Operation: book 3 in Renegade

8

Duke began whining at the front door when I opened it to see Carlos.

"It's okay boy, it's just Carlos. See?"

He bent down and scratched his head gently.

"Sorry, I've been at Luke's all day," I explained while he shut the door.

"It's fine, I was running errands for my mom."

"Okay," I replied not realizing that something was bothering him.

"Cameron."

"Hmm?"

"We need to talk."

"Cam have you seen Shay anywhere?" my dad called from the kitchen.

"No, I think she's with Jeremy."

"Cam," Carlos whispered urgently.

I led him upstairs and locked my door. "What happened?"

"There was a threat posted on the hangout  today. It had your name all over it."

Well that didn't seem so major, "Okay so we just tighten up security and get Garrett out there."

"I don't think we need to worry about you being out there..."

"You're thinking they'll use my family as bait."

He nodded and gazed out my window.

"They could just as well use you to make me submit," I muttered and fingered the ring absentmindedly on my left hand.

"Yes but I would know how to prevent myself from being killed.'

I sighed, he was right.. as usual. "What do you suggest then?"

"You stay with Luke and the gang until we can get this under control."

"It'll never be under control, don't you see? How are we able to focus on college?"

"Mi amor," he kissed my forehead. "Don't worry about something we already have under control. We'll fix this, you'll see."

And by that he meant someone will be killed in the process.

"Did you know Luke is Ariana and Adriana's dad?"

"I think he might've told me that at some point.. now that I think of it I could see some resemblance."

"Yea he told me that today It never occurred to me that families can all be in a gang."

He nodded, "some families form one together or can be split apart because of it. Others have nothing to do with the gang affiliation except the person related to them."

"Good history lesson love," I teased as he poked my sides.

"So when we have kids we'll be like Luke and Lydia?'

Carlos sighed, "Most likely. They don't have to be involved but that would mean passing the title down to the twins or someone else. You and I will become successful Cameron, but we'll always have the duty of caring for the Vipers."

"But if my dad started it couldn't I end it?" It hadn't really made sense when my mom had asked me earlier but now I was thinking she had been onto something. "Carlos we both know this isn't an ideal situation to put our future kids into. There's too much risk involved that I'm not willing to take."

"Cam... where else would the others go? They have no jobs."

"They'll have to figure it out. We'll help them, but if we stayed in this business we will be busted by the cops. Neither of us need that on our record for later on."

"Cameron?" my mom called from the stairs.

I opened my door and went to see what she needed.

"Have you heard from your sister lately?"

"No.. I figured she was with Jeremy. Is she not answering her phone?"

"Nope, she could be driving but I'm just worried. It's not like either of you two to not keep in touch with one of us."

"I'll head over to Jeremy's mom. I'm sure she's just lost track of time," I reassured her while swallowing the knot that was forming in my throat.

Carlos dialed Luke's number while I told him what my mom had said.

"You don't think,"

"Let's go check before we draw conclusions," he reassured me.

I called Jeremy as we headed out on our bikes to his place. The way things wre going I wasn't liking the outcome.

"Hello?"

"Jeremy it's Cam is Shay with you?"

"No I haven't heard from her today. Why," he ended a bit nervously.

My stomach dropped while my brain tried to come up with a plausible reason. "Because she's late for family "fun" night and hasn't picked up her phone yet."

"I'm sure her battery died," Jeremy said quietly.

"Most likely," I replied and nearly dropped my phone when I saw her car on the side of the road.

"I gotta call you back later," I ended and pulled over to take in what looked like to be a planned attack on my sister's car.

"Where's Shay?" I muttered as I saw all the glass shattered from the windows.

"She could've gotten out," Carlos observed as I kept looking at the damage, feeling the fear settle in.

"No, this wasn't an accident. Colby did this to her. He took her Carlos. He has my sister."