Chapter 26 Grifter
As I stand in front of what Cowboy said was a safe-house for our club, I get even more pissed.
Cowboy gave Scorpion the kid’s phone number, and we traced it here.
My enemy was hiding in a house that my club maintains.
The irony of that eats at me until every nerve inside of me is on fire.
I want blood and I won’t rest until I watch the life leave the motherfucker’s eyes who thought he could hurt my family.
The place smells like booze and sex and whatever the hell they’ve been snorting.
Cowboy takes a couple of minutes to open the lock on the front door and then, we’re in.
We’ve already taken out the two guards that were lurking around outside.
They couldn’t have been trained—they were too easy to take down.
Inside, the living room is a wreck of bodies and white powder, spoons and syringes.
Two women lie on the floor, naked and gone to another planet, their limbs folded and slack like discarded dolls.
Daisy, the bitch who tried to hurt my woman, is naked and sprawled on the couch, mascara streaked down her cheeks.
The other girl is worse off, eyes half-rolled, mouth open, breath shallow.
Jesus Christ. I look over at C and say with a voice that is quiet and flat, “You know what I want done. Make sure the worst of it is pinned on Daisy. I don’t know the extent of the other’s involvement.”
C doesn’t blink. “Yeah. Alex and Ollie will handle it. Skeeter’s overseeing it all.” The men around us shift like a pack deciding who goes first. They move with the cold efficiency I admire. This club was a question mark for me in the beginning, but now, it’s home.
I told Georgia I wasn’t a man who liked killing women. I meant it. Tonight, that truth is just plain ugly to me. Daisy and this other girl have been used up. They sold out our club and they’ve hurt the people I love. They won’t be a problem for us anymore. I won’t let them be.
I push through the hallway and find Leroy passed out on a mattress — Ace’s son, who calls himself Tiger like he has claws.
Two men are unconscious by the bedroom door.
My men got rid of them quickly, even while I was still looking at Daisy.
My gaze goes back to the man—kid really—in question.
I watch the way his chest rises and falls with the stupid confidence he thinks will outlast the world.
Cowboy efficiently zip ties the fucker’s feet together.
Then, I slap old Leroy hard on the face to wake him up while C and Savage hold his arms behind his back.
“Time to wake up asshole,” I growl as the man’s eyes open.
“What the fuck!” he screams.
I ignore him, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look me in the face. “What the hell did you think you were doing?” I ask, my voice a blade.
He looks back at me with the stupid bravado of someone who learned to bully because nobody taught him honor. “The Kings of Anarchy should be mine,” he spits. “It’s my father’s legacy!”
“Your father would have raised from the dead and killed you himself if he thought you would try and take up his chair,” Cowboy hisses.
“You’re wrong! He’d kill you for helping the enemy!”
“Why do you think the club accepted Grifter so easily? Your father gave us the name. I stood up against him, just to test him, and Leroy, Grifter is exactly the kind of man your father would want in his seat.”
“You’re a fucking liar. The club should have been mine. Once I was in charge, I was going to make things right—make it bigger, stronger. The War Kings said if I proved myself, they’d align with me.”
“The only thing they would have done is kill you and take over the club. You have no idea what you’re doing, asshole. In a club, you earn your patch with the blood you’re willing to sacrifice for your brothers. You don’t stab them in the back and light their homes on fire.”
He tries to bargain at once.
“Let me live. I can give you names of all of the War Kings who are trying to overtake you. I can tell you their plans,” he whines.
I shake my head. It doesn’t take a genius to know he’s lying, trying anything to bargain for his life.
The kid is desperate. No club is going to tell him shit.
They know he’d stab them in the back the first chance he got.
Hell, even if I’m wrong and he knows anything, I don’t give a damn. He dies tonight.
My men laugh at his pleading. Cowboy steps closer, looking down at Leroy in disgust. “Listen to you, already selling out your allies. You can’t lead men into battle when you’d slit their throats to save your own. You’re a disgrace to your father’s bloodline.”
Leroy’s face goes white like paper. Fear is rolling off of him in waves. “You’re wrong,” he tells Cowboy, but the rebuttal is weak at best.
“Maybe you can save yourself,” I murmur. “If you can tell me where your War Kings friends are—if there truly are any—you might save your life.”
“They’re at their compound. My connection is a man called Rabble,” he says at once, making me laugh.
We all know that Rabble is barely patched in with the War Kings. They may have promised him shit, but it would only be to see what they could get out of the asshole. “Tell me, Leroy, did the War Kings send you on this mission?”
“They told me that if I wanted their help, I had to prove my worth,” he says, his body trembling now as fear is taking over.
“And how were you going to do that?” I ask, continuing to play this game to see if I learn anything useful.
“They said if I managed to get control of my dad’s club, they’d make sure I had enough money and resources to make the club bigger and better.”
“Well damn, Leroy, how did that work out for you?” I ask, making my men laugh.
“They’re out to get you. I told you what I knew. You said if I told you about the War Kings, you’d let me go.”
“Hell no, I didn’t. You just interpreted what I said to mean that asshole. You were wrong. Maybe is not a commitment. You might have learned that if you had let your father make you into the kind of man men respected. Still, to show you I’m not a bad guy, I’m going to do you one last favor.”
“You are?” he asks, and the poor sap looks almost hopeful.
“Yeah. I’m going to turn your body into ash, so you don’t have to worry about those pesky funeral bills weighing down on anyone that cares about you.”
“Like there is anyone,” Cowboy mutters.
Leroy starts screaming and trying to jerk free.
I ignore him and give C a signal. C jerks his head and disappears.
I take out a dirty, oil-stained cloth from my pants pocket and pull Leroy’s mouth open and stuff the bag into it.
I look back at Savage. “Before you join C, make sure he’s tied securely.
I was going to knock him out but want him to see death coming to claim him.
I want him as helpless as he tried to leave Nana.
” Savage nods and the rest of us head out.
Once we get across the private driveway—where we’d parked our bikes so they would be a safe distance from the house—I breathe in the fresh air. “Did we contact the police and fire department?”
“Yeah. There won’t be anyone coming out for at least thirty minutes after the initial report. That will be more than enough time to let us get rid of everything that we need to, including cremating bodies.”
I already know that C and Savage are inside pouring accelerant on Leroy and the dead bodyguards so that once the fire hits, their bodies will be nothing but ash and dust. Hades has been quiet.
I look at him to gauge what his state of mind is.
He tilts his head as if to say he’s fine.
I return the favor. Eventually, the other men come out.
When he reaches me, I can tell that C has three bags of microwave popcorn.
“What the hell is that?” I ask.
C shrugs. “I had to set the bomb to explode in the microwave, so I popped us some popcorn first, so we could have something to munch on while we enjoyed the show.”
“You’re a twisted fucker,” I grumble, making him laugh.
“Yeah, I know,” he laughs, giving a bag to me, Cowboy, and Hades. Savage gets to us and gives C one and keeps one for himself.
It makes me laugh. Damn, I somehow stumbled into a club that feels more like home than my other one ever did.
Alex, Ollie, and Skeeter are long gone with the women.
Despite what I told Georgia, I’m giving Daisy a small chance.
I’m shipping her to Indonesia with enough blow and evidence to show she’s dealing in the shit in their country.
Indonesia is one of those rare countries that will kill drug dealers without a fair trial.
Their penalty for dealing is death by firing squad.
The other girl won’t have that, but she’s a user and that won’t go over well for her.
They’ve lived on their backs enough that they may get the chance to keep doing that.
It’s a slim chance for Daisy, but more than likely for the second girl.
I don’t really give a fuck. I just know they will no longer make their way back into my country and that’s good enough.
I will have Scorpion follow up to find out what he can, though—purely out of curiosity.
“Okay, the show is about to start,” C says, his voice muffled as he talks around a mouth full of popcorn. He looks down at his watch and then starts the countdown. “Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”
We all watch as a loud, ground-shaking explosion splinters the air. Fire shoots out the windows. Glass shatters everywhere and you can literally hear it over the roaring of the fire. Me and the boys stand and watch, chomping on popcorn. We continue until an alarm goes off on C’s watch.
“Time to get going, Prez,” C says. “Dispatch will probably be making calls and sending people in about five minutes. We need our bikes gone before the law and fire department show up.”
I nod. “Let’s roll,” I mutter. I’m glad it’s done. I’m tired and I just want to get back to my woman.