Page 12 of Gage

“And what about Javier?” I asked.

“Forty-one. Boss's nephew. Runs crews and negotiates new work. He's senior enough that marrying Tomas Rivas's daughter means something.”

Deacon showed us a trade photograph from the legitimate side of the Mora business. Javier stood beside a new refrigerated truck with his uncle smiling next to him. Men who hid behind clean companies liked proof they belonged in daylight.

“Any sign they're buying property?” Preacher asked.

“Not yet. They don't need to if Tomas gives them use of his sites. What they need is permission, introductions and a reason to believe we won't burn every route they try.”

I pressed my thumb into the scarred edge of the table. Since Elena came through the gate, the arrangement had only become more obscene.

Preacher looked toward the front windows. “They asked for a meeting.”

“Where?” I asked.

“Here. Outer yard.”

Refusing the meeting meant losing the chance to see who Tomas had invited into town, while letting them too close gave away more than we needed to. “Two vehicles. Four men total. They stay outside, and anything heavier than a sidearm stays in the trucks.”

Smoke glanced at me. “Elena know they're coming?”

“Not yet.”

“Tell her before you set the yard.”

Preacher stood. “They'll be here at two. Set it.”

Elena was at the bar with coffee she hadn't finished and toast she'd barely touched. I stopped across from her and told her what Deacon had found, including how little we still knew.

“Javier is coming here?”

“Outer yard. He won't enter the clubhouse.”

She set down the mug. “I want to be there.”

“You don't have to prove anything.”

“I'm not proving it. If I stay inside, he'll leave telling himself the club answered for me. I want him to hear me.”

“Then you stand beside Preacher. You want out at any point, you walk back through the door. Nobody stops you.”

Elena picked up her mug again. “All right.”

I spent the next few hours checking the gate, and that the men assigned to each side of the yard knew their jobs. It was ordinary work, except Elena kept moving through the edge of my attention. Once, she stepped outside for air and stopped where she could see me without entering the garage traffic. I nearly walked over before remembering I was supposed to be looking for men coming to take her, not thinking about what she'd felt like above me.

At one thirty she closed the laptop and came into the yard carrying what was left of her coffee. “They found line four by the way.”

“Miracle,” I said dryly.

“Don't get excited. They denied a different line while they were there.”

“Want me to call?”

Elena smiled. “That’s very tempting, but I need the clinic to stay out of federal court.”

“Probably smarter.”

She laughed again and took the mug inside. I watched the door close, then made myself check the gate instead of following her. The meeting area sat between the outer gate and clubhouse steps, open enough that nobody could hide a weapon draw. I moved two bikes out of the line and left the steel post by the gate clear. Smoke watched me check the same angle twice.