Desolation Road (Torpedo Ink 4)

That meant not wearing their colors or allowing the Diamondbacks to know when they were going in to fulfill the contract on the off chance—and in Absinthe’s opinion it was a big one—that they were being set up.

“The fires are a different matter altogether. I want to know who owns the buildings. If there is insurance, and can we make certain no one else can get hurt? That’s a pretty big order,” Czar added. “We don’t torch the building with anyone in it.”

Alena dropped her hands into her lap, twisting her fingers together. Absinthe instantly covered her hands with one of his for comfort beneath the table. He didn’t look at her.

Czar turned his attention to Code. “I want this researched very, very carefully. Take your time. If the Venomous club doesn’t actually own the buildings, we don’t take them down. We don’t drag civilians into this. We can’t afford to make a mistake.”

“Diamondbacks could be setting us up,” Steele, the vice president, commented. He always presented a good counterpoint and he was nearly always the calming influence. “All they need is good video of one of us and they think they’ll have us in their pocket. A little blackmail and they think we’ll do whatever they want.”

“A little blackmail and we wipe them out one by one,” Reaper corrected.

“True,” Steele agreed, “and they’d never see it coming, or know where it’s coming from, but the video would still be out there, and we all know how difficult it is to get that shit back. And they have no idea we’d react that way. They don’t know us.”

“I’ve got eyes on the Diamondbacks,” Code said. “The moment Plank asked us to go after his wife and get her back and then he got a little weird on us …”

“Weird?” Keys asked.

“I stayed with them until they could get their own doctor, remember?” Steele reminded. “I think Plank would have liked to wipe us all out.”

Reaper nodded. “He thought he’d set us up to get rid of us when we brought her back to him. He was leery then, still thinking we might have had something to do with her kidnapping in the first place. Pierce talked him out of it. Told him our club might be useful to him.”

“Plank was still nervous,” Steele said. “In the end, I think he just wanted us to fade away.”

Czar shook his head. “We’ve added another chapter with twenty-five members. That’s not fading away. And now there’s the problem of Tawny.”

There was a small silence. Absinthe shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Tawny had been one of the women who hung around the club, ready and willing to party all the time. She was up for anything, anytime, with any of them. She made it clear her goal was to be with all of them, including Czar, who made it equally clear he was off-limits.

It wasn’t that they looked down on Tawny because she was so promiscuous. Hell, they partied hard when they wanted to. It was because Tawny had no loyalty at all. She lied to everyone and caused as much trouble as she could among other women who came to the parties. She tried to undermine friendships. She wanted to climb over the top of people, and if she was angry with anyone, she talked as much shit about them as possible—truth or lies, it didn’t matter.

She had committed one too many sins, although they all had to take some responsibility in her last fiasco, but they were all relieved when she was told to leave. She’d gone straight to the Diamondbacks. All of them knew she would run her mouth about them, but she didn’t really know anything about their club. It wouldn’t stop her from making up stories though.

“So now we all know we have an enemy in the Diamondback camp. Tawny has managed to become best friends with a woman by the name of Theresa,” Code said. “Theresa just happens to be the old lady of one of the members, a man by the name of Terry Partridge. His road name is Judge. I think you all remember how Tawny can suddenly be best friends with someone if it benefits her.”

“How do you find out all this stuff, Code?” Transporter asked.

“I monitor all correspondence between them. Tawny has a lot to say to Theresa, in particular about all of us. Now she has her sights set pretty high in the Diamondback club.”

Czar looked around the table. “You should all remember Tawny and her scheming ways. She was hoping to be Reaper’s old lady, and when that didn’t pan out, I think Savage was her next target.”

Savage lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, she was all over me until I had her a couple of times and then she decided I wasn’t the one for her.” He shrugged. “Said she liked my kind of sex. I laid it out for her, spelled it out plain as day. She didn’t like it after all.”