Page 31 of Devil’s Disciples

I shook my head. “I said Reno.”

“You said Andy,” Reno said.

“Sure did,” Goose chimed.

I shot each of them a glare. “I said Reno.”

“Said Andy,” Cash said dryly.

“Look around the fucking room.” I spread my arms wide. “You see anyone named Andy?”

No one said a word.

“Well?” I asked.

Ten eyes stared back at me.

“That’s what I thought,” I said in a stern tone. “Reno will ride the Panigale. We’ll take the BMW, as long as the fucker’s not red. We’ll need a diversion on the far side of town, just to make sure the cop doesn’t show up. Reno, you’ll need to go up there with me and look the place over.”

He rubbed his hands together. “Got it, Bake.”

“A little more planning, and this is going to come together,” I said. “Thanks to Brother Cash, this could be our best haul to date.”

“To Brother Cash,” Ghost said.

Each of the men raised their beer bottles in toast. “To Brother Cash!”

Our club didn’t have dissention in the ranks. There were no cliques, nor was there much variance in opinion. We did bicker and fight at times, but not over anything that really mattered. We were as close as six brothers could be.

I watched as they each took a celebratory drink. The thought of lying to them about Andy churned in the pit of my stomach like a bad plate of Thai food.

It was time for me to make a change.

I simply needed to decide how to do it.

10

Andy

The door swung open. Even though I heard Mort coming up the stairs, I acted like I had no idea he’d opened the door.

After pecking at the keyboard for a few seconds, I looked up. “Oh, crap. You scared me. I’m so used to that door being kicked open that I didn’t even hear you come in.”

He pushed against the door, and then gave a slight nod as it went closed. “New door’s quieter’n a mouse pissin’ on a cotton ball.”

I smiled. “That’s pretty quiet.”

“What’d that set us back?”

“The door? I got a guy from Chula Vista to do it. He had a bunch of used doors advertised on Craigslist. I got the door for a hundred. Installation cost two.”

“Shit. The other fucker cost me nine. We’ll keep this quiet, or Kale might end up firing me for being spendy. He’s as Jewish as Challah bread.”

I laughed until I started coughing. When I caught my breath, I shook my head. “What?”

“Kale. He’s tight-fisted with his money. Makes sense, him being Jewish and all.”

I didn’t know he was Jewish. It didn’t matter, but I nodded, nonetheless. “I’ll keep it hush-hush.”