Page 12 of Marx

“Let me enlighten you.” Chewy says with a straight face. She’s in infodump mode. “So, the first thing you need to know is that as soon as the Computas were situated we went intel gathering. We got the pictures of Sheriff Kelson straight off, but the men in the vehicle were a little harder to pin down.”

“So we don’t know who he’s working with?” Dex asks.

“Don’t be stupid, of course we do. I said it was harder, not impossible,” Chewy rolls her eyes at the ridiculousness that she, Wire and Remy wouldn’t be able to work it out. “Once we learned who they were, we split our resources into three. Wire is working the cartel angle, Remy the adoption scam, and myself, I got the Sheriff and well, anything else. I’m cool like that.”

There are snickers and Rhodie beams at Chewy like she’s the best thing in the world. I guess to him, she is.

“Let me guess, just because shutting down Candice’s operation wasn’t enough, we’ve managed to piss off the cartel and the sheriff as well?” Gus asks, running his hand down his face. Any minute now he’s going to pull out his Tums.

“They’re one and the same.”

“There is no way Sheriff Kelson, the old white guy that has been sheriff since I was a kid, is part of the cartel. No fucking way,” Tav says, shaking his head.

The Computas share a look and I know they’re going to drop a bomb.

“He’s not cartel as such, but he is an investor in the adoption scam business.”

“And when we shut down Candice’s business -”

“Yup, we shut down dear old Sheriff Kelson’s retirement plan,” Chewy finishes.

“How the fuck did he cross paths with them to begin with?” I ask, because none of this shit makes much sense.

“Gambling debts,” Sniper rumbles.

Chewy’s head snaps in his direction and she grins wide at him, clearly pleased that someone has put some of the pieces together.

“It’s how the cartel get you. They can sniff out anyone with a debt, offer to pay it off and then next thing you know you’re in their pocket. Desperate to do anything to clear that debt.” He frowns at the wall, staring at nothing in particular.

I know the brother has demons, I’ve always known. I also know that his family has had trouble with the cartel in the past. If this is the road we’re heading down, I’m going to have to keep a tight leash on him.

“Huh. So you know cartel stuff,” Chewy says, thoughtfully. “What do you know about Tito?”

Sniper schools his face. “I know that he’s one cold motherfucker. You thought the Cordoza Cartel was bad, they have nothing on Serpiente.” He rumbles. Roman took out the Cordoza Cartel when he found they had been trafficking his drugs inside sex slaves.

Wire stares thoughtfully at Sniper, running a hand down his stubble, “In all the intel we’ve gathered we have never seen a picture of Serpiente. Do you know what he looks like?”

Sniper nods once, and then rolls his shoulders back. This shit is taking a toll on him. I make a note to catch up with the brother after this. Looking around the room I realize there’s a few people I need to catch up with. I was so focussed on Lovely that I slacked on my duty as Pres. After we’re done I’ll take Lovely home, get her and Bee settled and then track down the people I need to. My role isn’t just to bark orders, but to also keep my MC healthy, both physically and mentally.

Wire taps a few keys and Pops’ big ass TV is lit up with pictures of 3 Latino men. Judging from Sniper’s reaction, they’re all as fucking bad as each other.

“Serpiente, Tito Caram, is the greasy looking guy on the left. The right is Carlos Cordoza’s ex-brother-in-law. Got out of the cartel life when he married Carlos’s sister Magdelena. He could be back in, I’m not sure.”

“If he was active in the Cartel, Roman wouldn’t have left him alive when he cleaned the Cordoza’s out of cartel-aged men,” Ana offers.

She’s right. Roman may be a cold bastard, but he doesn’t go around indiscriminately killing. We’ve been dealing with his ass for over a year now, I know his MO just like he knows mine. Killing a husband and father who is no longer active in the Cartel doesn’t sit right.

Chewy nods her head at the new information. “Noted. What about the last guy?”

She stares at her computer screen before looking back at Sniper. Well, over his shoulder. Her eyes track him as he moves closer to the screen, his posture rigid. I share a look with Savage before returning my gaze to my club brother. The only tell tale sign that the image of the third man is distressing, is Sniper cracking his knuckles one by one.

“Well? Do you know him?” Chewy asks as she taps at her laptop keyboard.

Sniper clears his throat, “Yeah,” he whispers. “I know him.”

“Oh good, what’s his name?” Chewy replies, completely oblivious to how this is affecting the quiet man.

“His name is Joseph Almaraz. He’s my brother.” With that Sniper stalks out of the room, the only sound is the thump of his footsteps on the porch and then the roar of his sled.

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