Daredevil

Facing the Regulators, I was astounded to see them already. By my calculations, they shouldn't be here for at least another hour-and-a-half. They must've sped the whole way here. Most were on their bikes, but the prospects drove SUVs and a van. There were three of them.

All of them had faces like death when they came through the door, but none as deadly or burning with as much rage as Moose's was. He came straight toward me. I prepared myself for him to punch me. I'd let him get in the first hit. I owed him that much. He reached out, but rather than hitting me, he yanked me to him and put his forehead to mine as he stared deeply into my eyes, and he squeezed my shoulders hard.

"When we find him, he's ours, and we'll rain down hell on him. He'll beg and promise us anything to let him live, but it'll do him no good. He'll suffer and die at our hands. Agreed?"

He was talking in my language. I smiled, and I knew it wasn't a pleasant one. "Agreed. I'm fucking sorry, Moose. I know I swore to protect her no matter what, but I failed."

"Daredevil, none of us had any clue there was anyone out there after us. How were you to protect her if you had no idea? As much as we may want her under lock and key or guarded at all times, she'll never allow it. I'm not mad at you. This time, you're safe." A barely there twitch of his lips told me he was fighting not to smile. For a second or two, my heart lightened.

"Thank you, brother. Let's see what the plan is. Phantom has been working all night, and so has Tamysin." He let go of me and followed me to one of the tables in the common room. The others were greeting each other, taking seats while our prospects raced to get coffee and pastries out.

"So has Maestro. He rode with one of the prospects so he could keep working. I have no clue if he found anything or not. Ahh, coffee. Gimme," he said to Colton right before he snatched the cup out of his hand and, I swear, inhaled it. I took mine carefully and blew on it a couple of times before taking my first swallow. It still burned all the way down.

As I drank it, I saw Sin and Carnage intently talking away from the rest of us. This captured my interest. I was about to get up and go over to see what they were talking about when Sin let out one of his loud whistles.

"We need everyone in church, including Regulators. Let's go," he shouted.

He didn't need to repeat himself. In a mass, we all headed toward it. I held back from pushing a few out of my way. Moose was on my heels. Inside our sacred chamber, we took our seats. The Regulators sat in the extras we kept along the walls for occasions such as this. Carnage sat off to the right of Sin.

"I know you've ridden hard and long, and I wish we could let you rest, but there's no time. We need to take advantage of the time we have before the twelve-hour deadline is up. Carnage made a good point. Why don't you tell them what you were telling me?" Sin addressed the other president. My muscles were tense knots as Carnage opened his mouth to tell us. I hoped whatever it was, it would lead us to Shain.

"I was thinking on the ride, and since Laz has been ruled out as her kidnapper, it leaves only those who might hold a grudge against my club. Honestly, I have no clue who it is, but my mind kept going back to the question, why target Shain? Whoever he is, why not take one of us or even kill us if revenge is his goal? Is it simply because she's a woman and more vulnerable, or so he believes? This made me think of what has been going on with her these past few months. How did he find her? She moved. Which means he had to find her in Nebraska first. It's too much of a coincidence for someone who hates us to stumble upon her and figure out she's tied to us in Texas. He had to watch her, too. No one has that much luck."

As he talked, the hundreds of thoughts churning in my head since she was taken solidified, and one big thing flashed to the forefront. I slammed my hand down on the table. Carnage met my gaze, and he nodded.

"Daredevil's got it. What do you think? It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? Tell the rest of us," Moose bellowed.

"Calm the fuck down. Daredevil, tell them," Carnage ordered.

"I believe the arsonist that your fire department in Nebraska was dealing with before she left is the same one who suddenly cropped up here in Tenillo. We had no problem until after she moved here. Suddenly, they were getting arson cases, and they escalated. Shain has been complaining about it and is worried about why we have one here. This guy has to be the arsonist. Why he went after her could simply be because she was a firefighter, and he got lucky she was tied to you guys. It makes a weird, twisted sense."

This caused them all to glance around and the muttering grew loud as they bantered back and forth about what I said. I saw skepticism on some faces but on others was speculation. I could be totally off base but my brain kept screaming I was right. After about five minutes of this, Carnage and Sin both called for order.

"Okay, it appears we have a lot to consider. What we need to do is see if there's any information either department got on those arson cases, which might lead us to whoever is doing it and where he may have Shain," Sin commented.

"I can get into their systems," Phantom told him confidently.

"You take Tenillo, and I'll go after ours. I may or may not have hacked them once before just to see if I could do it," Maestro admitted with a grin.

They were given the nod to go for it, and they were off. As we sat there waiting to see if they found anything, I tried not to get my hopes up too much. We might be dead wrong.