Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Butcher

" D on't step there," Isla warned.

Ricochet froze, foot in the air, and looked over at her. "Why not?"

"There's a pit trap there," she told him.

I eyed the leaves covering the forest floor and grinned. This woman was something else. She'd already pointed out the places she'd put animal spring traps down. She wasn't hunting for wild game though, so she'd put her scent all over the area and there was no bait to be found. Because when the time came, she knew she'd be the bait, and her prey walked on two legs, not four.

"Like the kind with stakes in the ground?" Hellfire asked.

"Yup."

"Have I told you that I like her?" Smoke asked me. "This is going to be so much fucking fun."

"Unless you're runnin' through and end up with your foot in one of those bear traps," Hush pointed out. "Won't be havin' so much fun then."

"Look right here," Isla told us and pointed toward a nearby tree. There was a small gray spot of spray paint near the base. "That lets you know there's a trap nearby."

"Smart," Lock said, studying it.

She shrugged. "I figured I may not remember if I didn't need to utilize this place for years." Her eyes were shining with excitement as she smiled over at us. "Hush is right, it would suck to end up stepping in one of those."

We followed her around as she continued to point out the places she had traps set up. When she'd shown us the last trap, we stopped and took a look around. The cabin was remote. There was only one road in—and it was bumpy as fuck—and out, and the cabin was surrounded by foothills.

"Hush, Priest, let's take a walk. I want to find the best place to post up our snipers." He glanced over at Riptide. "You going to be able to set up out here?"

Rip nodded. "Yeah, my shit works off satellites. The hills and trees won't be a problem. Could use some help getting it all set up."

"We'll give you a hand," Kilo said, motioning to his brothers.

"Thanks, Hell can we borrow you too?" Rip shot Kilo a grin. "Dude could pick up a fucking horse if we needed him to."

"Yeah," Bolo said, eyeing Hellfire. "You're built like a damn tank."

"We'll bring the weapons inside," I told Lock. "Get a count then let us know where you want us dropping them and we'll make sure they get there."

"Perfect," Lock said. He pulled out his cell and frowned at it.

"Oh, hang on," Isla said, then hurried inside the cabin. She came back out a few moments later and handed Lock, Rip, and me low tech walkie talkies.

Riptide held the device, looking at it in disgust. "Seriously?" he asked her. "I have better radios in the truck."

"Unless they run off those satellites," she said with a shrug, "they aren't going to work out here. I have a low frequency jammer inside the cabin. Blocks nearly all radios, except the cheap ones, ironically."

Riptide shook his head and walked off as if the walkie talkies offended him.

"I have more inside, for later," she told Lock.

"You were expecting to have help up here during the apocalypse?" Priest asked, amused.

"The assassin apocalypse," she corrected with a grin. "Figured it was better safe than sorry. And there was a clearance," she said under her breath.

I grinned at her and nudged her with my elbow. When her gray eyes met mine, I said, "Girl. I'm surprised they're not pink."

She gasped, now as offended as Rip had been. "Take that back."

The guys all took that opportunity to split up and go about their jobs, laughing while they did.

That left me, Isla, Toxic, Smoke, and Ricochet to unload the vehicles. We had all our personal shit, enough food for a couple days, and the weapons, but it didn't take us too long.

My walkie blared to life as we were bringing in the last load.

"Butcher, you read?"

"Yeah," I said, responding to Lock. "Go ahead."

"You find the GPSs?"

I glanced over at the table. We'd already brought in the box of shit Rip had packed. It was full of all kinds of tech shit, including enough GPSs for all of us. "Yeah."

"Good. Take these coordinates down. Bring us four of the rifles with scopes." There was a pause then Lock continued. "Three of the rifles with scopes and Priest's fucking widow maker." I could hear Priest talking faintly in the background and grinned. He wasn't going into a battle without his own damn rifle. The thing was a beast so I was more than happy to lug it up the fucking hill if he was going to be killing motherfuckers around me with it.

"10-4," I told him in acknowledgment.

Isla tapped my shoulder and pointed to the walkie, so I handed it over. "Lockout? "

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Let me know what area you'll want me in, so I can bring Donna up."

"Good copy. Planning to set you and Priest up in different areas to spread out the love. I'll let you know when I find it."

"Thanks."

Smoke shook his head. "Don't assassins know proper radio etiquette?" he teased.

"No," Isla shot back, "because we work alone and the only people around are those we kill."

He tilted his head. "Fair enough."

"What was I supposed to say?" she asked.

"Nothin'. You did just fine," Toxic told her. When she held his stare he shrugged. "You can respond with 10-4, or good copy."

"Okay," she said with a nod. "I'll do that. Make sure you guys don't go all secret squirrel code on me once the shit hits the fan or I'll have no idea what you're talking about."

That made us all laugh. "Don't worry," I told her. "I'll go over the codes with you, so you know a few."

"Thanks," she said, picking up two of the rifles as I grabbed the other two. "Toxic, could you set up my laptop over there?" She pointed over to a small desk sitting in the living room. It was a pretty spacious cabin, but it was going to be stuffed to the seams with thirteen bikers and one assassin, plus all our shit.

The sun was starting to dip over the horizon by the time we made it back into the cabin. Lock walked in and looked around at everyone. "Is everybody ready?" We all nodded. "We'll have Isla contact her friend tomorrow morning. Once she does that it's only a matter of time before these fuckers come for us." His gaze stopped on Isla. "Do you think they'll come one at a time, or in waves?"

"Waves, definitely," she replied. "This is going to be one of those times when we'll see assassins teaming up together in groups. It's less about getting the money for my contract and more about making sure I'm dead. And they're not stupid," she added. "They've probably been watching us enough to know that I'm with you guys and that they'll have to fight you, too."

"Would be fuckin' easier one at a time," Hush said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Which is why we know it won't happen that way," Lock replied with a chuckle. "Our luck is never that good. Rip is all your equipment up?"

"Almost," he said as he finished mounting screens on the cabin wall. He sat at the desk and put his own laptop next to Isla's. "Should be up and running in ten."

"What I want to know," Smoke asked, "is what am I smelling?" He sniffed the air. "It smells fucking delicious."

"Pulled pork," Isla answered. She pointed over to where three crock pots were busy cooking our dinner. "I made coleslaw to go with the sandwiches." She'd helped take weapons up to the area where both she and Priest, and a few others, would be staked out shooting assassins as they came at us. Lock had stationed them near the mouth of the hills, where the road cut through.

Hellfire took the liberty of cutting a few trees so that a good shove from him would knock them into the road. That way if anyone was stupid enough to come in by vehicle it created a natural chokepoint for our snipers to take them out. Once she'd seen her area, and left Donna and ammo there, she'd come back and started fixing dinner for us.

"What a woman," Toxic sighed.

"Mine," I growled at him because he was shooting a puppy love kind of stare Isla's way.

Toxic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you guys take all the good ones."

"Like you haven't sampled your fair share," Ricochet pointed out.

"True. Guess I'll have to just keep sampling since you all went and tied yourselves down," Toxic replied. "It's just me and Lock now."

Lockout was bending over Riptide's computer, reading something on the screen, but when Toxic said that his head shot up. "No. There's no you and I for any of that shit. Don't rope me into your fornications. "

"I didn't mean together," Toxic said with a roll of his eyes.

"Together, alone, doesn't fucking matter. Don't lump me in with your bullshit," Lock said with a glare.

"You juggle everything," Toxic pointed out. "Us, the club, your business... Why not throw pretty women into the mix?"

"Because pretty women equal trouble," he growled. "Legal trouble, apparently, if you're any indication."

"Yeah," Hush said, though in a low voice. "Besides, he's already got enough trouble with a particular pretty woman."

Lockout shot him a murderous look, so Hush shut up and looked away.

"You're kidding me?" Toxic complained. "I'm the only one left?" He let out a heavy sigh. "Guess I'll have to be the lone wolf."

I shook my head. "Lone my ass. You're always dragging me around with you."

"You should head up to Phoenix and party with us," Kilo offered. "None of us are married."

"Yet," Toxic warned. "It's like a virus. One guy" he gave Hush a glare, "gets himself an old lady and suddenly they're all doing it. Then come the kids."

"Toxic prefers the virus on the end of his dick," I said. That had everyone laughing.

"What's wrong with the kids?" Priest asked with an arched brow once the laughter died down.

"With yours? Whew, let me count the ways," Hell told him.

"Yeah, and who has been coaching them on being little thieves and fighters?" he snapped, glaring at me, Isla, and Toxic.

"If they're there we may as well teach them shit," I replied with a shrug. Priest's scowl deepened at my answer.

"Dinner's ready," Isla said, waving toward paper plates.

Everyone started lining up, and I watched with a mix of raging jealousy and confusing pleasure as each man gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek as they passed. It was their way of thanking her for feeding them. Her shocked gaze found mine and I grinned when I saw the flush coloring her cheeks. She wasn't the best at accepting gratitude, or being feminine, but she stood there and allowed herself to be kissed over and over because she'd never want to hurt their feelings. When it was my turn, I pulled her close and gave her a long, slow kiss.

"Move over fucker," Toxic said, nudging me away from Isla as he handed over one of the plates he held. "Chef eats first," he said with a shrug as she took the plate he'd made up for her.

"Thank you."

She sounded confused and out of sorts, so I stuck close until no one else was in line and it was my turn to make up my own plate. Still I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she went over and sat in an empty seat near Hush. They exchanged smiles and then she sat and watched with a look of wonder on her face as everyone started digging in.

My chest squeezed painfully at the look on her face. She, more than anyone, needed this family of mine. I wanted her to stick around once this was all over, but I wasn't sure if I could claim her or not. It wasn't really fair to her to be stuck with me for the rest of her life. I walked over and sat next to her, trying to figure out what I should do. Everything in me was demanding that I just keep her, to hell with what was best for her. But all I could see in my mind was Daryl's face when he was talking about his late wife. Isla deserved a man who would love her that much. Who would put her first, always. And one who would mourn her passing every day if she happened to go first. I wasn't that kind of man.