Page 68 of Eden's Joker

My men already know this part of the plan and stay silent. But conversations are starting to erupt among the others.

“What makes you think this battle will work?” Bear, one of the last remaining members of Road Warriors MC asks. “None of them have so far.”

“They would’ve,” I say. “If you’d listened to me from the start.”

“You were untried,” Badger whines. “We couldn’t just trust you.”

He managed to escape death by the skin of his teeth in his recent fight against the Devils, though not without two bullet holes. He might still die. I hope not. He’s the last of the original leadership of the war and I need him backing me. When the war started his hair was jet black, now it’s white. He looks tired and not just from the most recent wounds he suffered. He’s ready to pass on the baton. And if he backs me, I’m the new leadership. That’s the best-case scenario, anyway.

“I had a plan then, but I have a better one now,” I say. “I will need everyone you have for it to work. And together, we can wipe the Devils off the face of this world, once and for all.”

I get some interested sorts of murmurs in responseto that. But for the most part they’re all looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. Or worse, like I’m some idiot child promising things he can’t possibly deliver.

“The town of Justice—my town—is surrounded by hills and valleys with only one good road in,” I say. “With all of us manning those hills and with the weapons in this bunker I’m standing on, we can take the Devils when they come riding in. Easy.”

Yet more interested sounds whoosh over the crowd. Some scoffs too.

“And what makes you think the Devils will just ride into this trap?”

I don’t answer right away, waiting until everyone is quiet and waiting for my answer. Even Scorpio is giving me his undivided attention now, without any stupid smirk on his face.

“Because I stole something very precious from them,” I say.

“What? The weapons?” a guy whose name I don’t know asks. “They have a shit ton more where that came from.”

“No, not weapons,” I say, grinning. “I stole one of Ice’s precious daughters. And you know how protective they are of their women.”

“They always ride to get them back,” Badger says. “No matter the odds.”

It’s been a running joke for decades among the other MCs that the Devils’ only weakness is their women.

“They also always get their women back,” Badger says, rightly pointing out that weakness might not be the best way to describe the lengths the Devils go to get their women back. “And kill whoever took them.”

“Yeah, that’s always been true,” I say. “Until now. They’ll ride to get Eden back. But they won’t return home.”

I won’t let them have her. I won’t let anyone have her. I’ve already more or less come to terms with that. But she will have to watch her family die. Just like I had to watch mine die. Can’t be avoided. At least then we’ll be on equal ground. But it’ll be impossible for her to love me after that. And she won’t be the same, with her heart and her soul all crushed like that. Therefore, it’s impossible for me to keep her. But that’s the way it has to be.

The dead silence following my words eventually leads to murmurs rising. It sounds like maybe I got them on my side.

“So what’s your plan?” Badger asks. “Exactly.”

I wait until I have everyone’s attention again.

“It’s simple,” I say. “We gather up the forces we have left and man the hills surrounding Justice armed to the teeth. I’m talking bazookas, sniper rifles, grenades, rocket launchers, the works. For once we’ll be as heavily armed as the Devils always are. And we’ll have the upper ground.”

Murmurs of agreement are getting louder. That’s a good sign.

“And once all that is in place…” I go on, pausing for effect. “…we tell them where they can find Eden.”

Badger and a lot of the others are nodding. Smoke is rising from the fires that were lit to cook dinner and chase away the night’s cold and darkness, because no one’s tending to them. That’s how engrossed they are in hearing my plan. I have them.

Badger claps his hands then winces because the movement must’ve aggravated one of his wounds. “That’s it. This will work. I’ll ride with you.”

Many others make the same promise. Mostly men who have lost their MC presidents and vice-presidents and are now rudderless. I need the others too. The ones who still have their leadership intact.

“We do this and we’re gonna need some guarantees,” Bear says. “Let’s talk division of spoils.”

Badger stands up, groaning load enough for everyone to focus on him. He’s grinning as he walks over to me. I reach out my hand to help him climb to the top of the bunker to stand beside me.

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