Chapter 30
Smokehouse
T he next morning, we were all piling into the meeting room for church.
I sat and gave Hush a grim look. We’d all spoken to our women last night, and on the heels of a situation where they’d put themselves in serious danger, we were all tense and out of sorts.
Even though Dani and I had ended the night on a high note, it was going to be a while before the story of what happened in the bowels of that event center left my mind.
I could have lost her. In the most permanent way possible.
Scraping a hand through my hair, I tried to calm my riotous stomach.
Even the thought of her dying, along with my child, was sending my system into overdrive.
In the beginning, I’d been worried about her walking out on me.
Now that I knew I was in love with her, there were so many more things to worry about than that.
Lock and Static walked into the room. Static looked like shit.
He had a black eye and bruises all over his face.
The fact that he’d taken that beating trying to protect Dani made me both grateful and ready to kill whoever had hit him.
He was going to end up in our club no matter what.
What he did for our families yesterday just cemented the fact that those of us who didn’t know him well yet would accept him.
He’d put his life on the line for our women.
He was already our brother thanks to that.
“I’m going to need someone to find these guys as soon as possible,” I told the room. It came out as a threatening growl.
Lockout gave me an understanding look. “I made a call yesterday that should help us with that.” He looked over at the door. “Come on in.”
My brows shot up when Cade walked in. He was the president of our Austin chapter. We’d helped them out a while ago with problems their club was having. His wife, Murphey, walked in behind him.
The room exploded with warm welcomes and the sound of slapping hugs as we greeted Cade. We were less violent when we hugged Murphey.
“When did you get here?” Priest asked, looking between them.
“Late last night,” Cade said. “We were already on the road for a case and when Lock called, I figured we may as well stop in.”
Cade and Murph were bounty hunters now that Cade had taken his club legit and his wife had resigned from the FBI.
They’d decided on going into business together in something where they could still get that thrill of danger.
They needed something that was going to keep them out of trouble. Relatively speaking.
“I asked him and Murph to look into Don Amato and Bruno,” Lock told us.
“Bruno is one of his Capos,” Murphey told us. She handed a folder over to Lockout. “We ran both of them and got everything we could from the system.”
“Ooooh, it's so formal, like we’re back in the feds!” Toxic said while elbowing Butcher. Murphey gave him the stink eye, but otherwise ignored him.
“Everything else is courtesy of Rat,” Cade said with a smile.
“How’s he doin’?” Hush asked. “And Ari? The kids?” He gave a sheepish smile. “Things have been busy around here and I haven’t checked in as much as I should.”
“They’re doing great,” Murph assured him. “Though she’d be thrilled to see you and Seek as soon as possible.”
“We’ll come out for a visit,” he promised.
“What did you find out?” Rip asked, curiosity piqued.
“The guys you ran into are made men for an old family,” Cade said. “But the title of Don has only just recently been handed over to the former Don’s son.”
“The father was pretty mellow,” Murphey continued. “Made his money, kept it low key. He kept his men from getting into any kind of conflicts. His son doesn’t seem to feel the same way as his father. As soon as he took over, shit started hitting the fan.”
“Once you told us what happened, the first call we made was to Nico,” Cade told Lock, giving him a grim look.
Nico was a close family friend of Arianna’s.
She grew up calling him uncle and was still close with him.
Nico was the head of a mafia organization in New York.
The amount of people we now knew in different crime syndicates, thanks to Cade’s chapter of our club and all they’d gotten involved with before going legit, was extensive.
Ari’s brother was the head of the Italian Mafia Organization in Austin.
Rat’s brother was the head of the Bratva there.
The list continued on, but sometimes having those connections paid off.
“Afanso Amato has earned himself a pretty brutal reputation since he took over for his father five years ago,” Cade continued. “I’m surprised you haven’t come up against him before this, to be honest.”
“Same,” Lock said with a sigh. “Looks like we’re making up for lost time now. Was Rat able to figure out how Amato and his crew are connected to Fremont?”
“Based on the bags of cash we saw inside that building, I’m pretty sure they were either creating counterfeit money or laundering it,” Static added.
We all nodded. As soon as Butcher had tossed the bags onto the counter that’s where all our minds had gone.
“Whatever the answer, the fact that Dani torched a good number of them,” I said in a grim tone, Butcher had counted at least thirteen bags destroyed, “means Amato’s going to have a score to settle. ”
“Probably Fremont, too,” Toxic pointed out, “if he really is somehow involved.”
Fucking with their money was a surefire way to get criminals riled up in a hurry. It didn’t matter that all she’d been doing was trying to save their own lives. The Italians weren’t going to give a shit about the whys of it.
“Laundering,” Cade answered. “Rat’s still digging. Fremont hides his tracks incredibly well, but we’re pretty sure that he takes deals and bribes from people he’s set up to prosecute and then uses the Italians to launder that money so it can’t be connected back to him.”
“The event center has a minimum of one hundred and fifty shows a year between conventions, hockey games, musicals, concerts, and a bunch of other exhibits,” Riptide added.
“If that’s what the Italians are using to launder their own money, it wouldn’t be hard for Fremont to send Trent, or now Carl, over to drop off whatever he’s taken over the course of a few months.
Then have it picked up before the end of the show. ”
“Makes sense,” Hush muttered. He reached down and scratched Jecht’s ears. The dog was settled down on the floor next to him. Auron was nowhere in sight, so it wasn’t hard to guess that he was glued to Seek’s side.
I waited until Hush finished petting the dog before I did the same. He’d tossed himself onto Bruno more than once to give Dani a chance to escape. This dog was getting steaks as often as Seek would allow me to feed them to him. Auron, too.
“Any chance we can speak with Amato and get it all worked out?” Static asked. “The last thing we need is both Fremont and the Italians gunning for us.”
“That’s big of you,” Ricochet pointed out, “considering what his men did to your pretty face.”
Static shot him a sour look. “I’ll take a hit to my ego if that’s all it takes to settle this shit.”
Cade shook his head. “Not likely. From everything we’ve found out about this guy he’s a real megalomaniac.”
“Appreciate your willingness, Static, but I’m not even willing to try,” Lock stated, anger flashing over his face. “Those fuckers tried to kill you. Kill our women. If they want a war, we’ll fucking give them one.”
“Fuck yeah,” Hellfire said. “Just the fact that those assholes were going to kill pregnant women is enough to put them six feet under.” He slammed his fist into his palm in eagerness.
“Besides, even if we worked things out now,” Ricochet added, “they’d pop up later as a problem.”
“Exactly,” Lock added. “Like Cade said, I’m surprised we haven’t had an issue with them before now. If they’re going to remain in our city, they’re going to have to control themselves, or we’ll remove them. I don’t give a shit which organizations think they control Tucson. This town is ours.”
“I’m down for wiping them off the map,” Butcher added with a grin. “This is getting more and more fun as we go.”
Cade gave him a look of disbelief, then laughed.
He hadn’t been around Butcher for a while.
It was easy to forget how bloodthirsty the man could be.
“If Amato wants a fight, he’s going to regret coming up against you guys.
” He hesitated. “If you need the help, we’re willing to come out of…
retirement. All you have to do is say the word. ”
“Thanks, Brother,” Lock told him. “But the last thing I want is to drag your club into this when you went through so much to get a clean break.”
“Mostly clean,” Murphey replied with a smile. They still occasionally dabbled, but only on a very small scale. It wasn’t worth them getting pulled back in and the guys ending up in jail, or dead. Their families needed them too much to risk it.
“We’d welcome any tech help for sure,” Lock said. “But if we need anything else we’ll pull in another chapter.”
“Wyoming chapter is always willing to join a fight,” Toxic said. Both Butcher and Toxic were close with a lot of guys from that chapter. Toxic had started in that club before he’d come to Tucson. He’d grown up there and even had a cousin still in the MC.
“We’ll have plenty of help, when the time comes,” Lock continued. “You guys just focus on your women and kids.”
“Will do, Brother,” Cade said, reaching over to shake Lock’s hand.
“Appreciate the information,” I said. “It’s nice to know who and what we’re up against.”
“It’s only been five years since Afanso took over, but he’s built up a formidable force, according to Nico,” Murphey said, bringing us all back to the problem at hand. “The folder is pretty comprehensive, but Rat and Ari will pass over any further information they dig up.”
“We’ll have to come up with a plan for the Italians,” Lock said.