”
“Funny you mentioned Reaper. I got a cryptic text from him yesterday. So did several other clubs. Want to enlighten me on the meaning?”
“I don’t know anything about a text.”
“What the hell is going on over there?”
“The four horsemen of the apocalypse are descending tomorrow. They are hell-bent on killing everyone. Fuck man, the island is gone. That mother fucker blew it up and as for the compound in Tennessee, it’s gone. Evaporated. No survivors.”
“Yeah, it’s all over the news. Too bad you can’t believe everything they say.” He said cryptically, stopping my train of thought instantly.
He knew something.
“What are you talking about?”
“The news is reporting that it was a mass casualty situation. No survivors. That some gas line exploded, taking the whole club with it. Only that’s not true, is it?”
“King,” I growled. “I saw the satellite feed. The compound was obliterated. There were bodies on the ground. No one survived.”
“Oh, come on Ghost. You know not to believe what the news pedals. Let me ask you this. Why would Reaper send out an SOS the day before the explosion?”
What?
That made no sense.
If Reaper did that, then that meant he knew what Goldman and his cronies would do. He had to have. He knew all along. Yet, he played the victim, the innocent patsy. He played right into Goldman’s hand and Goldman fell for it.
What the fuck was going on?
“Look, Ghost, your best friend has been playing a long game. We all have. Do you honestly think the Golden Skulls are the only club in this game? That the Golden Skulls are the only ones standing up to Goliath? Reaper has done some shady shit, that is for sure, but he’s always kept an eye on the prize. I may not like the mother fucker, but he did me a solid when he protected my niece.”
“He didn’t protect her. He didn’t give her a choice.”
“Really? Open your eyes Ghost,” King shouted angrily. “Reaper has known about Jessie long before the rest of you. His father left him detailed information on everything. He’s had eyes on her from the moment she left Florida. Why do you think you were in that specific hospital in Louisiana? It wasn’t just to make sure Remi got the best care. He was there to contact my niece. I got word that Toxic found her. Reaper was closest. He warned her.”
“Fuck. I remember the paramedic saying he wanted to take Remi to another hospital. A closer hospital. Reaper insisted she go to….”
“That’s right. You may think you know everything, but you don’t.”