Page 57 of Ghost's Obsession

The bastard just smiles wider. There’s something going on with this man—some piece of the puzzle we’re still missing.

Siege’s fist comes down fast, crashing across the guy’s jaw with a sick thud. His head snaps to the side and the smilevanishes from his face. For a moment all we can hear is his heavy breathing.

Siege stands over him, furious. His chest heaves, and his eyes burn. The man on the floor blinks, blood sliding from the corner of his mouth. That cocky smile is gone, replaced with a frown.

“You wanna keep playing games,” Siege says, voice low and dangerous, “or do you want a shot at waking up tomorrow?”

The man spits blood to the side. “You think I’m scared of you?”

Siege crouches until they’re face to face. “I don’t think you’re smart enough to be afraid of the man dying to plant you six feet in the ground.”

When he still doesn’t cooperate, Siege tries another approach. “But I know you’re scared shitless of whoever’s on the other end of that phone.” He jerks his chin towards the burner on the table. “That’s why you didn’t run. You’re afraid of whathe’lldo if he catches up with you.”

“I don’t run,” the guy growls.

“Bullshit,” Rigs says from behind him. “Only two types of men roll with Carnage—the desperate and the stupid.”

“Or the loyal,” the man fires back. “We ride together. We bleed together.”

“Ride?” I echo, stepping closer. “You saying this is a club now?”

The guy hesitates—just long enough for us to see him try to wipe the truth off his face. He swallows thickly before stating with quiet dignity, “We never stopped being a club.”

Siege glances over his shoulder at me, and I know we’re both thinking the same thing.

Carnage didn’t scatter. He kept the men that were voted out of the club close.

“What’s it called?” I ask curiously, circling him, watching every tiny expression jump onto his face. “This new little outfit you’ve got goin’?”

He keeps his mouth shut, so I crouch in front of him. “You think he’s gonna protect you? You’re sitting here zip-tied and bleeding while he’s off somewhere laughing his ass off.”

His gaze flickers from one to the other of us. We see it on his face, a seed of doubt creeping into his mind.

Rigs pushes a chair across the room and sits backwards in it, resting his arms on the back. “How many of you are there?”

Before he can answer, Dutch walks in, holding a half-scorched folder.

“Found this in a metal trash can in the bathroom,” he says, dropping it on the table. “Didn’t burn it fast enough.”

Siege flips it open. Inside is a hand-drawn patch design—a crowned skull with six points on the crown. Underneath it, scribbled in blocky print:

Six Heads. One Crown.

Six names are listed beside it, Carnage, Slaughter, Grime, Joker, Hawk, Merc.

And suddenly, it’s all too clear. This isn’t just some splinter cell of angry exiles. This is a six-man MC, a rogue crew with no rules, no boundaries, no loyalty to anyone but to themselves.

“They call themselves the Kings,” Dutch says grimly. “Or they plan to. I’m still digging through the ashes. Their favorite method of covering their trail seems to be indiscriminately burning shit. I’ve found three different burn locations, each with some paperwork that we might use to piece together information. I think this might have been their main base of operations.”

Tex lets out a long breath, rubbing his jaw. “So, this is what Carnage has been up to, building his own empire.”

Siege nods once, his tone ice cold. “Yeah. It’s weird that they don’t seem to have any electronics around, except the television. How do they keep track of their shit or maintain records? This is the part that doesn’t make any sense to me.”

The guy on the floor is smirking all over the place. He starts to speak, but Siege kicks him in the leg. “Shut the fuck up, Joker. Did you really think I forgot your fucking name? Shit’s not so funny now, is it?”

Rigs speaks up, “They’re three men down. We’ve got Joker, Merc, and this looks like Hawk there with a big hole in his chest. From where I’m standing, Carnage doesn’t have much of a crew left.”

I tell them, “In my opinion, losing half his crew will only trigger him.”

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