Ghost stands about an inch shorter than Dex’s six foot six with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes that almost make him look innocent, but I know what’s lurking behind those blue eyes, and it’s anything but innocent. He’s lean too, but I’ve watched him fight in the underground fights I run. The man is a powerhouse, and people underestimate him much like they do Gage when he fights.
“Ghost,” I nod. “Can we talk somewhere?”
He nods his head toward the back of the pool hall. “This way.”
He leads us back through a set of double doors labeled employees only into a room with a large table in the middle. He takes the seat at the head of the table, and I take the seat at the other end with Leo and Gage on either side of me. The rest of the guys are lining the wall behind me,
watching.
“What can I do for you?” Ghost asks, leaning back in his chair, looking relaxed. He’s anything but if the set of his shoulders gives me any clue. He’s ready for me to make a move because he isn’t stupid, unlike Xander.
“Xander’s dead,” I say without preamble. Might as well get it out in the open.
His eyebrows raise. “I knew something was up when he didn’t open the garage this morning.” He looks at the guys with me. “What’s with the muscle?”
I wave my hand. “Let’s just say Xander chose the wrong side andmet an untimely end. Did you know he was selling for the Russians?” I watch his face closely for any sign that he knows, and except for the slight furrowing of his brows, his face doesn’t change.
“He was doing what now?” Ghost asks, sounding genuinely confused. “Why the fuck would he do that?”
“I wasn’t giving him enough freedom, according to him.”
Ghost snorts. “Rightfully so. He was a fucking idiot.”
I raise a brow. “Then why follow him?”
“I didn’t have much choice, did I?” Ghost leans forward, bracing his arms on the table and lacing his hands together. “He was your dad’s chosen man.”
That I still can’t figure out. Why the hell would my dad put an idiot like Xander at the helm of one of his bigger street gangs? I shrug. “That’s in the past now. Did you know?” I repeat.
Ghost shakes his head. “No. I’m loyal to the Italians, always have been.”
Ryder steps up on my right side. “That’s good to hear because the Vipers are now yours,” he says, and Ghost’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline. He knew that in the case of Xander’s death, he would step up unless I chose otherwise. “It doesn’t come without stipulations, though.”
Ghost nods. “I figured that.”
Gage slides him a folder. “Have you seen him before?”
Ghost opens it and looks at a picture of Spinner. “I’ve seen him at the garage several times, and Xander said he was restoring that old Mustang for him.”
Gage chuckles. “Nah. Spinner was the plug from Viktor Orlov to Xander, and that Mustang was loaded to the gills with coke.”
I got a call today from Joey, one of the guys that I sent to clean up the car and stash the coke until I had a plan. He tore the car apart, and there was coke not only in the trunk but lining the car’s floorboard and under the seats. If you name a hiding spot in a car, there was product. That shipment would have been too large to come in through our dock, so I need to find who is covering for Viktor.
“I’m now in possession of that car and the product. I need you to find a way to reach out to Spinner and tell him Xanderis requesting a meeting,” I say, pulling Xander’s phone from the inside pocket of my leather jacket and sliding it to Ghost. “Everything should be in there. I need you to tear that garage apart because something tells me that car wasn’t the only hiding spot.”
I need to get to it before Viktor finds out Xander is dead. I need to hit him where it hurts, and nothing would hurt more than taking one way of him making money; the next is shutting down his shipments coming into my fucking port.
Ghost leans back in his chair again, spinning the phone around in circles on the table. “I never talked to the man. What makes you think he will agree?”
“Get creative,” Ryder says. “Just get the meeting.”
“You also need to make sure some of your guys keep their mouths shut,” I warn him. “There were some guys there last night that heard everything. Two are sitting at the bar right now.”
“Hm,” Ghost hums, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “Funny they never said a word that they saw anything.”
I shrug. “That’s how you weed out the ones you want under you, Ghost. Anything else will be your downfall.”
“Which ones?” Ghost asks, standing from his chair. I’m impressed by the initiative to take care of it and not bristle under my orders like Xander did.
