Landry glanced at Ayers, and Ayers sat forward, resting his chin lightly on steepled hands, looking every inch the politician he had trained himself to be.

“You are correct, Cain—”

“Prophet Cain!” Judah and Brother Luke emphasized in unison, interrupting the governor, admonishing his lack of respect for a Lord’s messenger. Brother Luke’s son Micah had been killed in the most abominable way, a manner that just reeked of Flame. And he was beyond pissed.

Ayers held up his hands and smirked. “Prophet Cain. My apologies.”

Landry grinned at Ayers and crossed his arms, but their humor soon faded.

“We have a suspect, a deserter from our high officers who we believe stole vital information from Landry’s office. And we have reason to believe he hides amongst the Hangmen. He hasn’t been seen since the day of the raid, so it leads us to conclude he has joined forces with them.”

My fists clenched until they ached. “Then he must be caught and dealt with!”

Ayers held up his hands again. “Prophet Cain, I have known of the Hangmen for many years, under quite a few presidents, I might add. And I’ll tell you this now, these men are powerful. You lived with them for five years, so you know this. They have an international reach. They have more connections than me and all of the Klan. Hell, more than the damn president of the United States and I’m guessing more than any of you. So we have to be careful in our planning, meticulous with our attention to detail. We have to leave no page unturned.

“It will take time. But I remain a firm believer that in the end, we shall prevail. With the supply of your arms business to my Klan for the race war that is no doubt coming to the U.S., our relationship will be strong. The Lord’s white Christian dream will be realized.”

I glanced at Judah and he shrugged. I could tell he agreed with them. Ayers obviously caught this and said, “This is a marathon, Prophet Cain, not a sprint. Let us ensure all our assets are in place before we strike… And we will strike. And it will be destructive to the MC.”

I moved to the office window, staring out at my commune and took a breath. It might not be now, it might not be tomorrow, but before long, I shall have the Cursed back, back where they belong, and Mae in my bed. And the Hangmen?

Burning in fucking hell.

The End