“So, we all agree to rolling it out?” Grudge asks.
There are various mutters of consent, then, Grudge looks to Garrett and I. “The two of you can roll it out as soon as the big guy is feeling better. Good work.”
Garrett tips his chin in thanks, but I feel proud of all the effort he’s put in. Might even reward him by sucking his cock later.
“Also,” Grudge continues, “Wren’s been helping me map out club vulnerabilities.”
Wren straightens slightly. “Patterns. Just places where attention seems to cluster and how that might leave the club…”
“Vulnerable?” Grudge fills in.
“Fine. Call it vulnerabilities,” Wren says.
Wraith snorts. “Is that a polite way of saying we’re being sloppy?”
Atom winces. “I think it’s a polite way of saying we’ve been fucking lucky.”
Wren leans forward. “It means that you’ve grown. So has the town. It’s a small town, sure, but it’s expanding. With that will come more police coverage. You’ve gotten into routines. Just looking at your travel patterns alone, I can see when you go to do a drop-off for Big Daddy or do runs to neighboring states with drugs. I can even tell you what time of day Wraith arrives at the grow op.”
Wraith winces. “Got into a routine of dropping Fen at school, then riding straight on to the grow op.”
“It’s small things like that,” Grudge says. “It’s leaving us exposed and highlights complacency.”
“My balls are shriveling again, guys,” Smoke says. “This is heading out ofno one fucked up, nobody’s in troubleterritory intowe did fuck upand wearein trouble.”
“But Wren applied their skills to our whole business,” Grudge says. “They spotted gaps and declines in certain weed markets that don’t make sense and suggest someone is undercutting us. And they did a dark web review of possible arms deals. Looks like we’ve been underselling our merchandise. It’s time to up our prices.”
“And go figure out which little shits have crept into our markets,” Catfish says.
Atom nods. “It’s been a little boring around here, lately.”
“The bottom line,” Grudge says, “is that, if we follow all these leads, we could up our annual income by twenty-three percent without doing anything more than we’re already doing.”
“Goddamn, Wren,” Garrett says.
Wren blushes at the compliment, which I’m sure they hate, given they usually prefer to seem self-assured and unfazed.
“What else are you thinking?” I ask.
Wren shrugs. “It depends how far you want to take it. If I can do all this for you, I can give it a shot at scoping rival clubs. If you feel like inviting trouble, I’ll find out what they’re transporting and where they’re transporting it to. I can keep an ear to the dark web to see who’s picking up work.”
Grudge leans forward. “With Wren’s help, we’ve built a plan that would allow us to double how much we make in a year in thirty-six months. It’ll take some hard graft.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“Economic warfare,” Wren says. “We undercut competitors selectively, then pull back our supply chain to cause panic. We create shell sellers, forcing our rivals into bad deals that we capitalize on. And I leak perfectly timed information to law enforcement to force rivals to shut down temporarily. It’ll look like the cops have their shit together and will squeeze people out of our territory.”
“Genius,” Catfish says. “Knew there was a reason I love you.”
Grudge rolls his eyes. “There’s also legitimate business. Buying properties, creating an employment pipeline that makes hangarounds work for us in one of our businesses before we put them forward as prospects, increase our legitimate businesses as the town grows. Having hangarounds in our legal businesses means we can scope them out without bringing them into the club.”
Wren nods. “I can assess and watch for property trends, make sure we get the right financing deals, if that’s what you want.”
“You want to be treasurer, sweetheart?” Catfish asks, but his tone is playful.
“No. I want to be a fractional chief of staff for Grudge, to ensure the club makes tons of money so you can pay for everything I want.”
Smoke chuckles. “Can’t you just steal that shit?”
