He’d gotten mad and started to rant. I knew this was my chance to end this. He was so distracted by his own tirade, he didn’t notice when I looked over to Shotgun and gave him a nod, signaling I was about to make my move. When he nodded back, I aimed my barrel at the base of his skull—a place I knew would render him useless, and I fired. Viper jolted at the sound of the shot, pushing himself free as Talan’s lifeless body dropped to the ground. Viper looked down at Talan, then over to me. “That was a risky move there, brother.”
“It was a risk that had to be taken, Prez.”
“That it was.” He reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “Thanks, brother.”
Shotgun stepped over to me as he asked, “What about the others?”
“Pretty sure we got ‘em all, but we better get out there and find out.”
“Agreed.”
We’d barely made it out of the room when Lynch came rushing up to us and exclaimed, “That was some insane shit in there! Are you okay, Prez?”
“I’m fine. I’ll be even better when I find out how the others are.”
“We’re good here,” Hawk answered as he made his way down the hall. “Rafe and Menace are doing a walkthrough to make sure no one was missed, and Country is in the bar finishing off his little buddy with the gauges in his ears...but we still don’t know anything about Danny.”
“I haven’t forgotten. We’re gonna have to get over to their place in Brookshire and see if he’s there.”
“And what about things here? You want us to handle the mess, or should we call in Billy?”
Billy was the club’s cleaner, and the man was unbelievable. In a matter of hours, he could make a mess like this disappear, so I wasn’t surprised when Viper said, “I’ll call Billy. We’ve got enough to manage with finding Danny.” As he took out his burner to call Billy, he turned to me and ordered, “You and Hawk take Shotgun and Lynch with you to go check it out. Don’t take any chances. Menace and I will be here with the others waiting on Billy, so just let me know if you need backup.”
“You got it.”
I hated leaving Viper and the others when there was so much that needed to be done, but I had no choice. Danny’s life was on the line. It took us some maneuvering to get through all the wreckage, but we managed to make it out to one of the SUVs. Once we were loaded up, Hawk eased through the busted gate and out onto the main road. None of us spoke as we drove towards Brookshire Hill. We were too lost in our own heads to speak. I couldn’t stop thinking about the state we’d found Badger in. The poor guy had been through hell and didn’t make it out the other side. I prayed the same wouldn’t hold true for Danny. Even though he’d had a rough start, he’d proven himself to be a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. If given the chance, he’d make a hell of a brother. I had no doubt Hawk was just as concerned about Danny as I was. Even more so. If Danny was dead, he’d have to find a way to tell his ol’ lady that her brother was gone, and that wasn’t something I’d wish on my worst enemy.
When we got to the house, I was surprised to find that it didn’t look all that different from my own. In fact, it might’ve been a bit nicer. It was an all brick, two-story home with well-maintained landscaping and even had a fucking swing on the front porch. Concerned we might be at the wrong place, I leaned up to the front seat and asked Shotgun, “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“It’s the address Grant gave me.” As he opened the door, he turned back to me and said, “Figure we gotta at least check it out.”
Without any further hesitation, Lynch and I got out of the truck and followed Hawk and Shotgun up to the house. There were no cars in the drive or lights on in the house, so we all assumed no one was home and went to find a way in around back. After checking all the windows, Shotgun decided to pick the lock on the back door. We all stood behind him as he knelt down and used his utility knife to pry the lock. When he got it opened, we followed him inside. Once again we were stunned by what we found. Shotgun shook his head as he looked around the living room. “This can’t be right.”
“Maybe this was Talan’s place before he lost his shit,” Lynch suggested.