Page 38 of Beast
“I want a prospect inside the empty storefronts at both ends of the street,” I said. “They see something, they say something. Tell them to stay off their phones.”
“We’ve got all the families underground in building two,” Watcher said. We added the underground shelter in building two while I was in Varner. If another club were going to hit us, they’d strike the main building.
“Roll out AKs to everyone who can handle one,” I said. “I know a few old ladies can handle a gun. Make sure they’re armed.”
14
Skittles
“Where’sWendy?”Iwouldhave guessed with Watcher, but he left with Marcus and the others an hour ago. Gigi and Carmen shared one of those glances that suggested Wendy was about to get in trouble and that we wereallabout to get into trouble. “Don’t tell me she left the club. Why didn’t you stop her?”
Carmen shrugged and held up her hands in frustration. “We tried to tell her it was a bad idea, but she left anyway. She had some fabulous idea she just had to explore.”
“How’d she get past the Prospects?” Pussy could get past any Prospect if it were used correctly. Wendy knew how. “Don’t answer that. Where did she go?”
“The whore house,” Gigi said. “She went to see that girl she danced with last weekend. Daphne, I think.”
“Nobody was supposed to be there,” I said. “Shit! We have to get her. Hell’s Messengers will hit that place if they think anyone is inside.”
“Have Beast and Diesel do it,” Carmen said.
“They went to take care of a problem.” What I was about to suggest would only make things worse for everyone if it didn’t go right. “Put on something black. We’re going out.”
There was a back way out of the club that nobody was allowed to use. The exit was hidden, and security cameras wouldn’t see us if we tried not to be seen. Mark was playing video games with another boy his age and seemed engulfed. I hated using a screen as a babysitter, but we had to find Wendy.
“When I open the door, stay low. There’s only one camera we have to avoid.”
I opened the door and bent over as we left the clubhouse. Carmen and Gigi followed, bending as if they were hundred-year-old women.
“Smells like piss out here,” Carmen said. “Don’t you guys ever clean this place?”
The alley exit led to what was often frequented by the homeless. I’d come out several times to bring people food when I saw them on the security camera. I closed the door, hoping the Prospect assigned to security wasn’t watching the screen.
We made it past garbage, a cat eating something it recently killed, and stepped over a sleeping man. The world could send people into space for fun but couldn’t feed the weak. Bravo.
Once we were past the security camera’s view, we relaxed but stayed close to the single-story structures in the alley. At the alley’s end, I pointed across the street where a Ford Explorer sat beneath a street light.
I stuck my hand under the back wheel well and found the key. “The club leaves it here for emergencies. I think this counts. There’s a gun under each front seat.”
“I’m not killing anyone,” Gigi said.
“You may have to.” I climbed into the driver's seat and shut the door. The others climbed in, Gigi in the backseat, Carmen next to me. “We aren’t dealing with normal people here. They won’t give a damn that we are women. It just means we’ll be raped before they kill us.”
“This is not what I came here for,” Gigi said.
I turned in the seat. “You came down to see Diesel, didn’t you?”
“No!” Gigi stared out the window.
“Well, if you did, this is what life would be like with him. This is the life of an old lady. Be prepared or be dead.”
“Then I need to be back home. Charles is expecting me.”
“Bullshit,” Carmen said.
“What?” I could sense something was going on.
“His ass had a piece of pussy on the side. Every time Gigi is out of town, he’s banging her.” Carmen shifted in her seat and put on her seatbelt.
