Gray's Shadow (Kings of Hell MC 4)

A door hit him straight in the face, and he hadn’t fallen on his ass only because Shadow was there to catch him.

Gray rarely was this clumsy, and it made him so angry he hissed at Jake, who emerged from behind the door already apologizing.

“Sorry, I wanted to see if you were coming, and you were already there…”

“Be more careful, Jake. We’re not all immortal,” Gray said, massaging his nose. Shadow was still holding him, but Gray decided to ignore it as if he hadn’t noticed.

Jake briefly looked at them both and stepped aside, finally prompting Gray to move away from the man behind him.

“We’ve got the workshop up and running down here,” Jake said as if he was the one dealing with precious stones, not Rev. Then again, the guy was a fast learner, always keen to work hard, so maybe he’d taken on some of the responsibilities.

Once Gray entered the low-ceilinged room illuminated with bright artificial lights, he wasn’t surprised to see Vars as well. The man was around anytime they needed to keep conversations secret from Baal, and that included any talk of gathering rubies. Baal wasn’t all-knowing, but it was always better to be on the safe side.

Last time Gray had been in this very room, decaying old furniture and human skeletons had rested in plain sight. Now the space was taken over by tables, safes, and tools stored in boxes on metal shelving units.

Rev had just transplanted the old workshop here, down to using a room of similar size and arranging the furnishings as they used to be. The ceiling was a tiny bit lower and the walls dirtier, but with lamps casting the same kind of glow, Gray was experiencing a déjà vu that passed the moment he stepped onto the cheap carpet laid out in the middle. Beneath it was something uneven, which shifted gently under his weight—a trapdoor perhaps?

Jake cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. There’s empty space below us. That’s where the little gargoyle used to be until it, uh, attacked me. But it’s totally safe now.”

‘Little gargoyle’ sounded cute, but Gray knew the story of that creature assaulting Jake face-hugger style, and it made him shudder.

“We got a call from Magpie,” Vars said. “We know the Pigeon Heart’s current location, and Beast wants you to go on a field trip to check out the area.”

Gray straightened, happy to hear that he was still the prez’s first choice.

“I could join you,” Jake added with a big smile. “Learn about all the spy stuff.”

Vars frowned. “I don’t think there’s any need for us to go with them. It’s best to let Gray do his thing. If you want to learn, let’s choose a job that’s a bit less critical to the future of the world.”

Gray glanced at Shadow, who stood in the corner as if he were a Blair Witch victim, before a sudden noise had him looking at an adjacent door, which opened to reveal Rev carrying small boxes piled up in his arms.

“There you are,” Rev said, huffing as he made his way to his main work station. It was well-lit and featured an array of magnifying glasses and other tools. The setup was crude, but Gray knew well what delicate work could be done with all the metal implements. Jewelry was relieved of rubies and other gemstones, precious metals—recast, eliminating any trace of previous owners, all for the profit of the club.

Gray took in the colors seeping through the matte white of the boxes Rev deposited on a side table before settling into his work chair. “Who delivered the transport?”

“Joker picked it up in Michigan. Magpie must be getting scared if he’s not even talking about money anymore. He just wants us to gather all the rubies we can and keep them here. They’re nothing like the Pigeon Heart in terms of size, but he said even the smallest is worth keeping in case we fail. But we will get the Pigeon Heart, right?” Rev smiled at Gray, revealing tobacco-stained teeth before he opened the little boxes, revealing gemstones in various shades of red.

The individual pieces had been sorted by color, and the purplish shade of the ones he was about to touch was particularly appealing. He traced them with his fingertips, listening to the whisper of them clashing in the plastic prison. “Did they all come like this?”

“Not all,” Rev said, presenting a bag that could only contain jewelry.

He removed the pieces out of a fabric bag and laid them out on a white cloth. The contents of the underground workshop were now worth thousands of dollars, perhaps even more than that.

Jake pulled on Gray’s sleeve, and leaned forward, whispering. “Should he be doing that?” He pointed to Shadow, who had his palms on the wall and pressed the front of his body to the brick, as if he were hugging it.