“I think we need to take advantage of the opportunity we bought ourselves.” Jagger mused, rubbing his brow. “The club is running on a skeleton staff and they’ll have moved their weapons. We need a distraction. Something to keep them busy while we cut the fence and go inside. I was thinking—”

“Runaway truck filled with explosives?” Cade joined them beside the wrecked police car.

“That’s getting old.” Jagger chuckled. “I was thinking of a full-on assault.”

Cade raised his brows. “Suicide.”

“Not if we’re in the hills with sniper rifles.” Zane took the plan, rolled with it. “We can set up a roadblock by the bridge. Sparky’s still got a truck in his shop from the last transport job. We’ll park it sideways and toss the keys.”

“What about the electric fence?” Cade had offered to be Zane’s second when they’d first talked about breaching the perimeter. “It’s twenty-five feet high and has 10,000 volts running through it. They’re not gonna turn it off once we start shooting. Only way it goes off is if the gate is open.”

“Ram the gate,” Benson said. “That can be part of the distraction. Get me a truck and I’ll do it. I’m a dead man anyway once the sheriff or the ATF figure out the tip came from me. They’re already suspicious because of some of the work I’ve been doing for you. T-Rex is a good kid, and if this helps end the war between the clubs and saves lives, it’s worth the risk.” He held up a hand when Zane opened his mouth. “And before you try to talk me out of it, I’m not going in there actually thinking I’m gonna die. I’ll go in armed and in a vest, and I’ll bail at the earliest opportunity. But, yeah, there’s a risk, and if I come out of it alive, I want something from you.”

Jagger lifted an eyebrow in silent query.

“I wanna join your MC.”

“It’s not an open door policy,” Zane said, no small bit impressed by the cop’s audacity. “Everyone goes through the process.”

“We’ll need a new prospect after Shooter’s patched in.” Jagger’s lips twitched at the corners. “You know how to polish a bike, Benson?”

“Until it shines.”

Jagger’s phone vibrated in his hand and he checked the screen. “Got a message from Shooter. I’ll text him, and tell him to get the brothers together and bring out the trucks. Then we’ll go get T-Rex.”

Zane shook Benson’s hand. “Welcome to the club.”

*   *   *

Not happening. Not happening. Not happening.

Evie turned onto the highway heading south out of Conundrum. They’d stopped at four traffic lights and two stop signs and so far she hadn’t managed to draw anyone’s attention to the woman holding her at gunpoint in the vehicle. Where were the police who always seemed to catch her when she drove a measly five miles per hour over the speed limit? They hadn’t passed one single cruiser during their ride through the town.

The Sinners would be behind them. Somewhere. She had no doubt about that. But what were they going to do if she was in the Black Jack clubhouse? From what she’d heard around the club, the Jacks lacked even the semblance of humanity she’d been surprised to see in Zane’s biker brothers.

“I’m not with them,” she said as they passed the last of the residential areas.

“Yeah. I got that when I saw you standing there all innocent and pretty.” Doreen snorted her derision. “You gotta be hard to be a one-percenter biker chick, and that goes for lays, sweet butts, house mamas, and old ladies.”

“So let me go.” Evie clutched the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She’d briefly considered crashing the car, but she didn’t have the courage to do it. What if she died in the crash, or was so badly injured she couldn’t care for Ty? Alive she could maybe talk her way out, or find a way to escape. Doreen’s decision to kidnap her had to be opportunistic at best. Maybe Viper wouldn’t be interested now that he knew she was with Zane.

“This world is about survival.” Doreen lowered the gun when a minivan overtook them. “And if there’s one thing I know how to do it’s survive. Being Viper’s old lady has got its perks but Viper is one sadistic bastard and I need a fucking break. You’re no threat to me and you’ll keep him busy so I don’t gotta be bustin’ my voice box screaming every night so he can get off. Viper will let me take a little vaycay ’cause I brought him a present, and I can go to Ennis to see my boy, JC. Turn here.”

Evie drove down a narrow road that led into the foothills. Dry grass and scrub brush gave the area a desolate feel. “You don’t care if he sleeps with other women?”

“It’s gonna happen so why kick up a fuss? It’s worth it for the old lady status and it means I don’t gotta share the love with anyone else, if you know what I mean. Viper might fuck other women, but he’s crazy possessive about the ones that belong to him. He killed his first old lady when he thought she was having an affair.”

Evie felt a flicker of anger at the thought of Zane sleeping with other women while she wore his cut. No way would she allow it. And she was damn sure Arianne wouldn’t allow it with Jagger either. Arianne was one of the strongest women she had ever met. She was pretty sure Arianne wouldn’t have allowed anyone to kidnap her at gunpoint. And she’d bet anything Arianne would have crashed the car rather than drive like a good little girl to the big bad wolf’s lair.

So what was she doing? She might not be good with a gun, but Zane thought she was strong and brave. Was she really any less of a woman than Arianne? She just needed time and more information to come up with a plan.

“Arianne said you were lying about having a son.”

“I lied about pretty much everything else, but not that, and not Axle.” Doreen raised the gun again. “Needed something to tug on the heartstrings that had a ring of truth to it. Except JC isn’t really Axle’s son.” Her voice tightened. “I’m telling you this ’cause I feel sorry for you since you won’t be leaving that clubhouse until you’re too broken to talk. Axle and I were together before he joined the Jacks. Not the best of guys, but not the worst ’cause he had ambition. He wanted to lead his own club. And since it couldn’t be the Sinners, he set his sights on the Jacks. He kissed up to them something fierce until finally Viper agreed to patch him in.”

“He wanted to take over from Viper?” Evie’s gaze flicked to Doreen. “Was he crazy?”

“Go big or go home, that was Axle’s motto.” Doreen sighed. “First night Axle brought me to a Black Jack party, Viper called me to his room. He told Axle women in the club were shared and if he had a problem with that he’d take back the patch. I did what old ladies do, which is what their old men tell them to do. Not that I was complaining. Everyone wants Viper’s attention. If you’re wearing his cut, you get a shitload of respect. So I went with Viper. He wouldn’t join the “no glove no love” party, so nine months later…”

“Viper’s son?”

“I told Axle the boy was his and I put Axle’s name on the birth certificate. I fucked up my life but I didn’t want to fuck up his. Viper wouldn’t have given a damn about his son, but Axle did. He wanted kids. He was good with JC. He would have been a good dad. But the minute I found out Axle was dead, I took JC to my mom’s place, and I did what I had to do.”

“You became Viper’s old lady.”

Doreen didn’t miss a beat. “You gotta look out for yourself in this life. You gotta be strong. You get caught, you figure your own way out. That’s the biker way. It’s all about self-reliance. It’s all about doing what it takes to survive. It’s a fucking rush, I gotta tell you. Now I got power, respect, and soon I’ll have enough money to get him away from my mom and give him a good life.”

Evie studied the road ahead. All signs of civilization slowly disappeared until they were deep into the low rolling foothills of the Bridger Mountains. She had no doubt if she drove into the Black Jack clubhouse she wouldn’t survive—at least, not emotionally. So why was she looking in her rearview mirror every five minutes hoping to see the Sinners? Why couldn’t she handle this on her own? Was she that afraid to take a risk?