“We don’t keep the girl. I keep the girl. No one else is to touch her.”
He scowls as I check my watch. Just a few more minutes. We have to get this wrapped up before she comes down.
“Hurry up and run through the worry list. Just like with all the girls that come over or work for us, we only talk legit shit in front of her.”
They all nod in agreement, and Snake leans forward. “We got ten of the cars done today. Harrison is coming by to take a look tomorrow. He’ll bring the other half of the payment. Should we be worried about doing this with the Feds hanging around?”
I shake my head, propping my elbows up on my knees. “We’re only using a couple of kilos for the demonstration. We can flush that quickly with no problem. If the feds try coming in, they won’t find our basement garage. Besides, they don’t have shit for a warrant or they would have already come in.”
They nod, and I continue.
“We’ll use the new underground passage to get our clients through to the tip of the city. They’re driving in with blacked-out tint, so no one will know how many men came in. As for the nosy Feds, they’ll see the same number of cars leaving that came in.”
Sledge chuckles to himself while nodding. “Pretty fucking brilliant. Can’t help but love your mind. Herrin’s gonna be proud of that passage idea.”
I just smirk. Pop knows about the passage but he doesn’t know where it goes. This is my place and my business. He just reaps a chunk of the rewards. Axle speaks up, drawing me out of my thoughts.
“The strip club had Feds in it today. Liza watched them. One of them paid Jasmine over three-hundred dollars in lap dances to question her. She never gave them anything but the run-around. Finally, Liza told them they’d reached the limit, and the other guy sat down and started flaunting cash, saying he hadn’t gotten a dance yet. These guys are ballsy. I’ll give them that. Why didn’t your FBI informant warn you about them doing this shit?”
“A new set of guys were put on us and the Hell Breathers,” I grumble. “My informant is having to work twice as hard to catch tips now. It’ll take him a while to work his way in. I just found out this morning, since it’s a little hard for him to make regular calls to me.”
“Shit,” Sledge growls, running a hand over his bald head. “That puts a wrinkle in our comfort.”
“No shit,” Dash says through a sigh.
The front door opens, and Colleen and Sarah walk in with Liza right behind them. The guys all turn and whistle, pretending as though we’re not having a serious discussion. The girls never know. Can’t know. Only our immediate circle has the details.
Not that the girls are stupid and haven’t figured out some things. But they’ll never know the full extent of our operations.
“Two familiar suits are outside, sitting on top of their car and trying to intimidate us as we walk in or out,” Liza says, bringing in several pizza boxes.
Sledge tilts his head, and we share a grin.
“Should we invite in our company?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he reads my mind.
“Have you lost your minds?” Colleen asks, walking over to the table in front of us and spreading out plates.
“Axle, go make sure the basement is locked,” I say, my smirk matching Sledge’s. “Sarah, go invite in our new guests.”
She shakes her head while sighing, but goes to do as I’ve asked.
“Why?” Colleen asks.
“Because they need to know we’re not affected by them. Otherwise, they’re just going to keep getting bolder.”
She drops to a chair beside Axle, looking comfortable enough. She trusts us enough to know we know what we’re doing. Besides, they have no idea what’s going on outside of the legitimate businesses, even though they know we’re anything but legit.
“Fellas, we have company,” Sarah says in a singsong voice, teasing the two cocky sons of bitches following behind her as she sways her hips in her very short skirt.
I stay relaxed in my chair, watching as they join us in the massive room. There are four doors in here, all of them leading to various parts of the warehouse. Some hidden, some not. Their eyes immediately glance at the other three entry points, sizing up the room like good little cops.
“Gentlemen,” I say all too casually as Colleen puts a slice of pizza on my plate, “how the hell can we help you? You boys seem mighty interested in my businesses.”
As long as we all show them how relaxed we are in their presence, they’ll start sweating. It’ll put them on edge, and they’ll lose that smug sense of superiority they have right now.