The Devil’s Reward: An Opposites Attract Romance (The Devil’s Soldiers)

Dagger is our mole, and I’m going to get Quinn back if it’s the last thing I do.

 “Check Dagger’s birth certificate and see who his father is listed as,” I order Cryos.

He quickly types away, and then he curses. “His father is listed as C. Markins. Mother is Allison Malloy. Baby is listed as Christopher Malloy, but looks like somewhere along the way, he switched to the last name Arnold. Fuck, I never noticed that before. How the hell did I not notice that?”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dagger ended up here at our club,” I say to Sniper. “Or that he purposely changed his name so it would be his father’s.”

Sniper nodded. “It’s all circumstantial, though. We have no hard proof of why he hid that information.”

“We need to talk to Bullet,” I tell Sniper. “Maybe he can fill in the blanks. Cryos, keep this to yourself until we know what’s going on.” Cryos nods, still looking stunned.

Sniper and I make our way to the med room and shut the door behind us. Bullet is awake, and Rose is beside him, looking exhausted. She gives me a cool stare, but I ignore it. I glance over and see that Sage is fast asleep. Shit, this can’t wait, so if she wakes up, we’ll just have to tell her to keep quiet. Medic frowns when he looks at our faces.

“What’s wrong?” Bullet asks quietly, straightening slowly in the bed.

I give him a quick rundown of finding the note and the picture in Hammer’s room. “We think that Dagger is Bull’s son,” I explain as I hand him the old picture. Bullet’s eyes harden as he takes it, and stares at the man in the photo.

“He certainly looks like him here,” Bullet remarks quietly. “Who’s his mother?”

“Allison Malloy,” I answer. Rose starts and lets out a small gasp, and Bullet looks over at her sharply. I look at Rose. “You know that name?”

“Allison was my friend. She’s the one that brought me around the clubhouse the first time, way back when, and I met Bullet. She and Bull were hot and heavy, and he kept her plied with drugs and booze.”

“I remember her,” Bullet says with a grim nod. “The bitch was always hanging around, and Bull fucked her as he saw fit. She would do anything he asked, and he liked that power. How did we not know this when he applied to be a Prospect?”

“Because he changed his name,” I answer. “He was born as Christopher Malloy, but maybe he figured that it would raise some flags so he changed his name, built up a whole new life for himself. Or maybe his mother changed it afterwards. And Bull’s middle name is—”

“Arnold,” Bullet interrupts. “Son of a bitch. This can’t be a coincidence. Not with the mafia knowing some of Bull’s old hideouts. You think Bull gave Allison the journal and she gave it to Dagger?”

“It makes sense,” I say but Rose shakes her head.

“Allison wasn’t that bright,” Rose counters. “She was so strung out half the time, that if Bull gave her something like that, I doubt she would have remembered it or put it down and it was lost. It’s possible Dagger stumbled onto it, I guess, but we’re making assumptions. It could be all a coincidence.”

Suddenly the door bursts open and Macy runs in, eyes full of terror and tears streaming down her face. “He took my Mommy,” she sobs, launching herself at me. “The bad man took my Mommy.”

My heart drops as I scoop her up and run from the room. I see nothing in the common room and I ask Macy, “Where was your Mom, Macy?” She points at the kitchen, and I walk in and find Viper on the ground, blood on the floor around him, the back door open, and no sign of Quinn. Fuck. Medic rushes to Viper, cursing.

I turn my head and say to Macy, “Who took her, Macy? What did he look like? What happened?”

“Mommy told me to go into the pantry and grab a snack because Viper said some was in there,” she cries, body shaking. “I did and then I heard a man and a weird noise, and I peeked my head out and saw Mom talking to the guy with the bag. He was shoving her, and she was shoving him back and he had a gun. Mr. Viper was sleeping on the floor, and then another man came in the back door. He was so scary and he made them go with them. He hit Mom on the head with something and she fell on the floor and he made the other guy pick her up. I wanted to scream, but I was so scared. It’s my fault,” she sobs.

“No, baby, no,” I tell her. “You were brave hiding in here. I’m going to get your Mom back, okay? I’ll get her back.”

“I want my Mom,” she sobs.

“Give her to me,” Sniper orders, reaching out for her. “I’ll take her with the women and we’re going to put them down in the safe room with Kaleb. Don’t do anything stupid, Shadow. We’ll get her back.”

“It was Dagger, he has to be the one who she was arguing with,” I say as I hand him a still sobbing Macy. She fights a bit but I soothe her with the promise that I’m going to find her Mom. Rose will take care of her, but right now, my focus has to be Quinn and getting her back. Thankfully Macy seems to understand. She stops fighting and buries her face in Sniper’s shoulder, her entire body shaking with the force of her cries.

“And whoever was helping him,” Sniper agrees before he rushes out.

I look at Medic who is ripping apart Viper’s shirt. “It only hit him in the shoulder, but it looks like he got a blow to the back of the head too. It probably stunned him, and when he didn’t go down the way he suspected, Dagger must have shot him,” Medic says briskly. “We need to get him into the med room and I’ll dig this out. He’ll be pissed when he wakes up, but he’ll live. Thank fuck Dagger has always been a terrible shot.”

A small consolation when I know my woman is out there in his hands along with one of Dmitri’s men. “Church!” Bullet bellows, and the fury in his voice is thick. “Let’s find these bastards and end this once and for all.”

I couldn’t agree more. I’m coming, Quinn, I silently think. I’m going to get you and I’ll kill them for daring to touch you.

It’s chaos for a few minutes as the women are all rushed down into the safe room, most of them arguing with us, and we get Viper and Medic into the med room. Rose wants a gun, we ignore her, and Sage is telling us that she’ll break all of our dicks if we don’t get Quinn back. Izzy is quiet, but I can see the pinched look on her face and know that she’s displeased to be shuffled off and out of danger.

I stop when I realize we’re missing one woman and two dogs. “Where are Syn and the dogs?” I demand, looking around.

Stone curses violently. “I’ll find her,” he growls. “I’m going to put a damn tracker on them. If she went back to her place, I’m going to tear her a new one.”

And I won’t stop him. I have to hope that Dmitri’s men didn’t take her too, or hurt her and the dogs. I look around the room and see Kaleb hobbling his way towards me but I shake my head at him. “You go down with the women,” I order him. “Keep your gun handy just in case.”

He looks like he wants to argue, but he nods. “Alright,” he agrees and heads for the basement door.

I see Crypt coming down the steps at a fast pace. “Crypt, you’re on the women downstairs,” I order him when he looks at me in question. He nods and follows Kaleb towards the basement.

I storm into Church and take my seat, though everything in me is burning to go after them. Every moment that Quinn is with them, the higher the chance that we won’t find her alive. I can’t even allow myself to think about that possibility.

“Cryos,” Bullet barks, “bring up the feed of the gate.” He doesn’t even take his seat, just stands looking foreboding as Cryos runs into the room.

Cryos has it up in seconds. “They didn’t come through the gate,” he tells Bullet grimly. He clicks a few more buttons. “They came from Syn’s land,” he explains. I watch on the screen as the big brute of a man slips through the fence and walks right up to the back door. My control slips a bit as we watch him force Dagger out the door, Quinn’s arm gripped tightly in Dagger’s grasp as she struggles, terror clear on her face. I snarl when Dagger suddenly stops and pistol whips Quinn across the face.

“He’s a dead man,” I hiss, body vibrating with fury. He dared to hurt my woman, and even with everything else, for that alone, I’ll kill him.

“They go back on Syn’s land,” Frost observes. “They probably have a car just down the road but out of sight of the gate and our cameras.”

Suddenly something off to the side of the camera moves and I lean forward. “What is that?” I bark.

“Son of a bitch,” King says in shock. “That’s Syn. And the damn dogs.” We all watch as Syn carefully weaves her way through the trees, the dogs hot on her heels as they go after Dagger, Quinn, and the mystery suit. “I’ll let Stone know,” he says, pulling out his phone.

“Don’t bother,” Stone growls as he stalks into the room. “I know she’s gone. That damn woman is going to get herself killed. She’s a goddamned menace.”

“If she dies, Sage will have my ass and yours,” King says tightly. “But we can’t worry about her right now. We need to find out where they’re heading.”

“I’m running his face,” Cryos tells everyone briskly.

“I can’t believe it was fucking Dagger that was our mole all this time,” Milk says loudly, drawing our attention. “What spooked him?”

“Turns out that Dagger is Bull’s son,” Bullet answers, his voice like ice and Milk instinctively winces at the tone. “He got ahold of Bull’s journal somehow, which we believe listed all the places Bull used to keep his stashes, and they were hidden enough for us not to know about them and keep them off the grid and off our radar.”

“Hammer was the one who figured it out,” I add, everyone other than Bullet, Cryos, Sniper, and King looking at me in shock. “Sniper and I went up to get him something for the funeral. Loki alerted on his nightstand and we found three baggies of white powder. Probably cocaine, but one of them must have opened or had a hole because it got on a piece of paper, which was what Loki alerted to. On it was a picture of Bullet, Hammer, and Bull. Only Bull had no facial hair and was younger. Almost the spitting image of Dagger now.”

“Holy shit,” Twigs breathes.

“Why didn’t Hammer say anything about it?” Torque wonders aloud, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Maybe he only just figured it out and Dagger told Dmitri’s men so they killed him to make sure he didn’t alert us?” Hulk suggests.

“The why doesn’t matter right now,” Bullet snaps. “What matters is we need to find out where Dmitri’s man is taking him and Quinn. Quinn is our main priority.”

Cryos’s computer pings and he lets out a noise of satisfaction. “Got him,” he says happily. He clicks a few buttons and up on the screen is the picture of the very man who was at the back door. “Isidor Moskal, hit man and all around scumbag for the mafia. He moves around, and doesn’t belong to any one faction. He’s suspected of being on the payroll of the Pakhan himself, but there’s nothing to prove it. Which means that if he’s in town, Dmitri isn’t only planning on offing our mole. He’s planning something big.”

“We can worry about that later,” I say impatiently. “Is there anything that says where he could be heading? Any known places that Dmitri might make him go?”

“He’s not from around here so I don’t have anything other than the places we know that Dmitri might frequent,” Cryos returns.

“Hulk, you and Timber check out the garage,” Bullet barks. “Frost, you and Bowie head for the old asylum. Shadow, you and Sniper go to the farmhouse you checked out with Viper. Everyone else, get on your bikes and check everywhere you can think of. We search this entire goddamn town until we find them. You see anything, you call for the rest and don’t engage without backup. Understood?”

We all nod, but there is no way in hell I’ll be waiting to grab Quinn. I can handle myself.

We’re all up and out of our chairs and heading for the door. There’s no time to waste.

Suddenly Bullet yells for everyone to stop and we all turn to look at him in question. “It’s Syn,” he says, holding up his phone. “Cryos, put a trace on the call. I want to know where she’s at.”

“On it,” he says and gets to work as Bullet answers.

“You’re going to get yourself in trouble, young lady,” Bullet tells her gruffly.

“Yeah, you can yell at me later,” Syn says into the phone. “I’ve followed them and I got the plate number of the vehicle.” She rattles it off and Cryos immediately gets to work. “Quinn was fine, but scared. Dagger and the big brute were arguing before they drove off. I have a tracking chip on my phone, so make sure you’re on my ass because I’m following them.”

“Get your ass back here, woman,” Stone barks, anger, and possibly concern, covering his face. “We’ll get them.”

“When have I ever listened to you?” she retorts, and then she’s gone.

Stone curses. “Her ass is getting tied to the damn bed when I get my hands on her,” he growls, and from the look in his eyes I have no doubt that he means it.

“Let’s ride!” Bullet shouts. It’s a flurry of motion as everyone springs into action. “Cryos, you’re with me in the SUV. Brothers, we rescue Quinn; everyone else, they can burn in hell.”

“What about Dagger?” King asks.

“If we can take him, then do it. We’ll exact our own justice before he meets his maker, but if not, let the little bastard burn right along with the rest of them.”

There’s a roar of agreement and we leave the room. My stomach is burning with uncontrollable anger and worry for Quinn. I promised her I would keep her and Macy safe, and I’ve failed. Now she’s in the hands of some of the worst men out there, and I want her back.

I stop when I see Viper coming towards us, face pale and his arm in a sling, Medic on his heels and looking annoyed. “I’m going with you,” Viper announces.

“No, you need to stay here,” Bullet replies. “You just got fucking shot.”

“And you just got out of the hospital after nearly dying,” Viper fires back, eyes stubborn.

“Good thing I’m President and can do whatever the hell I want,” Bullet says.

“How about instead of arguing we get to work?” I bark, pissed. I look at Viper. “I need you to stay here and protect the women and Macy. She’s more comfortable with you than the others. There’s a chance that someone is going to come back and try and finish the job here with everyone else, and there is no one else I trust with her more than you.”

Some of the fight goes out of him and he nods. “Alright. But I want to be kept in the loop,” he says with a hard look.

“Done,” I promise. “Medic, are you staying here or coming with us?”

“I’ll be here,” he says. “Not that I don’t want in on the action, but with everyone here mostly being out of commission, probably best I’m around in case of any problems.”

“Good. Send Crypt up, he’s coming with us,” I say, which makes Bullet look at me sharply. “He’s fresh out of the Forces, and all his instincts are fresh and sharp. I want him there as back up in case things go south.”

Bullet nods. “Fine. The more men that know what the hell to do with this, the better. Now let’s go.”

As we head outside, Cryos yells, “They’re heading for the old asylum.”

A cold smile pulls across my face. Looks like Dmitri just made his first mistake, because we’ve been there before, and I know exactly where they’ll be.

We’re coming, gorgeous. Just hold on.