“No fuckin’ shit. Told them they could pound sand.”
To his right, Zane asked, “That’s why they took Ledger? The Russos wanted to make that bullshit deal with us?”
“Took my kid because they knew if they didn’t, I woulda told them to fuck off and not meet with them at all. But they didn’t take him so I’d negotiate, they took him as a warnin’.They might notta hurt Ledger this time, but them takin’ him was meant to show me what they could do if we don’t cooperate.”
“Cooperate with what?” Chaos asked.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Rage growled. “This gotta do with the Souls, don’t it?”
The air went electric as everyone waited for Zeke’s explanation.
“Yeah. The Souls are gonna do for them what the Demons did. And the warnin’ was that we need to look the other fuckin’ way when they’re runnin’ drugs through our territory.”
“Motherfucker! That’s some goddamn bullshit.” Rage dropped his shaved, tattooed head, but his shoulders rose and fell with each pump of his chest.
Like Zeke, Ashton’s personality was the opposite of his father’s. That was why a more level-headed Hawk had made a perfect VP and his son made a better enforcer.
If someone needed a hard lesson, Rage wouldn’t hesitate to teach it.
“What the fuck would we get outta allowin’ that shit?” Wheels was pissed, too.
Zeke shook his head, keeping track of Rage out of the corner of his eye. “Not a goddamn thing. The only way we would is if we became their mules instead of the Souls.”
Silence hit the table.
When Rage’s head popped up, a muscle jumped in his cheek. “Told them to fuck off, right? For any and all of that bullshit. The fuck if we’re runnin’ goddamn drugs for those motherfuckers. The fuck if we’re lettin’ an outlaw MC use our goddamn territory as a pipeline for that shit.” Rage slammed his hand on the table, making a few of them jump. “This has been our goddamn territory since 1974. Nobody’s gonna tell us how to fuckin’ run it.”
Zeke didn’t disagree. “Didn’t tell them shit. Just let them assume we weren’t gonna interfere with their operations. That’s why I wanted to have this meetin’. Just ‘cause they think we’re gonna allow that shit, don’t mean we’re gonna allow that shit. But we need to come up with a fuckin’ solid plan, not a half-cocked one.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Chaos growled. “We go against them, we’re gonna be goin’ against the Soulsandthe fuckin’ Mafia. That sounds like fuckin’ suicide.”
“At first glance, sure. But there are plenty of ways to weaken them slowly. Ways that aren’t obvious.”
All eyes turned to Reaper.
But when he had spoken this time, Zeke picked up what might be a slight Southern accent. It wasn’t strong, but it was there, reminding him of Boone and Ghost’s father, Ryder. That former Shadow had always tried to minimize his accent for some reason.
He wondered if Reaper was trying to hide his. And if so, why?
Even so, compared to the rest of them, the former Marine was calm as fuck. That could have to do with not having any personal investment in the DAMC. The only tie he had to the Angels was through the woman sitting next to him. His boss.
Zeke considered that. Grim, Ghost and T-Bone were the other Shadows also wearing DAMC cuts, but they had both grown up around the club since their fathers had been a part of Diesel’s crew. Like Zeke grew up to fill Zak’s boots. Chance Ryder, Leo Delgado and Ty Walker had also stepped into their fathers’.
“Okay, so we need a plan to deal with this shit,” Zane said next to him.
Zeke turned to his younger brother. “Got any ideas?”
Zane pulled in a breath, stared at the DAMC carving in the center of the table, then shook his head. “No fuckin’ clue, but comin’ up with a plan in less than five minutes might do us more fuckin’ harm than good. Like Reaper said, we might have to chisel away at the Souls. One disappears here. Another there...”
“Slowly reducing their numbers might help,” Cruz agreed.
“That’s how the Warriors were handled,” Vi said. “The Shadows took them out one by one when they least expected it. It did get to a point where they knew they were being hunted. That might eventually happen with the Souls, too.”
How they dealt with the Warriors was something they normally didn’t discuss. Especially since offing people didn’t have a statute of limitations. Vi probably wasn’t worried since they were in a closed-door meeting and nobody in that room gave a fuck that those nomads had been decimated.
“Even if we do that, those Sicilian fucks will just get another MC to take their goddamn place. Like those fuckin’ Demons, the Souls will be disposable to them. The Russos ain’t gonna cry a fuckin’ tear when the Souls’ numbers start dwindlin’.” Rage was practically vibrating with anger next to Zeke.
“They might care if it slows down their operation,” Zane said.
