A laugh erupted from me before I thought better of it, earning a glare from both Sadie and Jasper.
“Cal’s right. This is complicated shit so it’s better to know now if it’s gonna work. Or not.” There wasn’t a chance in hell Cal’s plan wouldn’t work. I just hoped I wasn’t the only one who recognized that.
Sadie sighed, a sign she wasn’t impressed. But she was always willing to give her baby boy a chance. She walked over to the snifter and poured four drinks. Then nodded as if she was offering up the booze.
“Well, you’ve gone through all the trouble. Show us how it’s supposed to work.”
I took a tumbler and gave Calvin an encouraging nod, and he stepped into the middle of the room.
“All right. The goal is to just get the…shipment away from The Crusaders, right?”
“Got it in one, Calvin.” Jasper, again, sipping his whiskey.
To his credit, Cal ignored our older brother and continued on. “Well the county spent a ton of money last year on a gunshot detection system that can distinguish gunshot sounds from other environmental noises. It’s set up all around the city with audio sensors that are GPS tagged and—”
“We don’t need to become tech experts, sweetheart.” Sadie smiled gently but that smile was a sign her patience was thinning.
“Well, the general idea is that the camera drones will go in first so we can find where the people are, as well as muscle for The Crusaders. This little fella right here,” he flashed a loving smile at a sleek black and chrome drone with badass blades that looked like they could slice a throat without much effort, “he’s going to fire blanks at those motherfuckers.”
“Blanks? You have got to be fucking kidding me. What the hell good will blanks do against The Crusaders?” Jasper, exasperated and annoyed, made him a world class asshole.
“Serious Jas, do you have a better fucking plan? Then shut the fuck up and listen.” Cal turned his gaze to me and Sadie. “The blanks sound like the real thing which will trigger the gunshot detection system and send the cops running.”
“How can we be sure they will come running?” Sadie asked, suddenly intrigued.
Cal grinned. “Because the idiots will shoot back with live ammo and the system will read it as a real shootout. Not only will Glitz’s finest show up, they’ll be armed and ready for a gun fight.” Cal was proud and he damn well should be.
“Good job Cal.” I turned to Jas and Sadie expectantly. “Well?”
I could tell another smart-ass comment was on the tip of Jasper’s tongue, and I glared at him. He might be older and technically in charge, and he was big as fuck, but I wasn’t afraid to give him a beat down when he needed one. It wouldn’t be the first. Or the last. “The cops will come and likely kill some of them,” Sadie said, thinking out loud. “They’ll arrest the rest and save those people.”
“But…blanks?”
Cal snorted an irritated huff. “Just because we own this town doesn’t mean we should take stupid risks.” It was the only argument guaranteed to sway Jasper.
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on things.” That was as good as it would get from him. For now.
Sadie nodded her agreement, one hand resting on Jasper’s shoulder.
“I’ll tell Thomas to have the help get dinner started so we can all eat after this is taken care of.” She flashed a smile that would have been more appropriate for a normal family gathering, not an Ashby family get together.
“Be safe boys.” She kissed each of us on both cheeks and smiled. “And if you need to, get ruthless. It’s the Ashby way. Love you.”
“Love you too, Ma,” we both echoed and got busy taking apart all the pieces that needed to come with us to Crusaders’ territory.
Sadie left and Jasper turned his cool green eyes on both of us. “Don’t fuck this up.”
“You can always go and take care of this yourself,” Cal tossed back. “What was your plan again? That’s right, you don’t have one.”
Jasper smirked, slightly impressed that Calvin had decided to start fighting back. “Good luck.”
Chapter Fourteen
Maisie
“How does it feel to be a college graduate?” Jana smiled at me from the driver’s seat as we made our way home after the longest graduation ceremony in the history of higher education. “Are you excited about the future?”
I knew what Jana wanted. She wanted me to be excited about my wide-open future, but the fact was, I had no clue what I wanted the next twenty years of my life to look like.
“It feels…freeing. And a little scary,” I admitted.
“It’s scary as hell,” she admitted. “Luckily, you have a big ass family to lean on. To get all the unsolicited advice you don’t want and to push you when you need it.” She flashed a lighthearted smile and shook her head. “You know, all that annoying stuff.”