Page 62 of Bear Hunt

All three truck loads of us pile out in unison, slamming our doors at once as though we’d practiced it a thousand times. The six of us from Rockford Beach come together with Sledge taking the lead, while the other Sons box us in as reinforcements.

“Fucking hell, lads, we ain’t the enemy.” Psycho and I immediately look at each other and I don’t need to ask him because I fucking know he’s thinking the same damn thing I am. “I’m Jarrett, this is my bird, Ophelia.” A pretty-boy with dark hair stands tall and proud with relaxed features like this is just another Tuesday. Beside him is a beautiful blonde who looks like she could kill you without getting a single wrinkle in her designer jacket. It’s like they stepped off the runway and decidedto own the title of power couple. And of fucking course, he’s British.

One Sledge is always enough, but two? Fuck me, my brain is gonna explode.

“Call me your bird again and I’ll slice your balls right off and serve them for dinner.” Oh snap.

“I’d watch that reality TV, for sure.” Grinder is suddenly poking his head between our shoulders with a grin spread wide across his face. Jarrett doesn’t even flinch at Ophelia’s threat, just clasps his hand around hers and pulls her to his side with a smug grin on his face like he’s won the lottery.

“Where you from, mate?” Here we go, Sledge is about to jizz himself because he’s found his long-lost British brother.

“Croydon, you?” Now they’re bro-hugging like they’ve known each other their whole fucking lives.

“Bromley, fuck yeah!” Sledge is clearly excited about this and it sounds like they’re from the same area. I mean, they sound the same, but what the fuck do I know? A Brit is a Brit is a Brit, amiright?

“I feel like I’ve been lied to my entire life.” We all look at Bash with matching frowns on our faces. The hell’s he’s talking about? “What? They do not sound a damn thing like the BBC news or Hugh Grant in Love, Actually.” I mean, the kid ain’t wrong.

“Aww BashyBoo is starting his Christmas movies marathon.” Grinder rubs Bash’s dirty blond hair like he’s five years old, and as much as this whole scene is great, we need to get to the point of it.

“I’m happy y’all are all tight and shit but we need to find my woman and every second is one too many with her in danger.” Every conversation stops in an instant. The boom in my voice may very well be the reason and I’m not even sorry about it.

“Right, yeah, sorry, mate. Just excited to find a like-minded bruva.” Jarrett pronounces the word brother all funny… just like Sledge.

“I get it, I do. But, man, Athena needs us. After that, y’all can reminisce about the good ol’ days in the queen’s land.” Sledge and Jarrett both chuckle at my expense.

“King’s land, now.” And it’s like an echo when they speak at the same time. Christ, these two put together would have women trailing behind them asking them to pronounce everyday, normal words then dropping their panties, no lie.

“I’m assuming you’re Bear because, damn, you are tall.” Ophelia looks almost annoyed at the fact that she just about reaches my collarbone. I look down and… she’s straight up wearing heels. I smirk and she narrows her eyes on me. “Don’t be smug. I own weapons and know how to use them.” Even in my pissed off state, I can admit that I like this woman. She don’t play. Ten bucks says she and Flower would get along like two peas ready to take out the entire pod.

Then again, the two of them in one place seems like overkill. Literally speaking.

“Nice to meet you, Ophelia. So what’s the plan?” Now, everyone is in mission mode, thank fuck. We all look to her for information because, for some reason, she gives off this aura that she knows what the fuck she’s doing. I can appreciate that.

“Okay, so Jarrett and I have been hunting down The Firm for about seven months now.” She pauses, zeroing in on someone behind her when he drops a box he was transferring from the plane to the car. “Imagine a hydra with at least a hundred heads constantly moving and reshaping. That’s The Firm, and each family is a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth with money to burn. We started with one of the heads, closest to the ground, which happened to be Jarrett’s own father, mainly because he was theeasiest to access. But that doesn’t matter, it's a story for when we’ve got your girlfriend back.”

My shoulders straighten and my chest puffs out.

“Do you have any idea where to go from here?” It’s like Psycho plucked the question right out of my head.

“Yes.” Perfect answer, I am all fucking ears. “We have pin-pointed the exact location of a large property just north of here. It’s remote, more so than the others, if you can even imagine that.” Christ, Montana was pretty fucking isolated. “We’ve brought the DOGs and our techs, along with our regular teams. Our intel, which is pretty fucking solid if I say so myself, shows they have twenty-two guards around the house and a V.I.P guest with his security detail. Our drone infrared located them all and we’ve got it in real-time.” When she’s done, my gaze bounces to Jarrett, who’s watching her like he wants to slam her against the nearest surface and fuck the authority right out of her.

“What’s our ETA to the premises?” Sarge is in Marine mode. I’m guessing he’s used to taking charge and this must be an adjustment for him.

“It has to be at night. We’ve got the element of surprise on our side,” Jarrett answers, but I’m watching Ophelia for her nod of confirmation.

“Does it even matter at this point? I mean, we’ve just barbecued two of his houses right down to the ground, I’m guessin’ they’re wound tighter than jungle gym screws.” At my question, Ophelia nods, confirming I’m not wrong.

“Yeah, there is that, but broad daylight will just expose us. Our goal is to go in as discreetly as possible, and the cover of night is the best chance we’ve got.” I grunt in agreement but I can’t help worrying that Athena will get caught in the crossfire and that thought terrifies me. “This is the closest airstrip we could find to the Grouse property. It’d be a good investment for us withthe Firm activity being prime around here but the owner won’t budge.”

“Probably because the cartels pay him a fuck ton of money to traffic their drugs. He’d be stupid to sell.” Jarrett pipes in, and I’ve never felt so disconnected from reality than I do in this exact moment. Infrared drones, cartels, owning fucking airports? Mama is probably rolling over in her grave, clucking her tongue, and yelling at me to make better friends.

Yeah, yeah, Ma. Just as soon as I get Athena home safe.

“We do have a bunker right outside the airport perimeter. We’ll rest up, plan, and eat something, because we’re gonna need our strength for this mission tonight.”

We all nod at Ophelia’s plan of action and I can feel the adrenaline start to boil in my veins.

“You guys can follow us out.” I hear myself say as if I’m running point here. As I take a step back on my way to the truck, Ophelia’s voice stops me in my tracks.

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