Beyond the Cut (Sinner's Tribe Motorcycle Club #2)(8)
But that’s what he got for his arrogance. If he’d had any sense, he would have waited for backup before he entered the building. Now he could only hope the Sinners would find him before the Brethren decided he was worth more dead than alive. Killing him and dumping his body would send a powerful message, although he still couldn’t understand how they thought they could take on his club.
Unless they weren’t working alone.
He gritted his teeth as the van rattled over the bumpy road. Damn uncomfortable lying on the metal surface. But then he’d never thought about the comfort of the men he’d kidnapped, either.
The vehicle slowed to a stop and his heart pounded in his chest. He’d heard them arguing about what to do with him for most of the trip. Protocol, such as it was in the biker world, demanded they hand him over to their president, Wolf, to make the call. Cade didn’t know any MC that would condone the kind of vigilante action these losers were contemplating. Executions were almost always at the discretion of the MC president, especially if the purpose was political.
The van doors slammed open and Cade blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light from the setting sun. Someone cut the ropes around his feet and he was hauled out of the van and pushed to his knees on the deserted gravel road. Mad Dog stood in front of him and pointed his Desert Eagle .50 at his head.
*. With a f*cking useless * weapon.
“Say your prayers, Sinner.”
“Fuck, Mad Dog. This ain’t right.” A tall, gangly redhead with a scraggly beard and a name patch that read RUSTY put a hand on Mad Dog’s arm. “This is Wolf’s call. You off him and we’re in a full-out war with the Sinners. We gotta wait until the patch-over, then the Jacks will have our backs.”
Cade sucked in a sharp breath, as a memory twigged at the back of his mind. The warehouse belonged to the Black Jacks. Arianne had been kidnapped and held inside it last year. Jagger had saved her and almost lost his life. If the Jacks were letting the Brethren use the warehouse as a base, then the patch-over was a serious possibility.
Christ. A union between the Sinner’s Tribe’s most powerful rival, the Jacks, and a solid midsized club like the Brethren could spell the end for his MC. The Sinners wouldn’t just lose territory or their dominance of the state; the Jacks would have the muscle to hunt them down and slaughter them one by one.
He needed to get the information to Jagger ASAP. Problem was, he was tied and on his knees with a f*cking gun to his head.
“It’s my call.” Mad Dog spat on the ground beside Cade’s knee. “This is personal, not political. He was with my old lady. He had his f*cking paws on her. Probably been f*cking her, too. I gotta right to protect my property.”
“Thought she wasn’t your old lady no more.” A burly biker with a massive beer gut toyed with his barbecue gun, a nickel-plated fixed-sight .38 super 1911, low on functionality but nice for cowboy shooter types to show off at barbecues or social functions. “And it becomes political once you off him, whatever the reason.”
“Dammit, Trey. She’s a bitch who needs to be kept in line. A man’s got a right to punish his old lady. And that bitch has so much damn attitude, she needs it a lot. She thinks she’s untouchable living in Conundrum, just like she thought she was untouchable when she filed for divorce. But those kids are her weakness. She wants them; she comes home to Daddy. This time tomorrow I’ll be beating her into submission with a bullwhip until she learns not to defy me again, and then I’m gonna f*ck her so hard she won’t remember her own name.”
Son of a bitch. Cade itched to get his hands around Mad Dog’s throat. But first he needed to get his hands free.
Mad Dog’s phone buzzed in his cut. He signaled to his Brethren brothers to watch Cade, and then he walked down the road as he engaged in a heated conversation with the caller. Cade continued working the ropes he’d loosened during the trip. Just another inch and he’d be able to show Mad Dog what a real beating was like.
Mad Dog returned a few minutes later, his face red and spittle bubbling at the corners of his lips.
“Wolf knows we got the Sinner. Wants us to let him go. One of you musta texted him during the drive. Who’s the f*cking rat?”
Silence.
Although Mad Dog wore a vice president patch, Cade hadn’t been around the group long enough to ascertain just how much power he held in the club. But if one of his supporters had reported the kidnapping to Wolf behind Mad Dog’s back, then he didn’t have the type of loyalty that inspired leadership. Which meant he’d be trying to prove himself, making him twice as dangerous as any of the other Devil’s Brethren gathered around him.
“Fuck.” Mad Dog kicked Cade in the side and Cade clenched his teeth against the pain.
“Wolf says we can rough him up a bit, but until the patch-over is a sure thing, he doesn’t want to start a war with the Sinners.” His lip curled and he spat again. “Wolf is a f*cking old man. He’s weak. Yeah, we need the Jacks, but why would we patch over and let them swallow us up instead of becoming a support club and keeping our power? It’s time for a change. Once I’m president, I’ll make this club great again like it was under my old man. I’m not afraid of the damn Sinners. We got lots of new blood. I say we start a war. Bring it on.”
“You got ambition and good ideas but you gotta be patient.” Rusty held up a warning hand. “You’re not gonna help your case in the election if you outright defy Wolf. You gotta show you can toe the party line until it’s your f*cking party. We should do as Wolf says. Beat him good and let him go.”