Darkness Embraced (Hades Hangmen 7)

Ky nodded, then took out his cell. He snapped a few pictures. It only took me a second to see what my old man was in front of—Nazi and white-power flags on the wall. Ky gave him a wide grin. “For our insurance.” He got up from the table. “Sure your constituents would love to know you don’t go to sleep at night without wanking off to German porn and screaming Heil Hitler when you come.”

“You piece of shit—”

“Think you’ll find that’s you,” Tank snapped, and he moved beside me. I saw his eyes darken when they landed on Beau. I stood in front of my brother. Not one of these men—including Tank—was touching him.

Styx whistled, and signed for Vike to open the door. “Go,” he signed to my father. Ky gave the order. Styx smirked. My old man edged to the door. Styx stood in his way the minute he was almost free.

“Valdez has the cartel.” My father’s face fell when Ky spoke Styx’s words aloud. Styx stepped closer and closer still. “And you have no men left.” My eyes widened when he said that. My fucking pulse kicked into a fast sprint. “We killed them all . . . every last one.” Styx just glared at my father, silently. Then, “You’re on your own.” Styx glanced down to my uncle and the other three dead men. “You have no one left . . . Governor.”

Styx moved aside, and my father glared at me and Beau. “You’re gonna regret this. One day you’ll fucking regret this.” Then he was gone. I didn’t know how he would get back to Texas without any men. But I didn’t fucking care. He was gone.

Ky faced me and Beau and pointed his gun at my brother. “Now, time for this fucker to go to the boatman.”

I shoved Beau behind me. “No,” I hissed. “It was Beau all along,” I said, and saw Tank watching me. “The contact . . . it was Beau. He was taking the Klan down from the inside . . .” I told them what Beau had told me. All of it. Every fucking thing.

“That true, Beau?” Tank asked.

Beau pushed me to the side so he could be seen. “I’m good, Tann.” Facing my brothers, he said, “It’s true. All of it. They were coming for y’all. Wasn’t gonna let that happen. They weren’t getting to Tanner.”

“No one’s fucking touching him,” I said, and meant every damn word. “Believe him or not. It’s true. But no fucker here is gonna lay a damn finger on him or we’ll have trouble.”

Ky and Styx looked to each other. Ky shrugged. “Then it looks like we owe mini Ayers a motherfucking drink.” I exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. Tank came over and slapped Beau on the back. As always, my brother didn’t react. Forever in his own head. Silent and giving nothing away. But I could tell by his eyes he was relieved.

“You really took out the Klan?” I asked Styx. He nodded. “And Valdez really took the Quintana cartel?” He nodded again . . . “Adelita?” I held my breath.

“Wasn’t there when they raided. She got out somehow,” Ky said. He looked to Styx, a strange expression on his face.

“What?” Tension filled the room. “What?”

Ky came toward me. “Turns out your bitch was always Hangmen property.” I frowned, confused, when he added, “Quintana wasn’t her old man. Not by blood. His wife wasn’t her mother.”

I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. “Then who was?”

Ky pointed at Styx. “Styx’s mama.” Ky slammed his hand down on my shoulder. “Styx here just learned he’s got a sister . . .” Ky let the sentence go. “Adelita.”

My fucking head pounded. But when I met Styx’s eyes, I knew it was true. “Where is she?”

“We’ll find her,” Styx signed.

“We’ve taken the Klan’s camp. We’re using it as our base.”

Vike and Rudge led the way out of the safe house, when one face suddenly entered my head and I asked, “Diego? Valdez get him too?”

“He fled,” Tank answered. “Valdez is on it. He won’t be alive for long. Valdez has all his men out looking for him. He won’t make it to dawn. Fucking dead man walking.” I wanted to kill him. I wanted to be the one who watched that fucker die. “We’ll get her back, Tann. I fucking promise.” My mind immediately went back to Adelita.

I was gonna find her.

She was out there, somewhere.

And we were alive . . . everything we ever fucking wanted.

*****

“You good?” I asked Beau. Beau lay back on the bed.

Beau nodded, closed his eyes, and I knew that was him closing himself off. I waited until he was asleep before I ducked out of the room. My fucking head was still spinning from everything that had happened. My brothers, along with the Diablos and the other Hangmen chapters, were all outside. Some on patrol, others beside fires, celebrating the win. The bodies had all been moved before we got back. Valdez sent some contact he had to collect them—black-market shit I was sure.

I’d just sat down beside Tank when a black car pulled into the camp. I got to my feet and fell behind Styx and Ky.

“Valdez’s car,” Ky said. Still, my brothers were all armed up.

The driver got out of the car like hundreds of guns weren’t aimed at him. He came toward us. “Tanner Ayers?” he said, his Mexican accent thick.

My eyes narrowed, but I flicked my chin. The driver handed me a piece of paper. “Adela Quintana has been found.” I looked down at the paper. It had a number written on it. “You’re to call this number. We got instructions that it must only be you. You need to personally arrange where to pick her up.”

The driver walked to the car and drove away. I didn’t fucking wait. I hightailed it to the headquarters where the phones were. I dialed the number. After three rings, a voice asked, “Tanner?”

It took me a minute to recognize the voice. “Father Reyes?” I’d met him a few times when I was at Adelita’s hacienda.

“She’s with me. She’s safe.” All the tension I’d been holding onto melted the fuck away and nothing but relief set in my bones. “She’s hurt, Tanner.” In a second, that relief faded. “Lita is okay. But Diego . . . he hurt her. Beat her. I found her on the floor in her bedroom, barely conscious. I’ve cleaned her up and brought her to a remote chapel. No one knows where we are.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and fought back the rage that was building inside me. “I’m coming for her,” I announced. “I—” I stopped speaking and looked out of the window. My brothers were waiting for me outside. Styx kept looking my way. I still couldn’t get my fucking head around the fact Adelita—my Adelita—was Styx’s and Chavez’s sister. “Can she walk, Luis?”

“Yes. She’s bruised and tired, but otherwise she’s well. Nothing is broken.”

“Can she talk?”

“Yes. She’s not with me now. I didn’t want this call to be traced. But Tanner, she’s well, I promise. Bruised, hurting, but she’s tough. She’s always been a fighter.” My throat fucking clogg

ed, and I nodded my head as a fucking grunt of agreement left my mouth. “She is.” My voice was gravel, fucking eyes stinging. “She’s always been a fighter. Right from the very first moment I met her.” I took a fucking second to breathe. “Father Reyes, listen to me . . .” I spoke to the priest and made the plan. When I hung up, I walked outside to my chapter. “We get her tomorrow. Her friend saved her. I know him. And I know where to go.”

“Where?”

“A remote chapel. I’ve been given the directions. Luis knows where this camp is. Luis’s a priest. Her priest.” I told my brothers where the church was. “We’ll get her at dawn.” Styx nodded. “I’m gonna hit the hay,” I said.

I could see Tank’s suspicious expression. His eyes were narrowed on me. He knew something was up. That’s why I had to get to my room. I needed this night. Just this one fucking night with her on my own. Shit, I only needed a couple of hours.

Beau lifted his head when I opened the door. “I know where she is.” Beau nodded. I kept trying to read him to see if he had a problem with me being engaged to a Mexican. Klan ideology was hard to shake. But there was nothing in Beau’s face but acceptance.

“When you getting her back?”

I didn’t wanna lie to my brother, so I just said, “Soon.”

I lay down on the other small bed and knocked off the light. I stared at the ceiling, the darkness wrapping around me. And I waited. I waited until Beau’s breathing had evened out. And I waited until the sound of my brothers talking outside died down.

Checking the time, I quietly got off the bed and sneaked out the door. Most of the brothers hadn’t made it to their beds. They were passed out drunk or exhausted on the ground. Using my experience from my years in the army, I moved silently in the dark. Around the building and into the surrounding forest. I cut through the trees until I arrived at the village nearby.