Chapter 20
JOAQUIN
The walk into Snatched the next morning was brutal.
I could barely keep my eyes open, and worse, it felt like someone dumped a pound of coffee grounds under each lid. I wish that was what they'd done. Then maybe the caffeine would penetrate right to the source.
Tucked away in the office, I blew out a breath and dropped onto the end of the couch. Lake was the only one who went to his desk. Beasty raced to the coffee maker to make her second cup for the day.
Atlas, of course, was glued to her ass. Even Kim leaned against the credenza, watching her with a solemn smile, nothing like his shy one for the masses.
"Welp," I said, throwing an arm over my eyes. "How do we want to handle this?"
The chair creaked, and I knew Lake was shifting his big ass from discomfort. "I wanted a way to make us stand out as a power. This could be our opportunity to make a statement."
I dropped my arm. "You don't mean that how I think you do, do you?" Scooting to the edge of the couch, I braced my elbows on my knees before flopping against the back. I couldn't be still. "Have we learned nothing from sending the Pescis a decapitated head?"
Lake glared at me. "Yes, I learned not to be irrational. But we know these men aren't going to fuck off unless we give them a reason to fuck off."
"You mean," Beasty interjected as she stirred a tiny bit of sugar into her coffee.
"That they won't stop until they're all dead.
" Her shoulders rose with her next inhale before falling back down.
"That's what’s going to happen, you know.
They're more concerned with appearances and egos—which could really give you guys a run for your money—"
"Hey," Kim said, not at all insulted as Atlas frowned at her.
"To let this go. Does it matter if we make a statement? They're going to come after us no matter what. They won't stop until they're the only ones left standing...Or we are." She sank onto the chair at the table, letting her eyes drift closed as she inhaled the coffee.
We sat there for a few seconds, letting her words sink in.
Lake tossed his pen across the room before digging his fingers into the back of his head. No one was surprised, no one tried to stop him. This was his stress release.
"We can't just do nothing. If we send a message, yes, I'm sure Donnie is going to go off the rails, but that's what I'm hoping for. That he'll make a mistake and we can clear him off the board," Lake grumbled.
"We can call Parker. See what his thoughts are." Kim crossed his arms, gazing at the floor.
"I thought of that." The words were practically ripped from Lake's throat.
Oh, he thought about it, but he didn't want to do it.
"Then why don't we? He's an ally." Beasty glanced at Lake then the rest of us.
"One that we screwed over." Lake flicked his gaze to me, and I flipped him off. Asshole.
He continued, "From the call with his wife, I think he’ll be fair and help us out, but the bottom line is, we can't be sure."
"I think we can trust him." Beasty nodded like it was decided. "He wants information. He recognizes your club is the best place for him. And really, after talking to Amorette, I don't think he's as much of the bad guy as you make him out to be."
My jaw dropped. "Beasty. He's one of four very powerful, very dangerous cartel sons. He fucking killed his own father and sister to get to the top. Even if Amorette softened him a little bit, he's still a spade and I'll call the motherfucker a spade all day!"
But Beasty couldn't be swayed.
"I think you're wrong. We need to call him. Get his thoughts and see if he knows the best way to play this."
Atlas twisted his lips to the side,studying her. "He's cartel. They're mafia. You think they just rub elbows?"
"You don't think so?" Her brows hit her hairline. "Are you so sure about how the mafia operates that you can say with certainty how they think and react?"
Of course not. We were into some shady shit, and we had partnerships, but nothing that had taken us deep into the organized crime world. Until we’d met Parker and struck a deal with the devil.
"Fine, I'll call him." Lake was reaching for his phone when something rocked the building.
"Goddamn it," I cursed, jumping to my feet. Our car was in the garage today. But that wasn't how we’d get out of here if we were under attack.
"Guy, what's going on?" Lake put his phone on speaker while Atlas turned on the monitors.
"Adrian, that little fucker," Atlas growled.
I rushed to the screens.
There he was. Adrian pulled the tab on a grenade, dropped it into some kind of tube, and shot it toward the club. The fucking thing exploded on impact, this time closer to our offices.
Dust shook from the ceiling.
"Adrian’s launching grenades at us!" Lake stabbed a finger on his desk. “Send out a team to grab him. Make sure they're armed.”
"What about the bodies?" Guy asked. He would have already been coordinating with a team, but he was right. This kind of attack wouldn't go under the radar. It was only a matter of time until the police showed up.
Sirens blared in the distance. There must have been a fuck ton of them with the way we could hear them through the walls.
"Lock up the Gray Room. Seal it. I don't want any visible signs that there's anything there."
All our blueprints that had shown the space had been destroyed. The police wouldn't find it unless there was something that made them suspicious. Like marks on the wall or scuffs on the floor that were unexplainable.
"Got it."
Adrian turned his head, probably toward the sirens. Calm as you fucking please, he packed up his artillery, strapped it on his back, and climbed on the dirt bike I hadn't even noticed. Slamming down the clutch, he raised his fist, shooting us the one finger salute.
He knew we were watching. When he glanced over his shoulder, there was nothing but rage in dead eyes.
Then he was gone.
Police cars and ambulances popped up on the edge of the screen.
"Toss all the weapons in here." Lake swung out a panel in the wall. Anyone would think it was an electrical circuit. It was from all outward appearances, but our safe was behind it.
We did as he said, and he hit the lock and fixed it into place. Pausing with his hand on the knob, Atlas looked over his shoulder. "We running around, acting like this is out of the blue?"
"Yup. And we have no clue who would want to do this to us." Lake touched Beasty's shoulder to make sure she was okay.
"All right. Footage is looped to erase the last ten minutes. Go time." Atlas threw open the door.
Racing through the halls, we headed straight toward the front room.
Kim's face was etched in fear as he ushered employees away from the entrance. Atlas wore a scowl as he ran to the front entrance, searching the sidewalks. Beasty herded other employees, as I went to the control panel, lowering all the lighting fixtures to the ground so they wouldn't fall.
Lake shouted at the security men who played along, rushing off like chickens without a clue of why the sky was falling.
We were a perfect picture of chaos as the police rushed in. Calling out their presence and swinging guns our way.
Beasty immediately threw her hands up, her eyes wide.
I burned to rip every weapon from their hands and shove them up their asses for scaring her.
"What the hell is going on?" Lake barked, closing the distance and shoving Beasty behind him.
A familiar man walked through the doors, scanning the place before locking on Lake. "Ah, Mr. White. I didn't expect to see you ever again."
"Mr. Barton." Lake narrowed his eyes. "Someone attacks our building and you storm in and point your weapons at us! What the fuck is going on out there?" He gestured wildly, displaying a class act of panic that even the best actors couldn't mimic. Even his face was blistering red.
"Weapons down," the detective shouted.
As one, they lowered their guns, pointing them at the ground. Barton beelined for Lake. Atlas and I joined him, making a clear line between the police and Beasty.
Kim placed himself in front of Beasty, edging her backward, his face full of distress. Damn Kim. His control over his facial expressions was downright frightening.
Huffing as if he was truly unsure what was going on, Lake squared up against the detective.
Ah, I remembered now. This was the man who came to arrest us.
Just seeing him had nausea twisting my stomach.
"What the hell is happening?" Lake glanced up at the ceiling and behind him before looking at this man again.
I had to hand it to Lake, even I was worried about a new blast from his body language.
We knew it wouldn't come. That fucking coward had already split. But these guys didn't know that.
"It seems someone has it out for you." Barton angled his head and squinted at Lake before sliding his gaze across the rest of us.
A few of the men behind him split apart and started corralling employees.
"You think? It damn sure wasn't a lightning strike trying to take down our club!" Lake bellowed. I almost snickered. There was a clear blue sky out today.
"Calm down, Mr. White or we'll have to place you under arrest for disturbing the peace." The man bared his teeth. That was exactly what he wanted.
"The peace? This is my fucking club I'm inside. And if you do that, unlawfully, I'll slap so many lawsuits against you and the police that your grandkids will be digging themselves out of debt."
The man's nostrils flared. "I don't think it's any surprise to you that we need to search the place. This is now a crime scene. You'll be closed until further notice."
My stomach dropped.
We couldn't be closed with Snatched under police control. At some point, the bodies would start stinking and they'd go looking for the source.
"We'll also need to interview every one of you."
"For what? We were getting ready to open."
"Oh, you know, just routine questions. Where were you today? Last night? Is there anyone you think could have done this? Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?" The man was so nonchalant like we hadn't gone around the block with him before.
"Sorry." Lake gave him a brittle smile. "No can do. I don't trust you after last time. You'll have to speak to our lawyer, and she’ll get a statement sent to you. But make no mistake. We didn't do this. Spend your time looking for the actual culprit instead of trying to blame us for this."
The man whistled. "You're testy. Something to hide?"
"Nope. Just don't like you." Lake glanced around. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have to make sure everyone is okay and that there's no lasting damage to the club."
"Actually, you'll need to stay here. In this room until we're done."
Fuck.
Three hours went by before the police were gone. If nothing else, the police were thorough in their investigation. Either that, or they were just slow and incompetent as fuck. I supposed that was the better option for us anyway.
Turned out that when there was no cause for a criminal investigation, they were limited in what they could search and who they could hold. I was sure their long stay was just because they were assholes.
“Fucking Barton,” Lake muttered, scanning his badge to the private offices with stiff movements.
I wasn’t sure what had reignited his hate for the detective until I saw the door as he’d stepped through. Dents and scuffs surrounded the doorknob and doorjamb.
The door to our office had the same rough treatment.
That wasn’t good. I had a feeling they weren’t supposed to be in the offices, or they’d have asked for our key cards.
A sense of dread spread across my shoulders, and I tugged the back of Atlas’ pants to get his attention, just to see if he was as concerned as I was. He glanced over his shoulder.
Yep, Atlas was pissed. His nostrils flared as he swung his gaze around the room.
None of us spoke. Not yet.
As soon as the door shut, we move through the room like a tornado, searching every crack and crevice. Most of the place was clean, except for one bug Lake found under his desk.
His face was grim as he squashed it.
In the bottom drawer of his desk, under a false bottom, he pulled out a black tower. He plugged it in and turned it on. Only then did he get to take a deep breath.
"We're not staying here. Not now." Lake scrubbed a hand down his face. "We're going to have a chat…" He raised his brows. I knew immediately who he was talking about; the two men we'd brought in alive. "Then we're going home. We need it after today."
"I've already let the proper channels know we're closing for a few days due to an electrical issue." Atlas waved his phone in the air.
Electrical issue. That was a pure stroke of genius.
Lake had called in a favor from the Network and they'd somehow managed to have people on the investigation team here.
With the footage showing no attackers and nothing out of the ordinary, except the blasts that were luckily linked with the power lines running inside, it had been easily explained away.
The detective hadn't bought it, but he’d left anyway. There wasn't a damn thing you could do without any evidence.
He was going to need to be taken care of too. That thought didn't fill me with joy.
Quite frankly, it scared the shit out of me.
How could we take out a police officer? I put pressure on my temples. That was a problem for another day.
For now, we had men to question.