His jaw clenched. “Go. I’ve got stuff to do.” With that, he stepped around me and got in his car.
I watched him drive away, wondering what the fuck was going down today. None of it sounded good.
“You’re late.” King cut his conversation with Hyde short to throw his accusation at me the minute I entered the clubhouse bar later that morning.
“Yeah, I got caught up in a fucking animal protest and Bronze of all people was there. He detained me in the back of his car for a while.”
“You dropped that stuff off to Jen?”
“Yeah. She okay, King? I think she was vomiting before I got there, but when I asked her, she said she was fine.” I omitted the part about her snapping at me when I told her she looked anything but fine and the part where she closed the door in my face when I suggested she let me in to help her.
He brushed it off. “She’s okay.” If he wasn’t concerned, I wasn’t going to waste my time worrying about her. Jen had a good dose of bitch in her, and over the course of the year I’d known her before she left King, I’d learnt to steer clear of her. I had no intentions of doing anything but that this time, too.
A quick glance around the bar told me the boys were gearing up for what we had planned at midday. We’d worked closely with Silver Hell over the past few months putting together plans to wipe out Gambarro. The first strike would take place that day.
“Devil, you’re with me, today,” Hyde said, taking a step away from King. The tense body language between the two of them told me everything I needed to know—things weren’t good between our club president and VP.
Hyde had been late for Church yesterday, angering King. That anger remained, and I wondered when it would ease. Hyde’s mood was worse than ever, and King’s patience with him had disappeared.
I gave Hyde a nod. “Whatever you need.”
Nitro and Kick entered the bar and made their way to us. One look at Nitro and I knew something was up. He eyed King. “Dragon’s not answering his phone. I don’t have a good feeling about this, King. You want us to head over to their clubhouse and check things out?”
Before King could answer, his phone rang. “What?” he barked when he answered it. Silence for a moment, and then—“Bring him in.” Ending the call, he looked at us with a frown. “There’s a guy at the front gate who claims to be a fucking cop with info I need to hear about the Gambarro plans.” Raking his fingers through his hair, he roared, “Fuck! This is the last fucking thing we need.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “Bronze said for you to call him and that he didn’t have time to call you this morning because of family stuff he had going on. He knew something was going down.”
“Christ.” King scowled as he processed my words and then turned at the sound of men entering the clubhouse.
A moment later, Jacko stood in front of us with a guy who looked anything but a cop. Jerking his chin at the guy, Jacko said, “Says he’s a fed. Showed me his badge, but I don’t know if it’s legit.”
At first glance, I wouldn’t have assumed the guy was a cop. Tattoos covered one of his arms, a scruffy beard filled half his face, and his clothes would have allowed him to fit in at any of the pubs we frequented. But when I looked closer and noticed his clean fingernails and expensive looking shoes that I’d never seen anyone I knew wear, I figured he could well be a pig.
He pulled out his badge and showed it to King. “Detective Ryland. I’m here to discuss your plans for Angelo Gambarro.”
King inspected the badge. “What plans?”
Ryland shoved his badge in his pocket. “The plans you’ve been making with Silver Hell to take down Gambarro’s organisation and kill him. The plans you are going to walk away from in order to avoid me investigating your club and generally making your life hell.”
King’s jaw clenched and his shoulders squared. “I don’t know how the hell you know this shit, but I’m going to make it my mission to find out.”
Ryland had some fucking balls. He stepped closer to King, invading his space, and pushed his face towards Kings. “You’re going to leave it be, King. I’m not a man you want to fuck with. We’ve been watching you and your boys for some time now, and the shit we know about Storm would be enough to put you away for a long fucking time.” He cocked his head. “But maybe you want to spend time with Ghost. How long’s it been since you’ve seen him?”
King’s whole body tensed and his face contorted with anger. “Leave him the fuck out of it.”
“Yeah, ten years behind bars for your club is enough to fuck with a man, so I’m guessing you and Ghost aren’t on good terms these days.”
“You’ve got no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” King spat. “And as far as putting any of my men behind bars, I’d like to see you prove a fucking thing in court. You’re full of shit. Nothing we do is traceable and we sure as fuck don’t leave evidence behind that you motherfuckers can use against us.”
Ryland stepped away from King. “You go near Gambarro and we’ll test that theory. But hear me when I say that we do have proof and we won’t hesitate to use it.” He took a few steps towards the door before pausing. “Also know that we’re watching you 24/7 at the moment. There’s no way for you to do anything without us knowing about it.” With that, he exited the room. Jacko followed him to ensure he left the property.
King slammed his hand down on the bar. “Motherfucker!” Turning to Hyde, he ordered, “Call Dragon and see if they’ve had a visit from the feds, too. I’m calling Bronze.”
Hyde nodded and pulled his phone out as he walked away in search of a quiet place to make the call. King did the same, heading to a corner of the bar. I watched as his face and body language changed during the call. Whatever Bronze told him, angered him more than Ryland had.
When he came back to where I stood with Nitro and Kick, he said, “The cops have a guy undercover with Silver Hell. That’s how they know our shit. It seems that Gambarro is tied up with some counterfeiting operation and the feds are watching him to figure out who else is involved and who is running it. We kill him, they lose the one person they have who can lead them to more information.”
Hyde joined us. “Dragon had the same visit we did. That’s why he wasn’t answering his phone this morning.”