The Rampage MC #4: Max and Briony

Chapter 12 (Max): Just Like That

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Being called into Beard's office and sitting in front of his desk made me twitchy, wondering if I'd somehow fucked up again or if they'd decided to revoke my place in the brotherhood after all. I knew that wasn't how the Rampage operated, but after my screw up, I couldn't shake the fear that being kicked out of the MC was still a possibility. My mind was my own worst enemy.

"Didn't tell you about this a year ago, didn't think you deserved to know, and even though you asked, I was too fucking pissed at you to give you one fucking piece of information."

"You got any questions?" Beard asked me belligerently, expecting my answer to be no.

"Yeah," I said. "I need to know how that bastard got onto the compound."

Beard glared at me. "You trying to shift blame onto the MC rather than your sorry ass?"

"No. I'm trying to understand how he got onto MC grounds. If he found a way onto the grounds, someone else could, too."

Beard scowled at me. "And you think we're so stupid we didn't think about this and start investigating the same night she was attacked? Is that what you're saying?"

"No. I just want to make sure the hole is closed so no one else can sneak onto the grounds, hurt someone."

"Still sounds like you're trying to shift the focus of blame from you to the MC."

"I'm not. I don't want anyone else to get on the grounds."

"We figured out pretty quick how Briony's ex got onto the compound. The cameras on the east side of the compound, the side closest to your house, went down for two and a half minutes. Enough time for the bastard to get over the wall -- we found his ladder -- and to your house the second you left. The brother on the monitors missed it because there was someone at the front gate causing a disturbance for...two and a half fucking minutes. Had a talk with the brother on the monitors to make sure he wasn't involved. Chain made sure he was telling the truth when he said he hadn't been responsible for the glitch. Had a talk with the prospect at the gate to make sure he wasn't involved. Chain also made sure he was telling the truth when he said he hadn't been involved. Chain was a busy fucking bastard that week you fucked up. We do know Briony's ex had been watching her for a while, just out of range of our cameras, up in a tree using high-powered binoculars. Had a perfect line of sight to your house."

Could this get any worse? That made me feel even sicker than I already did. Every day my gut churned with what I had done to Briony, and now to know that her feeling of being watched had been dead on? My disgust for myself was reaching new lows, and I didn't think that was possible given my abyss-level of self-loathing, but I couldn't help but think about the way I'd been so dismissive of her concerns, so damn insistent she was wrong and so fucking sure in my belief that the Rampage compound couldn't be breached...

Briony, nothing can get you here. There's an eight-foot fence all around the property, cameras everywhere and a guard at the gate. If anyone tried to sneak onto the property, we'd know. No one's watching you.

"Save the pity party for later, Shotgun," Beard demanded impatiently, reading my face. "I said we know how he got onto the grounds but we still haven't figured out who helped him. The guy at the gate turned out to be a dead end. After he drove away, he ditched the stolen car and disappeared, and the small bit of his face we caught on camera, the part not shadowed by his ballcap, didn't pop in any facial recognition software. Even asked Butcher's man to help but he came up with nothing."

"So a year later, we're no closer to figuring this out than when we started."

"Didn't say that, exactly," Beard said. "Only that we haven't figured it out yet, but we're a little closer. Hate to say it, but all signs point to it being a brother who helped. Atlas and Chain have been narrowing it down over the last year, using a list of who was on the grounds that night and even who wasn't and why."