Jim picked up his desk phone, hit some numbers, and waited, then said into the phone, "Brian still out there?" After he received his answer he said, "Good. Tell Brian I've got questions and also some work for him." Then he cradled the phone again and refocused on Cole, "Brian will watch over your lady here until you are back. With him in the room and five men close by and us right across the street, I think she'll be safe for a few hours while you clean up your back trail."

 

Cole nodded, "Agreed." Then he glanced at Nicole, "You all right with that?"

 

She nodded, "Sure. Won't the cops want to talk with me, as well?"

 

"Seeing as you just left town, for parts unknown, they can want all they would like," Jim told her. "We're taking you off the grid for a while. Might be a couple of weeks before this settles. I can't see Gabriel taking cash to settle this, at least not the kind of cash the club has available and I'm not paying him anything for Antonio or Davis.

 

He sighed. "That leaves only the possibility of war between us. He's too bloodied already to back down and I'm too stupid, but I can't see paying him for sending two enforcers to my man's door and then saying sorry that they weren't good enough to kill Cole. Fuck that."

 

Nicole suddenly felt very concerned about being the reason a war was going to happen and Jim seemed to pick up on it right away, shaking his head in a slow, reassuring way, "The shit between us and Gabe has been brewing for years. Been brewing between us since before my time.

 

"Sure, you kicked the hornet's nest, but it was going to blow sooner than later anyway. He's pulled some serious stuff with us this year, but I'm not going to air that dirty laundry right now. Suffice it to say, you could be still with him and within a few months, we'd be at each other anyway. The timetable has changed, but the actions are all going to be the same."

 

Nicole attempted to allow this news to make her feel better and failed, but she nodded, "Thanks."

 

Jim nodded his head in return. "Good and settled. Cole? I'm probably going to need you back here at noon tomorrow for a powwow with the core. I'm sure I'll hear from Gabe before then and get an ear full of his whining." Jim turned his focus inside again and said, "I should catch him off guard and call him now. He may still be thinking his men have you."

 

Jim smiled the wickedest grin Nicole had ever seen and picked up his cellphone, thumbed through some numbers, and then pressed the dial button. He shot a look of pure mischief at Cole who leaned forward listening intently.

 

"Gabe? Jim here. I got questions. Well Gabe, I'm sitting here asking myself why I'm on the phone with you when what I really should be doing is kicking your ass. But first, I would like to know why you sent three men to one of my member's house with guns and violence in mind. He's one of my best men, in fact, as your men found out."

 

Jim listened for a bit, "No, no, he's fine. It's your men who are dead. But that makes no difference to me. That shit doesn't fly and you've been throwing shit around for so long, a good ass-whooping might do you some good. Get you back on track. Knock your head out of your ass."

 

Jim listened again, smiling from ear to ear. He winked at Nicole, letting her know he was having far too much fun with this. "Yep, that's how it looks from here. Both Antonio and that brainless twit Davis. Yes," Jim then said with the slow and patient voice of a man who was heavily annoyed, "they are dead, Gabe. Well and truly dead. My man put them down on his doorstep, but like I said, that doesn't matter. You are the one sending people at mine and I'm not having it.

 

"What? No, not a word, but that don't matter to me either. If she left you, good, and I wish her well in her new life. In fact, if I happen to come across her, I may give her some cash to help her on her way." Then his voice took on seriously angry tones, "Especially, if a call girl is your reason for sending enforcers to my man's door. That's the lamest thing I've ever heard and you'd better have something more reasonable than that to say or we won't even bother with negotiations.

 

"Fine," Jim said, after a long time listening, "That was my feelings on the matter anyway. Consider your ass-whooping on the way."

 

Jim clicked his cellphone off, and then waited for a small span again to speak while he collected his thoughts. After this pause, he dialed another number and waited for it to answer, "George? Yep, Jim here. I want you on the phone as fast as you can, calling all the men working for that asshole Gabriel and pulling them out.

 

"Tell them to show up at the club and I'll have some things to say in about two hours. After that, go through the roster and head off anyone working in the morning or near future." Jim drummed his fingers, "Oh and you don't need to bother with Brian, he already knows," he added and then, after listening to George for a moment, answered, "Yes, it has been coming for some time. Should have cleaned this slate with him near the beginning of the year. Shit just keeps piling up."  He drummed his fingers once more, "Good. See you in a few then."

 

Jim hung up the cellphone and looked at Nicole with glitter in his eyes, "Yep, he was still under the impression you were on your way. Now he's all fucked up and that should give us some time to figure out something more solid than actually going over there and performing a full scale ass-whooping. If I play this right, I may be able to shame him into leaving you alone, as well as getting some good concessions out of him for my trouble."