Chapter 20 #2
I head out to my truck and start the drive to the clubhouse.
Since the accident, I’ve paid close attention to the other drivers on the road.
There’s no way in hell I’m going to get caught unaware again.
And after the conversation I had with Cam’s father, I’m more determined than ever to catch the bastards I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for.
The only person who’s remotely awake at the table other than me is Cash.
He gets up early almost every morning and takes Cece to drop off her baked goods at Betsy’s.
The rest of my brothers look as though this is the last place they want to be at eight in the morning.
Can’t blame them. I’d much rather be snuggled up to my old lady, but the day had other plans, so none of us get a choice.
Ozzy slams the gavel to start the meeting. “Barrett got a phone call this morning.” He nods toward me. “I’ll let you tell it, brother.”
“Camryn’s dad reached out to me bright and early,” I say.
“What the hell did that asshole want?” Knox asks.
“Other than to tell me what a piece of shit I am and that Cam can do better than me—”
“We already know that. All of our women could probably do better. Good thing we don’t give them a choice,” Jude says with a cocky grin. All of my brothers grunt in agreement.
“Shut up, idiot. This is serious,” Ozzy commands.
Jude looks at me and motions for me to continue.
“Like I was saying, he told me that I was dirt on the bottom of his shoe, and he wants the flash drive back.”
Everyone is wearing a shocked look of varying degrees.
“Fuck. How deep is he with the Russians?” Knox asks.
“Pretty fucking deep from what it sounded like on the phone. He brought up Syd’s mom’s accident.
Said she’d stolen the drive from some Russian fucker she was sleeping with.
He basically admitted to her accident not being so accidental.
There was no way for her to know what was on it, but she knew some bad shit was going down.
I may have confirmed we have it, and we know he’s had some dealings with the Russians. ”
“May have?” Linc asks.
“I definitely did,” I say. “The confirmation put us on a level playing field. He knows we have it and brought up making a trade for it. The flash drive and any copies of the files destroyed for talking to the Russians and getting them to back off Shine.”
“He has that kind of pull?” Braxton asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know, but he thinks he does, which we can use to our advantage. We take him for questioning and find out where those fucking bottom-feeders have been hiding, then we take them out. They went after me and my woman. They don’t get to live.”
Ozzy nods. “Agreed. How did you leave it?”
“Basically told him to go fuck himself. But I can make a phone call and say I took it to my prez, and he’s willing to make the trade. Keep the peace in our town and all that.”
“The only way we’re going to find peace is if those arseholes are six feet under,” Jude says through clenched teeth. “If they went after you and your woman, there’s no telling who else they’ll go after.”
Wyatt nods in agreement. No doubt both men are thinking about their kids. Hell, it’s all I’ve been able to think about, too. What if I’d been taking Syd for a ride that day?
“So what’s the plan then?” Wyatt asks.
“Call him back and set up a meeting,” Ozzy says. “We’ll take him and get the information we need from him and whatever else he wants to divulge. We’ll see where the chips fall from there. Does Cam know how we handle threats to the club?”
“She does. And she knows that if her father is in league with the Russians, he’s a threat and will be dealt with accordingly.”
“Okay, make the call.” Ozzy waves his hand at me.
I grab my phone from my pocket and pull up the number that Cam’s father called me from earlier.
“Barrett. Have a change of heart?” Fuller asks in that smug tone that makes me want to punch him in the face.
“I took it to my prez. He’s willing to make the trade if you can promise to get the Russians off our backs.” I look at Ozzy, who nods his approval at what I told this asshole.
“Very good. Your president sounds like a much smarter man than you.”
“I’ll be sure to relay that message. Where and when, Fuller?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I miss my daughter, Barrett, and would love to see her again. She can make the drop.”
“I don’t want Camryn anywhere near you.”
“Then no deal,” he says.
I tighten my hand into a fist and grit my teeth so I don’t tell him to go fuck himself again.
Cash gets my attention and nods, mouthing, “Tell him yes.”
I look at my brother like he has two heads, but Cash jerks his head as if to get me to hurry the fuck up.
“This better not be a ploy to get to her,” I say.
The man laughs into the phone. “Of course not. But if she’s there, I have a feeling you’ll be less inclined to open fire, or whatever it is you thugs would do in this type of situation. You may accompany her, but only you.”
“And who will you have with you?” I ask.
“No one. This doesn’t need to be some sort of face-off, Barrett. I’m a civilized man, and I’m sure you can pretend to be one for thirty minutes.”
I don’t trust this asshole for one second. He’s made it perfectly clear that he thinks I’m some dumb biker who doesn’t know shit about fuck. And I love being underestimated.
“Okay, tell me where and when. It’ll just be me and Cam.”
“Wonderful that you see it my way.” Fuller gives me the address of some old diner in Ayre and tells me to meet him tomorrow afternoon. I agree and we disconnect.
“What the hell, Cash?” I ask once Fuller is off the phone. “I was serious when I said there’s no way Cam is going to be there.”
“I know, brother, but I have a plan.”
“This should be good. And by that I mean risky as hell and something I’m going to hate,” Jude says.
“I don’t love it either,” Cash tells Jude, obviously knowing where Jude’s thoughts have gone. Wish he’d fill the rest of us in. “Cece is trained. She’s fucking skilled with hand-to-hand combat and can handle all kinds of weapons just as well as any of us. She’ll go in Cam’s place.”
“Unless she’s dyed her hair and cut it—oh, and shrunk a couple of inches—that’s not going to work,” I say, completely confused.
“A wig will take care of that. We’ll get there early, and you and Cece will be sitting in a booth so he won’t see the height difference at first. I know the place he’s talking about.
If you take a table in front of a window, he’ll only see her sitting and a head of hair.
We’ll take him before he even walks in.”
“And if he lied, which is highly fucking likely, those Russians aren’t going to care about shooting up a diner,” I say.
“Liam and Sawyer are still here. We’ll put them in the restaurant as customers.
If shit goes down, they’re the only ones I trust—other than you assholes—to be ready for them to try something.
The rest of us will be on surveillance. Cece knows how to handle herself, and she’ll be carrying.
There was no way we were going to get to him without a concession from us.
This way, everyone involved is well aware of the danger and trained for it,” Cash finishes.
“I knew I was going to hate this fucking plan,” Jude says, and Cash shoots him a knowing grin.
“Then you’d really hate to know what we got up to last weekend.”
When shit went down in Arizona with the fucking Bone Breakers and Cece snuck out there on the plane with us, she told everyone that she’d been training with a vigilante of sorts.
It was no surprise to Cash, apparently he helped her take out some asshole who was beating his girlfriend, but I sure as hell was shocked.
A sweet baker by day, a hard-ass delivering retribution by night.
“I hate this plan, but Cash is right,” Ozzy says.
“There was no way he was going to meet without who he thinks you’d die to protect.
And we all know Cece can keep her cool and do a lot of damage if need be.
” He blows out a harsh breath. “Let’s put it to a vote.
All in favor?” Ozzy looks around the table.
Every brother raises his hand and says aye—even Jude, though I know he fucking hates putting his sister-in-law in any kind of danger, especially like this.
“Ayes have it. We’ll meet back here at two tomorrow.” Ozzy bangs the gavel, dismissing all of us.
We file out to the main room of the clubhouse where Sawyer and Liam are sitting at the bar with coffee in their hands.
“Help yourself,” Ozzy says, walking behind the bar to pour himself a cup.
Liam’s broad smile lights up his face. “Don’t mind if we do,” he says and tips his cup toward my prez. “Sawyer needs to talk with Barrett for a moment, if you don’t mind.”
“Are we all allowed to be in on this little secret, or is it for Barrett’s ears only?” Ozzy asks, knowing damn well whatever Sawyer has to tell me will be shared with the club.
“Everyone should know, and I only want to go through everything once,” Sawyer says. “I did some more digging into those files and connected a bunch of dots that we’ve actually been working on with Petrov.”
Hearing the name of the head of the New York Russian Bratva has my curiosity more than piqued.
“Fuller’s dealings are more than money transfers, and your woman’s dead sister was involved,” Sawyer tells me.
What the fuck?