Page 70 of Viper

I sit back in my seat, steepling my hands in front of my face as I think it through. How many times have these idiot bikers got one over on me? And this woman does seem to be popping up all over the place, even without a firm connection. “Get me everything you can on her and I want every frame of every camera she appears on both in the courthouse and out around the city. You have twenty-four hours.”

“I have her file,” Sasha replies, moving over to the filing cabinet he set up in the corner of the room. He opens it and pulls out a folder, walking back over to hand it to me.

I take it and review it quickly. She’s a remarkably smart woman, and she’s also very keen on her job. Getting many recommendations, and also helping to make things faster and more efficient. She’s not the lead, but she’s definitely the brains behind a lot of the key operations in the courtroom from what this says. She’s an only child, her parents out of state, and she doesn’t seem to be all that close to them. And other than the one picture of her in the same restaurant as the Devil’s Soldiers whores and their acquaintances, there are no other photos with any of them or obvious connections.

“Have someone watch her, and report back on anything suspicious,” I order. “Get into her apartment, look around, and make sure that she isn’t hiding anything.”

“Do you want her office searched at the courthouse?”

“Not yet. We don’t want to arouse any suspicion, but we’ll keep that as a backup plan.” Sasha nods, and then I dismiss him with a wave of my hand. I look back at the file in front of me.

If Eden Mercer is in any way attached to the Devil’s Soldiers, she’ll wish she chose a very different path in life. I will not have another one of their whores mess this up for me.

TWENTY-SIX

VIPER

I don’t think my heart has ever hurt like this, and in this moment, I realize how hard and fast I’m falling for this woman.

Church is once again tense as we listen to Bullet recount what happened with the cops. The women are watching Archer and Macy, and Carson is watching over them, while Kaleb is minding Eden, who just got back to her apartment as we headed into Church. Crypt is on the gate, and once again I think that we need to get a couple more Prospects, because these three are constantly on the go and they’re going to burn out if we don’t give them more of a break.

That thought gets pushed aside though as I focus back in on Bullet as he finishes up his recount. “And they also took a piss sample for Viper for his custody case,” he finishes, then smirks at me. “Hunter took care of taking that to the testing center, so we don’t have to worry about Vlad and his men tampering with it.”

I grin. “Poor bastard is probably regretting working with me as a client now, but told him I’ll pay him extra.” There are a few chuckles at that, but they quickly go away when Sniper speaks.

“I think it’s important to note that Eden was a great help in getting that information to us quickly so we were ready,” Sniper says with a nod my way. “And I know that shit wasn’t easy for her.”

“It wasn’t,” I confirm.

“Do you think she’ll continue to help if she hears anything?” King asks me.

I shrug. “I think so, but honestly, it’s how much she’s willing to risk her job. But this was pretty major, so I can’t imagine too many other things will hold her back.”

“We need to be careful with this, though,” Bowie warns, a frown on his face. “If we’re always prepared, it’s going to tip people off. I don’t think we ask her to stop giving us the heads up, but we need to at least give them a so-called win every so often so they don’t get suspicious.”

“You mean like search warrants or if they stop us?” Frost asks him.

“Both. If we’re always ready for one and not the other, that’s just as big a giveaway,” Bowie responds. “But we don’t want to make it too easy. Because after this, they are going to go after us individually.”

“Do we go as far as letting them arrest us?” Timber asks with a frown. “Being down numbers isn’t a good idea right now.”

“That’s where Hunter needs to be ready to step in,” is Bowie’s answer. “We pay him a damn good retainer, and if anyone can make sure nothing sticks, it’s him. Not to mention what Cryos can do on his end, but we need to make sure Vlad only thinks he’s winning, not that he will.”

There’s a murmur of agreement around the table.

“I think you have a good point,” Bullet says. “We need to be careful, but we aren’t going to have time to put things up for a vote each time we get information, so we’re going to need to have a vote on all of this. Eden has mine, Cryos’s, and of course, Viper’s numbers in the burner. She sent the message to all three of us for this warrant, and I imagine she’ll do the same for any more she decides to send along. Which means you all need to trust that Viper, Cryos, and I will make the correct decision with that information without alerting you. It could also lend to the authenticity if you get stopped or we get searched again, no one knows. That includes the businesses. So if you have anything you shouldn’t, get rid of it. Tonight. So, all in favor?” Everyone agrees without any further discussion. “Good. Then we’ll consider it done and leave it at that. Cryos, any update on your guy or the information on our neighboring clubs?”

Cryos shakes his head. “Not yet, but I did check in with them and they are making good progress but not enough to give us anything solid. They said whoever oversaw Misha’s phone encryption is damn good, and he’s trying to figure out who they are at the same time. This way he knows who to be on the lookout for if he sees it again. They also said that they’re doing a deep dive into Dagger, but nothing other than what we already know has popped up. They are also looking into the Yakuza connection for us and to see if there is any chatter that mentions their plans for our area. As for the other clubs, I haven’t found anything outright that shows their involvement with Vlad, but both clubs are involved in the drug and gun trade in one way or another, but it looks like they’re a middle man, so they get paid by the receiver, not the distributor.”

“But is there a good chance that it could be Vlad’s operation supplying?” Shadow asks, leaning forward.

“It’s always possible. The problem is, we’re so close to the border it could be the Cartels, the Italians, or another MC that’s out of state and hasn’t been our radar,” Cryos replies grimly. “I’ve started a further search to look into who the receivers might be, but that’s going to take a bit more time. I do know the Satan’s Swords are the higher candidates. They have more property on the books, and off, that include warehouses around their territory.”

“Exactly what those idiots at the bar were talking about,” I remark. “Or, at least, it fits it if it isn’t them.”

“But no evidence of either of them helping with moving people?” Shadow questions.

Cryos shakes his head. “No, but a lot of the time, those kinds of things are off the books, and you only figure it out by messages that are in code and sound weird as hell. I haven’t come across any of that, but I’ll keep going. The problem right now is their guy is smarter than he used to be, and he’s picked up some new tricks, so I’m spending more time going around him and making sure he doesn’t spot me or trace anything back to us.”

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