Page 14 of The Devil's Reward
At sixty, he’s still as broad and strong as he was when he was younger. The man isn’t one to let anyone think he’s weak. He has a salt and pepper beard, piercing blue eyes, and he can cow most men with just a look. One thing our mole underestimated is Bullet’s drive to keep this club on the right side of the line. Slipping back into the old ways won’t be permitted.
Bullet nods at me when I move to stand behind the chair across from his desk. I’m too wound up to sit. This day seems never ending and if I sit, I won’t want to get back up. “Viper says you already found a new employee,” Bullet remarks casually.
I nod. “We worked together on a mission about a decade ago. He was still relatively new to their team then, but he was damn good. The best of the bunch, anyway, and I doubt he’s gotten worse in that time. His speciality is gathering intelligence and surveillance, and he’s good with computers. Not Cryos good, but enough that it could take some of the load off Cryos if he’s needed elsewhere.”
Bullet slowly nods, mulling my words over. “I sense there’s more to it.” He looks at me expectantly.
That’s what I like about Bullet; not much gets by him and I appreciate that he’s a straight shooter. “He’s still living on base, but has to be out before the end of next week. I mentioned to him about possibly prospecting for the club, too. I’m willing to sponsor him, and he’s agreed to give it a shot.”
Bullet says nothing for a moment, eyeing me carefully. “And you trust him?” he finally asks. “Even though you haven’t seen him in years?”
I shrug. “I trust him more than I can trust the men downstairs,” I return bluntly. “And that is one upside. We can guarantee he’s had no contact with the mafia or the mole. Kind of impossible when he’s been on duty for most of his adult life.”
Bullet looks over at Viper. “And you agree with this idea?”
Viper nods curtly. “I trust Shadow’s judgement. It’s never steered me wrong.”
Bullet looked back at me. “Alright, I can see your point, and if he wants to prospect, I’ll endorse it at Church. No one is going to complain about another prospect, especially when we really only have two that are worth keeping.”
I nod in agreement. “He may not decide to stick around, but at least he has a place to start. I’ll let Rose know to set up a room for him after Church.”
“Now onto the fun stuff,” Viper says with an anticipatory smile.
Bullet chuckles. “You just want to spend more time with our new neighbor,” he jokes.
Viper’s smile turns into a full on grin. “She’s hot, but we both know that she and Stone are much more suited. Though, if this gets him to stop pussyfooting around, I won’t complain.”
Bullet snorts, and I can’t help but chuckle. “That boy is as stubborn as I am,” Bullet remarks. “Though he’s got nothing on his mother. He’ll pull his head out of his ass soon, mark my words. Still, the idea of using Syn to search the clubhouse is smart. She agreed?”
Viper nods. “She has one appointment to schedule around. I’m going to recommend we do outside first, and do it at night when everyone is partying or asleep. Less chance of our mole spotting us. That, and if our mole is out there sneaking around, those hellhounds will pick up the scent pretty damn quick.”
Bullet nods, brow furrowed in thought. “You got a point. If we find nothing, then we’ll search inside.”
“Can’t be the same day because it’s too hard on the dogs,” Viper cautions. “So we’ll have to give them a bit of a break. After we pick a time, we can plan on everyone being gone except for myself, Shadow and you. We’ll need to get Cryos out too and figure out how to disable everything.”
Bullet narrows his eyes. “You think he could be our mole?” he asks. Viper and I exchange a look, unsure of how much to say. Bullet catches it and scowls at us. “Don’t get shy now. Out with it.”
“Cryos has the most access to the cameras, but he’s also one of the few that could cover his tracks. I’m not saying it’s him, but the evidence isn’t there to rule him out either,” I caution.
Bullet lets out a low rumble of discontent. “Fucking hell, this is a fucking mess,” he snarls. “Brothers unable to trust each other, moles in our damn clubhouse, running secret operations behind our brothers’ backs. Thought this shit was done thirty years ago and now we’re right back where we started.”
I can understand his frustration. “I say we do this, and if it doesn’t work, we hit harder. I don’t care if we have to tear the place apart and hook everyone up to lie detectors. We’ll figure it out.”
Viper snickers. “That’d be funny as hell. Half of them would lie to you anyway just to piss you off.”
He’s right. Still, I won’t take the option off the table.
“Well, I say we get on this as fast as we can,” Bullet says briskly, bringing us back to our original topic. “If Syn will help, then I’ll okay bringing her in on club business. Normally that would be a hard no, but these aren’t normal circumstances. We just need to make sure she keeps this shit to herself. Especially from Sage.”
Viper nods. “Syn already agreed, and I don’t get the feeling she’s a liar. If she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, she wouldn’t keep her job working with the K9s. The cops are sticklers about shit like that.”
“He has a point,” I agree.
Bullet grunts. “Damn fucking mess. Viper, call Syn, get it set up. Shadow, come up with excuses to get everyone out of here if we need to search inside.”
“I’ll figure something out,” I assure him. “If I have to, I’ll trick the girls into getting involved and make everyone scatter.”
Bullet chuckles. “I dare you to say that to Rose,” he taunts. “See how far you get.”
