Plank sighed. “That might have been a mistake. Now we have to find another way to keep Torpedo Ink under our thumb. We don’t have anything on them. You have Alena’s fingerprints, right?”
“Yeah, I lifted a couple, like you told me.”
“Plant them on the body somewhere to implicate her.”
“You sure you want to do that?” Pierce asked. “We can’t take a chance on losing that club. They’re an asset no one else has, not even another chapter, Plank. You saw how they pulled off that job in Sac. They’re smooth. Fast. We know they did everything we asked, and we couldn’t catch them at it, even when we set them up. Anything you ask, they can do for you, but you take down one of their own, especially Alena or Lana, they’ll never forgive us.”
“If you kept your damn dick in your pants instead of in that bitch’s mouth, we wouldn’t have to go this route, but I doubt she’s going to be taking you back.” Plank turned and walked right up to Pierce. “You had it in the bag, and you blew it.”
“You were the one who suggested I have her send me a video, and then you wanted to see it and immediately sent it to everyone,” Pierce reiterated. “I don’t want to give her up. She’s different. I actually entertained keeping her. Making her my old lady.”
“You can’t keep it in your pants for five seconds,” Plank scoffed.
Pierce shrugged. “She’s better than anyone I’ve ever had. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep sampling what’s offered.”
Plank shook his head, grinning. “Should have known you’d never change. During the run, you keep that bitch Tawny concentrating on the Venomous boys, tell her she can earn her way back into my good graces if she brings us good intel. That should keep her working hard. Then I want her gone. Plant Alena’s prints on the bitch’s body, Pierce, and make it good, somewhere between Caspar and Boonville. Once the cops pick up Alena, we can offer our help to Torpedo Ink, get them indebted to us, but you take care of Tawny permanently.”
“Want that bitch to blow me again, and then I’ll have the pleasure of telling her she doesn’t come close to Alena, not even a little bit. She’ll fuckin’ hate that. She was always asking me if she was better. I’d tell her she was going to have to try a hell of a lot harder to beat Alena. That would make her crazy and she’d do anything. Not that it helped, but the guys thought it was great, because they benefited from her trying.”
“Alena’s really that good?”
“You have no idea,” Pierce said. “Never going to have that again. This could backfire on us. If the cops take her in and she doesn’t have an alibi . . .”
“She’s always at that restaurant of hers, and we’ll offer our lawyer.”
“They have Absinthe.”
Plank shrugged. “Small-time. We have a powerhouse. We’ll make it look like Tawny’s been hanging with the Venomous club. She goes from club to club; they’ll believe it. The cops will too. Plant that trail as well. You’re good at that.”
“Consider it done. After the run, I’ll have plenty of evidence to point them in both directions.”
Plank downed a small glass of whiskey and turned away. “I’ll offer an olive branch to Czar in a day or two and ask for another meet just before the run. Lay out to him my concerns about the Venomous club. I’ll offer to meet on his turf. That should appease him.” He walked to the door and turned back. “Find out which of those women talked about the meet. Judge, if it was your old lady, you’re responsible. If not, she needs to be punished for being here.”
Savage didn’t look at Alena. He couldn’t. The betrayal ran too deep. He slid out of the vent and back onto the roof, where they waited until the Diamondbacks disappeared down the road before they headed back to their own clubhouse. Because everything had gone to shit, he went with Alena rather than going back to Sea Haven and his woman. He wanted to find Pierce and extract Torpedo Ink justice for hurting one of their own, but he knew only Czar could make that call.
The moment they swept into the parking lot, Alena was off her bike and inside. Savage reported the conversation to his president and the rest of the club.
Czar immediately signaled to Lana. “I want you with her, you understand me? She leaves, I don’t care if she doesn’t want you to go, you do it. This was another violation. A huge break in trust again for her.”
“I’m with her,” Lana agreed readily.
“I’ll follow in the distance,” Storm said.
“I’ll go too,” Mechanic said.
Czar nodded. “Fuck the Diamondbacks. We’ll get Pierce. Play it cool for now. Ice, you understand me? They’ll be looking for retaliation. We’re not giving it to them. Not yet.”