19. Butch
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BUTCH
B lood rushes to my head when I hear the name of one of the two remaining men on my hit list.
Learning Candy knows Patrick Duffy’s location—a man who violated my woman in unthinkable ways—has me itching to go on the hunt.
“I’ve heard this name before,” Piero says, rubbing at his chin like he’s deep in thought. “I’ve seen his name written somewhere in some of Lorenzo’s files.”
Piero pulls his cell out from inside his blazer and makes a call. “Angelo,” Piero clips in his Italian accent into his cell. “I want you to do a deep dive into Lorenzo’s archives. Dig up anything you can on Patrick Duffy. Report to me with anything you find.” He ends the calls without a farewell.
“Chase,” Atlas barks into the speaker. “Do your thing. See what you can find on the dark web.”
“On it,” Chase says through the speaker.
“You won’t find anything,” I interject. “He’s a ghost on the Internet.”
Everyone looks at me with surprise. Candy squeezes my hand, seeing all the attention is on me .
Atlas cocks his head at me. “Why do you say that?”
Gauge shakes his head. “Isn’t it obvious, brother? Butch has already been looking for him.”
Atlas eyes narrow. “Is this true?”
“Yes,” I admit, unashamed. “Candy told me about him last year.”
“Who is he, Candy?” Atlas asks, shifting his attention back to my woman.
My goddess shifts in her seat, looking at the ground. “A man who did terrible things to me—he was close with Luca and another who favored me.”
Atlas glowers, turning back to me. “Why didn’t you come to us with this, Butch? Why didn’t either of you come to us?”
A heavy sadness falls over Atlas face as he eyes my woman. “We could’ve helped.”
“You knew I came from a bad situation when you asked me to join the club,” Candy reminds him in a brittle voice. “My past isn’t pretty, and not something I like to reminisce about. Surely, you can understand that.”
Prez’s face is grim as he nods at Candy before his eyes fall on me. His jaw tightens like he’s pissed at me. He has Candy’s excuse. I need to give him mine.
“At the time I found out, we were hunting Esteban Moreno, searching for Opal’s abuser, and handling a shit ton of other cases. The club had a priority list of more pressing threats. So, I made Patrick Duffy and the other fuckhead my priority, searching for them when I had time.”
“We would’ve made it a priority, Butch,” Gauge tells me, with a pained expression. “You and Candy are part of this family.”
“Be real, Gauge.” Candy releases a humorless laugh. “I wasn’t high on anyone’s priority list a year ago, especially after I came clean about being forced to help Lorenzo’s hacker break into Mercy Ravens’ internal database.”
“The key word was ‘forced,’” Gauge interjects heatedly. “Luca put you in an impossible position to help his boss. No one blames you for your actions when we know your history with the sadistic pig.”
Atlas raises his hand to silence Gauge. “What’s done is done. Candy made a mistake by not trusting the club and paid a high price for it. Butch handled finding this Duffy dude solo. The good news is, we know not to waste our time searching in the areas Butch has already combed through, and we have an eyewitness to this fucker’s residence.”
“The area Candy described where the manor is located could be Maroon Bells, in the Elk Mountains, near Maroon Lake,” Triple says through the speaker. “I’ve done my fair share of snowboarding in Aspen to know what she’s describing. Pull up some images from the area and show them to Candy. See if anything jogs her memory.”
Atlas types on his computer keyboard before turning the monitor toward Candy. “Does it look familiar?”
Candy bites the corner of her bottom lip, examining the images on the screen. She points to one picture, her eyebrows shooting up. “This picture looks a lot like what I saw. Although, when I saw it in person, I was much closer to the peaks. Maybe this is it, maybe not. I was escorted inside after my blindfold was removed, not giving me a lot of time to observe my surroundings.”
“A lead is a lead. It’s worth investigating,” Atlas reassures before turning his attention to the speaker on his desk. “Chase, can you get aerial footage of the Maroon Bells?”
“The Elk Mountains are a sizable chunk of land to canvas,” Chase informs Atlas. The clicking of his keyboard can be heard through the speaker. “It’ll take some time, but Ziggy and I will work on it.”
“Good. Look for secluded three-story stone manors. How many of those can there be in Aspen?”
“It’s Aspen,” Piero mocks. “Every home is a mansion near Maroon Bells.”
“But not every mansion has acreage large enough to not have neighbors,” Atlas counters, with a grin. “This fucker is toast. ”
He sure is. And I’m going to be the one to do it.
For a split second, I’m as giddy as Atlas.
Candy shakes her head. “I said Duffy owned the manor. Not that he lived there.”
I grimace. “You think he kept his business separate from his personal life?”
She nods. “The manor lacked anything personal and was sparsely furnished. It’s simply a building to hold auctions. And I don’t think any abducted people stay at the manor. There was a semi on site. I only caught a glimpse, but there were armed men rushing women into the manor. Most of them were naked. But when the women were presented to the auctioneers, they were dolled up, high as kites from whatever they used to drug them with, but styled for top sales.”
“You think the house is used to stage the abductees for sale?” I question.
“Yeah, I do. While we wined and dined in our separate luxury box, I believe they had people on-site prepare the women for sale. How else would they go from tattered to stunning?”
“Fucking hell,” Gauge grouses. “In other words, we could find this manor and not find this Duffy prick in it. We almost have to be invited into an auction.”
The room goes quiet as Gauge’s words sink in.
Atlas sits back in his seat, looking between me and Gauge. “It wouldn’t be our first undercover operation. If we got an invite, we can coordinate the rest leading up to the event.”
He’s not wrong. Our job sometimes requires covert operations. They aren’t ideal working situations, but we manage.
“He’s Irish, you say?” Piero muses aloud. “I have some connections to the Irish mob. Perhaps the Kinahan Cartel is involved with the flesh trade. At the very least, they’d point me in the right direction.”
“The Kinahan Cartel won’t admit if they’re involved,” I say with a rough edge to my voice—well, rougher. “And if they’re not involved, why would the Irish mob help an Italian mobster? ”
Piero’s grin is sinister. “The Irish don’t want trouble with the Bianchi Mafia. Manhattan would turn into a turf war overnight. Our numbers are higher, and we control the harbors. We may be in the other half of the country, but it’s in their best interests to cooperate with me.”
Atlas raises a doubtful eyebrow. “And threats are enough to scare them into compliance?”
“Money has a way of cushioning the blow,” Piero answers matter-of-factly.
“I’m not paying the Irish mob,” Atlas says sternly.
The don waves his hand dismissively. “Of course not. Lorenzo’s footing the bill.”
Atlas rubs his temples. “Do I even want to know how much blood money your cousin had?”
“A lot,” I say in unison with Chase and Ziggy. We saw only one account of his while working the Sacramento case—the man could wipe his ass with cash and toss it away without a second thought.
“Fine,” Atlas concedes. “Piero, reach out to your Irish contacts. Say you’re interested in restarting your cousin’s flesh trade operation in Denver. If the Irish are involved, they’ll be eager to work with you. No one wants to abduct women in a mobster’s territory unless they have the permission of the man who runs the city. It makes business smoother to have everyone on board.”
Piero texts away on his phone. “Done.”
“If Piero’s able to swing this, he’s going to be the one going to the auction,” Gauge says, his forehead lined in concentration. “Who else do we send inside?”
“A small team—four members,” Atlas suggests. “Piero has his own detail, but I want our people on this operation. Piero will handle the business end, while our team scouts the inside of the property, informing us on how to best infiltrate the premises.”
My woman deserves vengeance. I jump at the opportunity to take on the prick. “I volunteer. ”
Gauge gives me a skeptical look. “Not a good idea. We need to take this dude alive.”
I bare my teeth at Gauge and bark, “The hell we do.”
“I agree with Butch,” Piero seconds, not looking up from his texting. “Men who sell others don’t deserve to take their chances with the justice system. They deserve a bullet in the head. Period.”
For once, I’m happy to have the mobster involved in our case.
“ Duffy may not be working alone. If there’s others involved, we need that information,” Gauge counters.
Atlas examines Candy for a long beat before his eyes settle on me. “I understand this is personal. But it would be best to bring him in for questioning. After we’ve gotten what we need from him, we won’t stand in your way.”
“I second,” Gauge agrees.
“All those in favor of taking the fucker alive and then disposing of, say, ‘Aye,’” Atlas calls to a vote.
A chorus of “Ayes” echoes around the room and through the speaker.
It’s not the sudden vengeance I want, but Candy will get her justice in the end.
“Butch, you’re in,” Atlas says, giving me the green light. “Who else wants in on this operation?”
“Me,” Ziggy’s voice rings through the speaker. “I go where my brother goes.”
As pissed as I am at my best friend for not having my back earlier this morning, I’m happy he wants to accompany me on this mission. The two of us have always worked well together in the field.
Atlas nods in approval. “That will cover tech. On to the muscle.”
“I’m in,” a low voice rumbles through the speaker.
Hearing Tank volunteer for a mission is shocking. When he joined our MC as a prospect, he only agreed to do security detail. His years serving as a Marine left him with a shit-ton of post traumatic stress compounded by his time working as Lorenzo Bianchi’s private security. Missions were off the table. The only time Tank came close to anything like the missions we take on was when he came to Argentina to retrieve Jo after Atlas’s bio-dad, Esteban Moreno, abducted her. And even then, he was there to get Jo safely to Chile and then remained with her while the rest of the crew went back into Argentina to retrieve Atlas.
“Tank?” Atlas’s voice is thick with concern. “Don’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”
“Can’t talk me out of it, Prez. I know what I’m signing up for. Outside of Piero, no one understands the mob world like me. I grew up in it. Lived it most of my life. I may know shit about the trafficking business, but I know how to navigate working with filth. Mobster life is in my blood. Besides, I owe this to Butch and Candy.”
Well, I’ll be damned. The former mobster has a guilt bone. Pretty unusual for someone who grew up in the mafia.
As mad as I am from Tank mentioning Candy at this morning’s meeting, I don’t want Tank being triggered into a PTSD episode on account of guilt.
“Are you sure?” I ask, giving the newest MC member an option to back out while he still can.
“Yeah man, I’m sure.”
Candy scratches her head and leans toward me, asking with a hushed voice, “Why does Tank owe us?”
I pat her shoulder reassuringly. “For flapping his mouth.”
“Um…okay?” Candy shakes her head, still confused, but not enough to let it bother her.
“Done. Tank, you’re security. I need one more volunteer, someone to play the part of seller and buyer, along with Piero.”
We have some excellent actors in the crew, but this mission is something else entirely.
The silence grows a tad uncomfortable as we murmur amongst ourselves about who in the crew would be best equipped to play the undercover part of the operation .
A feminine voice clears her throat. My jaw drops as I watch Candy raise her hand.
No. Fucking. Way.
Candy gives a saucy smile, saying, “Looks like this team could use a little insider knowledge for this mission. I volunteer.”