Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
SNIPER
The tides are finally turning in our favor. All thanks to one ridiculously smart blonde that I don’t deserve, but plan on keeping for as long as I possibly can.
The security building is completely encased in flames when we pull up, with firefighters working to battle the blaze and keep horrified, and even some mesmerized, on-lookers back. The police let us through. I look at the building, and my anger burns.
“Fuck, that’s going to be expensive to fix,” Viper gripes, staring at it with a pain on his face. I get it, especially considering that he and Shadow built this place from the ground up.
“That’s what insurance is for, brother,” I remind him grimly, but he’s right. Insurance will probably delay paying out, so in the meantime we’ll have to foot the bill.
I turn and follow Bullet over to where a local cop is standing and talking to the Fire Chief. “Bullet,” Sergeant Peter Valdez says as they shake hands. “Seems you have someone after you. First the bar, now this place and your garage?”
Bullet gives him a grim nod, even as he shakes the Fire Chief’s hand briskly. “Apparently so. Though the bar was a separate incident and had something to do with one of our patrons being involved in some shady dealings,” Bullet reminds him. “This…this is definitely personal.”
“You have any ideas?” Sergeant Valdez asks, his gaze almost friendly, but his dark eyes shrewd. The man won’t miss much. He’s been at this a long time, and while we’ve always had a good relationship with the police force here in town, that doesn’t mean he won’t immediately wonder if we’ve slipped back into old ways.
“No, I’m afraid not.” Bullet scowls, glaring at the burning building. “The only thing we can think is it’s an unhappy client. All our suppliers are paid, and Viper can get you a statement of that if you like,” he adds with a wave of his hand toward Viper, who is talking to Shadow, the two of them looking very pissed off.
“And have you had any unhappy clients recently?” Sergeant Valdez asks, pulling out his little notebook and pen.
“That’s Shadow and Viper’s department since they run this place,” Bullet tells him. He calls them over and repeats the Sergeant’s question to them.
“We haven’t had anything major lately, but we’ve had a few clients getting handsy with our newest guard,” Shadow answers grimly. “I fined them as per their contracts, and black-listed them. And then I called a few of our competitors and told them the same.”
“That would certainly piss someone off,” Sergeant Valdez agrees. “But enough to burn your businesses down?”
“Sergeant, you need to understand the people we guard fall into two categories,” Viper explains. “There’s the ones that think their shit don’t stink and that they need protection because everyone is out to get them. Who think our team is there to do whatever they say, and they like to push the limits as far as they can. And when they don’t get their way, they flip the fuck out. The other knows it’s a business transaction and as long as we’re doing the job, they don’t give us another thought. It’s the first one that we run into more often than not.”
He nods, accepting that. “You got any names I can check? And you said that they were getting handsy with your new guard? I assume that means the new hire is a woman?”
I stiffen at that, not liking the thought that Thea had to deal with more than that one asshole. And I also don’t like that she, nor Shadow and Viper told me about it. But that’s a problem for another time.
Shadow rattles off a few different names, the last one being the one that I heard about. “It’s the last one that was the worst,” he explains. “Kid tried to pin her and kiss her, and spent the day harassing her. When I called to confront him, he tried to laugh it off, saying she was asking for it. He was majorly pissed when I told him of the additional fine and that he was no longer to call us for security. He spouted off a bunch of angry bullshit, threats, and that he hoped we burned down.” He glances back at the building. “Sounds to me like he might have taken that literally.”
I hide my satisfaction, knowing full well that Shadow is trying to make this kid pay by implicating him. It’s also handy to throw the cops off our trail.
“And why would he attack the mechanic shop?” Sergeant Valdez wonders, but he still jots the information down.
“Covering all his bases probably,” Viper replies. “I mean, it’s not hard to figure out what businesses we own. A simple google search and that information is on there for all to see. When you have money and get pissed off, you can pay people to do your dirty work.”
I see that does the trick and the Sergeant scribbles a few more notes, a slight frown pulling at his mouth.
“Anyone else?” he finally asks. “Could this be the work of another MC trying to hone in on your territory?”
“No,” I say with a firm shake of my head. “We’re not an outlaw club, Sergeant, you know that. And we’ve worked hard for years to establish good relationships with other clubs, including outlaw ones in other states.”
“Even the two closest?” he asks, not sounding convinced.
“We haven’t had issues with them in well over thirty years,” Bullet replies. “And I just talked with their Presidents a few days ago telling them we were thinking of doing a run, but would need to go through their territory for it, and they were all for it.”
“So you don’t think that they’re trying to expand their territories then?”
“I would be damn surprised considering how big of ones they each have,” Shadow interjects. “But I suppose anything is possible. Though, you know yourself, this isn’t the way clubs operate. If they wanted our territory, they would approach us first, and if we resisted, then maybe, but nothing of the sort has happened.”
Sergeant Valdez nods, but I don’t think he’s convinced. Fine with me if it keeps him from sniffing around us too much. Vlad is probably hoping this very thing is going to happen and we’re going to be distracted with the cops while he moves his operation around so we can’t find it.
He’s going to be sorely disappointed, because we’re never going to allow that to happen.
“Alright, well, I have a few things to look into,” he says, putting the book away. “We haven’t had a problem with your MC since you all went straight decades ago, so I have to think that whatever is going on isn’t on your end. But that doesn’t mean others aren’t going to try their luck.”
“Any report on where and how the fire started?” Bullet asks the Fire Chief, Dennis Bates, who is listening to this little chat with rapt attention. No doubt he’ll be talking with his men about this later.
“From all reports, it seems that a large SUV pulled up and fire bombs were tossed through the windows. But, with how fast those flames went up, I have a feeling that’s not the only place it started,” Chief Bates replies. “It’s coming from all sides, so I would say that someone was around back and did the actual work while the others distracted the front.”
“Was it the same at the garage?” I ask.
Chief Bates nods. “We’ll know more once the Arson Investigator gets in to look once we have the fire out. But it’s definitely deliberate.”
“Any chance you have camera footage we can get?” Sergeant Valdez asks.
Bullet looks at Shadow. “Call Cryos and have him collect everything and send it over to Sergeant Valdez. Both buildings, and any other cameras we have that might be helpful.” Viper nods and steps away, putting his phone to his ear.
“Appreciate it,” Sergeant Valdez remarks. “I’m going to contact the neighboring businesses as well to see if they have anything that might be helpful. I have officers speaking with witnesses, so they could give us a description to help us figure out who is behind this.”
“Anything you need, Sergeant, and you have it,” Bullet says, a touch of relief and gratefulness in his voice. Who knew Bullet could be a damn good actor? Then again, he does have to live with Rose, so I can imagine he’s had some practice along the way.
The Chief and Sergeant walk away to continue their work, leaving us alone. Timber and Bowie make their way over. The other brothers, except Medic and Cryos who stayed back at the clubhouse, are over at the mechanic shop dealing with that fucking mess.
“I heard one of the cops talking to a woman who saw the men who threw the fire bombs into the building,” Bowie says in a low voice. “She said that they were all big, scary looking, wore masks over their faces, but were wearing suits. And also heard one of them speaking and she wasn’t sure what nationality, but she thought maybe Russian or maybe Czech.”
Bullet explains to them what the Chief and Sergeant told us, and Bowie nods. “I have a vantage point laid out on another building behind us,” he murmurs. “Once things settle down, I’ll look and see what I can find.”
Bullet nods. “Good. Viper, get on the phone with the insurance companies and make sure the claims get started. We’ll talk more in Church about where we go from here.” Viper does as ordered, turning away already making the call.
The next few hours is us standing around and waiting for the fire to be extinguished. And during that time, we get updates from Torque, Stone and King from the garage. The garage fire was dealt with faster than this one. Though that probably has something to do with the fire station being less than a block over. The only sections that were destroyed were the waiting room and Torque’s office at the back. At least we still will be able to possibly have one functioning business rather than starting from the ground up with both.
When the fire crews finally leave and it’s only the cops, we’re allowed to get closer to assess the damage. Shadow and Viper’s faces turn foreboding as they stare at the husk of a building. They will rebuild, and we’ll make sure that it’s stronger and better than before.
Finally, we head back to the clubhouse, though my entire body is tense. This is a full-on attack, and I have a very bad feeling next up will be the clubhouse. We might have to make some hard decisions and as much as they won’t want to, the women and kids might have to be sent away to be safe.
Thea won’t like that, but she’ll do it because she’ll know it’s for the best. That, and she’ll be the one in charge of their safety.
When we walk inside, Bullet bellows, “Church! Now!” Then he turns to me and says, “I’m going to want to know how much Thea has worked out, but we’ll hold off on that for now. When I ask for her, you get her since she’s your woman.”
I nod, not disputing the claiming of her. Because she is mine. “Arson and his men won’t like it,” I warn him as we head for the Church room door.
“I don’t give a flying fuck. I want this bastard finished, and if she gets it done faster, then I’ll make sure it happens,” he says, a dark determination in his voice that has me nodding again in agreement. Glad to see we’re on the same page.
The door slams behind us, and I know Crypt is the one on the door this time. The room is silent as we take our seats, and I can see the tension on everyone’s face. “Report,” Bullet barks, clearly not bothering to wait.
“We have confirmation from witnesses that men in SUVs threw fire bombs into the buildings, and that at both sites they heard men talking Russian,” King immediately answers. “We also have accounts of men going in the back to do the same. The fire was caught fast enough at the garage that once we fix up the water damage and the fire damage in the two rooms, we can still operate. The security company is toast. I heard one of the firefighters say that the whole place will have to be torn down, the structure is extremely unstable. They are worried the whole thing will fall on someone if they even tried to walk in there now.”
Cryos clicks a few buttons and pulls up the security feed. “I sent this all over to the cops, but everything the witnesses reported is accurate. I was able to get the license plates on the SUVs, and while they have come back as stolen, the men that get out of them are all the same heights and size at each location.”
“So they went to one and then the other one,” I summarize. “And from the response, I think it’s safe to say they went to the security company first and then the garage?”
Cryos nods. “That’s what the timestamps indicate. I also did note the types of SUVs are the ones that Vlad and his men like to use.”
“Were you able to find out where they went afterward?” Stone asks him.
“They dumped both vehicles, same MO as last time. Went to a parking lot, set the vehicle on fire, and then got in another vehicle that came to get them. That one remained off screen for the most part except for the front part of the hood at the edge of the frame.” He shows us that and my anger only grows. “And from there I tried to find them again, but they jammed the cameras, which means they knew we would be looking.”
“So we lost them?” Arson asks. Cryos nods. “Fuckers. They always seem to be one step ahead. And you think this is because of that other cabin you found?”
“Would make sense. We burn their shit, they burn ours,” Stone says grimly.
“Speaking of which, we need to make our next move and fast,” Silver announces, leaning forward. “If he knows we’ve found one of his secret hideouts, this bastard is going to try and move his shit as fast as possible. But I doubt we’re going to get as lucky as you did this time.”
Bullet glances at me and I nod. I get up from my seat, leaving the room. “Where’s Thea?” I ask Crypt quietly when he shuts the door behind me.
“She’s in your room,” he answers in an equally low voice. “Hasn’t been out of there since you left. I’m on guard duty or I would have offered to help.”
I nod. “Thanks, man.” Then I hurry up the steps. I don’t have time to waste. When I open the door, I find her sitting on the bed, her brow furrowed as she works on the paper in front of her. She looks up quickly when the door opens. “We need you in Church,” I tell her as calmly as I can. “Bullet would like you to explain what you’ve figured out.”
“I haven’t been able to do the whole journal,” she warns, even as she pushes herself up off the bed, grabbing at everything. “But I’ve gotten another ten pages done. Most of it I think is just notes, but there are a few more locations.”
“Good,” I say, waiting as she puts on her shoes and heads my way. I stop her before we leave my room. “Baby girl, I need to warn you that the Misfits are going to throw a fit when they see you coming into the room.”.
She nods. “I figured as much. But don’t worry about me, I’ve faced scarier men than them.” She gives me a quick once-over. “You’re okay?”
I lean down to press a quick, hard kiss to her mouth. “I’m fine, promise. Now let’s go.” She follows me out, saying nothing. When we reach the Church room door, Crypt opens it and gives me a brisk nod before he looks at Thea with a respectful incline of his head. Thea does the same back, and I have the brief thought that if Thea had been on Crypt’s team, she probably would never have gone through what she did. Still, they’re on the same team now and I doubt I’ll ever have to worry she won’t have someone at her back.
When we walk in the room and the door shuts behind us, the room goes silent, until Arson asks tightly, “When the hell are women allowed in Church, Bullet?”
“Since she’s the one who figured out the journal’s code and figured out the decoys,” Bullet returns coldly. I lead Thea over to my seat, indicating for her to have a seat, and I stand behind her, hand on her shoulder in a clear sign to every man in this room. I glance down at Thea and see that her face has become cool and impassive. Just like she used to do when she was in the military, but her gaze is direct on Arson and his men.
“You let her deal with club business?” Silver demands, clearly angry. “What, now it’s that you don’t fucking trust me and want some blonde with a great set of tits to do our work now?” The other Misfits make noises of agreement.
“Enough!” I bellow, my voice shaking the room. Everyone goes quiet, but the tension doesn’t lessen. “You and I, we’re going to deal with the disrespect you just showed my woman when this is done,” I tell Silver furiously. “As for the rest, you’ve been told multiple times that you do not dictate how we run our club. And you were also made aware when you first arrived we might ask for her help. The time has come and you’re going to fucking deal with it. Thea is Special Forces, and her whole damn career she trained and worked her ass off to accomplish. Silver, you were able to decode one set, sure, but you missed key differences in the second. Now, two of your men have sustained injuries, and we have lost two of our businesses, not to mention finding out that Vlad and his men are using our land to run their business off of, we’re done playing and we will use whatever assets we have. So you will shut your mouths and treat my woman with respect, or you will answer to me. Is that understood?” My last question is a bark, much like I used to do when I was in charge in the military.
No one replies, but no one argues.
“Thea,” Bullet says calmly. “I need you to tell us how you figured out the code and what you’ve decoded so far.”
Thea nods. She launches into an uncomplicated explanation of the two journals and the differences. Once she’s finished, she explains, “I also analyzed the handwriting, and I can determine the smaller journal is the original.” She holds up the journal we found in the wall of the bar. “There are two different types, and it looks like the later pages are newer entries. The other journal is all the same handwriting and matches the ones in the original that were recorded later. He kept the same code, but changed some of the markings to give the decoy locations.”
“How would he have remembered the real one locations?” Shadow asks.
“He never moves more than two to three degrees each one,” Thea explains. “Now, that’s all based on the original pages. I don’t know about the newer ones, but it would stand to reason he just remembered the correct ones, or he had another record of the information.”
“Digital even?” Cryos asks, giving me a pointed look over Thea’s head. I can see where he’s going with this. This might just be the information that he gave to Dmitri, Misha, and whoever this third person might be. But being shrewd, he always kept the originals just as a safeguard.
Thea nods. “Probably. It would make it easier to look at them.”
“And you figured this all out in just a few hours?” Silver asks snidely. I shoot him a warning look, which he promptly ignores. “How do we know that you’re not just fucking this all up?”
Before I can snarl at him for daring to ask that question, Thea merely looks at Cryos. “Can you pull up the location of the decoy camp that was decoded?” He nods, doing that. “Good.” Then she looks back at Silver. “I know another camp was found and that it was on the border of the club’s property line, but I actually don’t know the exact location. Especially considering how long the property line is. But I can tell you exactly based on this code.” She tells Cryos another set of coordinates that are just slightly different. Cryos pulls it up on the map, and drops the pin on the exact location of the cabin. “Anymore questions?” she asks Silver politely. There’s a light snicker from a few of the other men in the room, but Silver’s gaze is cold as he stares back at her, refusing to reply.
“What else did you figure out, Thea?” Bullet prompts.
She looks back at him. “I’ve done about ten pages so far of both journals so you can have both locations.” She looks at Cryos, who nods at her to begin. She reads off the coordinates, letting him know which one is the decoy and which ones are real. When she’s finished, she also adds, “There seems to be a pattern in the locations, but until I finish them, I can’t tell you what it is. Looking at the map it looks like most of the locations are random so far, but I get the sense there’s more to it.”
Bullet nods. “Thank you, Thea.”
“Wouldn’t the fact that they’re all so close together mean there was already a pattern?” Dozer asks. “I mean, maybe you’re looking for something that’s already there. It’s not always as complicated as women like to make it.”
Once again, before I can snarl at him for talking that way to her, Thea says mildly, “Sure, but when you study codes as long as I have, you learn that there is a purpose. There is a pattern that a coder always uses. It’s not always the coordinates themselves, but what they create, or what they add up to for them. Some coders have an obsession with a certain number, and when they finish with their targets, or their safe houses, or whatever it might be, there will be a common number in each one. Or when you plot it out, there’s an image it creates, like an X marks the spot kind of thing. So, no, I’m not over complicating it. I just don’t have enough data yet to tell you what the specific pattern is that whoever made this code set up.”
Dozer’s lips purse at that, but he doesn’t argue.
“That should be good, Thea,” Bullet says. “Thank you, and please continue on decoding the rest of those journals. Tell Cryos of all the new places you find once you do so we can plot this out.”
She nods, getting to her feet. I walk her to the door. When we’re outside the room, and I know I can’t be overheard, I murmur in her ear, “Thank you, baby girl. And for that smart mouth of yours putting those assholes in their place.”
She glances up over her shoulder at me and gives me a slow smile. “Don’t worry, I’m used to men just like them. I’ll see you later.” Then she walks away, without looking back. I watch her for a moment, and then I head back into the room.
Sitting at the table, I look back at Bullet. “Which one do we attack first?” I ask.
Bullet doesn’t look at me for a moment, just continues to stare at the screen with the locations that Thea gave Cryos to put on the map. “Most of these places, I remember them being where Bull used to bring us to store our own shit way back when, though a few of them are shifted. Same general area. I’m not fully convinced Bull didn’t have other locations that he never wrote down, but we can’t focus on those now.”
“And did Bull have a favorite number or shape?” Silver sneers, earning laughter from their men.
“He did, actually,” Bullet says coldly, and their laughter dies immediately. “As did the man who I’m sure was the one who made up this stupid code. Because Bull certainly wasn’t smart enough to devise this. And that would leave those closest to him. And the one who probably created this code, he had a thing for skulls and knives. And every tattoo he sported had the number four in it. Because his soldier number had a bunch of fours in it and it was the one number he remembered seeing when he was shot at and almost knocked out by enemy fire in one of the wars he served in. When he came to, the only thing he saw was the tattoo on his arm with the number four in it.”
“And most of those locations have a four in it,” Shadow notes pointedly.
Silver looks disgruntled that he’s once again proven wrong. I imagine that it stings for him to realize he’s not as smart as he thinks he is, but that’s too fucking bad. The bastard needs to be taken down a few pegs.
“This is the last time I’m going to fucking say this,” Bullet says as he gets to his feet. “I don’t give a flying fuck what you all do with your club and how you handle your business. We asked for help from you, and instead of coming in and handling shit, you question every fucking thing we do.” He looks sharply at Arson. “I’m seriously questioning this alliance. I have too much on my plate, and the snide remarks, the disrespect you show us and our women, I’m done with it. So make your choice now. You help us out, keep your opinions to yourself, you respect our women and our decisions, or you get out and we consider ourselves finished. Those are the only two options.”
“You asked us here, Bullet,” Arson reminds him icily. “And you bringing in a woman to our business means?—”
“Our business,” I interject fiercely. “Our business that will not affect your women or your children. But will affect ours.”
“It’s ours by extension,” Dozer argues. “We’re involved, and we get in shit and they call on her, we’re fucked. You might not be into the shit we are, but one word from her and the consequences will affect our women and children.”
I acknowledge that with a slight incline of my head. “And you’re telling me that none of you have involved women in your business at one point or another? Nothing that unintentionally slipped out, or that touched them in some way and they had information you needed?” A few of them shift uncomfortably, giving themselves away. “That’s what I thought.”
“I’d also like to point out that none of you have heard any of the women talking about what is going on around here, despite them knowing parts,” Hulk rumbles calmly. “Because if you had, you’d have been in here bitching about it immediately. Thea won’t be the exception. She knows that too much is at stake.”
“What I want to know is if you’re staying or leaving?” Bullet demands abruptly. “The choice is yours, Arson. But if you stay, the snide remarks, the questioning, it’s done. I’m not spending more energy dealing with you while also fighting a war. So choose.”
Arson looks at his men, a silent conversation happening. Finally, he looks back at Bullet and says, “I can’t argue that the information Sniper’s woman gave was a big break. And while we don’t like how you run shit, we agreed to help, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’ve had a damn good relationship for years, Bullet, and I’m not throwing that away. And to be blunt, we need your route to get our shit through. more than I want to fight about women and their place in your club. So, we’ll drop it and we focus on taking down this Vlad asshole.”
Bullet eyes him for a moment before he nods and sits back down. “Good. Now, we need to pick which place we’re going to hit first, and I want to do it before the night is done. I’m not letting Vlad think he’s made us run scared.”
And with that, we set to work.