Chapter 13 #4
We then went back to her office.
“Send your pictures,” Liberty said.
I scrolled through the shots from the basement on my phone. Then I pulled up the photos Liberty had already taken at the junkyard and of the dead Serpent. Stack of proof. She also had taken photos outside while I must have been checking on Cali.
I forwarded them all to Blackjack and followed it up with a simple text.
He called thirty seconds later.
I put him on speaker and set the phone on Liberty’s desk between us.
“You all still breathing?” were his first words.
“For now,” I said.
“Valkyrie?” he asked.
“Present,” she said from where she leaned against the filing cabinet. “Annoyed.”
“Liberty?” he asked.
“Still Queen,” she said.
“Good,” Blackjack said. “Tell me what happened.”
We did. Quick and clean. The SUVs. The breach. Anaconda’s leg. Arizona’s almost-accident. Cali’s near strangling. The dead man behind the bar, the one in the street, and the other one’s self-inflicted exit with a toast to Bolivar.
“Roman’s not going to like hearing the cartel’s testing the fences this hard,” Blackjack said when we finished. “He already had suspicions. This kind of hit confirms his docks and his people aren’t the only things Tesauro’s been playing with.”
“You get the photos?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “Ledger pages, bodies, junkyard and clubhouse shots. I’m going to send them to Roman with a nice little note that says, ‘Told you so.’ Between that and the Vincino head himself answering Liberty’s call, there’s no way he can pretend this is just a lover’s spat between us and Philly. ”
Liberty’s lip curled. “You tell him the Vincinos tried to strangle our world,” she said. “And we strangled them back.”
“I will,” Blackjack said. “He’ll move faster now. The idea of a rat is getting less hypothetical.”
He paused, and I could almost see him rolling his shoulders on the other end.
“Liberty,” he said. “Keep that ledger buried. I don’t want it moving unless both of us say so and I sure as hell don’t want it in Roman’s walls until he tells me which of his walls are bad.
You’ve got the safest hole right now even though it was hit.
You’re furthest away from where all the carnage is about to take place. ”
“It’s not going anywhere,” Liberty said. “Valkyrie and Jersey Boy tucked it in nicely.”
“Good,” Blackjack said. “Because if Tesauro and the Bolivar Cartel are willing to hit your compound in broad daylight, they’re certainly planning on doing the same to mine. And I expect them to come down even harder on us.”
“That’s my read too,” Liberty said. “They poked us, then pulled back. They’ll regroup, rearm, and look for the next pressure point.
They already came for Miami at Shoreline.
They’ll be looking at your clubhouse, your bars, your people.
If they can crack the Devil’s Aces, they can send a message to Roman and everyone else that their reach is longer than anyone thought. ”
“I’ll bump security,” Blackjack said. “We’ll lock down the gate, double our watches, keep family away. But I want more than just a stronger fence between us and them.”
“What do you want?” Liberty asked.
“I want my Enforcer where I can see him,” he said. “War’s not a theoretical anymore. I need Jersey Boy back at the clubhouse. If we’re getting hit next, I want my sharpest teeth at my door, not at yours.”
Silence for a second.
I swallowed.
Liberty glanced at me, then at Valkyrie.
“He’s your man,” she said. “We borrowed him. He’s saved a few of my girls. I trust him. Just one ask.”
“What’s that?” Blackjack said.
Liberty leaned back in her chair.
“He doesn’t ride alone,” she said. “Not for this. We’re partners now. You get your Devil back plus one Viper. Valkyrie.”
I blinked. So did Valkyrie.
“You sure you want to loan me your warlord?” Blackjack asked. “Thought you liked her where she was.”
“I do,” Liberty said. “Which is why I’m putting her where the next blows might land.
She’s my eyes and my voice. She’s been watching him, watching this, since your man landed in our hospital.
If anything shifts over there, I want her there to feel it first-hand.
When she calls, I’ll know if you’re in the shit or standing next to it. ”
Valkyrie smirked.
“And, Alice,” Liberty added, “if I send her, that means I expect you to listen when she says something’s wrong.”
“My ears are open,” Blackjack replied.
“So, it’s settled,” Liberty said. She looked at me.
“Pack your shit. You and Valkyrie leave for the Devil’s Aces clubhouse within the hour.
You tell Blackjack everything you saw here, and make sure his security is up to par.
No underestimating the enemy. No openings.
We’ll lockdown here and get the gate fixed. ”
“Yes, Prez,” Valkyrie said.
“Make sure she gets back in one piece Alice,” Liberty told the phone. “Or I’m going to be very pissy at your funeral.”
“Noted,” Blackjack said. “I’ll have men on the gate to welcome them in. War council as soon as they arrive. And Liberty?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t die before we get a chance to do a shot when this is all over,” he said. “Would be rude.”
“Watch your own chest,” she replied. “Mine’s covered.”
The call clicked off.
For a second, the room was just breathing.
Then Liberty stood.
“Go,” she said. “You both know how to ride. We got you this far. Time to see if your boys can keep up their end.”
After I cleaned up and watched the red run off me down the drain in the sink of the Viper’s bathroom, I met with Valkyrie and we headed for the doors.
Outside, the compound was already stitching itself back together.
Gate halfway welded. Fence braced with temporary supports.
Anaconda on a folding chair, leg wrapped, bitching about being benched.
Arizona taking more photos of the damage because of course she was.
California sitting on the stoop with an ice pack on her throat, smoking like she could erase the last hour one drag at a time.
I went to grab my helmet from where it sat on the peg in Valkyrie’s room.
When I stepped back out into the hall, Valkyrie was waiting. Helmet in hand. Cut on. Key to the safe glinting against her collarbone.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “You?”
She huffed. “Been ready since the first asshole at the junkyard said Vincino.”
We walked out into the yard together.
Bikes waited. Engines were cold for now, but not for long.
As I swung my leg over the saddle, I caught Liberty watching from the doorway, arms folded, her club at her back.
Two clubs now. Soon, a family’s small army, if Roman decided he was smarter standing with us than alone.
Bolivar and Vincino and Serpents on one side.
Devil’s Aces, Shore Vipers, Giorlandos—whatever the hell we were becoming—on the other.
I slipped my helmet on, started the engine. Valkyrie did the same beside me. For a heartbeat, our eyes met through smoked visors.
Ledger buried. War above ground. Name traded for name.
“Let’s go,” she said.
We rolled toward the gate.
The world outside had no idea yet just how bad it was about to get.