“Bobby’s shit is cleaned up. Did we take a look at his shipping reports? Or take a look at his incoming containers?” Rawlings growls out, as he takes a drag of his cigarette.
The mindless, blank stares are enough to get his blood pressure to rise. Topaz, Johnny, and Matthew came to the meeting. They stay silent.
Jackson took the floor, “We have Memphis, D.R, and a prospect going to the shipyard, and then will report back. Keola had something come up.” Everyone turns to my direction.
“Lighthouse might be in the crossfire again,” I bluntly put it.
The room becomes an uproar. “Explain,” Rawlings commands.
“Charlotte received a phone call from the same school of the original kid, this time another student,” I start to explain.
Memphis slams his fist on the table, “They’re fucking recruiting young ones.”
I nod my head, “I think there's a bigger issue. Somehow everything might be looped. I’ll look into it.”
“How the hell is everything coming back to The Lighthouse,” D.R exclaims. He’s not wrong. The Lighthouse Foundation seems to be more of a beacon of trouble and it’s not completely their fault.
“Jackson, does Teresa know what is going on?” Coda asks. It’s not like she won’t try to make him spill the information.
“Doesn’t help that the place had a twisted bastard overseeing operations before we got involved,” Sparky murmurs. He has been more of a spitfire now, gone is the nervous boy trying to be a man.
“He has a point,” I say, trying to defend him before Rawlings could yank his chain, “I have a few hunches that I’ll iron out.”
Rawlings blows out his last smoke, “We may not have enough time.”
“Can we find a legal loophole or something, buy us some time?” Topaz pipes up.
“We aren’t involving lawyers,” Rawlings yells out, shutting down the idea.
“The less we can tie back with the foundation the better, they don’t need to be roped in it,” Jackson warns.
We all are protective of the foundation. We may be criminals but at least we aren’t heartless.
“Let’s just get this under control and then we can go back to whatever we were fucking doing,” Rawlings dismisses us.
“More whoever y’all were fucking,” Topaz chimes in. A few bursts out into laughter, others shake their heads. It wasn’t a secret some older members or second generation members were fucking biker bunnies.
“Out before someone is on bar duty for a month,” Jackson growls out, sending us scattering out the door.
“Can I ask what your hunch is?” Joaquin breaks me out of my trance.
“Falcons are recruiting the older kids, but they need a meet up point. Falcons aren’t stupid to have it tied back to one of their establishments,” I rub my temple. A couple years on the drug unit taught me a few things; one being that smart bastards are careful with their drugs. They won’t risk losing their merchandise.
“So you’re thinking that Bobby was a front for them? And what? Using our containers?” Joaquin is trying to connect the dots. He glances at his phone that buzzed in his lap, then looks back at me.
“You want to get that?” I tease him. He shakes his head, “No, I’m good.” The phone buzzes again. “You sure?”
He shakes his head, “She can wait.”
“She?” color me intrigued. “Who?”
He stays quiet, “Focus. My sex life isn’t in question.”
I laugh, “But it’s a distraction.” I know the feeling. Charlotte has been running through my thoughts constantly, getting closer to the point where I’m tempted to just handcuff her to me and call it a day.She’d like that.
“You didn’t answer my question, was Bobby using our containers to front their merch?” Joaquin raises his voice.
“Easy, watch your tone,” I say sternly, “We’re not sure what containers they were using, but we shouldn’t count it out. Falcons are out for blood, and they could easily paint a target on our back.”
