Page 83 of Sweet Pea

“You’re calling the shots,” Minus said.

“Don’t fucking forget that,” he said and hung up.

“Excellent work,” Special Agent Jaxon Quinn said.

Special Agent Jaxon Quinn was the lead agent on the current investigation of the Gresham Spiders MC, and Taxi’s handler. In another twist of fate, he happened to be related to two of the Dogs of Fire members, not to mention, he’d worked with the club on a previous investigation into human trafficking. I liked him and the Dogs vouched for him, so as far as I was concerned, so long as we got our immunity deal, my job was to say yes to whatever Agent Quinn said.

Taxi had approached Minus with the FBI’s plan the morning after I was hit. He told Minus all about his undercover operation, and that he’d devised a plan after spotting Trouble while on night patrol at the Spiders’ clubhouse.

Trouble was posted on the ridge overlooking the clubhouse armed with her father’s sniper rifle. Her plan was to take out Wolf with an almost two-hundred-yard shot and then beat it out on foot. She’d taken an Uber most of the way and ran the last half-mile before making her way to the location where he’d found her. Since none of the other Spiders had seen them, he was able to take her safely to the motel where he’d stashed Doozer, whom he’d also saved. It goes without saying that Minus and the Saints were extremely grateful to Taxi for what he’d done for Trouble and Doozer.

“I don’t like this,” Minus said the moment he hung up.

“Tell me about the location,” Jaxon said, ignoring Minus’s protest.

“It doesn’t matter, because I’m not leaving Sweet Pea there alone,” Minus dug in.

“Every plan requires a bit of improvisation.”

“Improvisation? We’re not putting on a fucking summer camp talent show skit, Jaxon.”

Jaxon sighed. “We were always going to have to fill in certain details as we went along. You knew that, Minus.”

“Not this detail,” Minus snapped. “You were certain Wolf would want to meet in a public place. Somewhere you could post undercover agents. The spot where Wolf wants to meet is out in the open and secluded.

“Look, Minus. I’ve been clear about this from the beginning. We need Wolf to confess to organizing the hit on Char. It’s the final piece of damning evidence my boss needs to complete our investigation against the Spiders. We’ve got enough for indictments, but his confession would not only seal the Spiders’ fate but make my boss’s career. Plus, between you and me this is personal on our end almost as much as it is on yours.”

“Why’s that?” Minus asked.

“Two reasons. One, Char had cut a deal and was going to cooperate with the F.B.I., but Wolf got to him first.

“No fucking way,” Minus said. “Char was evil, but he was an OG and would never turn on his own club.”

“Char was a scared old man that was facing down spending the rest of his life rotting away in a maximum-security prison. Believe me, he would have traded his own mother for the deal we made with him.”

“But Wolf got to him first, huh?” Minus asked.

“Our case took a big hit when we lost Char as an informant and my boss wants Wolf to hang for it. The other reason is more personal. Agent Davis wasn’t the first undercover operative to infiltrate the Spiders. Another agent had already successfully infiltrated their ranks, but Wolf murdered him, along with two other Spiders during his recent hostile takeover. My Boss wants Wolf to fry and it’s my job to make it happen by whatever means I have available to me.”

“I’ll do it,” I said from my state-of-the-art wheelchair. “I’m cool with whatever Wolf wants to do. If Taxi says he’ll have my back if I get into trouble, then I’m good."

“You shut the fuck up, Hot Wheels. You don’t get a vote,” Minus said.

“The hell I don’t! It’s gonna be my busted-up ass dangling out there on that hook,” I argued.

“It was never part of the plan for him to be that exposed,” Minus shouted at Jaxon.

“Do you trust your guy?” Jaxon asked Minus, motioning to me.

“Of course,” Minus said.

“I trust my guy, too, and if Davis says he’ll have Sweet Pea’s back, I believe him. Besides, you know as well as I do, we have to make Wolf believe he has all the power.”

Minus ran his hand down his face before turning to me. “I guess it’s your call.”

“Then I say we do what Wolf says and trust that Taxi’s as good as he says he is,” I replied.

“I don’t want to be in a position where we have to find out,” Minus said.

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