Arsen, Zane, and Phil walked back into the clubhouse. Arsen headed straight to the bar and flipped a glass over, poured himself three fingers and tossed back the clear liquid, growling and grimacing as it burned. “That Sergeant Tampon was a real asshole,” he muttered.
The brothers chuckled at Arsen’s insult. “Yeah, but they can’t lay a finger on us,” Zane replied, taking a sip of his beer.
“But now we’re on their radar,” Phil pointed out as the rest of the brothers gathered around.
“So?” Arsen asked. “We’ve been operating under their noses for years. We’ll keep doing so. If they lean on us, we’ll file a harassment suit against them. We knew eventually we were going to get tagged, but all the safeties and blinds we put into place worked. They’ll have hell getting another warrant. They shouldn’t have been able to get that one and somebody went way out on a limb to get it, so far out they’re going to get their ass chewed. As far as the city of Tucson is concerned we are an upstanding, legitimate, tax paying business, and we have the permits to prove it.”
“What about the Horsemen?” Quinn asked quietly.
Arsen nodded. “What about the Horsemen? I’m tired of dealing with those shits. And then have them rat us out to the cops?”
“I say we deal with them, once and for all, just like we planned,” Berk said.
Arsen nodded. “Yeah, but we have a problem now. If we hit back, the cops are going to show up on our doorstep. If we do this, we’ll have to wipe them out in one stroke. No witnesses, like with the Riders. It’ll have to be a small group and we’ll need to have cover.” Everyone looked at Quinn, watching to see how she reacted.
“That’s a tall order,” Phil said. “How can we be sure we get them all?”
“Do we have to get them all?” Chet asked. “You know they’re going to be waiting for us. If we take out everyone in the club house, do we care if we miss a few? There won’t be enough left to sustain a club.”
“Good point,” Arsen agreed. “But how are we going to do that? We’re going to have the same problem the Horsemen did hitting us. We killed three of their guys, wounded another, and didn’t get a scratch.”
“How about we call in help? The Advocates brought this to our attention. Maybe they can help us solve it,” Zane suggested.
Arsen thought it over. “I don’t know how I feel about admitting we can’t handle out own problems.”
“The Horsemen are three times our size, maybe more, but the Advocates are at least five times their size. We could sell it as we are giving them a chance to extract a little revenge for fucking with their territory,” Phil suggested.
Arsen shook his head. “No. If we go to them, we should be honest with them. They’re our partners, and once we start lying to each other the trust breaks down. What do you think? Do we ask for help or not?”
It was an informal vote, but in the end, the Blades decided not to ask for help. “Let’s table this for now,” Arsen said. “We’re still on lockdown in case the Horsemen try again. We can discuss how we’re going to handle them in the morning.”
“I want to pull everyone in tonight.” Phil said. “I doubt the Horsemen will come calling again tonight, and we won’t be able to see in the dark anyway. We’ll leave the compound lights on and put a man on the cameras. That should give us enough warning.”
“Sounds good. Make it happen,” Arsen ordered.
***
The Blades were sitting down for a late dinner of cold sandwiches when Arsen’s phone rang. “It’s the Horsemen,” he said before answering the call and putting it on speaker as the club gathered around. “What do you want, Roger?”
“We need to talk.”
“No, I don’t believe we do. Having your men show up here today put an end to the talking. You tried this once before and got your ass handed to you. You must be a slow learner.”
“Kyle, I don’t have any choice. My back is against the wall.”
“Sucks to be you.”
“Give me the girl and we can make a deal on the molly. We’ll stop counterfeiting your stuff.”
“I gave you that option but you wanted to get into a pissing contest. Why the change of heart?”
There was a pause. “I need something, Kyle. My club is coming apart. The molly, that’s business, but the girl, that’s personal. She killed a brother and she has to answer for that. I can use that to hold the club together.”
Arsen glanced at Quinn. She’d gone pale, her eyes were wide, and she was shaking. “So I give you the girl and you stop counterfeiting the Hearts and Daggers? That’s the deal your offering me?”
“That’s the deal. You wrecked my lab, killed my chemist, killed three of my brothers, and another is going to pull a stretch in lockup after he gets out of the hospital. I’m willing to overlook all of that, and stop the counterfeiting, for the girl.”
“A tempting offer,” Arsen said slowly. “I have counter offer. Why don’t you go fuck yourself? She’s a Blade now and we protect our own. You’re the one who called in the thunder when you started counterfeiting our stuff. You hit my compound and then you rat us out to the pigs. I should thank you for that I suppose because they didn’t find shit. Now we’re protected. It seems like everything you touch turns to shit.”
“I can’t let this go, Arsen. You have a chance to end it, now, and you’re pissing it away. All it’s going to cost you is the girl. What does she mean to you anyway?”
“She’s a Blade. That’s all you need to know.”
“You’re starting a war, Kyle.”
“No. I’m finishing it,” he said before stabbing the button to end the call.
“They must really be in a bad way,” Greg said after a moment.
“Good,” Alex snarled. “There is no way in hell we’re giving them Quinn. She’s one of us now.”
She didn’t smile, but her shaking had stopped and her color was returning.
“She’s going no place,” Berk said firmly. “They had their shot at her. They’ll have to go through me to get another.”
A rumble of “And me” circled the room as all the members and old ladies voiced their support.
Arsen watched her eyes. “And me,” he said after the room fell silent. Quinn whimpered, her face crinkling as tears began to crawl down her cheeks. He took her hands and held them. “We’re not turning you over to them, not now, not ever.”
She nodded and pulled her hands from his to wipe her eyes. “I believe you. All of you. Thank you.”
The rest of the meal was consumed as the Blades talked about what they were going to do about the Horsemen. The two sticking points were covering what they were doing and prying them out of their clubhouse. A straight on assault would cost a lot of Blades lives, even if they were successful. They had to get in and out clean, and have an alibi. Having brothers attest they were with them would work, but better would be someone unrelated to the club stating the same thing.
Nothing was resolved by the time dinner was finished, and afterwards Arsen worked with Quinn to teach her to play pool as a way to pass the time. He wasn’t a great player, Greg could wipe the floor with him and every member of the club, but he was better than her by a large margin. The best part of the instruction was leaning into her ass as he taught her to stroke the cue. She seemed to enjoy the instruction and began pushing back into him.
***
“I have our cots setup,” she said as she stepped into the small room that held the servers that ran their club. “We’re in the manufacturing building.”
He nodded. He, Zane and Phil could have claimed the three of the guest quarters for themselves, but all the brothers had drawn straws for them and they weren’t one of the lucky four. If they were still on lockdown tomorrow night, maybe they would have better luck.
“Anything?” she asked, hopping up to sit on the desk.
“Quiet as a cemetery. I don’t expect anything to happen tonight.” He shrugged. “But then I didn’t expect anything to happen during the day today, either, so what do I know? The Horsemen must be desperate, and that makes them dangerous and unpredictable.”
“They were already dangerous and unpredictable.”
He smiled and stroked her thigh. “When we’re done, you’ll never have to worry about them again.”
She nodded. “I hope you kill every last one of those fuckers.”
He looked at her, his eyes opening wide. He’d never heard such hate in her voice before. Pain, yes, and fear, but not this seething anger. He smiled and caressed her leg again. He was glad to hear that anger. When he lost Holly he was first in shock, then pain, then came the anger. He was angry for a long time at the cruelty of the world, but finally he was able to let the anger go and accept his loss. Once he did that, he was able to move on. Her anger meant she was healing.
“I’ll make sure they know you send your regards.”