9
Mercy
Of course,taking Colt down was easier said than done, especially now that we’d seen he had some kind of mysterious backup dudes. The fact that Wylder was barely acknowledging my presence even when we were all having a conversation didn’t help matters. I’d thought that stepping up and holding my own with them in the Bend might shake him out of his pissy mood, but if anything, he’d gotten worse.
He set his pawn down on the chessboard in Gideon’s office firmly enough to make the other pieces wobble and looked around at the guys, his gaze skimming right over the spot where I was leaning against Gideon’s long computer desk. “We haven’t been able to pick up any word at all about who those new assholes were?”
Rowan shifted on his feet uneasily. “The most I could gather from my connections is that there are a bunch of them, and they started showing up around Colt in the past week. And everyone seems kind of scared of them, although no one’s mentioned anything they’ve actually done that’s scary.”
Wylder let out a frustrated sound and turned back to the board, just as Gideon slid his bishop over to claim one of Wylder’s knights. “I checked my databases and couldn’t find any matches,” the tech guy said, and lifted his chin toward the board. “Give up.”
“You haven’t won yet,” Wylder muttered. There was no sound except the burbling of the massive aquarium’s filter as he appeared to consider both the chessboard and the problems in the Bend.
“They had a vibe that was a lot more pulled together than any of the smaller gangs in the Bend anyway,” I said. “They’re obviously not from this area.”
“Thank you so much for your brilliant insight,” Wylder said, still without bothering to look at me, his sarcasm razor-sharp. “Why don’t you go find something else to do, Princess? We can figure this out without your ‘contributions.’”
Kaige raised his head, his forehead furrowed, and touched my forearm just for a second as if in reassurance. “I wouldn’t have known that.”
I glared at Wylder for a second and then focused on Gideon, since all he ever cared about was the facts anyway. “Have the Nobles had any run-ins with organizations farther out in the state, people who might want to get back at you?”
Gideon leaned back with a swipe of his slim fingers through his ragged blue hair. “I can’t think of any major conflicts since I’ve been keeping track of things.”
“It could be based on a conflict from a while ago,” Rowan said. “Before any of us were really active in the gang. The Nobles have gathered a lot of power over the past several decades—it’s hard to do that without stepping on people on the way up.”
“Don’t you think I would know if one of our neighbors had a major issue with our family?” Wylder said, as cutting as before. “Stay on track, and stop getting distracted.”
Distracted by me and my supposedly useless comments, he meant. I bristled, but we did need to hash out the Colt problem, and that wasn’t going to happen if I called him out in front of his friends. He’d probably double-down no matter what I said, but he definitely wasn’t going to let himself lose any face in front of them.
“So what do you think then?” I demanded, because I wasn’t going to just sit and keep quiet either. I plopped into one of the cushioned revolving chairs that Gideon had by his workstation.
“I think you shouldn’t even be part of this conversation,” he shot back, finally meeting my gaze with eyes hard as stone. “It’s Noble business.”
“I’m working with the Nobles now. Your own father initiated me.” And the prick in front of me had told me I was one of them now just a few days ago. How had one quick fuck changed his attitude so completely?
“Let’s go over everything that we saw yesterday first,” Gideon said, diverting any further argument. He pushed away from the chessboard and grabbed his tablet off the desk. “Bryant had at least one motorcycle club backing him up too. Based on the iconography I spotted, they’re local, operating out of a clubhouse in the southeast part of the Bend.”
“But they were wearing the Steel Knights insignia too,” Kaige pointed out. “They’ve really thrown in their lot with that jackass.”
My stomach sank as I remembered what else I’d seen. “And there was at least one guy with Colt who used to be part of the Claws. I guess some of them have joined him now that there’s no leadership.” Let’s be real, the Claws were essentially dead. I couldn’t resurrect them all on my own.
“I guess that’s not surprising,” Rowan said, unexpectedly gentle.
Gideon fixed his cool gaze on me. “You said that while Bryant was holding you, he got a call and acted as if he might be following someone else’s orders.”
I nodded. “I’m not totally sure, but he wasn’t talking to them like he was in charge of the conversation. He’s obviously the one directing all the local outfits we’ve seen joining up with him. Maybe those outsiders have something to do with a larger gang from someplace else that’s supporting him.”
“Some chickenshit gang that won’t confront us directly.” Wylder scowled. “We’ll string them up like chickens, then.”
Gideon frowned at his tablet. “The question is why.”
None of us spoke. Without knowing who these people were, it was hard to narrow down the possibilities.
Finally, Wylder shoved himself to his feet. “Like Rowan said, the Nobles have gained a lot of power. When you’ve got that, there are always people who want to take it from you for themselves simply because they see an opening. We’ll just have to close that opening fast—show them, whoever they are, that betting on Colt Bryant is a bad gamble. We need to hit the Steel Knights again, but harder and where it’ll really hurt.”
“I’ll draw on all my resources to predict his next moves so we can interrupt them,” Gideon said.
“Sounds great,” Wylder said. With the meeting dismissed, he strode out of the room.