Page 100 of Being Lost

“Mask. Balaclavas.” I look around at everyone. “Smoker’s right, so make sure no one sees anything to recognise you.”

Smoker’s on a roll now. “Or why not bring them here to the compound? You could use them as bait, hold them hostage until Alder meets up with you.”

“Complicated as shit, Brother.” I shake my head. “The compound’s not set up for fuck knows how many women.” And all desperate to get home I would expect.

“Your ol’ lady could be in charge of them.” Smoker raises his eyebrow.

I open my mouth to tell him firstly, she’s not been accepted officially as my old lady, and secondly, that she wouldn’t do that, but then I reconsider. Patsy very well might. While I haven’t asked her, I reckon she’d do whatever was needed. Her compassion and understanding, the way she put others before herself was all part of her attraction. But despite all that, if I thought she wouldn’t be able to hack it as the old lady of an MC prez, I would have left well enough alone.

“Why don’t you just come out and get us to vote on it?” Dart leans back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head. “You want her as your old lady, don’t you?”

“I, er…” How exactly do I do this? We’ve got, and had, a lack of old ladies around here. Dart is the only one who has an old lady, and Alex had come with him from Tucson.

“Look, you just fuckin’ ask for a vote.” Dart’s chuckling at me. “Tell you what, I’ll do it as you’ve got a horse in this race. All those in favour of Prez taking Patsy as his old lady, say, aye.”

A chorus of agreement sounds.

“Anyone say nay?”

Silence.

“Okay.” I grin widely, nodding my thanks to my VP. “Seems I’ve got an old lady if she agrees. But we’re not bringing the women back to the compound.”

Smoker sighs deeply, then when his coughing fit ends, says regretfully, “Shame, some of them could have been whores looking for a new place to start over.”

“Should have known you just wanted to get your dick wet, old man.” Snips, sitting next to him, bumps his fist against Smoker’s arm lightly.

“You fuckin’ kidding, Brother?” Bones stares down the table at him. “Fuckin’ would probably kill you.”

Silence descends, broken only by Smoker’s cough and Bones sniffing.

Smoker breaks it himself, catching the treasurer’s eye and saying with a wink, “Can think of worse ways to go.”

Dart clears his throat. “Back on topic. How are we going to smoke Alder out?”

Grumbler leans forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands. “Tell him we want a slice of his business?”

It’s a good suggestion. I raise my chin. “He’s using the tunnel, we know that. His drug route was shut down by the feds according to Shark. Presumably, Dan’s knowledge did a lot of damage.”

“Or Alder doesn’t know exactly what the feds know and could expect them to set a trap.”

Dart’s right. Alder would be hesitant about using any of his established routes, as the feds could be waiting for him anywhere. But Dan didn’t know about the tunnel. Presumably by steering clear of the drugs for now—he probably can’t even know which suppliers are being watched—Alders’ got a need for a new trade. In flesh. “That’s why he resurrected an old route.”

“Or maybe Phil used it all along?” This comes from the normally quiet Dusty. When I raise my eyebrow at him, he continues, “Could be he thought Patsy might be in the know about it. If he had to stop one business because of the knowledge Dan had, maybe he wants her out of the way just in case Phil told her about his plans.”

That could make sense. Well, nothing else has so far.

“So we could hold our knowledge of the existence of his tunnel for ransom.” Salem grins, showing his teeth. “I like that idea.”

I do, too. “We tell him we want part of his business, or hush money to keep us quiet about it at least. If he doesn’t meet to discuss it, we’ll inform the tunnel task force or whatever it’s called. He loses everything or gains a partner.”

“And after that meet, we’ll make sure he’s dead.”

It could work.

A kernel of excitement flickers inside me. From the first time I knew Patsy was in danger, I now have a pathway to ending it once and for all.

“Why don’t we contact him now?” Reboot asks. “Why put ourselves in danger?”

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