Page 67 of Ghost's Obsession

When no one responds, Carnage continues “I don’t need your fucking club. I have my own club.”

Ghost says, “Yeah, we heard all about your little club.”

“Unlike the Legion, I’m building something real. Six heads, one crown. Do you know what that means? Loyalty. Blood. Purpose. Not patching in mechanics and pretending it’s a legacy. That kid in my old lady’s belly? He’s gonna ride for something that matters. I’ll raise him right. Raise him to be strong like me.”

I stare at him, unable to believe what I’m seeing and hearing. Carnage is full-on crazy-go-nuts. Six heads, one crown? I’ve never heard of anything like it before. And it sure as hell doesn’t sound profound by any stretch of the imagination.

Ghost finally speaks again, his voice deep and angry.

“You sure he’s gonna grow up at all? Your club doesn’t have such good odds of survival as you think.”

Carnage stops moving. His face morphs into an expression of horror. “What the hell did you do, Ghost?”

“You’re not the criminal mastermind you like to think you are,” Ghost explains. “If you were, you’d know we’ve already picked up three of your boys. Fifty percent of your club is sitting in our lockup.”

Carnage’s hand begins to tremble.

Ghost names them, “Joker. Hawk. Merc. We’ve got them all. The question is, how important are your club brothers? Important enough to trade for a woman who doesn’t even want to be with you?”

Carnage freezes in place. “You’re a liar. Sometimes they can’t get cell service where they are.”

“Yeah, that rinky-dink cabin had really bad cell coverage, as well as bad everything else.”

Carnage begins losing his shit. He brings his cell phone up to his head and smashes it into his forehead a couple of times before yelling, “This is a trick. It has to be. My men would never let the Legion get the jump on them.”

“They didn’t exactly let us,” Ghost says. “They fought hard and one’s dead. We’re trying to decide if the other two get to live long enough to be useful.”

“You’re full of shit!” Carnage explodes. Suddenly, he’s screaming into the phone and pacing like a wild animal. He starts ranting about getting revenge and burning down the clubhouse.

Watching him unravel is the scariest thing I’ve ever witnessed with my own eyes. The man who kidnapped me went from proud and gloating to absolutely feral in the span of a few minutes and I can’t believe what I’m seeing.

Grime walks over just as Carnage starts breaking down, puts his hand over the phone and gives it a little tug. I can’t take my mind off the scene that’s unfolding before my very eyes. Carnage stares at him for a brief second before letting the phone go. Grime rips the back off the phone, removes the battery, and casually tosses the burner phone away.

“Never let your enemies see you at your worst. It’s one of the first lessons you ever taught me.”

Carnage straightens up to his full height. “Thank you, brother,” he says with quiet dignity. “This is the thing we have that the Legion never had—brothers that have each other’s back no matter what.”

Grime brings his hand up and gives Carnage’s shoulder a squeeze before walking off.

I just sit there, nervously cramming nuts in my mouth, like I’m watching some kind of bizarrely engrossing blockbuster. Stress eating is apparently becoming my thing. This whole situation is off the damn chain, but it’s driven one point home to me. Carnage isn’t really interested in me. He’s so fixated on the Savage Legion that he’s forgotten I’m even here.

I feel invisible to him. Then something sparks in my brain. I’m invisible. I’m bait. They’re using me to lure the Legion to them for a final showdown. I can tell because they’re starting to set up barriers and reinforcing the catwalk with metal panels, so they can get a high advantage while keeping themselves out of the direct line of fire. They begin breaking into wooden crates that I thought contained more candy because of the markings on the outside. But it’s all weapons and ammo, a shit ton of it. Holy shit, I’ve got to warn Ghost.

Chapter 21

Ghost

Siege, Rigs, and I are in Zen’s office. He pulls up the image I just sent him.

“See there on the lower back panel?”

Zen zooms in on the writing. “Where did you say you got this from?”

I glance at Siege before answering, “Some kid on a skateboard sent it to me. He said he saw the message had the word ‘help’ and my phone number, so he snapped a picture of it and texted it to me.”

Rigs asks, “Did he happen to say where the van was parked?”

“No, but I asked him. He says the van was parked outside a convenience store an hour ago. Some thug bought a shit ton of beer, loaded it up in the back and drove away fast. Said he thought it over and decided it’s better to be safe than sorry. So, he sent it to the number on the van, my number.”

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