by L. Wilder
I brought my hand up to my face, shielding my eyes as I walked over to Kevin. As I glanced out over the ledge, I could see that Kevin was right. There was a barge easing down the river, along with several other boats. “Wow. You can see for miles up here.”
“Yeah. It’s really cool up here.” He smiled proudly. “It’s one of my favorite spots at the clubhouse.”
“I can see why.”
We stood there quietly as we watched the boats travel down the river, and I couldn’t believe how good it felt just to be outside. I looked up, letting the sun warm my face, and listened to the peaceful sounds of nature as Kevin tossed pebbles over the ledge. We’d been up there for almost a half an hour when I noticed a black SUV pulling through the back gate with a little, red Toyota following close behind. I peered over the side of the building and watched as they parked in the side lot. When the doors started to open, I took a step closer to the edge, trying to get a better look as the men got out of the vehicles. Seconds later, I spotted Sawyer with Riggs and Murphy, and they were leading a woman with a small child towards a part of the clubhouse I’d never been to before. As they got closer, I quickly realized that I recognized the woman and the child, and I couldn’t help but wonder why they were bringing Kate Dillion here, and if her presence had anything to do with her brother, Terry.
Blaze
No man likes to admit he’s wrong, but we doubted Shadow and we couldn’t have been more wrong. We found just how wrong we really were when we brought Kate into the holding room. The minute she saw the condition that Terry was in, she completely lost it. Her blue eye filled with tears of anguish as she tried with all her might to break free from our grasp, but we held her there, forcing her to look at the pitiful state of her brother. Fearing that we’d do the same thing to her, she promised to tell us everything we wanted to know. Once Shadow gave the nod, we led her into another room and had one of the girls come get the kid so Gus could interrogate her without any distractions. We all sat down at the table, and Shadow leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, glaring at Kate with a hatred like I’d never seen before. I didn’t quite understand his repulsion for the timid, little blonde until she opened her fucking mouth. Then, it all finally started to come together.
“It started back when Johnny was selling for you.” She rolled her eyes, obviously no longer feeling nervous for her life. “He was always coming up short with the week’s payout or slacking off, so I took over. I’d sell his take at the strip club for twice the price that Johnny was charging, and I’d pocket the profit. I learned real quick that it was easy money. A whole lot easier than doing rounds.”
“How did you get connected to the Culebras?” Gus pushed.
“That happened a few months ago when I made a sale to one of their guys. He liked how I handled myself and asked if I’d be interested in trying something that would make me twice the money in half the time.” Her voice didn’t waiver, didn’t tremble, nor did it show any signs of her being the least bit rattled as she spoke. It was like she was almost proud of what she’d accomplished as she told us, “I took Eddie up on the offer, and after a few weeks, I got a couple of the other girls in on the action. We’re making bank, and the club owner has no idea what’s going on.”
“Eddie?” Gus asked.
“Yeah. Eddie’s my handler. I meet up with him at the paper mill over on Russel Street to drop off the money.”
“The paper mill?”
“Yeah. That’s where they do all their business. I think they even live upstairs or something. They’re there all the time,” she explained. “Anyway … after we sell everything he’s given us, I go over to the mill to give Eddie the money. Once he counts it out and makes sure it’s all there, he’ll give me more drugs for the girls and me to sell,” she explained. “Just like you used to do with Johnny at the warehouse.”
“Damn. Johnny had a big fucking mouth,” Gus grumbled.
“Yeah, he did. You really should’ve ended him a long time ago.” She exhaled an aggravated breath as she shook her head. Once she was done with her little display, she looked over to Gus and said, “But it was nice of you to send that money over after you offed him. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“What about Terry and the cameras? Was that your way of thanking us for helping you out?” Riggs barked.
“I did what I had to do. When Rico asked if I knew somebody who could help them get close to Fury, I just kind of volunteered … especially when I heard what kind of money he was offering. There was no way I could pass that up. I have my daughter to think about, you know.” When she noticed the angry expressions on their faces, her tone softened. “Not that it really makes any difference, but I didn’t know they were going to do that to the diner or the garage, and neither did Terry. Actually, Terry didn’t know anything about anything. He never does. He’s an idiot who’ll do anything I say for a hit.”
The cute little blonde with the adorable baby wasn’t some innocent victim. She was a total bitch who’d not only played Johnny, she’d played her own brother without even giving it a second thought. He’d spent hours being brutally tortured because she was a money hungry whore, pretending to give a shit about her kid when she’d ditched her all the time to grind a pole and sell fucking meth. Fuck. I hated the worthless bitch. Just looking at her made my rage surge through my veins, and it took every ounce of control I could muster to keep myself from reaching for her throat and squeezing the life right out of her.
Just when I thought the bitch had said all there was to say, she leaned forward with a confident smirk. “You know, they’re coming here.”
“What are you talking about?” Gus growled.
We all shifted in our seats as we listened to her say, “I heard Rico talking about it when I did my last drop off … I guess that was about two days ago.”
Unable to hold back my response any longer, I barked, “What the fuck did he say?”
“I didn’t get everything, just something about breaking through the fence and catching you off guard. I told Eddie it was a bad idea, and he agreed. He thought they should wait you out and kill y’all off one by one, but it didn’t matter what he thought. Rico’s the boss, and what he says goes.”
“When?”
“He didn’t say, but from the way they were talking, I’d say it’s going to be soon.”
Gus stood up with his fists clenched at his sides and ordered, “Outside, boys.”
Knowing he was feeling enraged like the rest of us, we followed him out of the room, and once the door closed behind us, we watched as he took a long, cleansing breath. After he pulled himself together, he looked over to Shadow and said, “Fuck, brother. You couldn’t have given us a heads up about this shit?”
“I knew she was the missing piece but wasn’t sure just how far it would all play out.”
“I never would’ve guessed that she’d be behind all this.”
I looked over to Riggs as I said, “That bitch is fucking crazy.”
“I hear ya, brother. She’s definitely off her fucking rocker.”
“You gotta wonder how she got so far gone.”
With his eyebrow cocked high, Riggs replied, “While Shadow was dealing with Terry, I did a little digging into the Dillions.”
“And?”
“I really didn’t find much. Typical city kids. They weren’t exactly well off growing up, but from what I could tell, their parents were decent folks. The dad worked two jobs, and the mom was a cashier at a local convenience store. They managed to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, and stayed clean while they did it. They tried, but they didn’t have a lot to show for it.” Riggs shrugged.
“So, what happened?”
“I’m no shrink, but I’m thinking good ol’ Kate was just a bad fucking seed. She skipped school more than she actually went, and she was just thirteen when she and Terry got caught shop lifting for the first time. A few years later, she was arrested for prostitution, and everything went downhill from there. The
chick was always into something, and ended up moving out when she was seventeen.
“And good ol’ Terry was just following her lead,” I added.
“Yep. The guy is definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed,” Riggs answered. “There’s no real answer for why Kate was a money, grubbing, evil whore. Hell, none of us would’ve even suspected her if it wasn’t for Shadow.”
Gus turned to Shadow and said, “He’s right, Shadow. You did good. You did real good.”
Shadow nodded. “Glad I could help.”
Without looking at anyone in particular, Gus announced, “I need eyes inside that paper mill. Now! I need to know how many men they’ve got, how much artillery they have, and every possible exit.”
“With the kind of shit they’re dealing, they’ve gotta be covered up with security cameras. I’ll head over there now and hack into them, then we’ll be able to see exactly what they have going on,” Riggs replied.
“Take Sawyer and Murphy with you, but keep your distance. I don’t want you taking any chances.”
“Understood.”
“This needs to happen fast,” Gus ordered. “Time isn’t on our side, boys. I’m calling church. By the time I’ve caught the others up, I expect to have eyes on that mill,” Gus growled.
“Understood,” we answered.
“What about the girl?” Murphy asked.
“Leave her. I’ll send word to Jasmine, letting her know that the kid will be with her until we make further arrangements.”
“Got it.”
When we turned to leave, Gus called out to Riggs. “I’m counting on you, son.”
“I won’t let you down, Prez.” Once Gus was gone, Riggs turned to Murphy and me and said, “I gotta grab my laptop. Meet me out at the SUV in two minutes.”
Once we got over to the paper mill, Riggs parked across the street next to an abandoned warehouse. Even though the mill was still up and running, it was one of the few in the area. Most hadn’t survived the low economy and had shut down, leaving most of the street desolate and quiet. The building itself looked pretty rundown, with bars on the windows and a broken-down metal fence surrounding the grounds. It looked like the perfect place for a meth lab. Once Riggs had pulled up his laptop, he looked over to us and said, “If their CCTV system is IP-connected, then we’re set. I’ll just need a few minutes to break the code.”
Murphy and I kept watch while he hacked into the Culebras’s security feed. The truck was completely silent except for the clinking sound of Riggs’s fingers tapping the keys on his laptop. Over the years, we’d seen the incredible things he could do, and even though we were struggling with impatience, we all knew that he’d pull through for us in the end. Thirty minutes had passed when he finally said, “I’m in.”
We all leaned forward as we studied the screen. When it scrolled down to the basement, Murphy snarled, “Holy shit. They’ve got twelve stations set up down there, and it looks like they’re making this shit around the clock.”
“Yeah, but they’re doing it old school right now.” Riggs pointed to three large stainless-steel containers in the back corner. “Look at that reaction vessel. These fuckers are about to move into a new phase of production, and this the perfect place for it, too. With the paper mill still running, they’ve got a great cover and the ventilation they need to conceal the smell. No one would suspect anything was going on.”
“Damn,” Murphy complained.
As I pointed to the bedrooms upstairs, I said, “Looks like Kate was right. They must be living there, too.”
“We need to get back to the clubhouse and show this shit to Gus.” As Riggs handed me the laptop, he said, “Start doing a head count. We need to know just how many of these motherfuckers there are and see how many exits you can find. Most of the windows have bars, so we won’t have to worry about those.”
“Why do we need to know about the exits?” I asked.
“Because I just might have a plan that will end these motherfuckers once and for all.”
Riggs was quiet on the way back to the clubhouse. It was clear that he was thinking over his plan, and from the intense look on his face, he had me curious as to what exactly his plan might be, especially knowing how slick he was. Not only was he our club hacker, Riggs was one of the smartest guys I’d ever come across. He was one of those guys who just knew shit—shit that normal guys like me just didn’t think about. The things that would come out of his mouth used to surprise me, but over the years, I’d gotten used to the way his mind worked, and I looked forward to seeing how he’d use it against the Culebras.
By the time we made it back to the clubhouse, everyone was waiting for us in the meeting room. Riggs took his laptop with him into the room and placed it in front of Gus and Moose, showing them everything that we were able to pick up on the cameras. As Riggs stood behind them, he said, “Right now, there’s only fifteen men on site, so if the girl is right, we’ve got some guys who aren’t around.”
Moose’s eyebrows furrowed as he said, “They’ve got guards at every door.”
“They do.”
“We will have to work around that shit,” Moose pointed out.
“Yeah, and we will. I’m not gonna lie … we’ve got some obstacles here, but we do have some things that’ll work in our favor.”
Obviously on edge, Moose snarled, “Okay. Why don’t you tell me what the hell those things are?”
“First and foremost, now we know they’re planning to come here. We’ve got eyes on them, so they’ve lost their element of surprise,” Riggs assured him.
T-Bone slammed his fist on the table as he snarled, “Let ‘em come here. I’ll be the first one standing in line to put a fucking bullet between their eyes.”
“Yeah, we could do that … or … we can go on the offensive.”
“How do you suppose we do that?”
“They’re sitting on a ticking time bomb over there, brother. That meth lab is full of all kinds of volatile chemicals… the kind of chemicals that will blow sky fucking-high when they’re met with the right reactant.”
Just like I knew he would, Riggs had given us a plan I could get behind. I turned to him and asked, “What kind of reactant?”
“Depends on how creative you want to get, but a simple explosive would do the trick. If we can just get close enough to the lab.”
“Why don’t we use the girl?” I suggested. “We know she can get inside. We use her to get the explosive close enough to the lab, and then we burn these fuckers to the ground,” I growled.
“It could work.”
“Hell, yeah, it could work. Now, let’s get over there and end this thing once and for all,” I roared.
After several seconds, Gus leaned back in his chair and looked out at us with a cold expression. “I have to say … I think Blaze is right. They have it coming. These motherfuckers killed our brothers. They blew up our garage, shot up our diner, and have the nerve to think they can make a move on our territory. It’s time they paid the price for stepping up against Satan’s Fury. And make no mistake, they’ll pay with their fucking lives … every last one of them.”
“You got that fucking right,” Moose roared. “Let ‘em burn.”
Gus stood up and said, “Be ready to move out when I give the call. Blaze, you’re with Shadow. You two get with Riggs and have the girl ready for the drop-off. Murphy, you’re with me and Moose. We need to check all the artillery and make sure we’re ready to roll out within the hour.”
As soon as we were dismissed, everyone dispersed, and my head was practically spinning as I followed Shadow and Riggs down the hall. Everything was moving so fucking fast, and while I was eager for us to seek our revenge, I just wanted a minute to catch my breath. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. There was too much shit that had to be done, including informing Kate that she would be paying a little visit to the Culebras tonight. When we walked into the room, Kate didn’t look like she was exactly thrilled to see us. “What took so long? I’ve been sitting
in here for hours!”
Ignoring her, Shadow slowly walked over and sat down in front of her. For several seconds, he didn’t speak. He simply glared at her with a seething stare that would make the toughest of men shake in their fucking boots. “You know, when you helped the Culebras, you went against Fury?”
I was actually surprised to see that her unwavering confidence was quickly fading, and her voice trembled as she answered, “Yeah.”
“You know you’re not gonna get away without paying for that shit, right?” he growled.
“Yes. I know.” Her eyes widened as she pleaded, “I’ll do anything … just don’t hurt my Lacie. Please. I’m begging you.”
“We won’t hurt the kid. You have our word,” he assured her.
Her head dropped, and for a moment I actually thought the bitch was going to cry. It was too late for tears. She’d already shown she had no heart. She was a selfish piece of shit, only caring about herself, and neither of us were buying any of her bullshit as she answered meekly, “Okay.”
“This is what you’re gonna do,” he started. “You’re going to the mill. You’re gonna see Eddie … and give him your payout for the past couple of days. While you’re there, you’re going to find out everything you can about their plans for striking the clubhouse.”
Her eyes narrowed as she asked, “What makes you think they’ll tell me anything?”
“You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you can find a way to make them talk,” Shadow answered. “We’ll have a wire on you, so we can hear everything that’s being said.”
“But I don’t have all the money. I’m a little short.”
“How much more do you need?”
“Since I was leaving town, I spent some of it,” she explained with a shrug. “I was actually planning to skip town with it and use that money to get me started. If I go there tonight and I’m five hundred short, they’ll know something’s up.”
“We’ll take care of it.” Shadow glanced down at his watch. “What time are they expecting you?”
