“You’re damn right you are,” Riot replies. “And you make sure she’s actually okay with all of this. Not just the door. All of it. She didn’t sign up to get dragged into club chaos because you panicked.”
I hold his stare. “I didn’t panic. I made a call.”
“And next time,” he says, voice low and final, “you make it with backup.”
I nod once. “Next time I call.”
Tank huffs a breath and shakes his head. “Man hears screaming and goes through a door. Could’ve been worse reasons.”
Riot shoots him a look, but some of the tension bleeds out of the space between us. “Still a dumb move,” Riot mutters.
“Yeah,” I say. “Maybe. But she’s safe.”
“We’ll talk after,” Riot tells him, and that’s the end of it for now.
Before Tank can push it, Mason’s voice cuts through the room.
“Time for Church.”
Everything shifts, and chairs scrape while conversations die off. Guys close in around the table until the room feels tight with bodies and attention. Mason waits until he has all of it, and then he looks around.
“Anybody got fires we need to put out?” he asks.
Quick reports roll out, and they’re short and clean. Perdition’s quiet, runs are smooth, and nothing urgent is burning. Then Tank leans forward, and the room settles deeper. “We’re done pretending this Russian shit is gonna burn itself out,” he says. “They’ve been poking at us for years with drugs and pressure and shots at our people, and they’re not leaving.”
A low murmur of agreement moves through the room, and nobody looks surprised.
Riot plants his hands on the table and looks around. “They’ve been creeping back in piece by piece, and we’ve all seen it. Storage spots popping up, locals running errands, and money moving through side channels. It’s organized, and it’s getting tighter.”
“They’re getting comfortable,” Switch mutters.
“Too comfortable,” Tank agrees. “And they’re counting on us to keep reacting instead of swinging first.”
That lands heavy, and Mason’s gaze sweeps the table.
“We’re done reacting,” he says. “We take the board back.”
Piston leans in a little. “How loud do you want this?”
“Quiet at first,” Mason says. “We cut their legs out before they even know we’re moving.”
Riot nods because he’s already tracking it. “Then we hit their money and their stash at the same time. We freeze what we can, and we shut down payment routes so their people don’t get paid.”
“And the storage?” Tank asks.
“We empty it,” Riot says. “No fireworks and no mess. It’s just gone, and the spots get burned so they can’t reuse them.”
“Locals are gonna start asking questions,” Jax says.
“Good,” Mason replies. “We lean on them hard, and they either pick a side or they get out of the way.”
The room goes still because everyone’s picturing it.
“That’ll flush their leadership,” Piston says.
“It forces them to show their faces,” Riot agrees. “They won’t sit back while their cash and product dry up, and they’ll have to step in.”
Mason nods once. “That’s what we want, and we pressure them until they push back.”
