Page 19 of Crow
I suddenly felt very stupid. I had been doing the same thing I had been annoyed at Wrench and Archer for: getting all hung up over a girl and forgetting what was important. This, my family, the problems we were all facing because of the Freeway Fucks.
“This was already personal,” Tank started gravely. “But they took this too far when they targeted our women.” He turned to Archer, who shoved an envelope into the middle of the table. Photos of all the club’s old ladies and even some of the club whores spilled out of it, all of which were taken from odd angles, like the photographer was hiding. There was one of Rose smiling behind the counter of the bakery, one of Samantha playing with a cat in the kennels at work, even one of Evelyn looking at tomatoes in the grocery store. The pictures made me feel nauseous, and I stared at them as the people around me erupted into chaos. I couldn’t see any of me and Jade, which was a relief; explaining what I was doing with her would have been even harder now that I knew she was connected to the Freeways. My stomach dropped. Fuck. What if Jade had known about the Freeways taking these photos? Worse, what if she had helped them? I sat, numb, as angry shouts filled the air until Tank slammed his fist on the table.
“I know,” he said, as soon as the club had quietened down. “So what are we going to do about it?”
“Can we blow them upnow?” Maverick asked. Archer glared at him.
“You don’t think that will draw too much attention?” he said scathingly, lighting a cigarette. “I say we just shoot the damn bastards.”
“Oh yeah, and that will fly under the cops’ radar,” Ink rolled his eyes. “We should focus on how to keep the women safe,thendecide how to punish the Freeways.”
“They’ll be safe once we take the Freeways out,” Claymore said firmly, a grim look on his face as he threw back a shot of vodka.
“And what’s to stop them coming for the women when we’re driving around like fucking idiots trying to find them?” Wrench shook his head, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed. “We need to know where the bastards’ clubhouse is, first.”
“I know where it is.”
I didn’t realize that it was me who had spoken until everyone fell silent and turned to stare at me. I shrugged, glaring.
“I was sick and tired of everyone sitting here doing nothing,” I snapped. “So while all of you were just waiting around to be shot, I was out actually doing something about all of this. I’ve been checking out the Freeways’ territory since they sent the first note. I know where their clubhouse is.”
“What?” Tank frowned at me, and I shrugged.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, okay, but there are always at least three men wearing the Freeways’ colors there.”
“Well, that settles it,” Archer said, knocking back the last of his beer and looking round the table. “I say we go for it. Finally take these fuckers out.”
“I don’t know…” Wrench hesitated, looking up at a troubled-looking Tank.
“There’s pictures of Samantha too, remember?” Archer pointed out, exhaling a cloud of smoke as he slid one of the photos closer to Wrench. It was Samantha unlocking their front door. Wrench went pale and set his shoulders.
“I’m in,” he said, lips pressed together in a thin line. I nodded.
“You found their place fucking quickly, Crow,” Ripper said, looking impressed.
“Yeah, he did,” Tank said. “But we need to take our time with this. Think this through, plan, make sure we do it right. Get a better look at this house Crow found, make sure we know what we’re getting into. We don’t want to take any more risks than fuckin’ necessary.”
A murmur of agreement rippled through the club. The rest of church was spent organizing shifts to continue staking out the house and ways to give the women extra security without clueing them in that something was wrong. The less stressed the women were, the happier we would all be. It was a couple of hours until Tank dismissed everyone, and when I stood, he stopped me by clapping his hand on my shoulder.
“Not you.”
I sank back into the booth as the Tavern emptied of everyone except for me, Tank, Wrench, and the girl behind the bar. I watched her wipe the counter down, trying not to feel like a kid about to get scolded by the principal. Tank sat across from me in the booth, a serious look still on his face.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“Then I need a beer.”
“I’ll get it,” Wrench volunteered, already headed to the bar. “I wanted a drink anyway.”
“What you did was wrong, Crow,” Tank said. “Not only did you go against orders, but you put yourself in danger.”
“So?” I shrugged.
“So it was irresponsible,” Wrench said, sliding into the booth next to me and passing over a beer.
“And it made me question how much you can be trusted,” Tank added.
“The fuck?” I stared at him, furious. “Everything I did was for this goddamn club!”
