Silence.
“No explanation?”
“None needed. We can’t trust them because they’re not one of us. This is a temporary arrangement. Don’t care if the cops are hunting the brother. That doesn’t mean we should trust them with our safety.”
A sigh. “Let’s take a vote to make it official. All those who are in favor of letting the Iron Wolves group help with security say yes.”
Silence.
“All right. Just to make it official now, all those against them helping with security say no.”
“No,” The Committee said in unison.
“That’s settled then,” Dutch said. “Now, on to our most pressing business. Red, is everything ready for the sale?”
The operatives froze. Was this it? Elias was skeptical of accepting a too-easy solution. Sometimes you just lucked into information. He doubted this would be one of those times. Nothing about this case was easy or by the book.
“Yeah. I got it covered, Prez. We can use the barn as we planned. The farmer didn’t want to cooperate at first. I used my powers of persuasion to change his mind.”
His buddies laughed.
Persuasion. Elias scowled. A euphemism for beaten within an inch of his life. He’d been the recipient of many of those beatings throughout his childhood. So somewhere around here, a farmer was recovering from an encounter with Red’s fists.
He shoved up from the sofa and strode out to the porch. He hated how many memories this case was bringing back.
The front door opened and closed.
Elias glanced over to see Andre. “You drew the short straw, huh?”
“Iona wanted to come out here. I convinced her to let me talk to you first. What’s up?”
“Memories are too close.”
“Ah.”
Silence.
He laughed and turned to his friend. “That’s it? That’s my pep talk?”
“I said enough.”
Elias grinned. “I suppose you did.”
Seth joined them. “The meeting is over. We got a date and time for the sale. What we don’t have is a location aside from calling it the barn.”
“So, don’t keep us in suspense.” Andre folded his arms across his chest. “When is the sale taking place?”
“Two days from now at midnight.”
Great. Elias rubbed his jaw. They had two days to figure out where the barn was and derail the sale of weapons and ammo.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
IONA PAUSED INpouring Italian dressing on top of chicken breasts in a gallon bag and studied Elias’ facial expression. “You’re all right.”
He smiled. “You know that, huh?”
“I know you.”
