“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I narrow my eyes on him. Ordinarily, he doesn’t question me, so his tone grates on my nerves.
“There’s something else.”
When I only grunt, he reads my dismissal as an invitation to push on.
“There always is with you. You want us to guess or are you going to tell us?”
“The Volkovs want a partnership.”
While the brothers are forging connections with some dirty government officials and some high rollers with enough money to buy their way through life, they know we are a strong force they’ll have to go through eventually. The Volkovs can establish ties that will make our life hell, true, but in the end the ones we have are older, deeper and the rolling cash we have backing us speaks louder than theirs. We’ll have to count on that when the time comes.
Huffs and grumbles work their way through the men and it’s Rage who holds a hand up for silence.
“Interesting,” he states flatly.
“I didn’t say shit about taking them up on the offer. But I am considering it.”
“We’re working to take them out from the root. Why the hell would they think we want to partner up with them?” Devil didn’t spend a lot of years on the police force before finding his way to us. A handful at most. Enough to give him a taste for doing good but his fucked-up past with an abusive father and doped-out mother left him scared and an at-risk cop on the street with a chip on his shoulder. He had a hard time not wanting to pull the trigger every time he had to do a drug bust. They gave him his walking papers when one of those busts went sideways. A “friend” on the force gave me a call and he’s been part of our crew for close to five years now. Patched for two. Under my care, he’s a little less hot-headed but still impulsive.
“Shut up and learn, boy.” Rage has more than one problem clogging his pipes. A prominent one is with Devil. Because of Devil’s issue with his mother, the pup views Rage as a weak link with his addiction problems. One Rage takes insult with.
I shake my head. “Haven’t you learned the whole point of tonight is to keep our enemies close? You can’t see what they have planned unless you have a good way in,” I answer. “Why do you think I just spent a week with them basically up my ass?”
He begins to give some smart-ass remark, but then wisely shuts his mouth with a nod when I cut a hard look his way.
“They have armed guards at every entry. I counted about fifteen just inside the waiting area outside the auction floor. Some tried to blend in, but most looked inexperienced and green.”
“Easy pickings.”
“Even an inexperienced asshole can pull a trigger,” I deadpan when Devil pipes up again.
I grab a piece of paper off a desk we keep down here and start mapping out every table, door and possible weak spot we’ll run into in the event of an all-out takedown.
“The bar is on the side. The man behind it carries and they’d be fools not to give him a loaded shotgun as well. Here, here and here are the exit points that lead to other parts of the club. They have the auction side hidden and you’re only getting back there with an invitation.”
The men take over with rapid-fire questions.
“And the Society?”
“The governor was there. A couple of well-known faces we’ve seen from the Silver City. Others are the closet millionaires and billionaires.”
“Anyone recognize you?”
“Apparently they all did and kept a wide berth around my table.”
“Eighteen point five million.” Riot, the club treasurer who sits beside Devil, crosses his thick arms over his chest. Eyes pinned to the wall over my shoulder, I know he’s mentally working the figures. He finally drops his gaze to mine. “We can move some numbers around and make it look like a legit business purchase. I’ll have the move covered by morning.”
“Spasibo, moy brat.” Thank you, my brother.
Devil grabs a couple more glasses from the bar. I pour them all around and everyone takes a deep breath after the million-dollar vodka hits the back of our throats.
“Think she’s worth the dough, Prez?”
Each of my crew comes from a hard life. Money never came as abundantly for them as it does now. Because of all the shit they’ve gone through to get here and for trusting me with their lives they receive an even cut of everything that comes through the Asylum and Aurum. It keeps them happy, well-paid, and loyal. I’m not sentimental in thinking they stay by my side due to our similar pasts.
I take out my phone and shoot off a few pictures I snapped of Volkov’s place to Devil. “Get those to Bear. Tell him to print them out and leave them in my office.” I’ll add them to the spread of information we’ve gathered later.
Bear is an honorary member older than dirt. He and his wife Fergie are longtime friends who pulled me out of a dire situation that had a strong possibility of landing me cold and in a grave before I turned thirty. Let’s just say I managed to get out of the mafia life as a hired gun because of them. And now I have my own crew, my own family. So, I opened my doors to them the second I bought this place and they’ve been here ever since. Bear is the only other person outside of Rage I trust blindly.