Ice (Regulators MC 1)

“Agreed,” Hammer replies. “The conversation will happen, though, at a better time.”

I nod my head, knowing he is as stubborn as a mule. He is locked onto this, there is no changing his mind.

“We need a plan. We need a solid headcount. As soon as we have a lock on their location, we’re going in. Fuck the FBI and any other jackass in a uniform. I’m not waitin’ around. When we have a definite spot, we’re engaging. We need Crissy to get something set up for the girls, and Doc will need to be on stand-by.”

The guys all nod their heads in agreement as they mentally get in the zone for what we will need after we recover the captured women.

“Vans, we’ll need multiple vans. This isn’t going to sound fair or nice, but damn, we gotta be safe,” Skid pipes in with a disgusted look on his face. “We need to cover the cages and transport the girls out that way.”

Coal looks darkly at our brother.

“Here me out,” Skid adds, taking note of his reaction. “We don’t know if the needles have been shared. Some of these women were users before getting kidnapped. Now they’ve been whored out, too. Before we risk getting scratched, bitten, or otherwise attacked, I think we need to be smart.”

Coal pushes off from the table and turns to stare at the wall. Without looking at them, I know none of the men in the room like having to put Coal through this mission. It is bringing too much up from his twisted past. Although his circumstances were different, aspects of this case are close enough to what happened when he was younger to fuck with his head. I wish I had time to sit my brother down, talk to him about it like I probably should have done a long time ago; however, we don’t have time for it now.

“I get it, Coal. We need to be safe, though. Once we get them to the safe house, slowly, one by one, we can release them. This is different than anything we’ve done in the past. This is ten times the amount of packages to be picked up and delivered to safety from a hostile zone we’re infiltrating. Add to that an unknown amount of guards, and the level of danger further escalates. As much as I don’t like it, Skid’s right.

“Think about it. We’re going into hostile territory, which means getting in and out quickly. We don’t have the time to be fighting with half drugged women who could be infected with AIDS, for crying out loud. I don’t like the idea of traumatizing them any more than you do, but I don’t want to get scratched by a hysterical woman and end up with a disease, either. We gotta be smart. You fuckin’ know this.”

“Knowin’ it doesn’t make it any easier,” Coal answers, blowing out a breath.

“Nothin’ about what we do is ever easy,” Hammer says as a sober silence fills the room. We can all see a woman, three cages down from Madyson, is having a seizure.

“Find the damn location, Screech!” I roar before slamming my fist into the wall, causing two of his monitors to fall and shatter. I don’t care. All of this equipment is nothing but a useless pile of junk if we can’t find the source of the feeds.

Chapter

14

Ice

Getting home, I am kicking myself for being so late. I walk into my living room and find Morgan asleep in my chair, the remote on the floor by her feet. I loudly move around in the hope she will wake up. She can sleep in the guest room, but I don’t want to be the one to move her.

Going in the kitchen, I find a note on the counter.

Your dinner plate is in the microwave. Dessert is a chocolate mousse in the fridge. You shouldn’t choke on that. ~M~

I smile at her attitude, even in a letter. This woman challenges me in a way I have never been tested.

After eating my dinner and dessert, I clean up the kitchen, again loudly. When I arrive back in the living room, she hasn’t moved.

Damn. She must sleep like the dead. I haven’t managed to sleep like that since before basic training. A man learns to keep one ear open and run on little sleep when his life could depend upon it. Still, it does something to me to see her sleeping so soundly in my house after I know how she has run herself into the ground the last several days worrying over her sister.

Scooping her up, I start to take her into the guest room; however, I look down and see the tear lines, she has obviously been crying tonight. With as tired as Morgan’s been, I do not want to leave her sleeping in a chair that might hurt her neck and back. I also do not like the idea of putting her in the guest room, because I know the mattress is not in the best shape anymore and can be uncomfortable to sleep on. The woman is dog tired and deserves a good night’s sleep. There is only one available bed in the house left, and that is in my room. It means giving up my own bed for the night, but it won’t kill me to sleep on a shitty mattress. I have slept on far worse in my Army days. Therefore, I follow my instincts and make my way up the stairs to my room with her.