Page 90 of Property of Prime
Push muttered a curse under his breath.“What in the living shit…”
Skull stepped up and traced a gloved finger along the grooves.“This wasn’t here yesterday.”
“No,” I said.“It wasn’t.”
Vin crouched and angled his flashlight.“This is a symbol.Not just a mark.Whoever carved this knew exactly what they were carving.”
Push circled the tree slowly, scanning the ground.“No footprints.”
“Someone brushed them out,” Vin said.
“Or wore something over their shoes,” Skull added.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
This was the symbol Pearl’s dad had mentioned when we talked to him.It was the symbol the biker Bernice dated wore.
Push stepped back.“What the hell does it even mean?”
“No idea,” Vin muttered.“Never seen anything like it.”
“Circle, slash.More like a warning,” Skull said.
I shook my head.“No.It’s his club’s mark.”
Push glared at the symbol.“Why leave this?”
“To tell us he can get this close,” I said.
Skull threw his hands up.“We already knew that.”
“He’s taunting us,” I said slowly.
“Meaning?”he asked.
“Meaning he wants us to know he stood exactly where we’re standing.”I lowered my voice.“He wanted us to find this, but he didn’t know we were going to know what it is.”
Push clenched his jaw.“He’s playing games.”
Skull scoffed.“He’s been playing games.”
“Yeah, but now for once we have one step up on him.We just need to figure out what club he was part of.Anchor is going to have to put a call into Razor again.We’re dealing with the past of the Kings of Anarchy that none of us were a part of, besides Shay when she was three.”
Push glanced over his shoulder.“You feel that?”
“Yeah,” Vin said.“Like we’re being watched.”
“We are being watched,” Skull muttered.“This guy’s probably laughing his ass off from the trees.”
I took a picture of the carving with my phone.Then another.Then a close-up.
Push blew out a shaky breath.“We should head back.Anchor needs to see this.”
“Agreed,” Vin said.
Skull was the last to turn away.“I don’t like this.”
“No one does,” I said.
