Page 88 of Rebel
“Not yet. But we will find them.” His meaning is clear.
“Are you asking me to sanction your next steps?”
“I’m not asking. I want to know ifwewill have a problem when we do.”
Blaze swings the laptop around. It shows a map and a light pinging in the center, he’s tracing the call. Jackal is in West Virginia.
Talking around what is happening here is necessary. You never can tell if phones have been tapped, so explicitly discussing murder can’t happen. Jackal understands that. Shows he's not a fucking moron. Even if I hate his fucking guts already.
“Explain the third party.”
Nero is careful about the information he gives, and Jackal listens quietly. Stryker puts both palms on the table and leans forward, staring at the phone as if he can reach through and break Jackal’s neck.
“He approached, but we weren't interested,” Jackal comes back. “He’s trying to get in with a different…company.”
He’s referencing the Kivisto’s. “We know about that company.”
Jackal pauses again, letting it sink in how much information we have. “If you decide to handle shit up there, it will be an issue between us.”
Fucking asshole.
“Thing is,” he goes on. “We’re busy right now with our own business dealings. If you handle things discretely, we won't have a problem.”
Jackal will never say explicitly we can kill his members. This is as close as he’s willing to get, the unspoken words letting us know he isn’t happy he can’t have them. But he has given us his verdict on the matter. Don’tlet on there is a problem between the two clubs, and he won’t come after us for killing the fuckers.
Everyone understands.
“The third party is also ours to deal with,” Nero says.
“I can’t guarantee I won’t step in if it comes to it.”
“This part is not a negotiation.”
“If I have to, I will.” He cuts off Nero before he can argue. “I'll hang on to your number, for future endeavors.”
Jackal hangs up. He won’t hesitate to take out Storm if he has to. He's given us some leeway, saying he will call us if he catches up to him first. Whether he gives us the courtesy of waiting is a different story.
That makes me hate the fucker, even if he is washing his hands of his men.
We are owed Storm’s death. Stupid members defecting is nothing compared to what we’ve been through.
Nero doesn’t want to stir up shit with our club and theirs any more than Jackal does. That went as well as we could expect in terms of club politics. All I care about is having the go ahead to deal with those bastards.
“Fuck that prick,” Nero voices what we’re all thinking. “We find those motherfuckers and deal with them tonight.” His tone leaves no room for disagreement. “What’s happening with Kivisto?”
“He never left the Drake, still have him on surveillance,” Blaze says.
“Get out on the streets, do it quietly. The cops are all over this. And the press will follow with a priest having been shot. Blaze, call in DiAngelo, we’re going to need a lawyer on standby. Rebel, see what you can find out from inside the PD. I want those men at the farm as soon as possible.” He looks to Stryker.
“How do you want me to deal with them?”
“How do you think I want to deal with it?” Nero lifts a brow.
“Slowly, painfully.”
Nero nods and Stryker’s eyes flare with a spark of life at the idea of hurting those two men. He walks toward the door but stops when I speak.
“The one with the beard is mine when the time comes.” The one who was aiming for Kinsley until I got in the way. “Mine will be the last face that motherfucker sees.”
