Page 106 of Hendrix

“I’ll go get my laptop,” Colt muttered, veering off and jogging down the steps toward the basement.

Diablo walked ahead, stopping at the door of the room where we held Church. After staring at the eye scanner, he punched in the sequence to release the locks and held the door open, ushering us inside.

“Where’s Pyro and Dad?” I asked.

“Will’s in charge of one of the teams out looking for Tweety,” Blade replied. “And Pyro’s with Fender. Told him to stick with Addie like glue. He’s sleeping on a pull-out in her room tonight. It’s a bullshit excuse to keep an eye on Fender on the off chance he wants to exact a little revenge. Couldn’t fault the brother if he went in half-cocked and tried to take Ace out. I just don’t want him doin’ it alone when he’s vulnerable. Those three kids need him around. If we’re gonna take Ace out, we do it together.”

“Good thinking,” I muttered, taking my chair.

“Ace does need putting down, Prez,” Blade hissed, sitting beside me. “Always knew he was a dog, but I never realized he was a loose cannon, too. Taking one of our kids? Is he fuckin’ sick?” He gave a little shudder. “Could’ve been Gigi. She was yards away from them. I’d have fucking flipped out if they’d grabbed her. Dunno how the fuck Fender held his shit together.”

“This is why I know Ace is somehow involved in Anna’s disappearance,” I stated. “He went to a lotta trouble to get my attention. He was at my side back when I left Anna, and the asshole knows how deeply it affected me. If he wants to get to me, there are three ways to do it. Through my woman, my dad, and my club. Today, he fucked with all of ‘em.”

“He’s gotta die,” Diablo pointed out.

“Looks that way,” I replied. “Loved him like the brother I never had. He screwed me over, but it was never bad enough to take him out. The second he took Addie and Anna, the rules changed. Now, I’ll take him out, and I won’t lose sleep over it.”

The buzzer sounded as the door locks disengaged, and Colt walked into the meet, carrying his laptop and an iPad under his arm. Dropping into his seat, he opened the computer, and his fingers began flying over the keyboard.

The screens surrounding us on the walls all lit up, giving us a panoramic view of his screen. Lines of data appeared, then morphed into code and back again.

My mind immediately went to Anna, and my throat filled with emotion.

It had taken the entire journey home to lock my shit down. I had to keep a calm head if I was gonna be instrumental in finding her. If Ace was involved, he’d have put roadblocks in place, and I needed to be clear-minded if I wanted to either jump over them or smash through them.

Still, the tightness in my gut was as acute as the pain in my heart. If anything happened to Anna, I wasn’t sure I’d have a place left in the world.

I’d already had to live the last few years without her, and it almost destroyed me. The only thing that kept me going was the sliver of a chance that one day, we’d find our way back to each other; so I knew if anything happened to my woman or my boy, I’d wither away.

That was if I didn’t take myself out first.

There was no life for me without Anna. She was my reason for existing. I was empty without her. Everything that passed my lips tasted like ash, and everything that I touched felt wrong. All my interactions were tinged with loneliness because the one person I needed by my side wasn’t there.

The first time I sat in her salon chair, and she sifted her fingers through my hair, my world came alive. I fought it because I was scared and yeah, I drove her away, though I was glad of it now because it made me appreciate what I let go. God knew the idiot I was back then never deserved her.

But I was trying to deserve her now.

I was trying to be a better man.

It wasn’t a secret that I was rough around the edges and usually said the wrong thing, but I was also trying to soften and relax into becoming the ol’ man she needed, as well as a good role model for Junior.

If Anna and my boy were taken from me, there’d be nothing left inside.

The code on the screens began to morph into images of a young Tweety with a shaved head, wearing an army uniform. Pictures of him on nights out, dressed in civilian clothing, laughing among a crowd of men, flicked across the walls.

“I’m on his socials,” Colt murmured. “Nothin’ there that ties him to Ace. Lemme go back further.” He tapped furiously on his keyboard, and more images flashed up, this time of young, smiling teens. “Going through his yearbook. Gonna check if anyone he went to school with has a connection.”

My stare caught on a particular image, and something pinged at the back of my mind. “Wait!”

The images froze.

“Go back,” I ordered.

The last page flicked back on the screen and my gut clenched as I stared at the girl. “That girl, bottom row, third from the left.”

“Is that...?” Diablo began, his words trailing off.

“Jesus,” Gambit muttered.

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