Tyrant Chapter 8
It had been over three weeks since the shoot-out with Arturo and his men.
We’d made the supply run to pick up the product on the Tuesday after the holiday weekend.
And on that Thursday, the product was flown out as planned.
Both of those went off without a hitch. We’d been extra careful and alert, expecting we might be hit at either one.
It was always a possibility we were wary of and took steps to prevent, but after Arturo, it was doubly so.
Crypto was still trying to determine whether the Jacquot family had anything to do with Arturo and his men trying to wipe us out.
He hadn’t found any indication of it, yet we all thought it was possible, so he kept searching.
Crypto hated it when he couldn’t get answers right away.
Sure, I’d love immediate answers, but I’d rather he take his time than we make a drastic mistake.
Hugo Jacquot contacted me twice since my call the night after the fiasco.
He kept asking if I’d heard anything about anyone talking about Arturo and his crew.
Hugo said he’d heard rumblings questioning where they went.
The consensus was they were dead, but no one knew what had happened to them to end up that way.
Of course, this was all passed along in code.
I played dumb and didn’t admit to doing anything.
I claimed I had no clue where they went after blowing off the deal with us.
Both times, he’d inquired if we were ready for another shipment of car parts.
I put him off with the excuse that we had encountered a manpower issue.
He wasn’t happy, but he accepted it and left me alone.
Or he had left me alone until a moment ago when my cell phone rang. I saw his name on the screen, so I took my time answering it. I was in the garage office today. The door was shut, so there was no worry about anyone listening. We had our offices soundproofed.
“Tyrant here,” I said in my usual gruff voice.
“Good afternoon, mon ami. How are you today?” Hugo asked.
“The usual, busy. What can I do for you, Hugo?” I wasn’t one for niceties. I knew what he wanted, so why talk bullshit? Just get to the point.
He chuckled. “Always the same Tyrant, so direct and straight to business. You need to learn to enjoy life and chat a bit. But I will do as you want. I’m concerned about that car part order that went badly.
I know you’ve been saying not to worry about it, but I am.
We haven’t been able to connect to arrange a replacement.
I’d like to meet to iron out any details or concerns.
I’m calling to ask when it is possible. You name the date and time, and we’ll be there. ”
I almost told him it wasn’t necessary again, but then I thought about it.
Why not get him and whoever he brought into a room and see if I could get a better sense of whether they were lying and how they acted?
To avoid giving them time to prepare or ambush us if they were plotting against us, it would have to be tonight, on our turf.
“You know, that might not be a bad idea. However, it has to be tonight and at our compound. We’ve got a bunch of stuff happening, and we can’t promise we can do it on a different night for a few months.
It’s better to be where we’re all comfortable.
You never know when you have it off-site who might be sticking their noses in our business. ”
There was a long silence. I bet he was figuring out an excuse for being unable to do it. His next words surprised me.
“Okay, I can do that, but it has to be later. Is ten o’clock too late? I want to bring my boys and a few others. I think the entire family needs to be there. Is that acceptable?”
“The whole Jacquot family at our compound. That’ll be a new one. We’ll be waiting. This will help us relax and not feel pushed to rush through things if we need to discuss them further. That’s perfect for us. Can’t wait.”
“It will be more décontracté, laid back. We’ll be there. Take care.”
“Take care.”
After hanging up, I wasted no time sending a message to the club members.
I wanted everyone there and on alert, and I’d have to make sure that Lakelyn and River stayed away.
I wanted them protected from anything related to our business, and since I didn’t trust the Jacquots, I didn’t want them to know about our guests.
Thinking of River and Lakelyn as guests didn’t sit right with me.
After three weeks, it felt like they were part of the club.
Both had stopped asking when they could leave.
I’d eased off having a guard outside the houses or wherever they happened to be.
They had the freedom to roam the compound.
The only rule was that they weren’t allowed to leave.
I’d had them secretly watched the first few times to be sure they didn’t attempt it, but they never tried anything.
River and Lakelyn spent a chunk of every day together. It was clear that they were extraordinarily close and loved each other very much. They were inspiring. Not all families were even half as loving and supportive as they were.
Lakelyn kept busy with things I didn’t ask her to do, yet she insisted even when I told her they weren’t necessary.
She cleaned the townhouse and did my laundry.
When I returned, I discovered my clothes were clean and on my bed.
She also cooked dinner most nights. It was spoiling Cobra and me.
And if she wasn’t doing it for the four of us, she helped to prepare food for the whole club in the clubhouse.
Her cooking far exceeded the meals made only by the sluts.
I noticed that Alice and Kendall seemed to like learning to cook better.
Mera, no surprise, resented it, but she hadn’t said or done anything I knew of.
She was walking the line I placed. Bailey seemed to be torn and unsure which way to go.
Mera was her older cousin, so she ended up being led by her most of the time, but Bailey wasn’t as hard as her cousin or ready to confront others.
Tonight was to be a communal dinner night.
We’d have to get it and sanctuary over with in time to have the clubhouse cleared of everyone but the members.
One prospect would man the gate, and the other would ensure we had our drinks, then leave us to talk business.
While Drax and Knife knew some of what we did, they didn’t know all the inner dealings. Those came after one was patched in.
???
It took some work, but we got dinner and sanctuary done and River and Lakelyn to the house.
He was hanging out with her at my place, and they planned to watch movies.
I explained to her that we had a second meeting for an upcoming run that required additional planning outside of the earlier sanctuary.
I explained that we didn’t know how long it would take and needed to use the clubhouse’s common room to spread out and do prep.
I did indicate that they shouldn’t be in there.
Neither one had pushed back. They agreed it wasn’t any of their business.
Everyone was where they needed to be by nine-thirty.
I had Crypto sitting out of the discussion.
The reason was so that he could monitor the exterior walls of our property.
He had them wired with cameras and set back from the property so he’d see if anyone was approaching our location.
They’d be spotted long before they got to our door, so to speak.
They’d be wrong if the Jacquots thought they’d ambush the compound while we were all otherwise oblivious in the clubhouse.
We’d have adequate warning, and they’d be the ones getting a surprise.
The Jacquots arrived ten minutes early. Drax was at the gate.
He let them inside. He’d stay at the gate until it was time for them to leave.
After that, he could go to bed. We went outside to greet them.
There were two SUVs. The first one had two men in the front seat.
They got out, and then Hugo, Jean-Baptiste, and Pascal stepped out of the backseats with another man.
There were three bodyguards. The second SUV produced three guards, along with Bastien and étienne.
That gave them eleven. With us and our prospects, we had the advantage at sixteen.
I greeted Hugo first. He shook my hand. From there, I went down the line while they moved to greet Cobra.
We knew they had weapons, so we didn't waste time patting them down. We’d let them have them.
We kept ours whenever we met with them. I refused to surrender ours from the start of our association.
Walking them inside, I waved at Drax. He’d check that their vehicles didn’t have anyone hidden in them. Yeah, I was a mistrustful fucker.
“Please have a seat. This is Knife. He’s one of our prospects. He’ll be taking drink orders, and once those are served, he’ll leave us to talk. We have almost anything you can want. We got ours right before you arrived,” I explained.
It wasn’t long before orders were taken. The guards weren’t drinking alcohol, though they did accept water or soft drinks. The Jacquots had no problem having alcohol. As soon as they had them, I dismissed Knife. He’d help Crypto monitor the security screens.
“I’m glad we could finally meet in person, Tyrant. We feel terrible about how the whole thing with Arturo and his men turned out. We had no idea that what occurred would be the outcome.” Hugo launched right into it.
“I admit it wasn’t how we saw it going down, either.
It has made us wary. We don’t want our friends and business partners hurt by people like them.
That’s why I warned you when I called you the following day.
I don’t know who else might be in league with them and could make things dangerous for others.
You said they were customers that were known to you, right? ” I countered.