“Dalton Grant is the key to finding the others. We have to find him and find him now.” Viper turned to Hawk as he stated, “Divide up. I want groups of three monitoring both locations until we get our hands on him.”
“Sure thing. I’ll figure out a schedule.”
Menace leaned over to him as he explained, “Smokey’s and those dive motels are pretty close together so that shouldn’t be a problem for one group of three to monitor both.”
“That’ll work.” Hawk turned to Axel as he asked, “You good with taking the first shift with Rafe and Shotgun?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good deal.” Hawk turned to me as he said, “You and Bear are with me. We’ll relieve them at eight.”
Bear was one of the older brothers. While he was often quiet, he’d been around longer than most. He was a big guy, six-three and about two-eighty, and he’d gotten his road name for being hairy like a fucking bear. He was strong like one, too, so I wasn’t surprised when Hawk wanted him to tag along. I nodded as I replied, “Understood.”
Once we were dismissed, I followed Rafe down to the infirmary. He wanted to check in on Country before he headed out with Hawk and Lynch. Rafe was completely silent as we walked in and made our way over to Country’s bedside. His eyes were still swollen and bruised, his lips were lined with scabs, and his chest was covered with two bandages hiding his gaping wounds. It was clear from the nicks and gashes on his knuckles Country had done his best to fight back. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t stand a chance. There were just too many of them.
Guilt washed over me as I stood looking down at my broken brother. I was the reason why he was in the condition he was in. If I hadn’t gotten carried away with that asshole who’d put his hands on Izzy, then they wouldn’t have a reason to hold such a fucking grudge. At the very least, I should’ve been the one who kicked the motherfuckers out. Then, I would’ve been their target. They would’ve come after me, and it would be me lying there in that infirmary bed instead of Country.
I was sinking further into my guilt when I heard Rafe ask, “You think he’s gonna be alright?”
“Yeah. He’s too fucking stubborn not to be.”
“Hate seeing him like this.”
“You’re not alone there.”
Rafe leaned forward with his mouth close to Country’s ear as he fussed, “Enough of this bullshit, Country. It’s time to wake your lazy ass up.”
“I am up, dick-head.” Country never opened his eyes as he mumbled, “I feel like shit, and I’m gonna lie here as long as I fucking want to.”
“Holy fuck,” Rafe gasped. “You’re awake?”
“Yeah, and I’d still be asleep if you two weren’t in here frettin’ over me like two fucking girls.”
“It’s about fucking time. It’s been days of you coming in and out. We were really startin’ to worry about ya, brother.”
“I’ll be fine.” He was still lying perfectly still with his eyes closed as he grumbled, “Just trying to get my beauty sleep.”
“God knows you need it,” I mocked.
“Widow...” Country’s voice was strained as he told me, “It was the guys from the other night...the ones we kicked out for fuckin’ with Izzy.”
“Yeah, I know, brother. We’re working on trackin’ them down.”
“When you do, bring me the big one with the fucking gauges in his ears.” An angry tone crept over his words as he growled, “I want him for myself. That fucking piece of shit shanked me, and I want my chance to return the favor.”
Rafe nodded as he said, “You got it, man.”
I was about to ask him if there was anything we could do for him when my burner started to ring. I quickly pulled it out of my back pocket and was surprised to see it was Frankie calling. I hadn’t heard from her since she picked Corry up from the clubhouse. Concerned something might be wrong, I looked over to Rafe. “I’m gonna step out and take this.”
“Well, lookie there. Widow’s girl’s a callin’,” Country poked.
“You know better than that shit.” Without waiting for his response, I walked out of the room and into the hall, “You got Widow.”
“We need to talk.”
“Oh, well, hello there, Frankie,” I shot back after her abrupt greeting. “Good to hear from ya.”
Without skipping a beat, she replied, “I know you’re probably busy with whatever you have going on there at the clubhouse, but do you have some time later today? I really need to talk to you about some things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Things I’d rather not discuss on the phone. Can you meet?”
“Yeah, I can work something out. What time did you have in mind?”
“After I close the shop for the day. I should be able to get out of here around 4:30? If that works for you, I could get Sydney to hang out with the boys for a couple of hours.”