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Garnet secured us a deal with the Chinese Triads. They would give us their product to transfer up north to the big city. It worked out well for both parties. We would get the drugs and bring them through Ivory. The Chinese wouldn’t have to get their hands dirty and deal with any cops in the area. In exchange, they paid us more money from any other opportunity we’d ever had. Dealing with the Chinese was easy because our agreement was straight-forward.

Now that the feds were in town, things were a little bit tricky. I figured we would just have to lay low for a bit before they contacted us about the next shipment they wanted to move. But they never met with us directly.

So when they called a meeting for us, I immediately knew something was up…

 

* * *

 

As I sat in the small storage room, I looked forward at the two men standing guard. The lights were dim but I could make them out clearly. Expensive suits. Rigid posture. Sunglasses to hide their faces. I already knew the situation was serious just from the fact that the meeting had been called. Seeing the men in front of me only confirmed it.

Across from me, I saw the man I’d just gotten into a scrap with the other night. Jordan Harris and a couple of his boys were on the other side of the warehouse. They were staring, trying to intimidate me. It would take more than a bunch of fucking Snakes to scare me.

Garnet stood by my side with Ghost on the other. There were six of us in total, waiting for the two rigid guards in front of us to get this supposed meeting underway.

A few moments later, a man emerged from around the corner.

He wore a dark, pinstriped suit that was tailored just for his thin body. He walked like he had a stick up his ass or something. His hair was jet black, slicked back over his head. His skin was pale, so it was clear he hadn’t spent any time underneath the Ivory sun.

He walked forward between his two guards and straightened his tie. He smiled at us, showing off his bright white teeth. It wasn’t a genuine smile. Something you would see from a fucking politician or something. Of course, I wouldn’t call him out on it. I wasn’t interested in starting trouble with the motherfucker because I had enough shit to deal with as it was.

“Gentlemen,” the man announced. “Thank you all for coming.”

“What’s this about?” Garnet asked.

“In a hurry? I’ve heard a lot about the Ivory hospitality. I suppose this is it.”

“You wouldn’t call two clubs to come and talk to you unless it was important. You’re a busy man, I can assume. No point in wasting your time.”

The thin man eyeballed Garnet, sizing him up. The grin on his face grew even wider as he nodded.

“My name is Lin,” he said. “I represent the interests of the Triads.”

Lin started pacing back and forth as he explained all of the details.

“We have a deal with the Black Reapers. We have a deal with the Winter Cobras. We have a deal with several other clubs in Ivory. You’re responsible for moving our product between cities.

“Things are getting a bit tricky now that federal agents are in your town. You’ve been informed to lay low until we figure out what they’re doing here. But we all know that they’re here for us. So… We’ll need some time to adjust to their surveillance. Once we have the proper intel, we can proceed with shipments as normal.

“But… There is one other thing I must speak about.”

He walked closer to us. He looked me right in the eye.

“Blake Bennett.”

He looked me over before turning toward the Cobras who were standing across from us. Lin walked over to their president and looked at him the same as me.

“Jordan Harris.”

Lin took a step back toward the two rigid men who were standing guard.

“It’s come to our attention that both of you have been involved in an incident with the Spades,” Lin said.

“Not us,” Harris said. “That beef is between the Reapers. We don’t have shit to do with it.”

“You’re wrong,” Lin responded. “The attack on Mr. Bennett. The car accident with the young lady. Mr. Harris, the Winter Cobras are directly involved with it. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah… What do you mean?” Garnet added. “Are you saying that the Winter Cobras are the ones who hit Michelle?”

“That’s bullshit—”

“No,” Lin cut Harris off, putting his hand up. “It was the Spades.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with us,” Harris said.

“Did you even stop to think why they would steal one of your vans to cause the accident with?”

Harris remained silent. Lin had everybody on a string, just waiting for what the fuck he was gonna say next.

“This is only the second time I’ve been to Ivory,” Lin said. “The first was to secure a deal with the initial club we were doing business with. This is a small town. Very… quaint. I’m sure it would be a very comfortable place to live in.

“But there are others who aren’t very fond of my kind. You see, the Spades have an ideology. Skinheads, as you call them. Supremacists who think the Chinese polluting their town with filth makes Ivory even worse. They would do anything to stop the Chinese from doing business. Including taking out two clubs who were doing business with them.”

I turned toward the Cobras. They looked the same as I probably did, putting together the pieces in their heads as Lin gave us the information.

“The attacks were designed to make it appear that the Winter Cobras were going after the Black Reapers. By doing so, it would escalate into a war that would damage both clubs. As a result, we would have fewer clubs to do business with.

“The Spades don’t care about collateral damage. They’d be willing to do anything to make sure Chinese won’t move their product through their town.”

It made sense. If the Reapers went to war with the Cobras, it would eventually lead to the destruction of both clubs.

“From the looks of things, the Spades did one hell of a job putting you at odds with one another. They did their research. They already knew there was no love lost between you two. And now look… You can barely stand being in the same room with one another.”

I clenched my jaw as I looked at Harris. I felt an immense pride knowing I’d given him that swollen eye he was sporting.

What Lin was telling us made even more sense.

“Gentlemen, I’m going to put it for you very simply,” Lin said. “We do not care about the issues between your two clubs. The animosity is not a concern to us. Frankly, we don’t even know why you two don’t like each other. But when you two bicker like schoolchildren, it affects our business. So, I have a proposal for both clubs.”

He took a step forward between the two groups, his hands behind his back and a look on his face more intimidating than any he had given us so far.

“Settle your dispute,” Lin said. “The Spades are all of our enemies. Deal with them. If you choose not to do so, we will be more than glad to go to another club. Or we can simply circumvent Ivory entirely and go around this town.”

“You can’t go around,” Garnet said. “There are no other towns between us and the big city.”

“Don’t doubt our resources. We will do what’s necessary to keep business flowing. It’s up to you two clubs to decide whether or not you’re still interested. Frankly, with federal agents in your town, we’d welcome the opportunity to find an alternative route. But why fix what isn’t broken.

“Do we have an understanding, gentlemen?”

Garnet nodded to Lin. Harris did the same.

“Deal with the Spades in whatever way you see fit. Once they’re out of the way, business can potentially proceed as usual. There’s profit in it for everybody.”

Lin snapped his fingers and disappeared into the darkness of the small warehouse with his two guards.

Garnet turned to Ghost and me.

“What do you think?” he whispered.

“It makes sense,” Ghost said. “We don’t have any evidence but the Spades wouldn’t be too happy with the Chinese more than anybody, seeing as how they’re Chinese and all. Disrupting their distribution by fucking with the clubs would be an efficient way of not getting their hands dirty.”

“Needle?”

“If anybody could pull some shit like that, it would be the Spades,” I sighed. “They’re fucking maniacs. They’re not above hurting innocent people. What do you think?”

Garnet nodded in agreement.

“Lin wouldn’t want to wipe us out,” Garnet said. “If the Chinese wanted to stop doing business in Ivory, they’d stop doing it. I doubt they give a shit about any of the clubs in this town.”

“Great,” I said. “Then that means all we have to do is deal with the fucking Spades.”

“Easier said than done,” Ghost said.

The three of us all turned toward Harris. He was talking to the two Cobras with him. It was clear they were up to something. After a few seconds, they noticed us looking at them.

Harris slowly walked over to us with his hands out.

“We made a truce with you,” Harris said. “I stayed true to my word. So has every other man who wears our patch. We wouldn’t disrespect our agreement, not even with the likes of you.”

“Then you’re in agreement that the Spades need to be dealt with,” Garnet said.

Harris eyeballed me before turning back to Garnet.

“We’re in agreement,” Harris said. “The sooner we deal with the Spades, the sooner things will go back to normal. There’s enough business from the Chinese for both of us. We’re not interested in more. Not with the feds in town.”

“We’re in the same spot as you,” Garnet said.

“Fine,” I said. “We’re going after the Spades. We know where they are—”

“I know where they are,” Harris said. “They have a small hideout on the outskirts. They don’t like dealing with the cops in this town.”

“We go out there and we shut ‘em down,” Garnet said. “Any objections?”

He looked around at all of us. We all observed one another, waiting for someone to speak up, but nobody did. I couldn’t remember the last time both clubs actually agreed on something.

“Then it’s settled,” Garnet said. “We take down the Spades. Once we do, all this shit is over. We’ll have a meeting tonight.”

“We’ll host you,” Harris said. “Come to The Bone Pit. We can discuss matters further there.”

Garnet nodded and walked away. He motioned for Ghost and me to follow. Just as I started to move, Harris put a hand on my arm. I had to hold back and stop myself from punching his arm off of me.

“What do you want?” I said.

“I need to talk to you,” Harris said.

“Look, I don’t give a shit about what happened. If I had the chance, I would do the same fucking thing—”

“I’m not talking about the fight. I give less of a shit about it than you do. I need to talk to you about my sister… about Katrina.”

I stared hard at Harris. His sister was on my mind, she was always on my mind, but I wasn’t sure now was the time I wanted to talk about her.

“She cares about you,” Harris said. “It doesn’t matter what I say about you, her mind has been made up.”

“She’s a grown woman, Harris. You can’t tell her what to think.”

“I know that. Believe me, I’ve tried. Even if you’re not what’s best for her, she insists.”

“What do you want to tell me?”

“I want to tell you…”

He paused for a second. I looked into his eyes and saw that he was contemplating some shit. I just didn’t know what it was.

“…I want to tell you that she’s all that matters to me,” Harris continued. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen after we deal with the Spades. If you’re gonna be there for her, always be there for her.”

He took his hand from my arm and poked his finger into my chest.

I didn’t need this motherfucker to tell me how I felt about his sister. Katrina was more important to me than any other person in the world at this moment.

I stared right into Harris’s eyes. He was telling the truth. He was a Snake but he wasn’t lying now.

“Just make sure you’re ready for the meeting tonight,” I said. “The sooner we get this shit done, the better.”

“We’ll be ready.”

I turned away from him and headed for the exit. Ghost and Garnet were already on their bikes waiting for me.

“What was that all about?” Garnet asked.

“Nothing,” I responded. “He just wanted to make sure that my head was in the right place before the meeting tonight.”

“Is it?”

I glared at the club president and smirked before I responded.

“I’ll be ready.”