Page 27 of More Tricks

“We can’t plan beyond that for that particular angle, but we can work on dealing with another problem,” Cam said, then pointed his spoon at me. “How the fuck are we going to be in New York City without everyone trying to kill her?”

“I actually have an idea,” I answered, raising my hand like a kid in school. “Well, Sprocket and Void helped give me the seed of the idea.”

“Care to share with the class, loba,” Cognac teased.

Rolling my eyes at him, I set my empty bowl aside. “Before you freak out at the idea, let me finish explaining it first, cool?”

The guys looked at me dubiously but nodded their agreement.

“Void mentioned that he had some connections to the underground fighting ring, and they would kill to have me do one.” I could see some of the men holding back their comments, but just barely. “You know how when there’s a huge fight in Vegas and people come from all over to see it? What if we did that for me? Find the biggest baddest guy they won’t mind if I kill in the end and make it a show no one can miss.”

I could see I was losing them, so I soldiered on. “Think of it… a fight only advertised to those in our circle. The worst of the worst coming to see Two Tricks either get her ass handed to her or slaughter the motherfucker. With that much press from deadly people, it would be more dangerous for Diego to take me out. Meanwhile, we have you guys doing recon, working with the FBI on some sting operation, I don’t know, but the attention will be on me.”

No one spoke right away, which I took as a positive sign. I wasn’t being grounded or threatened with another shock collar to train the crazy out of me. Hell, they were the ones who told me I was being a pussy about how we approached this situation. Couldn’t say that now since I wanted to paint a big-ass target on my back. My gaze fell on Spencer. He’d been the one who told me all they wanted was to be in on the plan.

Welp, here it is, boys. Plan on a platter, hope you enjoy it.

“That wasn’t the craziest option,” Cognac pointed out. “I thought she was going to say skydive out of a plane and land on top of the Chrysler Building or something.”

I perked up at that. “Ah, was that an option?”

“No,” they all yelled at the same time, and it had me leaning back.

“Well, shit, no need to blow out my eardrums,” I grumbled. “Be honest, though. How else can I waltz right into De León territory and not get slaughtered? Fuck, you guys could go ahead of time and scope things out with Cam and the FBI while I hide out elsewhere in the state.”

“Hold up,” Sprocket interjected, raising both hands to add to his words. “Am I hearing this right? Is Dax the ruler of the Hidden Empire, the ruthless tyrant known as Two Tricks, telling us we can take the lead on this?”

“Don’t go saying that too loud, or she might change her mind,” Picasso said, then laughed when I flipped him the bird. “It’s really not the worst idea. Problem is, can it even be done?”

Void scratched his jaw as he mulled that question over. “Let me make a few calls tomorrow, gauge what kind of fighters they have going on, get a pulse for that world again. If it would help, I’d be willing to sign up for a fight myself.”

“Alright, so we test out this plan, see if it fits while we gather more intel on Elena. Who knows, that might lead to something that gives us an in,” Eagle commented, his voice sounding tired. “Cam, do you have any gauge on what the FBI might be looking for? Maybe something we can help them get to make a move on Diego or any of his men?”

“I’ll make some inquiries and look in the database to see what active investigations we have going on. With this task force, I’ve been given more leeway to look into cases that aren’t mine if I think we can help,” he informed us, making him even more valuable to this team than I would have guessed.

“Good, then at least we have a place to start,” Eagle said as his eyes started to droop shut. “We can’t fuck up on this one. An innocent life hangs in the balance.”

“Damn straight,” Picasso added. “Now everyone gets the hell out of here so Eagle can rest. The faster he can heal, the better it is for all our sanity.”

“Fuck you,” Eagle mumbled as Wes folded up the tray and set it next to the bed.

Picasso just shoved his brother's leg in response before slipping off the bed and heading out of the room. I stood and walked to the head of the bed, kissing Eagle’s lips. “Sleep well, boss man, we got lots of work to do, and you need to get better.”

He muttered something under his breath and grabbed my arm. “Stay.”

“Let me do one more thing, and I will come curl up next to you, okay?” Eagle grunted and let me go as he settled deeper under the covers.

Back out in the living room, I looked at the guys and crossed my arms. “Look, even if we don’t end up going the fighting route, I feel like we need to still train. I know I’m out of practice from being shot and we’ve been so busy surviving there hasn’t been time. This fight can’t end with one or more of you wounded and laid up in bed, or heaven forbid one of you gets killed.”

“You make a good point, little demon,” Void agreed. “We need to be stronger than our enemy, and I know I’m not anywhere close to that. So far, the battles have been won with strategy and bullets, but we need to be prepared for it all.”

“Something also tells me they will jump at the chance to have a fight night where Void makes a comeback and Two Tricks make an entrance,” Sprocket pointed out. “In the mornings, we train. After that, we plan.”

The next morning we got down to business. Dani was in charge of Eagle duty for half the day while we trained and worked on other things outside the house. Then he’d join us for the afternoon planning session. We didn’t want him to overdo it, but there was no way we could keep him out of the middle of it even if we wanted to.

“Damn, you guys have a decent setup,” I complimented as I took in the part of the clubhouse they turned into a gym of sorts.

Unlike mine at the warehouse, there wasn’t a boxing ring per se but more like a padded area meant for fighting. Along one wall were a few heavy bags, a speed bag, and a weight bench. They didn’t have the fancy weight machines like I did, but what they lacked in that area, they made up in free weights. You could do all the same stuff, it was just old school.