Page 39 of Venom's Sting
Siege looks thoughtful, “Why don’t you tell your old man or brothers that when you left our property you saw someone with a cut that said Iron Demons MC, spying on us.”
Dan looks stunned. “Why would I lie about something like that?”
I catch on immediately. “It’s because the Demons are an allied club. If anyone did get the bright idea to get some hired guns then they might approach a club they think is our enemy, it would ensure things go our way and less people get killed.”
Rigs is quick to point out, “Don’t suggest that outright. Just tell him what you saw. Your father needs to think the idea was all his.”
Dan finally gets it. “You guys are sneaky as fuck but there’s no guarantee he’s going to make that connection.”
“If not then we roll with the plan we just put in place.”
“Alright, we’ll do this your way,” Dan says with a sigh.
Siege turns and pulls out his cell phone to call Stark from the Iron Demons MC, just in case. Rigs and I send Dan on his way and begin brainstorming how to handle the coming battle.
Chapter 14
Amy
By the time I finally get up, it’s early afternoon. I fully expected Ven to be sleeping off his all-night sleuthing operation but he’s long gone. I can tell, because his side of the bed is stone cold. I’m dying to know what kind of information they got out of Edmund, so I rush through my morning routine with the intention of finding Ven. He’s not sent me any texts, so I’m assuming that means that he’s still in the clubhouse.
After heading downstairs I take a look at the bar area, there are a few brothers and club girls drinking, but no sign of Ven. He told me that they hold prisoners in the basement, I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed down there but it’s worth a try, so I saunter back to the staircase and head down. When I reach the bottom, there’s a huge empty space with doors off to one side. On the far side of the room there’s a metal door with a window, a bit like ones that you see in TV shows about prisons. Evan is sitting outside the door intently drawing. He looks up when he sees me and jumps to attention.
I cautiously approach him and ask, “Is everything okay, Evan?”
He automatically steps in front of the door, blocking my view of the window. “Yes, ma’am. Everything is fine. The other prospects have breakfast ready if you want to go back upstairs.”
“Why are you down here? Are you guarding Edmund?”
The moment the words fly out of my mouth, I know that’s exactly what he’s doing. I can tell by the look on his face that I wasn’t supposed to guess that. “Aren’t you a little young to be guarding prisoners?”
“I’m almost eighteen. My dad said I’m old enough to stand in as a secondary guard.”
“What’s a secondary guard?”
Suddenly, the door flies open, and another brother steps out. “You are not supposed to be near the lockup. But since you asked, the secondary guard is a backup. If the guard on the other side of the door gets overwhelmed by the prisoner, the secondary guard is supposed to raise the alarm and ensure he doesn’t make it through this door.” Leaning forward slightly, he says, “That would never happen because the door is steel, filled with concrete and has a deadbolt. In other words, you’re perfectly safe in this area as long as you don’t distract the guards with a bunch of useless questions.”
I throw up both hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry I asked.”
Evan glances at the other man. “Talon, is it really necessary to be so rude to our guest?”
“Mind your business, prospect.”
“You know I have to report this to Ven, right?”
Talon shoots me an easy grin. “Sorry if I came off as rude. I’ve been up for forty-seven hours straight, and I’m probably crankier than usual.”
I force myself to smile back. “Sorry to hear that. I’ll just mosey on upstairs and get out of your hair.”
“Appreciate it, Miss Amy.”
Without another word, I make for the stairs. Talon kind of scares me a bit. The whole main floor is in a ruckus which is in stark contrast to the calm just before I headed to the basement. I wonder what’s happened in the space of five minutes. The women are running around packing up stuff and the men are apparently preparing for some kind of violence because they’re all wearing weapons. I shove my way through the crowd to find Ven. I catch him coming out of the back offices and run to him.
“What’s going on? The place is utter chaos.”
He grabs me and pulls me close. “We sent a message to your grandfather that we’re willing to trade Edmund for your mother. We believe he’s going to say, ‘hell no’ to that idea, and come with men and guns to take Edmund back by force.”
“You know where my mom is?” my voice sounds shrill.