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“Where’s tonight taking place?” What I’m really asking is how likely is it we’ll be surprised by others showing up?
“We’ve discovered he visits a woman every Wednesday night that no one knows about. We’ll do it there.”
I nod. “I’m in.”
“Thanks, brother.” He stands. “We’ll leave at ten tonight.”
He leaves me, stopping briefly on his way out to talk to his old lady about something. Birdie’s a fixture around here. She’s spent the last couple of days either on the phone to the other old ladies making sure they’re okay, or in the kitchen making meals for all the brothers from Brisbane and Sydney who’ve come down to help battle Zenith.
Winter finishes with her and exits the bar at which point she calls out to me. “You need anything, Fury?”
I shake my head. “I’m good.”
She smiles and exits the room, too.
The Melbourne weather might be shit, but the people are good people.
“He’ll be finished with her at ten thirty,” Ransom says when we near the house in Brunswick just after 10:25 p.m. We parked a couple blocks over and walked the rest of the way.
“We’re waiting for him to come out?” I ask as Winter scans the street.
Ransom nods. “Yeah. He’ll come out through that side door”—he indicates the door—“and head towards the back fence. He never parks his bike out the front. We’ll grab him after he exits the door.”
Winter comes to us after checking out something across the street. “Time to go.”
We make our way to the side of the house and wait. At 10:31 p.m., Demon exits the house like Ransom said he would and turns towards the backyard.
Winter moves into place behind him while Ransom is positioned along Demon’s path to the back fence. I stay with Winter and prepare for battle. Demon isn’t known for thinking before shooting. He’s also not known for forgiving shit like this, so Winter’s making a risky-as-fuck move here.
Demon senses us almost straight away and pulls his gun as he spins around. Ransom moves fast, coming up behind Demon and pressing his gun to Demon’s head as the Black Deeds president trains his on Winter and me.
Winter raises both hands in surrender. His gun remains in its holster; another risky move. “We just wanna talk, Demon.”
“What the fuck about and why the fuck are you bringing this shit here?” His eyes glitter with hostility. Storm might have a working relationship with Black Deeds in Sydney, but not so much here in Melbourne.
“I’m bringing this shit to you here for obvious reasons,” Winter says. Demon has kept this woman a secret for five years from anyone who would care to know of her existence. This is Winter’s way of letting him know we know about her. “The thing I want to discuss is your ties to Zenith.”
Demon’s lips curl. “You’re making a mistake here. I hope you fucking know that.”
Winter steps forward, bringing himself close to Demon. His body is rigid, tense. I can’t see his eyes, but I know they hold that fierce anger of his. Winter has the kind of patience I don’t see often in Storm, but he’s been tested during his years as president, and Zenith has unleashed his emotions in ways that are causing his patience to fade. “The only thing I know for sure,” he says low and dark, “is that Zenith needs to be put to fucking ground, and I’m willing to make any mistake while I do that. You and I have been through a lot in the last eight years; we’ll survive the fallout of this if it comes to that.”
“I’m not thinking we’ll survive the fallout of you bringing this shit to my woman. I keep her out of the fucking spotlight for a reason and now I’m gonna need to bring her right the fuck into it.”
“What you’re not picking up here is that I don’t give a fuck whether we survive a fallout or not, and although I’ve always been a long-term strategist, I’m currently running shit day by fucking day.” His tone darkens even further when he adds, “Right now I only care about my men and me surviving this night, however the fuck that needs to be done.”
The air is heavy, weighted by Demon’s unpredictability as he spends a moment considering his options. I’m wondering where this is all gonna end up. If shit goes south and we have to take him out, Winter’s gonna have a bigger problem than just dealing with Zenith; he’ll have Black Deeds on the warpath. But he knew that going in, and if I know anything about him, he’s got a plan for all contingencies. He may have just told Demon he’s running day by day, but Winter’s idea of that and everyone else’s idea of that are two different things.
Finally, Demon says, “I’ll give you what you’re after, but this information is gonna cost you, and when I call in the chit, you’ll deliver or you’ll have a new fucking headache to deal with.” When Winter nods his understanding, Demon continues. “I agreed to nothing with Zenith. What I did do was ask around and dig up some shit on them. They’re sly motherfuckers with no fucking code, which is why I will never deal with them. I don’t know what they’ve done to build their resources, but I do have a list of those resources I’ll give you.”
“You’ll give me everything you have on them,” Winter says. “And I’ll keep eyes on your woman until all this shit is over.”
Demon clenches his jaw. “You’ll have it tomorrow.” He lifts his gun to Winter’s head. “Now get the fuck off my property.”
I’m not sure any of Demon’s information will be new to Winter, but I am convinced he’s not tied up with Zenith. The only other thing I’m convinced of after today is that we need to get this shit sorted fast; Storm’s resources are stretched dangerously thin if we’re happy to stir possible problems with the Black Deeds’ president.
42
Zara
