Page 85 of The Devil's Revelation
Shadow and Viper share a quick look before Shadow starts speaking. “They definitely are tightening up the shop. Garage door was shut up tight, and never once opened. At first we figured they closed up shop, but the mechanics and Serguey all showed up and went in for the day, and I have to figure they were working from the noises we heard.”
“Where were you guys at? Same block?” I ask curiously.
Shadow nods. “I think they’re trying to regroup and figure out what their next move is,” Shadow continues. “Too much activity around there not to be.”
“A couple of them were sporting some black eyes and bruises,” Viper adds with a smirk. “Looks like good ol’ Dmitri wasn’t too pleased that Izzy got away after finding out their secret.”
I feel a perverse sense of satisfaction at that. They deserve a hell of a lot worse for the way they treated her. “Any sign of Dmitri himself?” Dad asks.
Shadow and Viper both shake their heads. “He’s keeping himself far away, especially since Izzy’s seen his face, I’d guess,” Viper answers. “But we did hear Serguey outside the shop and talking in Russian on the phone so I’d have to say there’s a good chance he was talking to Dmitri or one of his guards.”
“I know a bit of Russian from my time in the Forces, but I couldn’t make out more than him saying cars and they were working on it,” Shadow butts in. “I’d have to say they’re planning a new way to package the drugs to get them out in the cars undetected.Since the cops haven’t shown up at their door, they probably think they’re in the clear.”
“I imagine that Dmitri has people on the force keeping people away,” Bowie points out.
“But he sent someone to take out Izzy, so he must be worried somewhat,” I reply with a frown. “If he wasn’t worried then he wouldn’t have done that.”
There’s a murmur of agreement around the table. “This can’t be the only business that they’re running this way,” Stone says thoughtfully. “This is probably how they’re running this shit without us knowing. If they just use businesses to peddle their shit, it stays off the scanners, and they only use a few mules and runners on the streets.”
“It makes sense,” Cryos pipes in. “I can run a search through the town and see if there are any other businesses that might have some obscure Russian connection.”
“Do it,” Dad orders with a nod at Cryos. “We need to figure out how these bastards are operating and shut them the hell down. I want to see that son of a bitch Dmitri squirm like a bug before we crush him and run the rest of his operation right out of town.”
We all agree loudly, a few pounding their fists on the table to emphasize their point. We want this bullshit shut down before they get their grips in too tightly.
“Consider it done,” Cryos says with an anticipatory smile.
“Any news on the cops report from yesterday at the shop?” Dagger asks. “Not that I expect them to have any leads.”
Dad shakes his head. “Nothing. They haven’t so much as followed up, so I’d say they’re writing this off as a club issue and going to fuck off like normal.”
“Of course they are,” Dagger says with a roll of his eyes. “What about the kid?”
Carson developed an infection last night so he had to go back in, which meant Stone spent most of the night at the hospital with him until Timber relieved him this morning. Carson finally got back to the clubhouse a couple of hours ago, and he was on enough good shit he needed two of us to help him get up to his bed before he promptly passed out.
“Girls are checking on him and making sure he’s settled,” Dad says with a grim smile. “Kid is strong, but he’s going to be out of commission for a bit until he’s fully healed.”
“He’s damn lucky,” I say with a sigh. “We need to look at how long we’re going to make him and Kaleb prospect. They’re both good kids. Kaleb’s been around the longest, so he naturally should be patched in before Carson, but Carson’s proved himself I think far more than any of us expected, even for such a short time.”
There’s a murmur of agreement. Dad glances at Sniper who nods, and then Dad says, “I say we give them a couple more months. If nothing happens between then and now we’ll put it to a vote. I agree with your assessment, Torque, but we don’t want to rush things. Right now is the time we test their loyalty.”
“Kaleb’s got some family shit going on too,” I add. “Something to do with his younger brother getting into the wrong crowd. Might need to see what that’s about if it gets to be a major problem for him.”
“Keep an eye on him,” Dad agrees. He looks around the room and adds, “Next area of business is the women.” There’s a loud groan from everyone, which makes my father’s lips twitch in amusement. “I’m making a new rule that all guns and ammo need to be locked and stored away,” he announces.
Another roar of agreement from everyone. Viper and Shadow glance at each other. “What the hell did they do now?” Shadow groans. “I’m glad I wasn’t here. My luck they’d have roped me into it.”
We all start to snicker because it’s true. My mother has decided that Shadow is going to be her big, scary helper in most of her shenanigans and it drives him crazy. “You sure you want to ask him?” I ask him with a grin.
He pauses, then heaves out a heavy sigh. “I probably should.”
“How about a video instead?” Cryos asks, grinning widely, pressing a few buttons and suddenly the video is playing on the screen at the front of the room.
Shadow and Viper lean forward to watch. They’re quiet for a few short seconds before Viper bursts out laughing. “Is that a dick?” he asks.
“A very tiny dick,” Timber supplies gleefully. “Syn said she had to special order it.”
Shadow is quiet as he watches the video. “Izzy has nice form,” he says absently as he watches. “Sage needs to work on her footing though. She’s balancing too heavily on her left hip.”
