Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(50)

“Kenyon. What’s the word?”

“Not good, I’m afraid, brother. Not good. I’m thinking I’m in need of some fresh air, maybe a ride into the country. I’m wondering whether I might pay you a visit tomorrow.”

Kenyon had never come out before. There was no need. The Horde escorted the product to him. Isaac’s brain kicked into gear, working out the implications of this request. “Of course. You want me to set you a place at our table?”

“No need, Isaac. I’d just like a chat with you.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” They ended the call. Then he called Show and had him gather the troops.

They were all working their day jobs, but they’d need to take a few hours off. Isaac had an idea that the shitstorm was threatening to become a tsunami.

He took a quick shower before he left; he wanted to give everyone time to get there. When he was dressed and ready to go, Lilli still wasn’t back yet. She ran a f*cking long time—which probably accounted for the brilliance of her ass. He left a note on the counter, explaining that he needed to get to the clubhouse but he’d see her later.

oOo

Isaac walked into the clubhouse and scanned the room. As he walked through the main hall toward the Keep, his brothers fell in line behind him. Showdown came from his right, from the office, and joined Isaac at his side.

“Where’s Wyatt?” He was the only member Isaac hadn’t seen as he moved through the clubhouse.

Show gave him a look as he stepped back, so Isaac could go through the door into their club meeting room first. “Out of touch. You know—he takes his brother out and they do their Wild Man thing every year, camping and fishing and, f*ck, howling at the moon for all I know. Left over a week ago. They’ll be off the grid another two weeks.”

Off the grid. Isaac took another couple of steps toward his leather chair at the head of the gleaming ebony table—his own design and creation—and stopped in his tracks as a whole slew of pieces he’d had no idea connected suddenly fell into place.

Wyatt and his younger brother, Ray, were off the grid and had been for more than a week. Ray was an Army vet. Jesus, now that Isaac thought about it, he was pretty sure Ray had been a pilot. He’d done a couple of tours in Afghanistan, and he’d come back pissed and deeply weird. Mostly, these days, he was a hermit and a drunk.

Motherf*ck. Was Lilli gunning for Wyatt’s brother? Isaac couldn’t believe he hadn’t made the connection before. He’d spent no small amount of time trying to work out who Lilli was chasing, and Ray had never even f*cking entered his consideration. But Ray was club family. When Lilli told him she wasn’t interested in the club, and he’d believed her, he guessed he just stopped thinking about anyone having to do with the Horde.

Oh, Christ. Christ. How could he let her kill a brother’s brother? How could she let him stop her? Had she known all this time that he had a connection to the Horde?

No. No way. He refused to believe she’d known. No.

“Boss?” Show put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder, and Isaac looked around to see everyone sitting, looking at him with varying expressions of curiosity and concern. He cleared his throat and sat down. He was going to need to go back to Lilli as soon as this meeting was over. They needed to f*cking talk. But for now, he had to set that aside and focus his attention on the problem of Lawrence Ellis and the coming visit of Kenyon Berry.

They hadn’t met as a full table in a couple of weeks. In quiet times, they only had a scheduled business meeting once a month. The brothers knew their roles and had their schedules, and Isaac and Show dealt with adjustments on a case-by-case basis. But the quiet times were ending, and it was time to clue everybody in officially to what they’d all come to learn informally.

He explained about Ellis’s pressure on Will Keller to sell, and he described Will’s new hostility to Isaac.

Everybody knew that Isaac and Will were friends from way back, so they understood that Will shutting Isaac down was a very bad sign.

Len spoke up. He was only a couple of years older than Isaac and Will, and he and Will had played on the church baseball team together for years. They were friends, too. “I’ll give him a run. Been awhile since I had the boat out. I’ll see if he wants to take a cooler and a couple of poles.”

Isaac nodded. “Len, it’s crucial, brother, that Will holds out. He needs to know we got his back. And he needs to know there’s more at stake here than money. He needs to be sure of that.” Len nodded.

Isaac looked around the room, the faces of his brothers reflected in the gleaming, dark surface of the table he’d made with his own two hands. The wood was a special import and had been expensive. He was proud of the work—lustrous wood pieced precisely together, the seams all but invisible, with a turned braid forming an oblong center. The table was surrounded by red leather chairs. The rest of the room was typical biker bullshit—plaques and trophies, framed photographs and carved platitudes. But the table was class.

He faced his brothers around that table and cleared his throat. “Look. The hard truth here is we’re getting dragged into a war. Hell, we’re the main enemy, looks like. This is more than the Northsiders gettin’

chippy. This is about big time money. I am doing what I can to get backup, bringing Dandy and Becker on board, meeting with Kenyon tomorrow. Dandy and Becker are gonna want something from us, cuz they’re not keen on bringing this down on them. I explained that if we fall they’re next, but I’m thinking we’re gonna need to break off some of our piece, share it with them. Show and I are working those details out, and we’ll bring it to you when we have a plan. For now, we need to focus on the town. Ellis is making some noise already. With Kenyon coming to us, my bet is things are about to get a lot louder. We need to keep everybody here steady.”