JON

 

Even from a distance, it was easy to tell that Lin was somebody. It wasn’t that he was Chinese. It wasn’t the expensive suit. It wasn’t the pale skin that should’ve gotten a lot more tan underneath the Ivory sun. It was everything else.

The way he stood without moving. It didn’t even look like he was breathing. There wasn’t a wrinkle in his suit. His black hair was slicked back without a single hair out of place. His rigid posture was the sign of a man who carried himself like he was worth something.

I wasn’t afraid of him but he commanded a bit of respect. The two armed men who flanked him helped.

“Don’t take this personally. I’m only saying this to emphasize my point. I don’t like Ivory. It’s a small, uninteresting town. A bump in the road. The inmates run the asylum and there appear to be more inmates in this asylum than any I’ve ever seen.

“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t come to Ivory. I’d conduct my business from a distance like I have so far.”

Lin eyeballed us to emphasize his point.

“I’ve been here once before because I had business to take care of,” he said. “Now I’m here again because I have more business I need taken care of.”

“I hear you,” Garnet replied. “But you have as much to do with this problem as any MC in Ivory.”

“You’re right.”

Lin worked a tight-lipped smirk onto his face. He held his hands out and sighed through his nose.

“It was my fault,” he said. “That damn federal agent and her cronies forced us to go around Ivory. I should’ve known who I was dealing with when I got into business with the Corps.”

“Yeah, well, it looks like Ivory is the one paying the price for your bad business,” I said.

“We’re all paying the price. It’s just the cost of doing business. Even the most successful people make bad investments. That doesn’t mean they can’t recover from them.”

“And I suppose that’s why you’re here to talk to us?” Garnet said.

Lin nodded.

News of what happened to the shelter didn’t take long to spread through town. The destruction the Corps caused was so loud that it managed to spook Lin and the Triads to call a meeting.

Now here I was with the rest of the club, standing across from one of the leaders of the Triads, trying to figure out what our next move was.

“I should’ve known what they were capable of when I first hired them,” Lin said. “But I did enough research to know who they are. The Corps are lead by two brothers, Harvey and Abigail. I believe you’ve encountered them before.”

“We’ve met,” I said.

“When I first spoke to them, it seemed like Harvey and Abigail were only looking to line their pockets. I didn’t know they could be so volatile.”

“Volatile? These guys are psychos. You should’ve—”

Garnet put his hand up to cut me off. I was already pissed about what happened to Anna and the shelter. Listening to Lin try and reason why it was all right wasn’t making me feel any better.

“It doesn’t fucking matter what happened,” Garnet said. “What’s done is done. Now it’s a question of what the fuck is the solution.”

“The solution,” Lin said with a nod. “That’s precisely why I’m here.”

That smug grin on Lin’s face remained.

“The attack on the shelter was only the beginning,” he continued. “With Abigail and the other two out on bail, Harvey is intent on a full assault.”

“Assault?” Garnet said. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It’s no secret that the Corps are upset with you. They’re going to storm your clubhouse. They’re fully capable of it.”

“If they wanna lay siege on the fucking Grindhouse, that’d be suicide.”

“They’re ex-military. Every time they stepped out on the field, there was a possibility they wouldn’t make it back. These are not ordinary men you’re dealing with.”

“All right.”

Garnet took a step forward and nodded.

“The Black Reapers aren’t afraid of anybody. Ivory is our town. Most men would’ve been shitting their pants right now. We’re not.”

“Good. Because if we’re going to continue doing business, you’ll have to take my advice.”

“And what advice is that?”

“Strike first. Take care of the Corps before they can do anything about it.”

“And I suppose you have the info we need?”

Lin turned around and snapped his fingers at one of his men. The armed man reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small piece of paper. Lin took it then handed it to Garnet.

“We have enough resources to keep track of everybody, including a rogue group like the Corps. Here are the coordinates for where they’re staying.”

“We took out the Spades without much trouble,” Garnet said. “I don’t see how this will be any harder.”

“The Spades were only crazy. The Corps are crazy and trained professionals. It won’t be as simple as kicking a door down and taking out every man while they’re drinking whiskey.”

“I’m not afraid to admit that it’d be nice if we had some help,” I said. “The Corps are as much of a problem for you as they are for this town.”

Lin looked me up and down.

“And what do you propose?” he asked me.

“Weapons. Bodies.”

“A tank would be nice,” Needle joined in.

“You want assistance, then I’ll give you assistance,” Lin said. “Do the job. Take care of the Corps and the Triads will clean up the mess you make. Nobody will be able to trace it back to you. There will be no evidence of what happened. The Corps will have simply gone missing. It will be like they never existed.”

Lin took a step back with his arms out.

“That’s my proposal, gentlemen. Deal with the Corps so we can both get back to business.”

Garnet looked at the other club members.

“I don’t want to be in Ivory longer than I have to,” Lin added.

Garnet turned to me last. Normally we would take a vote on something like this. But after what happened to Anna and the shelter, I wasn’t about to let the other members stop me. Garnet knew I wanted this just as much as anybody else.

I nodded to Garnet.

“Okay,” he said to Lin. “We’ll take care of the Corps. When the job is done—”

“When the job is done, we’ll already know,” Lin replied.

He snapped his fingers and left the warehouse flanked by his two guards.

The rest of the club waited for a few moments to make sure that they were gone. I looked around at every single man. None of them seemed to be having any reservations. But I wasn’t about to risk them.

“We’re really doing this, huh?” Needle said.

“I’m doing this,” I said.

“What?” Sully exclaimed.

“You two have got old ladies waiting for you. There’s no point in putting yourselves at risk. I’ll get the job done. Brawn is all I need.”

“Thanks,” Brawn said sarcastically.

The big man smirked at me and I patted him on the arm.

“You can’t say that we shouldn’t risk ourselves because of our ladies,” Sully said. “What about Anna?”

“Yeah,” Needle said. “What about Anna?”

“Anna’s the reason I’m doing this in the first place,” I said. “She’s my lady. She’s my responsibility.”

I looked at Garnet to see if he would back me up. I could see the hesitation in his eyes.

“How many of them are there?” Garnet said.

“They all came out to the clubhouse in their trucks that night,” I said. “I remember. Can’t be more than a dozen.”

“A dozen… What do you think, Brawn? You think this is something you and Ghost can handle by yourselves?”

Brawn crossed his arms and eyeballed me.

“I’ll go by myself if I have to,” I said. “This is my responsibility.”

The club’s enforcer patted me on the back so hard I almost fell over.

“I got your back, brother,” he said.

“All right then,” Garnet said. “It’s settled. Ghost and Brawn will take care of the Corps. Just in case you two don’t make it—”

“We’ll make it,” I said.

“Just in case you two don’t make it,” he repeated. “We’ll finish the job for you.”

The whole club was in agreement. I looked around at all of them and not a single of them had any doubt. I’d never been so sure of anything in my life.

“Petey,” I said. “Talk to Warlock. I might need some help with this.”

“Sure,” he said. “Whatever you need.”

We walked out of the warehouse and got back on our bikes. Garnet and I stayed behind while the other club members sped off down the road and headed back to the part of Ivory we were more familiar with. The club president walked up to me and looked off into the distance as he spoke.

“Get this job done,” he said. “You’ve got every reason to now. Anna’s the one.”

“I know that now. Nothing’s gonna stop me from getting back to her.”