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“As much as we hate to do it, it’s necessary,” I say. “But it’s temporary. Tell them to go out only if they have to. Otherwise, I need everybody back at the clubhouse, ready for what’s coming next. Oh, and get a couple of men on the San Marciano warehouse. Chances are, Colton will try to take our stash.”
“He isn’t touching our retirement funds,” the Hammer mutters gruffly, then takes out his phone and starts making calls.
Kai has my full attention now. “I’ll check in with the boys we’ve got watching Nadia, just in case. But we need to talk to Jules—today.”
“The Black Sabbath MC is on the fence,” Kai replies. “Jules may be the president, but I hear it’s his VP who’s calling all the shots these days, and there are growing rumors about a sit-down with Colton. Either it already happened, or it’s going to happen soon.”
“I don’t care. We need to talk to Jules. It’s his club. He and Dad go way back. If anybody remembers the honor of riders, it’s Jules. And he still has enough juice to wrangle some forces from farther south. We’re going to need outside help for this if only to defend our position and protect the clubhouse. It buys us some time while we figure out a strategy.”
“Colton won’t stop until we’re all buried,” Kai warns me.
“I know. We’re not going six feet under before him,” I say. “We’ve come too far to let that lawless psychopathic fucker tear everything down.”
“We have to keep Nadia away. Cut off all comms with her, too. Maybe we could give Quicksilver a warning to get her out of town; I don’t know,” Kai replies with a heavy sigh.
Drake is on the phone, talking the ears off a DMV rep, but I know he’s got one eye on us and is actively listening to this side of the conversation, too.
“If we do that, Quicksilver will know that one of us got in his daughter’s pants,” I say.
“Does it even matter at this point?” Kai scoffs.
“Not really, but Nadia’s name hasn’t popped up anywhere. Nobody knows about our relationship with her. Let’s leave it at that for now and only bring it up with Quicksilver if we identify a credible threat against her,” I insist. The last thing we want is a scandal regarding our relationship with Nadia. “We may need an infusion of capital in order to rebuild what Colton is likely to bring down. Quicksilver will be more than happy to support the club.”
Kai’s anger vanishes as the possibility of such an outcome begins to sink in. “Shit. He won’t give us a penny if he finds out about Nadia.”
“Damn straight.”
And that’s the trouble with club leadership. I have to think seven steps ahead like a fucking chess master. I have to prepare us for every possible scenario, regardless of how low or high the odds are for each instance.
It’s the only way to ensure the club’s survival and subsequent success, especially in a digital age where it has become increasingly easy to go viral for all the wrong reasons. We have to be mindful of not just the law but also the public.
And since we intend to go legit, we need the public’s support in the future.
Assuming we still have a future.
* * *
The meeting with Jules is not going as I’d hoped. A few decades ago, the Black Sabbath MC was one of the most feared in Southern California. They still control several of the main trafficking routes in and out of Mexico and have ties to the Colombian cartels, but their reach is not what it used to be, which is why Colton isn’t really afraid of them.
“I have a good mind to put a bullet between my VP’s eyes; I’ll tell you that much,” Jules says, leaning back into his leather armchair, cigar in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. It’s been a couple of years since he last rode his hog with the crew. I’m guessing it’s part of the reason why his VP has taken the lead. “He shouldn’t have had that meeting with Colton.”
“So, they did talk,” I say.
The Black Sabbath clubhouse is darker, dirtier, and emptier than I remember it. When we first came back from the service, this place used to be crawling with prospects and barflies. People used to come here and want to be associated with this MC, and their name had a certain prestige.
But time has shown no mercy to Jules, and they don’t make them like him anymore. As he aged, the club began to lose its hold on the county. Today, they’re still heavy hitters but not nearly heavy enough to make the Feds rattle in their boots like before.
They may be useful to us, though, provided their VP hasn’t switched his allegiance to the Black Devils.
“They talked,” Jules sighs deeply. “Man, had I known where Colton was headed, I swear I would’ve been the first to greet him with a sawed-off shotgun long before he made it into Orange County. That asshole has no honor, no honor at all.”
“Yeah, we’ve heard. We’ve seen for ourselves, too,” I say.
“He tried to run you off the road, huh?”
Kai nods slowly. “We need to do something, Jules. How loyal are your riders?”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you,” Jules replies. “They’re good boys, and so is my VP for all his many faults, but Colton scares the fuck out of them. I hear Sean lost a leg.”
