Chapter 5 #2
No matter what, each team member had a good head on their shoulders and Rage respected them, what they did, and their opinions. So, he hoped to fuck they had some good ideas on how to deal with the Sicilians.
One that wouldn’t get them all killed.
Rage glanced around the table, taking in each of them. He grew up with them all, except for Reaper. Grim, Ghost, and T-Bone also wore DAMC colors, unlike their fathers, but not while sitting in that room. In that room, they were Shadows first, Angels second.
“Thoughts?” Zeke asked everyone at the table.
“It’s fucked,” Ghost said.
“Agreed,” T-Bone said.
Indie gave her opinion next. “Damn stupid.”
Vi glanced at Grim. “You’re the explosives expert, what do you think?”
Grim shook his head. “Not excited about poking a fucking hornet’s nest. Especially since the hornets’ family got more than one nest. And a fuck-ton more access to some crazy-assed explosives.”
“Would hope you’d blow up the nest, not poke the fuckin’ thing,” Zeke huffed.
“Oh yeah, sure, just think we can go blowing up shit around the city? Easy fucking peasy.”
“Sounds like a plan, then.”
Grim shot Zeke a you’re a dick look. “Can’t tell I was being sarcastic?”
“Is that what the fuck that was?”
Grim’s eyebrows rose. “Next time I’ll hold a sign above my head so it’s clear.”
“For fuck’s—”
Vi raised her palm to Zeke. “Don’t you fucking dare start spouting off about how you’re his president. You aren’t when you’re in this warehouse.” She slapped a hand to her chest. “I’m the boss in here, not you.”
Goddamn.
Rage couldn’t decide whether to be amused or annoyed. Either way, they needed the Shadows’ help and Vi was the key to getting it. If she didn’t cooperate, they were screwed.
But with Grim, Ghost, and T-Bone being club members, they also knew how serious this threat from La Cosa Nostra was. They’d all seen the photos of what the Russos did to the Demons years ago.
But really, everyone at that table knew what damage the Mafia could inflict. Violet might not be admitting it at that moment, but if anything happened to the DAMC, it would affect her and her sisters, too. Hell, every single member of her immediate and extended family.
She was simply playing hardball.
She and Zeke might be close, but they liked to break each other’s balls. And Vi had a pretty big set of them. So did Indie and Scarlet.
Those women were raised by a man not afraid of shit. The Beast’s only points of weakness were his ol’ lady and his three daughters. Because of that, Diesel raised those girls in a way he’d never have to worry about them. Too much, anyway.
That, along with handing off In the Shadows Security to his oldest, ensured the Shadows would always be there to help protect his girls, even when he was too old to do it himself or after he was long gone.
One thing Rage noticed during that whole exchange was that Reaper said nothing. He sat back with his tattooed arms crossed over his chest and his baseball cap pulled low.
But Rage had no doubt the guy was paying sharp attention. Being a sniper, attention to detail was a non-negotiable.
“All right, then. Know goin’ after the Russos ain’t the best idea,” Rage started, “but it’s the only one we got. The Souls got no reason to be anywhere near our territory if they got nobody to deliver that shit to.”
“Going after the Russos could start an endless fucking war, Rage. You know that, right? And you know who’s going to be the losers?” Indie shook her head, her face full of concern. “Not them.”
“You’re a goddamn intelligent specialist, should be able to come up with some fuckin’ ideas,” Zeke growled at her.
Did Reaper actually snort?
Rage glanced over at him, but only saw a blank expression on the man’s face.
With a scowl, Indie ground out, “Christ. Operations…Intelligence…Specialist. Get it right since I earned that fucking title. Figured now that you have a kid, you’d be less of a dick. My mistake.”
“Ain’t part of that bein’ able to assess threats?” Rage asked her.
His cousin turned her narrowed brown eyes to him. “It’s one of many skills I have. Fuck you very much.”
“So do it, then!” Zeke barked.
Christ on a cracker.
Every set of eyebrows around that table rose, except for Zeke’s, and Rage only dropped his head and shook it. If Zeke couldn’t keep his shit tight, he might derail this whole meeting.
Finally, Reaper spoke. “I understand why you’re frustrated. This situation isn’t ideal.”
Ideal? It was a clusterfuck.
“But you can’t go off half-cocked and attack a large criminal empire like La Cosa Nostra.
It would need to be well planned out.” He shook his head.
“And even then, it’ll most likely be a losing proposition.
My suggestion is to just let the Souls run north with their shit.
No harm, no foul. They step out of line or do something stupid, the Russos will take them out. ”
What the actual fuck? That wasn’t a good solution at all. That was just throwing in the towel.
“Bullshit,” Rage muttered. “Know you don’t got any idea how an MC runs, but that ain’t it. Can’t just lay out the welcome mat. We do it for them, next thing you know we got other MCs tryin’ to take advantage.”
“And they fuckin’ took my boy,” Zeke reminded them.
“They could do so much worse to Ledger if you fuck with them. Or fuck with the Souls.” Vi didn’t hesitate to return that reminder. “Think carefully, cuz. This isn’t a bunch of losers like the Warriors, nomads without any roots. This is the goddamn Mafia.”
“No fuckin’ shit. That’s why we’re havin’ a sit down with you, Vi, and your crew. You should be able to handle it.”
Vi’s jaw dropped open. When it snapped shut, she said, “Not counting me or Scarlet, I only have five on my crew. Five. Against how many?”
“That’s why you—”
Reaper cut Zeke off. “What if we start taking them down and make it look like it’s another family ordering hits on their organization? Like the Bravta or the AP.”
Zeke’s brow furrowed. “The what?”
“The Russian or Armenian Mafia,” Reaper patiently explained.
“Plenty of other crime families exist that aren’t Italian or Sicilian.
If we handle it right, we might be able to make it look like they want to take over Pittsburgh and are challenging the Russos for it.
If we can get a war started between two large criminal organizations, it might solve a shitload of your issues without us having to get too far in the weeds. ”
“Why would any of them be interested in Pittsburgh?” Ghost asked.
“They’re Steelers fans?” T-Bone joked.
Indie elbowed him. “None of this shit’s funny.”
“The other option would be to get the feds involved,” Reaper suggested.
“Fuck that,” both Zeke and Rage said at the same time.
“Figured you’d want to avoid that direction.” Reaper stared at the table for a few seconds, and when he finally lifted his head, he asked, “They’re buying their shit from a Mexican cartel, right?”
“Yeah,” Zeke answered. “Dunno if it’s the same as the one they dealt with in the past when the Demons were their mules.”
“Not sure if it’s possible, but if the cartel thinks the Russos are fucking them over somehow, that might cause a shitstorm that would at least weaken them. We want to get these assholes fighting another big organization, not us.”
Not us. That caught Rage’s attention. Reaper was making it sound like he was one of them.
“So, we have some options. Though, none of them are going to be simple or neat.”
“Like the idea about makin’ the Russos think another Mafia family’s tryin’ to take them out,” Rage told Reaper.
Grim agreed. “That might be the safest option.”
T-Bone grunted out a “Yeah.”
Vi looked over at Ghost. “Thoughts?”
“He got any?” Zeke huffed.
Ghost’s mouth twisted. “Sure. Think you’re a dick.”
Indie cackled. “That’s not an original thought. Everybody thinks that.”
“Just have to pick another crime family that isn’t too far away,” Reaper suggested. “One in Ohio. Or even Chicago.”
Rage was liking Reaper’s idea more and more by the minute. Cause chaos and let the crime families get their hands dirty. Contain the death and destruction within the Russos’ orbit, not the DAMC’s.
It was the start of a plan, anyway. And much better than anything Rage or Zeke could come up with. They just need to figure out some of the smaller details. Important details so that this plan wouldn’t come back to kick them in the balls.
“Indie, do some research to see where the closest mob family is,” Zeke ordered.