by K. J. Dahlen
I shrugged. “Maybe but when this sort of thing happened ten years ago, I didn’t say anything and I had to watch the same cartel murder five of my friends in cold blood. I won’t do that ever again.” Shaking my head, I remembered the past with great sadness.
“Who were you with back then?” Dagger tilted his head at me.
“The Red Dragons up around San Francisco.”
I saw Dagger startle at the name Red Dragons but I didn’t stop and ask why. I just continued with my story, “The cartel came in by boat. They were looking to set up a pipeline for their product using San Francisco as a distribution point. Red Dragons didn’t want the cartel to get their foot in the door and were there to stop them but we had the wrong pier. The cartel were warned and got the drop on us. They came in earlier than we expected and got set up before we knew they were even there. They smoked us before we even got in place. For them, it was like shooting fish in a fucking barrel. We couldn’t even duck for cover as there wasn’t any time.” I swallowed hard. “Rumors were all over town the cartel might be there early but I never said anything. I fucking heard the rumors but I never said a word and five of my friends died in the firefight.”
“What happened after that?” Chloe spoke up.
“I left the MC. No one blamed me, I wasn’t the only one that heard the rumors and no one else said anything either but I blamed myself. I had information that would have benefited the club and I never said it out loud. I just couldn’t stay there and look into their eyes anymore. I swore I would never put myself in that position again. Now, if I don’t say what’s going on, someone I care about could catch a bullet. I don’t want that to be you, either of them or Jax. My brothers mean too much for that.”
“But you had no way of knowing what the cartel would do,” Dagger argued. Rubbing his hand along his jaw, he stared at me for a moment. “Hell, the cartel was bold for taking on the Red Dragons that way.”
“What do you mean Dad?” Chloe asked. “Who are the Red Dragons?”
Dagger met my eyes but wouldn’t answer his daughter’s question.
Instead, I told them, “Yeah, I could be accused of betraying the Black Devils by telling club business but that don’t make no difference. My silence ten years ago cost five brothers their lives and I won’t do that again. I may have to leave the MC but at least I didn’t get anyone killed this time.”
“I’ll square it with Jax,” Chloe assured him.
I shook my head. “No need. If he wants me gone then I’m gone. Whether it’s by excommunication or a bullet, I’ll still be gone.” Then I glared at Chloe. “But what you did tonight was reckless and stupid. I told you I’d check on your mom. You should have stayed out of sight. Jumper could have taken you tonight and Jax wouldn’t have been able to save you this time.”
Chloe hung her head. “I know.”
Dagger looked between the two of us. “This time?”
I nodded. “Yeah, Jumper got his hands on her once and damn near put a bullet through her heart. He would have too, except someone grabbed the wrong woman. She was blindfold and tied up. She wouldn’t have had a chance. Jumper ordered his man to shoot her thinking it was Chloe. The man never even flinched. He just shot her. “
Dagger growled deep in his chest and the rumble seemed to make everyone in the room still. “Jumper is a dead man.”
I stared into the eyes of the man they called Dagger. Or rather what should’ve been his ghost. I shivered. Nothing scared me much after all these years, but this man did. The gleam of rage in his steel colored eyes told me that eventually, no matter what the rest of us did—Jumper’s days were numbered and this man would end him.
Chapter Ten
Dino
“So what are you going to do now?” I asked.
Dagger shrugged even though his eyes were still full of fire over the news about Jumper kidnapping Chole. “The way I see it, we have two main goals here. One is to stop the cartel from getting their foot over the border and the other is to stop Jumper dead in his tracks, preferably with a bullet in his head. As I told you before, the Patrol MC doesn’t have the manpower to have the cartel stopped. With Bruno making the deal, we’ll not only have the cartel on our ass, we’ll have the Black Devils as well.”
I nodded. “I wish I could say it wasn’t so, but if Bruno wants this deal to go down, he’ll order it to go down. The MC won’t stop it. They may not like it, drugs is the one thing we’ve always drawn the line at dealing. On Bruno’s orders I might add, but all of a sudden he’s ready to do this deal and we can’t stop him.”
Dagger grunted sat back in his chair. “That’s what doesn’t make sense to me. Bruno’s stand has always been strong. He didn’t mind dealing guns, whiskey and women but he would never deal with drugs. So why is he now?”
Neither of us said anything but the both of us were thinking of why after years of avoiding the drugs had Bruno, a man with power and money to burn would suddenly be pushing for a running drugs deal.
Dagger stilled then turned to me. “Do you know who this last shipment of whiskey was for?”
I frowned and shook my head. “What difference would that make?”
“A hell of a lot of difference if it was meant for the cartel,” Dagger could barely whisper the words out loud.
My frown deepened. “The cartel? Can’t they get their own whiskey?”
“Yeah, they don’t have any trouble getting whiskey but for some reason they can’t import certain brands. Some kind of embargo between the United Kingdom and Mexico or some such shit.”
“Fuck!” I swore.
“What?” Dagger stared at me.
“The reason this shipment was so fucking expensive was that it was the best of the best. Dalmore 62. A big shipment too, bigger than we’d ever handled before.” Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on my knees. “Only two people knew who the shipments are for, the President and the man who does the paperwork. That would have been Bruno and my uncle Marco. We just get told where to store it once it’s off the boats. They take care of the rest.”
“Shit…” Dagger swore softly. “If this shipment was for the cartel and someone stole it, Bruno might not have a choice but to go into business with them. Even he would know better than to cross the cartel.”
“So what does this mean?” Chloe finally asked. “I mean if what you guys are thinking is true, what does it mean to the rest of us?”
Dagger turned his head and gazed at his daughter and wife.
Even I could read the fear and uncertainty in their eyes.
He sighed and looked as if he wished to hell he didn’t have to say what he was going to say next, “There are certain organizations you never want to cross, a righteous MC, the mob and the cartel. Any one of the three or all of them are deadly in their own right, but you pit one against the other or the other two and you’ve got world war three on your hands. Now Bruno is a tough old fucker, he’s got the mob at his back but he’s also got an MC behind him too. The Black Devils is strong and won’t stand for no bullshit. That’s one side, then you got the other side, The DeGrasso Cartel. While they aren’t the biggest cartel in Mexico, they have a certain reputation for being the meanest. You cross them and you die. Not only you but your whole family, every man woman and child. It doesn’t matter to them.”
“Does Bruno know this?” Chloe looked pale with her body trembling.
Dagger and I both nodded. “Oh yeah, Bruno would have known.”
“Then why would he deal with them at all?” Sheila asked.
Dagger shrugged. “He may not have had a choice. If they wanted a shipment of whiskey they would have known who to contact and they would have known just how much pressure to put on the man in order to get what they wanted.”
Chloe frowned. “Could they have set Antonio up by getting him to steal the shipment from Bruno? Could the cartel have been behind this from the beginning?”
“Maybe.” Dagger sighed. “Who knows for sure, but whatever happened then may or may not be
responsible for what’s gonna happen next.” He got up from his chair and began to pace again. Thinking out loud he muttered, “If the cartel is coming, no one will be safe. Not in Tijuana, not in Coronado. Nowhere.”
“We have to try and stop the cartel from coming,” I insisted.
Dagger snapped his head around to glare at me. “I told you, we don’t have the man power we need for that. The Patrol is good and keeps track of what’s going on with everything that happens but we’re too small to take on the cartel. They may know about us but they can’t find us to take us out. That’s been our advantage all along.”
“How many men are you?” I asked.
Dagger shrugged. “We have about a hundred men altogether.”
I nodded. “So do we. Your man called you Prez. So, you run it?”
Dagger snorted. “Yeah, but you also got a president that just made a deal from hell. He can’t change his mind now and your men will never go against him or the deal he made. They may not like it, but they will honor it because of him.”
“Well, that’s true enough.” I sank down in my chair.
“Not only that but you might have to go through the Bloods as well as the cartel,” Dagger informed me.
My eyes narrowed to almost slits. “Why the Bloods?”
Dagger curled his lip. “Because years ago, Jumper wanted us to join the ranks of the cartel. He wanted to be the middle man between here and Mexico. The only one that stood in his way was me. I tried to get him to see the cartel was a bad idea but he had big dreams of power and money flowing equally. I could have told him the cartel doesn’t like to share but he wouldn’t have listened anyway. If the Bloods had any idea the Devils were dealing with the cartel, Jumper will be fit to be tied. He’s been trying to get an in with the cartel for years but it hasn’t happened yet.”
“So Bruno doing a deal with the cartel is gonna be like a slap in the face if Jumper finds out about it?” I stated the obvious.
“Oh, it’s gonna be more than a slap in the face.” Dagger laughed out loud but there was no humor in it. “It’s gonna be more like shoving a red hot poker up his ass.”
“Can’t we go to the police?” Chloe asked quietly.
Dagger shook his head. “This is going to be too much for even them to handle. They don’t have the manpower either. Not for the bloodbath that’s coming.”
“What stopped the cartel from using San Francisco before?” Sheila asked me. “I mean why couldn’t they get in ten years ago?”
I turned my gaze to her as an idea formed in my head. “Ten years ago, they couldn’t get into Frisco because they were met and stopped by not only the Red Dragons but the Bratva as well.”
“What the hell is Bratva?” Chloe looked confused.
“They’re Russian mob,” Dagger answered for me.
I nodded. “After the initial fire fight at the docks where men died on both sides, the Red Dragons regrouped. They got more men and those men were Bratva foot soldiers. They stormed the docks and sent every single one of the cartel members to hell. The battle lasted for two days. We lost a few more men but we wiped out the cartel that had been sent. They lost all seventy five men. Then we sent their bodies back to Mexico. We put them back on the boat and sailed it to the Mexican coast and when we were within sight of their port, we unfurled the Russian flag and a flag of the Red Dragons. They scrambled to get more boats in the water and were going to meet the boat we were on but before they could get there, we firebombed the boat. We aimed the burning boat toward the shoreline and we got the hell out of there. When their boat hit the dock, it exploded on impact and burned everything in sight. It was a mass of screaming and burning bodies. Flames lit the entire area and everything within a three mile radius burned. Many men, women and children died that day that didn’t have to but the Russians sent their message. The cartel learned a valuable lesson that day. They may have been ruthless but the Russians were worse.”
Chloe gasped and tears ran down her face as she listened to my story. Her mother wrapped her arms around her and together, they wept for the horror of the story.
“Too bad, we don’t have that kind of power behind us now,” Dagger stated.
I paused. Then I caught Dagger’s eyes and held them for a moment before I said, “I can make a call. It might not work but I can make the call.”
At first, he shook his head. “I can’t ask you to do that. I won’t ask you to do that.”
I shrugged. “Either way, we’re all fucked. A lot of people are going to die. Do you want to see your women in the hands of the cartel or Jumper? You know damn well that’s what’s going to happen if we fail. If we’re going to die it might as well be worth something, don’t you think?”
Dagger thought for a moment then nodded. “Make the call.”
“They’re gonna want something in return, you realize that don’t you?”
Dagger nodded. “I know but then I would too, if the situation were reversed. At least, find out if they’re interested.”
I dug my cell out and made the call.
~* * * *~
An hour later, I ended the phone call. Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I felt slightly sick to my stomach. Betrayal was never a good thing but this time it was making me physically ill. A glass of whiskey was set down in front of me and I grabbed it up quickly. Downing the contents, I looked over at Dagger and nodded my thanks. “They’re coming,” I told the other man grudgingly.
“What are their terms?”
“Surprisingly easy terms. I’ll have to talk to Jax but they want an association with the Black Devils. Nikoli said that if they can help stop the cartel from getting their feet on American soil, an association with the Devils would work for them. Apparently, they’ve kept track of where I went after I left them. They’ve been keeping track of the club and want an in with them.”
“You need to call Jax then and get him on board,” Dagger insisted.
“Yeah, I know.” I hung my head. “He isn’t going to like it though. He’s gonna see this as a betrayal of the man he thinks of as a father. He might not see the whole picture here.”
“If he can’t, he isn’t going to last very long as the President of an MC,” Dagger countered.
“He already has a huge target painted on his back.” I nodded. “Probably more than one now.” I ran my hands down my face. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I got up and left the room with my phone in my hand. I paused in the hall to get the nerve up to call Jax and I heard Sheila ask, “Is he going to be okay?”
“No I don’t think so,” Dagger answered. “In some ways, he’s just betrayed his best friend and his MC all at the same time. Granted, he has no choice but he’s feeling the bitterness of his betrayal.”
“Dammit!” Chloe sighed loudly.
Yeah, dammit is right. I had to do this even though it went against al the bylaws of the club. With a heavy sigh, I dialed Jax’s number.
Chapter Eleven
Jaxson
Dino finally called.
“Where the hell are you?” I shouted into the phone. “Is Chloe all right?”
“Where are you?” Dino asked.
“I’m at your apartment and guess what? You and Chloe aren’t fucking here.” I growled. “Now I’ll ask you again, and this time you’d better tell me… Where the hell are you and Chloe?”
“We’re at the house her mother is hiding in. You need to get here quickly and quietly.”
“And why would that be?” I asked him in a low voice.
“Because there’s so much shit going down, I don’t even know where to begin.”
I got a bad feeling, like an itch in the middle of my shoulders that couldn’t be scratched. Something was very wrong and it wasn’t going to end well. I was already on edge because of the meeting I just left and now this.
I was already standing in a shit pit. Bruno’s deal with the cartel was setting my teeth on edge. Now on top of that I got another situation with Dino and Chloe. “Ok give me the address,” I muttered
and I listened to him rattling off an address.
Before I could hang up Dino said something that I never thought I’d hear him say, “You better watch your back brother. The shadows might be watching you.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I growled.
“It means there’s more than what you can see, watching all of us tonight,” Dino stated just before he hung up the call.
I grabbed my keys and made for the door. With his warning fresh in my mind, I went to my bike and looked around. For some reason I couldn’t fathom, I had to agree with my brother…I could feel someone out there staring a hole in my back.
With a glance at my watch, I swung my leg over my bike and started the engine. I took off keeping one eye on the road and the other on the city. What I was looking for I was unsure of but Dino’s warning was making me nervous and that was one thing I didn’t need right now.
To be safe, I took several wrong turns, just in case I was being followed. Then I u-turned right off the freeway and headed the opposite way. I finally got to the house Sheila was hiding in. I came in on silent mode and searched the shadows. It wasn’t until I made the second search that I saw them.
I found three men standing watch. Three men that weren’t Devils were standing watch over Chloe’s mother. Why they were here wasn’t important. Who they were was important. Very important.
I called Dino back. When he answered I asked, “What the fuck is going on here? Did you know there are men watching Sheila’s house?”
“Yeah, I know. I met them earlier when I came looking for Chloe. Come around to the back door. I’ll let you in.”
“The fuck?” I scowled at all the mystery and shit going on as I tucked my cell back into my pocket. Dino better be ready to explain things. I walked my bike down the alley. I parked it in the shadows of the garage and grabbing my gun, I held it posed but pointed to the ground. My eyes searched the shadows all the way to the back door. But nothing moved.
