Page 53 of Warrant
They both scowled at me, but didn’t ask questions. They knew I’d answer without them needing to.
“He was watching over the kid. Making sure no one hurt her.” I rubbed the back of my neck under the stark gazes of mypresident and vice president. “I don’t know. I sort of got the feeling he was only there to help her out.”
“Then why was he with this crew to begin with?” Cypher asked.
“No idea. Maybe he was only sticking around for the kids? I really don’t know,” I told them. “But my gut said he didn’t deserve a bullet. Besides, I wanted to get Aella out of there.”
“Thanks for that.”
I turned and met Riggs’s gaze. I hadn’t realized he’d been standing behind me. Pyre now had Aella sitting in the back of the SUV while he looked her over, and Riggs was close enough she wasn’t panicking that he was away from her. “Of course.” That was the whole point. To get the kids back. “He didn’t tell me anything useful. I’m not sure he knew anything useful.”
“He didn’t say where he was headed?” Scythe asked.
“Going back to his crew,” I answered.
“Does this seem too…easy…to anyone else?” Demo asked.
Everyone nodded.
I gave the Austin guys an apologetic glance. “Here’s my take on it, though it’s just a theory.”
“Your theories tend to pan out,” Cypher said.
“We figured from the start that the target was Jared, though we don’t know why yet. They ended up with two kids and I think Aella was just along for the ride. A way to keep him as compliant as they could until they could dump her. I think this was them just getting rid of her so she wasn’t their problem anymore.” I kept my voice low so the kid wouldn’t overhear me. I wasn’t even sure if Riggs had. Probably better if he hadn’t.
“So why have a guy watching over her?” Jury asked.
The Tucson and Austin guys were quiet, but there was fury stamped all over their faces. The thought of just discarding that sweet girl like she was trash pissed us all off.
“No idea. But like I said, I got the feeling he was there to help her. Maybe he volunteered. I didn’t get much information from him,” I explained.
“Well, whatever the reason,” Cypher said, “she’s safe with us now.”
“Could it be a trap?” Scythe muttered.
“If it was, this would’ve been the best place to utilize it,” Butcher pointed out. “They had us spread out. Could’ve taken us out a couple at a time. Plus…they had the best bait.” He pointed over at Aella.
“Good point,” Steel replied. “Why wait until we have Aella and leave with her?”
“To find out who we are? Where we’re based out of?” Toxic pointed out.
“Maybe,” Cypher mused, “so we’ll keep an eye out and be ready for anything.”
“But this fucker didn’t know where his crew was?” Scythe asked, the skepticism there in his tone. “If we knew where they were, we could hit them first. Go on the offensive.”
“The members likely text whoever’s in charge when they’re finished with assignments,” Cypher replied. “Then they get the next location. Happens a lot in crews where there’s not a lot of trust amongst everyone.”
“Makes sense,” Scythe said, then sighed. “So we don’t know where Jared is.”
“We’ll find him,” Cypher said, looking at Riggs rather than Scythe. The promise was to the father. “Let’s head back and get Aella fed and let her get some rest. We’ll see what Glitch has for us.”
He had a lot for us,apparently. As soon as we walked in the door, he handed Cypher an address on a piece of paper. “Just found it or I would’ve texted you.”
“We needed to come back first anyway,” Cypher replied, nodding toward the little girl who was asleep in Riggs’s arms.
“Shit! You found her. Good job,” Glitch said with a grin. “These guys like to change locations a lot, it seems. That’s how they’ve been keeping ahead of us.”
“How long do you think we have on this place?” Scythe asked, looking at the address.
