Page 85 of Unveiled Wounds

Sabre took his chair, and I followed, letting him command the room. He lowered his eyes to the table, collecting his thoughts, but when he raised them a few seconds later, he was all business. Setting the tone, there were shifts around the room, brothers sitting up straight, arms crossing, knees bouncing.

“You’re probably wondering why you’re here. I don’t know if we’re being watched, so I made sure Pretty and Grizz told the rest of the brothers that we were having an emergency church. They need to protect our businesses, but they don’t have tactical experience. The rest of you do.”

The tension in the room tightened at the word tactical. Only the brothers with military experience, plus our executive team, had received personal invites to this meeting. We would notify the other brothers once the plans were close to being completed,in case anyone had any last suggestions, but there was no point in bringing everyone in.

“Grizz, Pretty, and I visited Gerry last night. The cartel is putting him up in one of the fancy hotels downtown.”

Wreck jerked his head toward Pretty, eyes wide and lip curled. It was obvious he hadn’t known about the excursion. Pretty shrugged him off, which made Wreck angrier, but neither one said a word.

There was a low roar as the brothers talked amongst themselves. Insults likefuckface,fucking shithead, andfucking idiotfloated around the room. It felt vindicating that I wasn’t the only who believed the world would be a better place without Gerry.

“I need you to keep your cool, Thunder.” Sabre leaned forward in his seat, crossing his arms and laying his elbows on the table.

“What did that fucker do?” Thunder boomed.

Sabre shook his head. “He turned Aunt E’s past into the cartel.”

The low roar turned into a ruckus, everyone talking above the next person. Thunder shot from his seat and if Chef hadn’t grabbed a hold of him, he would have walked out the front door, paying Gerry a visit of his own.

“Calm the fuck down.” Sabre slammed his hand against the table.

“We should have buried him alive when we had the chance.” Thunder wasn’t giving up, but he took his seat, the steam practically rising from him.

“I offered to dig the hole, but no one took me up on it.” Twig unscrewed the cap off a water bottle, taking a long swig.

“Look, we all know Gerry’s on borrowed time. He’s made too many questionable moves,” Sabre said, looking at Thunder. “I won’t protect him, and this club won’t go to bat for him either.However, he was a little useful last night.” Sabre detailed the events of our visit.

“She dedicates her life to making his easier, and this is the fucking thanks she gets?” Thunder was still fuming, his leg bouncing rapidly underneath the table. Every so often, his knee would hit the underside, causing all the drinks to shake.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s already done, and Gerry’s a fucking douche if he thinks Diego Lopez is only going to use Liz’s name,” Slate said, rubbing his bottom lip.

“Revenge is always better if it’s served cold,” I said. I was picking up my wife’s habit of thinking out loud. “Hypothetically, if I knew I could get to Aunt E, and it would deliver a bigger blow to my enemy, I’d do it.”

There were several head nods around the table.

“Yeah, but we didn’t think Aunt E was a part of this equation until recently. She’s the only one who leaves the clubhouse, and we only doubled her security after the jail incident.” How was the first one to say what we were all thinking.

Cyph cracked open an energy drink, the popping sound noticeable as he lifted the tab. “I’m the computer guy,” he started.

We all cracked up laughing. It diffused the tension that had been mounting since the door had been closed.

Cyph took a huge slug from the can, waiting until the room quieted down. “You can tell me if I’m wrong, but the shipment is the decoy in all of this, not Aunt E or the women.”

Sabre nodded for him to continue.

“I feel like Diego told Gerry about the shipment as a distraction for us. I can pull up every warehouse associated with them. We can sit here and go through all the possibilities until we get it right, and we will. Only because they will let us.”

“I don’t think you’re wrong, but what makes you say that?” Sabre asked.

“If I know anything about the Knights, they don’t sit on free money. We handed them the whole Lopez operation on a tablet. So why are the Lopezes bringing in another shipment when they’ve lost their customers?” Cyph ran a finger around the rim of the can, staring into space.

“Are you saying they expect us to grab this new shipment, and while we’re out, they’re going to hit the clubhouse?” How’s eyebrows shot up so high they nearly disappeared into his hairline.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Cyph confirmed, shaking his head before he focused back on the conversation.

“Does anyone else think this is plausible?” Sabre asked, still hunched over the table.

There was chatter, but nothing distinctive in either direction.

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