Page 51 of Sniper

I left the room and headed to the bar where I found plenty of my brothers gathered. “Katey is gone.” It only took seconds before a hush fell over the room. Even Chopper’s grunted breathing seemed to quiet down. “She’s gone.”

Peyton got to her feet. “What do you mean she’s gone? How in the hell did she leave without anyone noticing and when did she leave?” She looked around the room, accusation swam in her eyes. “Well?”

“I didn’t check on her last night. We had an argument, I ended up getting drunk and crashing in T-Bone’s room,” I admitted with an uneasy sigh. “I was pissed, and I didn’t handle it well.” I knew she felt guilty and still I didn’t bother to checkon her, to let her know that I was angry, but didn’t blame her. “Fuck!”

“I’ll try and track her phone,” Slate said.

Diesel stood and wiped his hands on his pants with a heavy sigh. “We’ll head out and try to find her. Two man teams, let’s scour this fucking city.” The determined expression on Diesel’s face gave me hope that we could find her before Ethan did.

***

We searched the city for hours, checking alleys, dumpsters, abandoned houses, flop houses, dope dens, and everywhere in between. She wasn’t anywhere expected, which either meant that Ethan had already gotten to her, or she was deep in hiding. “This isn’t fucking working,” I growled to Rebel, feeling my anger bubble up.

“It’s been five goddamn hours, relax. Besides, you wanted her gone, didn’t you?”

“What the fuck did you just say?” My heart banged inside my chest at his words, so casually fucking flippant.

“You heard me,” he challenged. “You’ve done nothing but complain since you agreed to help her, and you were so furious when she finally told you what she was holding back.” His eyes held a hint of mischief that begged me to punch him.

“I had every right to be pissed!”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “You did. But you forgot that she wasn’tjustyour wife, but a fragile fucking woman in need of protection. From an angry, abusive asshole.”

I snorted. “Don’t take it easy on me, Rebel. Please.”

“I won’t.” He grinned and lightly punched my shoulder. “You fuckers are all alike. Protect a woman, fall for her, and then act completely oblivious to the fact that you’ve fallen.” He snorted in disgust and shook his head.

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” The words shot out of me on an angry growl. “I haven’t fallen for shit.”

“True,” he laughed. “You fell for a woman. At least shit is easy to get rid of.”

“The fuck I have!” I liked Katey and I respected her strength despite all she’d been through, but love? “I don’t do love.”

“Neither did Diesel or Rocky, Gio, Hawk, or Maverick. Look at those whipped fuckers now.” He snickered to himself.

“I think you forgot the part where this is all fake.” I fisted my hands at my side and glared at my so-called friend.

“You mean how Gio was fake dating your sister and now they’re shacking up together and planning to get hitched?” He shook his head as we made our way back to our bikes. “Look man, I’m not here to shame you for falling for Katey. She’s easy on the eyes, smart as hell, and she’s good in a crisis. You could do worse.”

“But?”

“But you’re only lying to yourself and if we don’t find her in time,” he let out a low whistle. “You won’t ever be able to forgive yourself.”

“Well fuck.” I already carried the weight of many dead brothers and sisters in arms, adding another, a woman and a civilian? That might wreck me.

“It’s all right, you don’t have to tell me just don’t lie to yourself.” He jumped on his bike and started it up. “Let’s get back to the clubhouse.”

“Get back? We haven’t found Katey yet.” It was my fault that she was gone. If something happened to her, I would never forgive myself. Neither would Cal, how was I gonna explain that to him? “Shit.”

As soon as we arrived at the clubhouse, I made a beeline for Slate. “Have you found anything?”

He shook his head, an apologetic expression written on his face. “She used her phone twice today at two different convenience stores, one in Steel City one in Vegas.” His shoulders sagged with disappointment. “She used the phone and turned it off so there’s no other data to track.”

“What about credit cards,” Hawk asked.

Slate shook his head. “Nope. No use on them since an ATM withdrawal months ago. In California.”

That wasn’t surprising. “She’s been living on the run for more than a year, she knows how to stay off the digital grid.” She was used to running so that was no shock. The most surprising part was that she was still in the area. Hopefully.

---