Jasper sat up slowly. “Molten Horse thinks we hit them?”
“A faction from your club,” Bran replied. “That’s the story Viper’s men seeded after the attack. They were very believable.”
Jasper looked at Slate. Something passed between them that looked a lot like they planned to sort that right away.
“Viper has been doing this with smaller clubs as well,” Bran continued. “After each attack, Viper or one of his officers would approach the club they just attacked the night before and act sympathetic and concerned for their safety. He would offer protection by patching their club over.” He paused for a few seconds before continuing. “Most of them took it. Because they believed they were under attack by an enemy and here was a club offering to stand with them. They didn’t know the attack came from the same hand that was now offering them help.”
“Recruitment through terror,” Siege said quietly. “What a sick, twisted fuck Viper can be.”
“That’s exactly what he is,” Bran agreed. “He creates a threat and then presents himself as the solution. All he wants is as many warm bodies doing his bidding as possible. He doesn’t care how he gets them. He’s been running the same game oneveryone, and so far, no one has realized he’s manipulating them.”
Storm finally said, “This is his way of building an army.”
“He’s already built one,” Bran countered. “Right now, he’s working on a way to keep them together by creating shared enemies and shared threats. Clubs that believe they owe him their safety are the most likely to stay loyal.” He paused. “By my count he’s got close to eighty brothers now. Maybe more.”
Siege’s voice became even tighter, “And he’s making everyone else think they’re under attack from each other so no one considers it might be him. If my men hadn’t seen their tattoos, we might have fallen for their fuckin’ lies too.”
Jasper leaned back again, but he was more tense than before. His expression was cold and serious. “That’s bold as hell,” he said. “That fucker has balls of solid brass.”
Nobody disagreed. There was something unsettling about admitting Viper was bold because the thing we were all thinking but no one wanted to say was that he was fuckin’ smart too. He was doing enough shit behind our backs to do real damage to our clubs. This asshole was all over the board making moves none of us even suspected. Our club presidents were big brains, but Viper of all people was outsmarting us all. Because he presents like a fuckin’ amateur, we underestimated him.
We’d have to join forces and tighten our game to outmaneuver this man we’d all written off as nobody, a wannabe club leader with delusions of grandeur. Until this point, the assumption had been that he was reaching too far, climbing too fast, luring fuck ups, and welcoming them into his ranks just to have extra manpower. Now, I didn’t know what to think. Maybe his whole scrappy badass image was just bullshit so we wouldn’t take him too seriously.
Storm leaned forward again, breaking the silence. “We can’t hit him directly. If we did, it would look like we got him toburn down Vulture’s clubhouse, cast the deciding vote for him to get Vulture’s territory and then killed him when he outlived his usefulness.”
I interjected grimly, “Or maybe it would look like we just smoked him to get the old man’s territory.”
Storm glanced from me to Siege, and then Jasper. “Fuse ain’t wrong about that. We need to expose all his bullshit. He’s fuckin’ double crossing a lot of clubs. If we play our cards right, one of them might take him down and save us the trouble.”
Jasper drummed his fingers on the table once. “I got no problem taking the little fucker down. Killin’ an asshole who’s in the process of getting a lot of brothers killed won’t keep me up at night.”
Siege spoke up, “Jasper is right on this one. We need to stop messin’ around and come up with a plan to take Viper down once and for all. Whether or not we kill him is immaterial.”
Jasper jerked his chin towards Bran. “Tell them the rest.”
Bran straightened slightly and began talking. “Viper’s planning another hit. There is an independent club called the Desert Rats. They’ve got a small club of about twenty brothers and have been quietly doing their own thing for about five years now, up near Hope Ridge.
“I know about them,” Storm interjected. “They keep to themselves and don’t do rallies or council meetings. I don’t even think they have allies.”
Bran nodded. “You’re right on all counts. The part about them not having allies is the reason Viper is targeting them. His strike team goes in at night, does enough damage to scare them, then Stolen Oath shows up a day or two later and offers to patch them over.” He paused long enough to take a breath and started talking again. “I know the timeline, how many are on the strike team and the route they’re using.”
“That’s pretty fuckin’ handy. If his intel is good, it means we can ambush them on a long, lonely stretch of highway or even alert the Desert Rats and lay in wait for them.”
As always Storm’s sharp mind immediately came up with a plan. “We let the hit happen. That’s our play.”
Celt’s head jerked up to look at his cousin. “The fuck? You think the play here is to let them attack an independent club?”
Storm’s expression changed to one of cautious excitement. “This is the play for two reasons,” Storm said, counting the reasons with his fingers while talking. “We show up and inform Viper’s crew that we’re standing down, which if you remember is the third favor. That gets Viper off our back.”
Celt shot back, “He ain’t gonna accept that and you damn well know it.”
“He can pound sand for all I fuckin’ care,” Storm stated darkly.
I could see the anger boiling just beneath the surface. I already knew that Storm could be dangerous when he’s provoked.
Celt responded hotly, “Do you really want to risk those Rats’ lives just to get that last favor out of the way?”
Storm explained, “We’ll warn the Desert Rats,” Storm said. “Make sure they’re prepared. But we don’t stop the attack. We just let the Savage Legion and Sons of Rage provide backup. The genius of this plan is that we do the last favor in form if not function and deny them the victory in the end anyway.”
