“It’s Raven. Jaws’s daughter,” Sundance said to murmurs and “holy shits” around the room.
“I don’t get it,” Moses said. “The Apex Predators have been hit even harder than some of the other clubs around the country. Why would she fuck with the club she was born into?”
“Because this whole thing is about Raven’s old man,” Sundance said. “She hates her father and wants to burn the thing he loves the most to the ground right in front of him.”
“And rise like a phoenix from its ashes,” Taxi said. “It’s not enough for Raven to take over just her father’s club. She wants control of every major MCor club affiliate in the country. To use the clubs as drug mules, dealers, and street enforcers, while the gangs handle her human trafficking business.”
“Does Jaws know Raven’s the head of the Beast?” I asked.
“Our intel says no,” Taxi said. “If he knows, he’s kept that information as close to the vest as possible.”
“Those kids we rescued the night Scrappy was killed,” Sundance said. “The Kings were running those kids for Raven. The Kings are fully under the Beast’s control now, along with dozens of other organizations.”
My jaw clenched. “That means Raven is responsible for Scrappy. Where is she now?”
“Raven’s a ghost. She runs the entire Beast operation from Russia and has only returned to the US twice since moving there, using false identities both times, somehow evading security, customs, and the TSA both coming and going. Raven’s captains and lieutenants are all women, and like her they are all highly intelligent, well educated, beautiful, combat trained, and—”
“Fuckin’ psychopathic. Just ask Caspar,” Jekyll said to more groans and murmurs around the room.
Caspar rode with the Dogs of Fire out of Savannah and Daphne had cut his hand off with a machete on the side of the road just for shits and giggles.
“These are women you don’t want to fuck with,” Taxi snapped. “And you sure as shit don’t want to underestimate them. The Beast is a well-funded, extremely secured organization. In fact, I’m not sureanyone at the bureau would have found Raven. It took Sierra’s combination of hacking skills, knowledge of club life, and her unique intuition just to figure that out, let alone locate her.”
“With that,” Sundance said, focusing on Sierra. “It’s time for you to head on out, sweetheart.”
“You know, we’re going to need to have a long and lengthy conversation in the very near future about how motorcycle clubs see women and how the patriarchy is basically bullshit, big man,” she sassed as she closed her laptop with a thwap.
“I look forward to it,” Sundance said.
“Did I mention it’ll be long? And it’ll involve a demonstration on crystals and feng shui, along with breathing exercises, etcetera, etcetera?” she threatened.
“Oh, I don’t doubt it.”
I closed the distance between us, holding the door for her as she made her way out, leaning down to kiss her quickly before closing it behind her.
“So, why’d she have to leave?” I asked.
“She wasn’t supposed to be here at all,” Sundance said, sounding a little irritated.
“I asked that she be here for the first part of the meeting,” Taxi said. “You know, considering the fact, she fucking found Raven and all.”
“Never said she wasn’t gonna get the credit,” Sundance said. “But this is club business, it’s club officers’ business, and she’s not an officer. She’s an old lady and we protect our women, Taxi. She already knows more than I’m comfortable with, so I’d like to give her some form of plausible deniability,you know considerin’ the fact the Predators killed my first wife. Tryin’ really fuckin’ hard not have history repeat itself.”
Taxi dragged his hands down his face. “Right. Got it.”
Sundance put his hand on Taxi’s shoulder. “I want you all to listen to this man and do exactly as he says. The Howlers are in a unique position to help him drive a stake through the heart of the Beast and we’re gonna do exactly that. An order from Taxi or one of his team is an order from me. You all got that?” he asked to nods all around the room. “Good. Now Taxi’s gonna fill you in on the plan.”
Sundance took his seat.
“As I mentioned earlier,” Taxi began, “since relocating to Russia, Raven has only returned to the US twice. The first time was for her grandmother’s funeral, and the second was for the birth of her best friend’s child.”
“So, she’s a sentimental psychopath,” Stoney said.
“You’re not that far off,” Taxi replied. “Our profile on Raven asserts that attaining a familial connection is her primary motivator. The family she was born into was so fractured and chaotic that she’s attempting to rebuild it in her own image.”
“Why stay in the life?” I asked. “If she hated her childhood and her father so much, why not become a schoolteacher or a social worker. You know… swing the other way?”
“Because most of us construct our lives using the tools given to us. Raven knows how to navigatewithin this life, so it’s the one she chooses. But unlike most criminal organizations, women hold the highest seats of power. A true matriarchy. Raven not only hates her father, she hates all men. Our profile suggests she was likely a victim of repeated sexual assault. Whether or not that was by her father or someone else, we don’t know.”