Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
“I ever have one of my brothers missing, I’ll be calling on your club to help,” he said, blatantly fishing, offering Czar an olive branch. To his relief, Czar took it.
“You ever have a brother in trouble and need us, Sid, put out the call. We’ll come.”
Just like that, Sid had their club covered and had made a tentative alliance with Torpedo Ink. He’d try to follow it up later and see if he could cement relations with them. But it would be a long time later, after he found out whether Keys and his bitch were alive.
“Stay inside and keep the brothers here for another ten minutes to give my people time to clear out. We don’t want any mistakes made,” Czar cautioned.
Sid nodded his head in agreement. The last thing he wanted was a war he couldn’t win.
* * *
“We used the Rampage club as support, Czar,” Steele said as both men sprinted toward one of the two helicopters that had landed in the Headed for Hell yard. “That’s going to give them the idea we’re going to patch them over. We haven’t vetted all their members.”
“I’m aware,” Czar said. “We’ve left it too long. They’ve been hanging on but could go either way. We want them to go our way. They took the vote, and right now we can persuade them to follow the code. The last thing we want is for them to go maverick and have the Ghosts hire them. That happens, and we can’t save them.”
“That’s a huge number of us for the Diamondbacks to swallow,” Steele pointed out.
“Every member of Rampage went to one of Sorbacov’s schools,” Czar said. “They weren’t in ours, but those other schools were no joke. Do you really think they can integrate back into society? Lissa and Casimir have been living with them, getting a feel for the members, making sure all of them want this, not just their president.”
Steele sighed. “Trinity had twenty-five members and four prospects. Rampage has twenty-two members and four prospects. We started with eighteen. Destroyer came and then Casimir and Gavriil joined us. Fatei has become a fully patched brother. That gives us twenty-two members plus our prospects. We’ve got a few really good prospects.”
“So what are you saying, Steele?” Czar asked.
“I’m saying we went from eighteen members the Diamondbacks were comfortable with to sixty-nine members and at least another twelve serious prospects. No matter how low-key we’ve been, our reputation has grown.”
Czar sighed. “I’m aware.” He was, and he was as worried as Steele. They’d always run under the radar because they were small and no one had heard of them. You weren’t small with three chapters and nearly seventy members. Not only would the Diamondbacks be looking closely at them, but they would draw the attention of the cops.
The stunt he’d just pulled would add to their reputation.
“You think there’s a chance this woman set Keys up?” Steele asked.
Czar glanced at him sharply. Steele was close to Keys. The brother had taken his back for years. “You got a feeling about this?”
They both took seats and, at the same time, adjusted headsets so they could talk. The bird took to the air, coming around sharply and heading for the mountain and the last known location they had on Keys.
“Just that women weren’t much to Keys. He didn’t ever get caught up in relationships. Never saw him look at a woman twice, no matter how much she came on to him. He’s in the band, and women are all over him, throwing themselves at him. If he deigns to notice them, it’s a chin jerk and then a very quick and rough fuck, and he doesn’t look at them again. You know he’s been that way since he was a kid. Likes pussy hard and dirty but not relationships.”
“Made it pretty clear he’s claiming this one. I heard every word he said to Code,” Czar said. “He wasn’t fucking around.”
“The fact that he didn’t tell anyone he was going to visit a woman and he didn’t bring backup with him is so far out of his wheelhouse it alarms me,” Steele said. “He hadn’t changed his ways, not that I could see. I questioned Destroyer, and he said Keys was fuckin’ anything that moved while he was here. How is that a relationship? How could he be claiming some woman as his own and still be acting the way he does?”
Czar was silent for a moment, turning the information over and over in his head. “Yeah, that raises more than one red flag. But Keys is as hard as they come. You know that, Steele. He doesn’t let anyone in. He’s even careful around us. Always has been. Loyal as hell, but he puts on a mask. Seems friendly. Always first one to lend a hand. Works hard. Plays harder, but there’s that distance no one has ever been able to breach. Not even me. Maestro is closest to him, and even he said he didn’t have a clue what Keys was doing or where he was going when he would disappear.”