Chairs aligned both sides. Patches and photographs covered the walls. Faces of brothers past and present. Some alive. Some gone.
At the head of the table sat an empty chair, reserved for the club president. Vincent Blackwood's chair. But Vince wasn't sitting. He stood near the window, arms crossed, watching the parking lot, watching the gate watching for threats that might come in the night. Ray Dalton leaned against the far wall.
Jake Monroe checked his phone every 30 seconds. Bobby Cain paced like a caged animal. 12 other members filled the remaining chairs, faces hard, eyes alert. Men who'd seen combat. Men who understood what was coming.
Loretta held a cup of coffee someone had thrust into her hands. She hadn't taken a sip, just held it for warmth, for something to do with her hands. Evelyn sat beside her mother, silent. Processing. Trying to reconcile the quiet life she'd built with the chaos that had erupted around her in the span of 6 hours.
The door opened. A prospect, maybe 25 years old with fresh patches, stuck his head in. "Boss, tow truck's back. Jimmy's looking at the car now." Vince nodded.
"Tell him I'll be down in five." The prospect disappeared. Vince turned to face the room. "We need a plan. Wade's not going to wait long.
He's got pride, he's got money and he's got nothing to lose." Ray spoke up. "What's his play? He can't just roll up here with guns blazing. Sheriff would lock him up before sunrise."
"He won't be obvious." Jake said. "He'll be smart. Create a situation where we have to choose, where someone gets hurt if we don't hand her over." Vince's jaw tightened.
"He's going to take a hostage." The room went quiet. Evelyn's voice cut through the silence, small but steady. "He's going to take someone I care about, use them as leverage." All eyes turned to her.
"That's what he does." She continued. "12 years ago he tried to get to me through people I knew. Friends, co-workers. Anyone who might lead him to me.
That's why I disappeared. That's why I cut everyone off." Loretta set down her coffee cup. "What are you saying?" Evelyn looked at her mother and in that moment Loretta saw something in her daughter's eyes she'd never seen before.
Fear. Not for herself, for everyone else. "I'm saying I should leave right now before Wade figures out who you are, before he uses you against me." "No." Loretta's voice was iron. "Absolutely not."
"Mom, if he finds out you're my mother then he finds out and he learns that this family doesn't run." Vince stepped forward. "Mrs. Sutton's right. Running won't solve this. Wade will just keep hunting, keep pushing.
The only way to end it is to face him head-on." Evelyn shook her head. "You don't understand what he's capable of." "I was there 12 years ago." Vince said quietly.
"I watched him order the execution of three men without blinking. I know exactly what he's capable of." He pulled out a chair, sat down across from Evelyn. "But here's what Wade doesn't understand. He thinks people are tools, things to be used and discarded.
He doesn't understand loyalty. He doesn't understand family." Vince looked around the table at his brothers. "We do and that's why we'll win." Ray cleared his throat.
"We need to know his next move. Get ahead of him." Jake nodded. "He's in town, probably at the Pine Crest Hotel. That's where guys like him stay when they come to Flagstaff."
Bobby pulled out his phone, started typing. "I've got a cousin who works there, front desk. Let me make a call." He stepped out of the room. Vince turned back to Evelyn.
"Tell me everything you know about Wade Garrison, his habits, his weaknesses, anything that might help." Evelyn took a breath, organized her thoughts. "He's methodical, patient. He doesn't act on impulse. Everything is calculated.
When he came after me 12 years ago, he didn't send everyone at once. He sent one person, then another, testing, probing, looking for the weak point." "What's his weakness?" Ray asked. "Pride."
Evelyn said immediately. "He can't stand being made to look weak. That's why he's here. It's been 12 years, but he never forgot, never forgave because in his world, letting me get away made him look weak." Vince absorbed this.
"So if we make him look weak again, he'll escalate. He'll come at us with everything he has." "Good." Vince said. "Let him.
We'll be ready." The door opened. Bobby came back in, face grim. "Wade checked into the Pine Crest 3 hours ago, presidential suite. He's got eight men with him in the building.
More arriving tomorrow." "How many more?" Vince asked. "My cousin heard him on the phone, something about 20 additional men flying in from Nevada and California. Supposed to be here by tomorrow night."
Ray did the math. "That's 28 total against our 18." "Plus prospects." Jake added. "Another six if we count them."
24 against 28. Vince shook his head. "Still not good odds." Loretta spoke up, her voice cutting through the tactical discussion like a knife. "What about the police?
Can't they do something?" Vince turned to her. "Sheriff Brooks can hold Wade for questioning, maybe 48 hours. But unless Wade does something illegal in Arizona, there's no grounds for arrest and Wade's too smart for that." "So we're on our own."
"We're always on our own, ma'am. That's the life we chose." Loretta stood up, walked to the window looked out at the motorcycles lined up in neat rows, at the fence, at the guard standing watch. She thought about her late husband, about the years she'd spent as a nurse, about the things she'd seen. The decisions she'd had to make.
She turned back to face the room. "Then we don't wait for him to make the first move. We go to him." Every head turned. Vince raised an eyebrow.
"Ma'am?" "You said Wade's pride is his weakness. You said he can't stand looking weak. So make him look weak. Publicly.
In a way he can't ignore." Ray leaned forward. "What are you suggesting?" Loretta's eyes were sharp, clear. "You said he's at the Pine Crest Hotel.
That's a public place. Cameras, witnesses. He won't do anything there that makes him look bad." She walked back to the table, placed her hands flat on the surface. "So tomorrow morning, my daughter and I walk into that hotel.
We sit in the lobby, we have breakfast and we dare for to do something about it." The room erupted. "That's suicide." Jake said. "That's brilliant."
Ray countered. Bobby shook his head. "He'll grab them the second they walk through the door." "Not with witnesses." Loretta said calmly.
"Not with hotel staff. Not with security cameras recording everything." "Men like Wade Garrison operate in shadows." "Force him into the light and he has to play by different rules." Vince stared at her, seeing something he hadn't expected.
Steel beneath the floral dress and silver hair. "Mrs. Sutton, with all due respect, you're talking about using yourself and your daughter as bait." "I'm talking about taking control of the situation instead of waiting for the axe to fall." Evelyn grabbed her mother's arm. "Mom, no.
This is insane." Loretta looked down at her daughter. "You've been running for 12 years. It's time to stop." "I'm not letting you walk into danger because of me."