Stella dialed Tony’s number, then placed the phone on speaker. They’d just dropped Katrina off and were sitting in Gabriel’s SUV in the parking lot of her apartment complex. She looked at him as the phone rang, thinking he wasn’t going to answer.
“What do you want?” Tony said, his voice hard.
Gabriel nodded and she launched into her spiel. “I called to say I was sorry. I’ve been thinking about what you said Monday night.”
There was a long pause. “And?”
“I was wondering if we could get together to talk about it.”
“I think you made your feelings pretty clear Monday.”
“Cut me some slack, Tony,” she flared. “You pull me out of a sound sleep by banging on my door in the middle of the night, then demand I run away with you right then and there. How did you think I would react? But I’ve been thinking about what you said.”
There was another long pause. “Okay, I guess I can see that. Sorry. I was excited, that’s all.”
“So can we meet?”
“I’m out of town at the moment.”
Gabriel smiled and made keep going gestures. “You are? Where are you?”
“Greensboro.”
“North Carolina?”
“That’s right. I told you I was making changes in my life.”
Stella looked up as Gabriel held a piece of paper up for her to read. Ask about money. “You said you inherited some money?”
“That’s right.”
“A lot?”
“Why do you ask?”
She could hear the suspicion in his voice. “Because, Tony, I have Katrina to worry about. I have a good job, but if I quit, and you don’t have a job, how will we live? I can’t take that chance until I’m sure we can make it. Are you working?”
“No, not yet. I haven’t decided what I want to do. But there will be plenty. I don’t know yet how much I’m inheriting, but maybe as much as a million.”
She looked at Gabriel as he shook his head. “But you don’t have it yet?”
“No, I’ve got it. I just need to, uh, wait for the paperwork to go through. Don’t worry about the money. Once we get settled, we can open a little bakery, just like you’ve always wanted. Wouldn’t you like that?”
She smiled, despite herself. “Yes I would. But until it gets on its feet, how will we live?”
“You let me worry about that! Stella, I’ll take care of you, I promise! I won’t treat you like Gabriel did. I’m better than him. Can you meet me in Greensboro?”
Gabriel nodded his head, mouthing tomorrow.
“I think so. I have to make arrangements for Katrina. Can we do it tomorrow? Where?”
“That’ll be great! You won’t be sorry! Uh, let me think. I know! Come up on I-85 toward Raleigh. There’s a Lowes Home Improvement right on the interstate. It’s easy to see. It’s on Elm, or Elmsley, or something like that. I’ll text you the exit number. We can meet there, in the parking lot.”
“Okay. But this is just to talk about it, understand? I’m leaving Katrina, so no matter what, I have to come home.”
“That’s okay! I understand! I’m not going to try to kidnap you or anything. I just want a chance to talk to you, when you’re wide awake this time.”
She forced a small giggle. “Okay, so long as we’re clear. Were you planning on us living in Greensboro?”
“No, not necessarily. We can go anywhere you like. I just stopped here to look around.”
“Okay. Text me the exit number and I’ll drive up in the morning. How far is it to Greensboro from here?”
“About three hours.”
“Ugh. Meet about one, then? You can buy me lunch.”
“Deal! I’ll go get the exit number right now, and the address of the Lowes.”
“Thanks,” she said softly. “I’m looking forward to seeing you.”
“Me too, Stella, me too.”
“See you tomorrow,” she said softly before ending the call.
As soon as he was sure the call was ended he pulled her into a long kiss. “Meryl Steep, eat your heart out! That was fantastic! You have him hook, line and sinker. If you ever decide to give up the baking business, I can use you. You’re a natural!”
She smiled wanly. “Yeah, great.”
He smiled at her as he touched her face. “You’re doing the right thing.”
“Why do I feel like shit, then?”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Well, I do.”
“You’re saving him a whole lot of hurt. My crew will pick him up tomorrow, and I’ll make sure he knows the stomping he we give him would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t intervened on his behalf. If he’s smart, he’ll call and thank you.”
She nodded and opened the door. “I have to go to work.”
“Hey!” he said, taking her by the arm. “You’ve done the right thing. I’ll pass the word what your help cost, okay?”
She nodded and said nothing as she stepped out of the truck. He watched her as she walked to her car, her head hanging low in dejection. Tony was going to get his ass kicked, there was no way to avoid that, but if he would roll tomorrow and give up the safe, he would let his guys deal out the beat down so Scratch and Jaunt were kept out of it. Those two tended to enjoy their work a little too much.
***
“How the fuck did you get this set up so fast?” Doc asked after Royal laid out his plan to intercept Tony.
“We have an Ace in the hole,” he said with a grin. “Stella knows him. He all but admitted he’d stole the safe and he wanted her to run away with him. This morning I had her call him and set up the meet, but we’ll be there instead of her.”
Hammer shook his head. “You’re one slick bastard, I’ll give you that.”
“You’re sure you don’t want some more muscle, just in case?” Doc asked.
Royal shook his head. “No. My team can handle it. He knows us, so adding more faces he’ll recognize only increases the chances of being spotted.”
“Okay. This is your game.”
Royal nodded. “Don’t worry. This will be one of the easiest bags we’ll ever do. We know where he’s going to be, and when he’s going to be there.”
“When are you leaving?”
“As soon as Goon gets here.”
Doc nodded. Each of the members of the club had civilian jobs. Goon worked at Auto Plus behind the parts counter. When he found out they were opening a chapter in Greenfield, and Royal was transferring, he simply put in to be transferred to a Greenfield store, and had hit the ground running. Royal had his bond runner gig, but the rest of the club, and their old ladies, were still casting about looking for work, but that was a small price to pay to be in on the ground floor of a new chapter.
“Do you need anything else?”
“No. I still have the expense money from the Bass job and that should cover us. I’ll wave my recovery fee, but I want my guys paid out of the club budget.”
“Royal! No! I’ll do it for the club.” Hammer objected.
“Same here,” Blade agreed.
Royal shook his head, knowing the men were living on their savings until they could find regular employment. “If you do the work, you should get paid.”
Doc nodded, instantly grasping what Royal was doing. “Agreed,” he said firmly, but then looked at Hammer and Blade. “If you want to make an investment in club later, that’s your choice, but Royal’s right. This is club business and it’s no different than getting paid for muscle.”
Hammer and Blade looked at each other. Muscle worked a bit differently than the bond recovery side. Each member who worked muscle got an equal cut after the club took its half, but the jobs often paid far less than the recovery jobs, and members sometimes only made only fifty or sixty bucks a day.
Zorro, the other bond runner for the club, usually worked alone, or took whoever was available if he needed help, but Royal worked differently. He had his regular team who he took out on every job, and they were all he worked with. While Goon, Blade and Hammer could, and often did, take muscle jobs, Royal wouldn’t take anybody other than his own team when he was running a fugitive to ground. If a member wasn’t available, he went out short. He was intensely loyal to his men, and his men to him, and all had followed him to Greenfield so they could continue to work with him. He took care of them, treated them as equals, paid them well for their work, and made sure he was always the first one in harm’s way.
When building his team, he’d cycled through most of the men of the club, looking for the right combination of skills and attitude. His refusal to work with anyone other than his hand-picked men had caused a lot of friction at first, but the club couldn’t argue with his success, or the fact he’d never had the legitimacy of one of his collar’s questioned. After a while, they’d stopped questioning it, and let him run his recoveries as he saw fit. As a result, he’d become the most effective bond runner in South Carolina, if not the entire Southeast.
“Okay,” Blade finally said as Hammer nodded in agreement. “But we’ll put the money back in later.”
Doc grinned. As far as he was concerned, the cream of the Iron Kings had transferred with him to Greenfield. “That’s your choice.”
Royal nodded. “Get what you need for one night and meet back here at here at six. We’ll all go in the Suburban. If he sees bikes, he’s going to rabbit.”
***
Stella had forwarded the exit and address information she’d received from Tony, and when they arrived in Greensboro, they located the Lowes so they could check out the parking lot where they were going to close the trap on Tony. There were two entrances into the parking lot, one of which was at the far end of the lot and another one up close to the building.
“What do you think?” Royal asked as the Chevy crawled past the building. “Put one guy under the canopy here, and we park the truck out where we can see him if comes in the way we did?”
“It’s going to be tough to take him down with all the traffic and people around,” Hammer pointed out.
“I hear you, brother, but we don’t get to pick the place,” Royal said.
“How are we going to work this?” Blade asked from the back seat.
“I think we’ll swarm him. When he arrives we’ll block him in, drag him out of his truck and stuff him in ours, then haul ass out of here. If we time it right, nobody will see us do it and we can be gone in thirty seconds. If it’s too crowded, we’ll have to tail him back to wherever he’s staying and make our play there.”
“You need to be the one under the canopy,” Hammer said, looking at Royal. “If this goes sideways, you could lose your license. It’s assault at best and kidnapping at worst. You need to let us handle it.”
Royal snorted. “Not going to happen. I’m not letting you guys put your ass on the line while I stand back and watch.”
“Hammer’s right,” Goon said. “We might get tossed in jail for thirty days, but this could cost you your job.”
“Not going to happen,” Royal said again.
Hammer sniffed. “I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat then find a place to stay. We’ll discuss this more over dinner.”
Royal smiled. He appreciated what the guys were trying to do, but he wasn’t going to ask them to risk their ass if he wasn’t willing to do the same. “I’m sure we will.”