Page 66 of Sweet Pea

“You shoulda seen that big motherfucker fly!” he shouted gleefully.

“Shut the fuck up,” Wolf growled. “Is he dead?”

“I didn’t exactly stick around to find out, but if Sweet Pea is still alive, he’s gonna be riding the ‘short bike’ from now on if you know what I mean,” Flash said, laughing at his own joke.

“I hit him at just the right spot, Wolf. No witnesses. Just like you planned. It was fucking beautiful.”

“You’d better have taken him out permanently or I’m gonna take the one good eye you’ve got left. Now, chop up the truck and get it the fuck outta here before anything can be traced back to us.”

Flash stopped smiling and began his task of making a five-thousand-pound truck disappear.

“There’s no way Minus can ignore me now,” Wolf said. “He’ll have to come after me, and when he does, he’ll find out what else I have in store for him and the ‘Burning Taints.’”

“I’d be more worried about Ropes than Minus,” Trunk said. “When he hears about you taking Sweet Pea out, he’s going to come at you with those famous pliers of his.”

“Let him fucking try and I’ll make it a lot harder for him to type,” Wolf said.

“What about the other clubs?” Trunk asked.

“If the Dogs of Fire and Dead Presidents want to stand with the Saints, then they can fall with them too. Now that Char isn’t around to stop me, I’m going to unleash hell on all those motherfuckers. I have business to do and these candy-ass pretend bikers keep getting in my way.”

“You sure you’re not underestimating your old club just a little?” Trunk asked. “I know Minus is on some sort of self-improvement, time’s up, vision quest, or whatever, but from the way you tell it, the Saints are no strangers to getting wet.”

“I know exactly what lines Minus and the Burning Saints will and won’t cross. Same goes for the other clubs. They all abide by some sort of goodie-goodie bullshit code of conduct. They all live under self-imposed rules about who you can and cannot kidnap, rape, torture and kill.”

I’d heard more than my fair share of hard talk by hard men, but Wolf’s words made my blood run cold.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Char before his unfortunate accident. I will stop at nothing to make the Spiders the largest, most feared, and most profitable motorcycle club in the country. Nothing.”

“What about the cops?” I knew I was taking a big risk by opening my mouth, especially given Wolf’s excited state, but it was a calculated move on my part. I knew, with a guy like Wolf, that if I didn’t start including myself in his plans, I could risk being left out of them.

Wolf spun around to face me. “It’s only because you’re new that I’m gonna give you a pass for interrupting me. Once.”

“I’m all for your scorched earth plan,” I continued without flinching, “but what about the police?”

“What the fuck about them?”

“From the results of tonight’s activities, it occurs to me that bodies of dead bikers are gonna start piling up in the streets of Portland. That tends to get the attention of law enforcement.”

“You let me fucking worry about the law. I’ve got that handled,” Wolf snapped. “Yet one more Ace we’re holding that the Saints don’t have.”

“And Los Psychos?” Trunk squeaked out.

“What the fuck is this? Question and answer time with Uncle Wolfie? What the fuck do you wanna know about the Mexicans?”

“It’s just that you mentioned the Dogs of Fire and the Dead Presidents, who may not pose much of a threat, but what about Los Psychos? Those guys are as hardcore as it gets, and they outnumber us.”

“South of the border, but not here,” Wolf corrected. “Besides, El Cacto is an old man with a bad heart.”

“He’s still an O.G.”

“With O.G. views, which makes him predictable and weak. Of course, he sided with the Burning Saints. They’re in business together, and El Cacto still thinks loyalty pays the bills. He also thinks all those gym rat pretty boys are going to be able to protect his frail ass when the shit goes down. He’s dead wrong on both counts, and soon enough he’ll know that.”

Wolf threw his hands in the air and looked around.

“Now, if there are no more fucking questions, how ’bout you assholes chop up this truck.”

* * *

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