Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Between Rage, Chill, Zeke, Vi, and the rest of the active-duty Shadows, the small conference room at the warehouse was packed.
Vi sat at one end of the six-person table, Zeke at the other.
Chill sat to one side of the DAMC president like he did at their own table, and the rest of the seats were taken up by Grim, Ghost, T-Bone, and Indigo.
Rage and Reaper leaned against the back wall.
“Room and table’s too small,” Zeke complained. “Even without Scarlet here.”
Vi rolled her eyes. “Stop whining. It’s the perfect size for my team. All right, time to let our intelligence expert give us an update.”
All eyes turned to Vi’s middle sister, Indie.
Rage swore his younger cousin didn’t own one damn piece of feminine clothing.
No dresses, no skirts or blouses; nothing but cargo or tactical pants, combat boots, and skin-tight Under Armor-type shirts or G.I.
Jane tank tops. A tactical belt circled her narrow waist and held a double magazine pouch, a knife sheath, and two holsters: one for her Glock, the other for pepper spray.
He swore the way she dressed always made her look like she was ready to trek through the jungles of Vietnam.
She was never going to attract a man dressed like that.
Diesel probably approved of the way Indie looked solely due to that reason. Not that it mattered, since there was no way D’s daughters were bringing a man home to their parents.
Not if they wanted a chance for another date.
“Why you gotta look like G.I. Jane all the fuckin’ time?” Zeke asked her, wrinkling his nose.
Indie’s eyebrows rose. “When I picked out my clothes this morning, you were the last person I thought about.”
“You picked that shit out on purpose? Bet you don’t get laid often.”
While Rage agreed with Zeke, he was smart enough to keep his asshole thoughts to himself.
Apparently Zeke was in the mood for an ass kicking, because he was poking a hellcat and might end up with a sharp claw slicing his damn throat.
He was damn sure Indie could teach the DAMC president a hard lesson. Or two. If that happened, Rage would stay right where he was and enjoy the fucking entertainment.
Vi sighed loudly. “You’re in my house right now. You need to respect it and us.”
“We’re here for help, brother, not to insult our cousins,” Chill reminded Zeke.
“Just sayin’ it as I see it.”
“Better to keep your thoughts in your little pea brain, instead,” Indie advised him.
Rage saw that Grim, Ghost, and T-Bone were struggling to keep from bursting out in laughter. Their loyalty was clearly torn between their president and their fellow team member.
Maybe it wasn’t so damn smart to let Shadows become DAMC members or vice versa.
Rage side-eyed Reaper to see him fighting a smirk.
“All right, let’s hear what you came up with,” Rage prodded Indie. They were there for info and a plan, not for a pissing contest.
“Did some digging around for a crime family that would benefit in taking Pittsburgh from the Russos.”
“More Sicilians?” Chill asked.
Indie shook her head. “No. I couldn’t find any other Sicilian crime families within a reasonable distance. Since no one would normally be going up against the Russos—at least from what I could find—we’ll have to manufacture a war between them. If that’s the direction we go.”
“Between who?” Rage asked.
“I found a Chinese drug cartel in Ohio, believe it or not. They’re manufacturing and selling fentanyl, as well as shipping that and some other drugs to different countries, too.”
“How’re they gettin’ away with shippin’ it to other countries?” Chill asked.
Indie shrugged. “Beats the shit out of me. Ask the DEA. Anyway, that part wasn’t my focus.
I was looking for an organization similar to the Mafia that would realistically see a financial benefit to either taking over the Russos’ territory or stopping the Russos from selling so they could grab that market. ”
Rage had to admit his beast of an uncle produced some damn intelligent women. Everyone underestimated Diesel by assuming he wasn’t smart because of how he acted, but he was a goddamn genius, and he certainly passed that trait on to his daughters. Their mother, Jewel, wasn’t a dummy, either.
“The Chen family is like the Russos, but instead of being labeled the mob or Mafia, in China, they’re called a Triad.”
This was more shit than Rage ever wanted to know about crime families. “Do these fuckin’ Triads normally go head to head with the Mafia?”
Reaper’s first word uttered since the meeting began was a simple, “No.”
“What d’you know about ‘em?” Rage asked him.
“Not much. But like Indie said, their organization is similar to the Mafia. Triads will do whatever makes them a shit-ton of money. Whether it’s fraud, extortion, money laundering, drug or sex trafficking, illegal gambling, or counterfeit goods. Just like any other criminal organization.”
It sounded like he knew more than what he’d implied.
“Right,” Indie said. “What I discovered about the Chens was they’re also helping a Mexican cartel launder drug money.”
Damn. They had their fingers in every damn pie they could stick them in.
“That typical?” Chill asked.
“It’s not unheard of,” Reaper answered for Indie.
The VP then asked, “Same Mexican cartel that the Russos are dealin’ with?”
“No, another one,” Indie answered. “If it had been the same, using this Chinese crime family might get too fucking sticky, but because they’re not, it could work in our favor.
One, because the Russos are also trafficking fenty, so that makes them competitors, and two, the Mexican cartels probably want to fuck each other, and not in a good way. ”
“Gives us more options to create havoc,” Vi said.
“We can set it up so the Russos think the Chens are fucking with them. If done correctly, it should start a war between those two families. We could also get the cartels beefing, too. If the cartel that the Russos buy from no longer exists, then that will kill their supply. No supply, no need for the mules to haul it.”
“They’ll just find another supplier,” Zeke mumbled.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Again, the ultimate goal is to wipe out the Russos and cut their ties with the Twisted Souls. Meanwhile we certainly don’t want the Chens taking over Pittsburgh.
But if they do, they most likely wouldn’t want to deal with those asshats.
Plus, the Chens aren’t transporting fenty from Mexico, they make it themselves, which makes it more profitable.
They’d have no use for mules, especially since they’d have to share a cut of the profits. ”
“Great,” Chill muttered.
It all sounded like a big fucking cluster to Rage, but his focus was on the Souls.
He wanted every last one of them wiped off the Earth after what they did to the Angels of Fury.
“We get the cartels fightin’, the Russos and Chens fightin’, then after that’s finished, we can take out those motherfuckin’ Souls. ”
“There would be no reason to take out the Souls if the Russos are wiped out,” Vi mentioned.
“Bullshit. They disrespected us by usin’ our goddamn territory without our fuckin’ permission,” Zeke reminded them.
“And fucked with our women.” Rage’s blood pressure was rising. He needed to rein that in.
Both Vi and Indie had visibly tensed when Rage said “our” women. He didn’t give a fuck because it was true. If they had a problem with it, that was their problem, not his.
“Need to also mention that they sent one of their members into Heaven’s Angels.”
“For what? A lap dance?” Indie asked Rage.
“Thinkin’ those motherfuckers are scopin’ out our businesses in hopes of takin’ over our territory. Then they’d be able to run drugs north without any friction from us.”
All of the Shadows’ heads snapped up at that. Even Reaper shifted sharply next to him.
“Of course we can’t let that happen,” Vi said more calmly than Rage felt.
“No fuckin’ shit,” Zeke responded. “Damn right that ain’t gonna happen.”
Rage seconded that.
“Okay, so how we startin’ this war ‘tween the Chinese and the Sicilians?” Chill asked.
“Saw them movin’ product north late at night,” Rage shared.
“You saw the drugs?” Vi asked.
“No. But it was a group of four with an empty sidecar.”
“So, it was an assumption.”
“Yeah, a pretty fuckin’ good one,” Rage told her. “Why can’t we ambush one of the drug runs and leave clues that it’s the Chinese?”
“That’s the plan,” Vi said. “But documenting their patterns will help us plan the attacks.”
“Who the fuck’s gonna pull all this off?” Zeke asked.
“We’ll get it done,” Vi assured him.
Rage wasn’t sure about letting the Shadows handle shit without him involved. Of course they were capable, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be left in the fucking dark.
“We want the Russos thinking the Chen family wants to expand east to the Pittsburgh market,” Indie added. “We want to cause tension. A little here. A little there. Until it all explodes.”
It was a damn good plan. He just hated they had to do it at all.
“Wanna be kept informed of everythin’ the Shadows are doin’ when it comes to this.”
Vi simply told Rage, “No.”
A muscle popped in his cheek. “Yeah, Vi. Need to know what the fuck’s goin’ on and when.” He glanced over at Zeke to see if the prez had an opinion.
No surprise, he did. “Agreed. At least one, if not all three of us, need to know what the fuck’s goin’ on. We can’t be left in the goddamn dark.”
She sat back and placed both palms flat on the table. “You want us to handle this or not?”
They’d be stupid fucks to say no, but that didn’t mean they shouldn’t have a say or have the ability to prepare.
“Get you might not wanna share certain shit with us, but we at least gotta know the basics of the operation. As the fuckin’ sergeant at arms, it’s on my fuckin’ shoulders to keep everyone in the DAMC safe.
” His gaze locked with Vi’s. “Ultimately, even you, cousin.”