lia

hen my phone buzzed.

and walk away? You're wrong. Y

lready expected this. Brenda was the kind of

marter. It made her reckless. An

nda's access level had made a late-night withdrawal request from the war

idence like that, I wa

n an anonymous text lit up the screen, stark white against the black: "Bring the

had just lost her money, her insurance, her dignity-and n

able proof of every dollar Douglas had stolen over the years-were hidden in a f

ouse. I pulled a heavy wrench from the inside pocket of my jacket, gripped it tig

ner, to the heavy tarp I kn

left. The heavy thud of steel-toed boots on the metal catwalk above me sent a

dy tensed to strike. I expected to see D

The leather cut he wore was black, not the Vipers' brown, and the patch on the back w

s, a shade of blue so pale they looked like chips of ice, locked onto me. They held a universe of ra

er size seemed to suck the oxygen from the room, and he moved with the lethal grace o

t's the matter, Wreck? The President of the Re

said. "She wanted a war. I want

ing," I said. "She's a woman who just lost her mo

, his voice flat. "B

k contrast to the cold air. "Brenda promised me the location of Marcus Valdez's daughter," he growled, his

the wrench

ting a Viper's mother is the quickest way to get a Reaper k

melia," he whispered, his face so close I could see the faint scar th

e. An Old Lady, wronged by her man and stripped mid-claim, has standing for

it. The public stripping of a patch was a serious declaration. He slowly released my wrist and t

g with scorn. "Douglas didn't just betray me. He stole from his o

magnitude of the chaos I was about to unleash. He was here for revenge

esture of passage. "The debt for your father's

ed the heavy safe door, and pulled out the thick, le

uld know, Brenda already moved the 'stolen' cash. She's planning

then nodd

gy night. The cold air hit my sweat-dampened neck. I moun

in the darkness as he watched me kickstart the engine. I revved it har

rode into the wind, I realized Brenda's frame-up was the perfect weapon.