Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Hellfire nods, like the pieces are falling together. “You think this is internal.”
She narrows her dark eyes. “I do, which is why I want your word that this relationship goes both ways. Someone sent in a tip that your members were spotted around Georgia’s apartment a few days ago, and that you’ve been putting pressure on the local businesses. Whoever sent it in knows enough that they implied that if we get a warrant, we might find the gun we’re looking for in your compound.”
“So why the fuck are we here and not being swarmed by cops right now?” I demand.
“Because I know bullshit when I smell it. I’m sure I’d find all sorts of interesting material if we raided your club, but I’m more concerned about the fact that one of my own might be covering up killing an officer.”
That I can understand. The only reason the Outlaw Sons are successful where so many other groups crumble or eat themselves alive is because of loyalty. We swear our lives to each other, and in exchange we have to know our brothers have our back. The instant that falls is the beginning of the end. We fought our way back from that brink once. It won’t happen again.
Hellfire looks like he’s thinking the same thing. “So where does this leave us? It’s not my job to take care of your bad apple. Unless you want to hire our services, but quite frankly, it would take ‘retire to the Cayman Islands money’ to make it happen because our names would be dirt if we started taking jobs from cops.”
“I told you. I’ll do what I can to mitigate the blowback, but I want to know that if I need to work outside the system, that you’ll do what you can to help.” Detective Chen’s expression turns dark. “You have a vested interest in the Vale case, and Ross was a friend of mine, and a damn good officer. They both deserve better than to get swept under the rug to save the skin of a dirty cop.” She holds out a small thumb drive, which Hellfire pockets quickly. “Everything I could find about the accident is on there. I’ll be in touch.”
“You do that,” Hellfire says, a growl in his voice.
She pulls up the hood of her jacket and jogs across the parking lot until she reaches the street, where she gets into a completely forgettable car and drives off.
“Do we trust her?” Lash asks.
“Enough. I trust that she means what she says about this. For now.”
Stiff lets out a sigh. “Poor Dakota. It’s gonna break her fucking heart to find out her sister is just a casualty of some cop’s shitty decision making.”
“I don’t like keeping shit from her, but knowing it wasn’t an accident is bad enough. There’s no point in sharing gory details that won’t matter until we find out why someone left her to die. At least we can let her know she was right. Georgia wasn’t strung out. She was running from something and someone’ll pay for it.”
Hellfire tugs his long hair back, making sure the leather strap is holding it in place. “You boys have anything to add? I assume it was you they saw near her apartment.”
We look at each other again, this time a little sheepishly. I nod. “Yeah, Georgia worked for Sergei. She was living over his shop with her boyfriend, who we’re pretty sure is an errand boy. We went over with Dakota the other day so she could see what needed doing with her sister’s apartment.”
“Did you piss him off enough for him to go whining to the cops?”
Stiff snorts. “He acted shifty, we let him know it was in his best interest to stay clear until Dakota’s done with the place.”
“Peacefully?”
“He was hardly bleeding and walked away on his own two feet,” I say with a shrug. “I think we were pretty reasonable, all considering.”
Stiff nods.
“So there’s nothing else tying us to this mess?”
“We might have confiscated a gun that may or may not match the one your little cop friend was talking about,” Lash admits. “It seemed like the sort of thing that would cause trouble for Dakota if the cops snooped around Georgia’s apartment and found it.”
“Fucking great. At least tell me you didn’t gun down Russ or whatever the fuck his name was.” The steel in his voice warns that having kept something like that from him would jeopardize our chances of leaving the parking lot alive. He lets us fuck around a hell of a lot, but not for shit like this.
“Of course not. If we put someone in the ground, you’d be the first to know. I think we should go put a little pressure on Sergei. If the piece belongs to the boyfriend, and he works for Sergei…”