Chapter 1 - Stone
ONE
STONE
“How the fuck did this happen in the first place!?” Bronx roared.
He slammed the lodge door behind him, and I turned around. I mean, I knew the guys wouldn’t be happy with an early morning fucking church meeting, but damn. Did the man have to be so fucking loud after being silent for over a damn month?
“Nice of you to finally use your voice,” I said.
“Stone, don’t,” Texas murmured.
“What? He hasn’t talked in a fuckin’ month and he busts up in here yellin’ at us?” I asked.
“He’s got a right to,” Notch said.
“Nice to have you back, by the way. How was the trip?” Texas asked.
“You know New Mexico’s always a nice time. Hate that I missed the party, though,” Notch said.
“There’ll be other cookouts,” Stone said.
“Not the party I was talking about,” Notch said, grinning.
Texas slapped him on the back as Bronx stormed into the living room. I had officially called a meeting to try and clean up some of this shit. We were all cleared of Jett’s death, but now we were staring down the barrel of another issue.
A fucking pig had penetrated our ranks and knew way too much about us.
“I want to know how the hell none of us caught this. Stone, where did you say you came across this asshole?” Bronx asked.
“A diner. Got into a tiff with the manager, and I bailed him out of it. He looked like he had stumbled on hard times. I got him to a safe place and ran into him again in the grocery store. He seemed like a nice enough guy,” I said.
“A nice enough guy? That’s all it takes to get into our crew now?” Bronx asked.
“Look, I’m not happy about this, either.
I personally vet everyone we offer as fucking prospects.
This guy slipped through my hands as well.
I mean, background checks are my fuckin’ job!
They laid a hell of a backstory out for this asshat.
What I want to know is what you two guys talked about while being best buds so I can figure out how much we’re compromised,” I said.
“Back off, Stone. Come on,” Texas said.
“Doesn’t matter what they talked about. Boulder had intimate knowledge of our crew. I mean, hell, I almost took the man on a damn gun run. He knows just about everything,” Notch said.
“I remember that. Back three months ago, right?” Texas asked.
“Fucking hell,” Bronx growled.
“Look, when I got to talking with him over beers, he told me he was a nomad searching for a club in the area to join. That’s why I did an intense background search on him.
I mean, I ran all the shit. Aliases he had worked under.
The man had been set up with two fucking social security numbers.
And nothing in his backstory triggered cop. None of it,” I said.
“The man talked intelligently about crews too. Knew how they operated. Shit like that,” Texas said.
“Is it possible he’s really a crew member somewhere working for the police under blackmail circumstances? That shit happens sometimes,” Notch said.
“Or he’s a cop that has intimate knowledge of crews because of a bad experience. Which means he’s holdin’ a grudge,” Stone said.
“Which means he’d be out to get us because of some petty bullshit,” Bronx snarled.
None of it sounded good. None of it sat right with me.
I was pissed off enough that I had been blindsided.
And when I went to run the social security numbers and aliases I’d logged on Boulder, none of them existed.
Just as quickly as I’d found all that shit, it had been ripped from my sources.
It was like the fucking man didn’t even exist.
It made my blood boil just thinking about it.
Then, a thought occurred to me.
“Bronx, why were you late?” I asked.
I turned and looked at the man as the room fell silent.
“You were the first I messaged, and you live the closest. Why were you late?” I asked.
“What? You suspecting me of something?” he asked.
“Just answer the damn question,” I said.
“Stone, what’s going on?” Texas asked.
“You don’t really think Bronx helped him with anything, do you?” Notch asked.
“Answer. The question. Bronx,” I commanded.
He sighed. “Boulder was following me yesterday.”
“What?” Texas asked.
“I came out of my fucking apartment and got onto my bike, and he followed me out of my damn apartment complex. I drove around for almost an hour before I headed to the bar to start working things out with how we funnel our money in from the shit we sell off that we don’t need.
An hour, Stone. That fucker stayed behind me for an hour thinking I couldn’t see him.
I took a lot of back roads getting here in case he was on my fucking tail again,” Bronx said.
“He’s following us now?” Notch asked.
“Holy fuck, I hadn’t even considered that,” Texas said.
“You’re an idiot to not consider it. You’ve been too busy playing house with Stone’s sister that you don’t stop to consider the obvious, jackass,” Bronx said.
“You wanna say that one more time, asshole?” Texas asked.
“The two of you need to calm down right now. This doesn’t help a damn thing,” Notch said.
“Says the guy who was living it up in New Mexico when we fucking needed him here! Why the hell weren’t you answering your damn cell phone!?” Bronx roared.
The guys erupted into an argument, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. We’d all been in high-stress scenarios before, but nothing like this. And we were without a plan to boot. We’d been totally blindsided, and crews like this without a plan who were also taken by surprise were volatile at best.
“Shut the fuck up!” I yelled.
They all stopped in their tracks, their fingers in the air and their fists ready to pound one another into the fucking carpet.
“If you want someone to blame, then blame me. This is my fault,” I said.
“It’s not your fault, Stone,” Texas said.
“It is,” I said, my eyes connecting hard with his. “I’m the president of this crew. I’m in my position because I’m supposed to see shit like this coming from ten miles away. And I couldn’t sniff it out even when it was under my nose.”
“You had a lot going on with Ella and Jett. You had a good reason,” Notch said.
“He’s right. Jett gave us all a run for our money,” Bronx said.
“What we have to do now is stay on high alert. Boulder is still out there and probably gunning for us. If he was following you, and you’re sure of that, then he’s aiming to take us down. He couldn’t do it from the inside, so he’s looking to catch us in the act of something,” I said.
“So, what’s the plan?” Texas asked.
The guys dispersed back into a circle as I gathered my thoughts.
“For now, we pause our gun deals,” I said.
“The Chinese won’t like that,” Notch said.
“Deal with it. That’s your job when you’re not planning outings. There’s a shipment coming in tomorrow; that stays on track. We take the back roads Texas has laid out so we can get them safely to us. We have to assume all our old routes are being policed now,” I said.
“I’ll get it done,” Notch said.
“In the meantime, we deal with the guns we’re already used to using.
We stick with that ammo and we don’t touch these new guns coming in tomorrow.
If this drags out, we’ll have to sell those back out to keep our pockets lined with money.
I don’t want any of you guys suffering hits to your bank accounts because of this shit,” I said.
“Thank fuck,” Bronx murmured.
“Okay. So, we’re pausing both purchases and sales for now?” Texas asked.
“Yes. We only sell once the need for income pushes us there. Notch, get on the phone with our contact in China and be honest with him. Let him know our ranks were penetrated, and until we can sort it out, all purchases have to be halted for both our safeties. I know Jin Yung. He’ll appreciate the heads up,” I said.
“I’ll call them once the meeting’s done,” Notch said.
“What do we do about our clients? We just wrapped up another protection detail and we’re supposed to dive into one in a week,” Texas said.
I paused. “Protection detail is fine so long as we use the guns registered legally in our names. No using the things we’ve got locked up. Stick to the laws and the rules to a tee. And we should be good for now.”
“Good. Because that’s our other main source of income. We shouldn’t have to sell at all if we can keep protecting. Which will keep our noses cleaner,” Texas said.
“And above all, remain on high alert. Keep one eye on your rearview at all times. Check your streets before you leave and trust your gut. If you feel like you’re being followed, do what Bronx did—meander and take back roads until the feeling goes away before you head to your destination,” I said.
“How the hell are we gonna get this man off our tail?” Bronx asked.
It was a question I wasn’t sure how to answer yet.
“For now, I want to make sure our purchases and sales are on pause. Once Notch has that under control, we’ll tackle that question,” I said.
“Also known as you don’t fucking know, and you need time to come up with some shit,” Bronx said.
I tried my best not to pop off at Bronx.
I knew he was struggling the most with this.
The man never opened up to anyone. Not with all the shit he’d been through.
And he really took a liking to Boulder. That man had manipulated who I thought was the strongest in our ranks.
Despite the fact that Bronx was our numbers guy, he was mentally fortified, emotionally intelligent, and never misstepped. Until now.
And I could tell he was really beating himself up over it.
“You never gave him any of our financial rundowns, right?” I asked.
Bronx sighed. “No. I didn’t. He asked about them a few times, but I stayed above board. Something told me it was odd that he’d ask, but you guys ask all the time too. And I don’t give you guys specifics.”
“Good on you,” Texas said.
“Doesn’t feel that way,” Bronx said.
I reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
I squeezed it firmly, and he gave me a head nod.
Something he always did when he was done with whatever physical interaction was happening.
Bronx didn’t do close interaction. He didn’t do conversation.
Not if he didn’t have to. Hell, I’d never even seen him hook up with a woman that came into our bar, and the man practically held that shit down regularly. But Bronx was loyal. To a fault.
Boulder had fucked with the wrong guy in our ranks.
“We’ll get him off our tail. None of us saw this coming,” Texas said.
“I spent the most time with him. I should have seen it coming. My gut kept telling me things, and I kept ignoring it or rationalizing it away,” Bronx said.
“Doesn’t matter. We’ve all been in that position with people and places and things. All we can do is learn from it and keep going,” Notch said.
“Yeah. Listen to the manwhore over there. He knows what he’s talking about. He has shit choices in women all the time. He’s had to run from his share of stalkers,” I said, grinning.
And finally, after over a damn month, I got a chuckle out of Bronx.
“That was a good one,” he said.
“Glad you can laugh at my expense,” Notch said flatly.
“Oh, come on. Be a good sport about it,” I said, grinning.
“Yeah, says the man who takes home fat women with muffin tops,” Notch said.
“Hey, they’re thick women. Not fat. ‘Fat’ is a derogatory term. I ever hear you use that in front of one of my women, you won’t have a face,” I said.
“You do like ‘em big, though,” Texas said.
“Because they’re so fuckin’ comfy that way,” I said, groaning.
All of us took a moment to chuckle. To breathe. To think about something other than the shithole we’d found ourselves in. Hell, even Bronx was finally joining in, and it felt like we were a core group again.
A family, however fractured we felt at the moment.
“Okay. Church dismissed. You have your assignments. Keep at them,” I said.
“I’ll go make those calls,” Notch said.
“I’ll head back to the bar and keep working and running numbers,” Bronx said.
“And I’ll stay in touch with our clients. Keep setting up appointments and such,” Texas said.
“Good. Notch, keep in touch. Bronx, you do the same. And Texas?” I asked.
“Yep?” he asked.
“Don’t you dare wrap my sister up in any of this shit,” I said.
He shook his head. “Wasn’t planning on it, Stone.”
“Good.”