Duke (The Henchmen MC 5)

His light eyes landed on mine for along minute before he admitted the truth. "Not good, blondie. Really, really not good." He paused for a long minute as my belly twisted painfully. "Cash and Reign are going to be a fucking mess."

"They're close," I assumed.

"Practically brothers and not just in the biker brotherhood kind of way. They grew up together, been through a lot of shit together. I expect to see Reign here in the next hour even though he was at least two days out. Probably jumped a plane to be back for this."

"Renny," Lloyd's voice clipped, agitated, his face tight in annoyance.

Whereas Duke looked almost a little smug.

"You're up," Duke said, passing Renny and they shared a look that didn't seem to have the usual animosity. If anything, I saw a hint of that biker brotherhood Renny had mentioned. "Hey," he said to me, head ducked, eyes intense. His hand rose to my face and I didn't flinch away. I found I needed it.

And that was when Cash flew in. "Surgery," Lo called out, trying to keep her voice calm.

Cash's shoulders slumped as he moved toward us.

"It's not good," Duke offered and there was the stomach twisting thing again.

Cash nodded a little tightly. "Reign and Repo will be here by eight. They left in the middle of a meeting. But they said it was pointless anyway. The Russians laughed off their questions. Said they were looking more into the H trade given how it seems to be sweeping the country, right into the God damn 'burbs."

"Didn't get much out of them before the drive-by," Duke said and I stiffened at the term. "But it sounded like the Mexicans were a dead-end too."

"Columbians are up in the air, but they have always been more about the drug trade anyway."

Duke nodded at that and I felt my mind start spinning.

If they were having meetings with Mexican and Columbian bad guys, then they couldn't really be white supremacists, could they? That seemed to go against the whole idea.

Maybe it wasn't all of them.

Maybe, I thought as the idea settled like lead, maybe it was just Duke.

"I had Paine talk to some of his old contacts in Fifth street and they laughed it off too. Besides, they're a pathetic facsimile of the organization they used to be. They all but fell apart."

"So we're nowhere," Duke concluded and Cash nodded, running a hand down the shaved side of his head.

"I'm gonna go see if I can help with Janie. Think you guys can go fetch some coffee?"

"I'll go," I volunteered immediately, happy for a task, some occupation. "You stay with your people," I said to Duke.

"Not going anywhere a-fucking-lone at this point," he said and moved into step with me as Cash walked away.

So then we got coffee.

And we all sipped the bitter awfulness that was hospital vending machine coffee in complete and utter worried silence.

As Cash predicted, Reign and Repo came barreling in twenty minutes after eight. Both men were tense and filled in quickly.

Reign turned to Duke. "Cash and I need to be here. Can you and Renny head back to the compound and keep an eye on the guys? They need to be sharp. Two fucking shootings in the course of a week? Whoever this is is on a mission to take us all out one by one."

"Right," Duke said, nodding and he reached down to take my hand again. "Keep us updated," he added as all three of us filed outside.

I was shuffled into the backseat because it was 'safer' and I felt the bile rise up my throat at the sight of the blood soaking the seats.

"Why the fuck is there no one on the God damn roof?" Duke hissed as we turned in.

"Take away leadership and they're all just a bunch of teenagers," Renny added, both of them clearly annoyed as we all climbed out of the car.

I took a deep breath, trying to get the scent of blood out of my nostrils as I followed them inside.

"Fuck!" Duke yelled.

"Oh Jesus Christ," Renny added.

And I knew.

I knew without seeing because Duke's back was too wide to see past.

I still knew.

The reason there was no one on the roof wasn't because they were slacking off.

The reason was because they were dead.

Renny turned to Duke. "Get her the fuck out of here."

"We need to see if anyone is still..."

That was when I heard a groaning.

Renny ran in, but Duke hesitated, torn.

"I'll get in the car and lock the doors and get down low," I offered.

"Take the keys," he added, pressing them into my hands. "If I am not back out here in ten, get in the front seat and drive back to the hospital and tell them someone got in. Actually, you have my phone still. Call Reign and tell him while you're in the car. If something happens to us, they will keep you safe. Go," he demanded when I hesitated.