Command (Storm MC 6)

“Up until now,” Carter drawled. “Rogue was wanted in Queensland on some charges and I was cutting a deal with him. In exchange for information on Bourne, I would work to drop some of the charges.”

“Rogue was working with Bourne?” I asked.

“Rogue was working with everyone, Scott. Whoever paid him got the information. He didn’t care who he told what to, so long as he got cash for it,” Blue explained.

“Fuck,” I muttered, stunned at his double crossing. “So you’re after Bourne, not Julio?”

“Bourne wants Julio dead. He wants control of Julio’s territory. I want them both dealt with. My investigation of Bourne has been on my own time because it’s in another State, but now that Julio is dealing in Queensland, I’m investigating him on work time, and am hoping to get to Bourne that way,” Carter explained.

“Jesus, it’s a fuckin’ mess in my head at the moment,” I said. “All this double crossing and secrets.” I eyed Carter. “Why are you telling me all this? Aren’t you investigating me, too?”

Carter ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “I’m going to be real honest with you, Cole. Your father was a piece of shit and when he died, I celebrated with drinks. It was one of the happiest days of my life, knowing that the man responsible for my sister’s death was dead. Then I got lumped with fucking investigating that death when Rogue turned up with his bullshit information, accusing you of killing Marcus. My partner is all over that investigation, but I’m not. Now that Rogue is dead, I’ll be doing my best to shut that down. For all I care, you could have tortured your father for a year before killing him and I wouldn’t give a shit. And so long as Storm keeps its hands clean of drugs, I don’t care what else you do. But next time you want to suffocate one of my informants, give me a head’s up, so I can get the information out of them that I need before they die.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of him, and I sure as shit wasn’t admitting to anything, but I was ecstatic to hear he’d be ending the investigation into Marcus’s death. The less I had to worry about, the better.

“Where does this leave us?” I asked, ready to get back to Harlow, but needing to know what lay ahead.

“As I suspect you already know, Julio has gone missing. Bourne’s left Adelaide and is heading to Brisbane from what I have been told, but he’s not here yet. I want you to let me know if you hear from Bourne. I believe he’s coming here to kill Julio, so I need to know when he hits town.”

I held his gaze, and lied to his face. “I’ll be in touch if I hear anything, but for now, I need to get back to the hospital.”

No fucking way was I giving up Bourne. To do that would mean also giving up my opportunity to kill Julio, and I wasn’t giving that up for anyone.

That honour would be mine.

16

Scott

I stared out the window of the clubhouse office and contemplated everything I knew, which seemed to change so often I wasn’t sure what to think.

I’d spent the night with Harlow at the hospital last night and done my best to focus on her and put what Carter and Blue had told me, out of my mind for the night. The doctors had agreed to let her go home this morning and once I’d gotten her home and settled, she’d told me to leave and take care of Storm business.

I loved that woman.

I loved that she gave me the space to do what she knew I needed to do.

I’d been at the clubhouse for the past hour with Griff, J and Nash, going over scenarios for how to deal with Julio. We’d worked out a plan, but then Carter had called to let me know four of Julio’s men had been found dead. That information confused the fuck out of us.

I turned to face them. “Who would be killing Julio’s guys? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t get it either,” J replied, looking as confused as I felt.

The rumble of pipes caught our attention and I turned back to the window to see five bikes making their way into our driveway.

“King’s arrived,” I said. “Maybe he can shed some light on this.”

I sure as fuck hoped so.

We made our way outside and watched as he walked our way with a grim look on his face. He’d brought Kick, Hyde, Nitro and Devil with him. His go-to guys when shit was going down.

He knows something.

“How’s Harlow?” he asked.

“She’s doing good today.”

He nodded. “Thank fuck for that.”