"I know where she is." Brandon was calming. "Xander will kill us if he finds out."
"And I won't?"
"No offense, but I'm more afraid of him than you."
Jonny rolled his eyes.
"Swear you don't have her."
"I don't. None of my guys do, either."
"It was your guys that grabbed her!"
"Look, Brandon, I've got a tiny rogue element in my organization I'm looking to crush," Jonny said with tried patience. "My guess is Ashley crossed the wrong damn vamp last night, and this is the result. It's stupid as shit to be out doing what she's doing. If she got in over her head, it's not my fucking problem."
There was a long moment of silence. He could almost see Brandon thinking.
"Where is she? I can prove they aren't mine," Jonny added.
"Monterey wharf."
Jonny took a quick picture of the location of his mid-California vamps and texted it to the number Brandon was calling from. "Those are mine," he said. As he said the words, he studied the photo. He had no one between San Francisco and Los Angeles - but there was an old ops center used long before his reign in the Monterey area. The rogue vamps would know about it. Were they stupid enough to make it their headquarters or simply using it to stash Ashley?
"You can manipulate that shit," Brandon said finally.
"Good bye, Brandon." Jonny hung up and handed the cell back to Charles. "Send a scout to the old warehouses my predecessor used to use in the Monterey area. I have a feeling some of our rogues are there. Tell them to watch only. I want to know who's there and how many. And …" He debated. "… I don't understand exactly what Stu and Tasha need for the talisman to work. Send Tasha with the recon team to determine if there's something there she can use."
Charles nodded. "May I ask what that was about?"
"No," Jonny snapped.
Charles didn't push and moved back to the ops center to issue orders for a scout to do some reconnaissance. Jonny remained in the hallway, thoughts on Ashley once more. It truly was the stupidest thing ever for her to start taking out vamps without the White God's knowledge or support. What possessed her to take such risks? She had to know if he didn't put a stop to what she was doing, someone else - probably Xander - would.
His phone vibrated and he glanced down. Brandon had texted him an address in Monterey and nothing else. Jonny shoved the phone into his pocket.
He owed the siblings nothing. Any involvement with them was tantamount to challenging Xander, and Jonny wasn't in any position to do something so crazy.