Page 43 of The Devil's Conflict

SNIPER

I know the Heaven’s Misfits are on our side, but that doesn’t mean shit can’t turn and go sideways.

Church is crowdedwith fourteen new people. Arson and his crew are exactly as I remember, other than some more gray hair, wrinkles, and in the case of one of them, some golden dental work that gives him a bit more of the stereotypical biker vibe. The mood in the room is relaxed, though I don’t miss that their own VP, Angel, isn’t looking all that jovial like he normally does. If anything, he looks downright miserable once you take in the scowl, lines around his eyes and mouth, and the fact that he’s grown out his dark hair to almost his shoulders instead of the short, almost military style he normally sports.

I make a mental note to talk to him alone later. At one point, the two of us had been good friends, but time and distance have resulted in us losing touch, but clearly I need to fix that.

“Alright, let’s get down to business,” Bullet announces loudly, halting the conversations in the room. “First, I’d like to thank Arson and his club for coming to help us out with everything.”

“Always happy to help,” Arson says with a brisk nod. Arson is what I like to call a wild card, and he certainly looks like it seeing him now. He’s got short hair, though still slightly thicker on top, with a short well-kept beard, but that’s about where the normal ends for him. He stands at six-two, and has an edge about him that makes you want to give him a wide berth. Under his cut, he’s wearing a red and black plaid shirt that he’s rolled up to his elbows, showing off his full sleeves of tattoos. He’s got his gun strapped to his pack in a leather holster, but there’s also a knife handle sticking out of his front pocket. His jeans are ripped, and he’s wearing a couple of large skull rings that he’s been collecting since he became president ten years ago. He told me once that they were for the heads of his enemies or some shit, but he’s always tended toward the dramatic instead of just saying he took out a problem.

Probably why he prefers to use fire to make his point.

“Arson told us what’s been happening, so we’re up to speed unless something’s happened since yesterday,” Angel adds.

“Only thing is that the cops and fire department are still searching the remains of the bar for anything that might point to who did it,” Bullet answers. “Though we already know, but we’re going to keep up the act that it has to do with the asshole that was there the last time they shot it up and this was them just trying to tie up loose ends.”

“Convenient.” Arson smirks. “So how about you let us in on what you need from us?”

“Before we get started on that, I volunteer to watch over the women,” Silver, one of their Enforcer offers with a wicked grin. “You’ve gotten a few more interesting ones around here sincethe last time we were here.” Silver’s what I call an enigma. He gives off the air of a biker, long dark hair that he’s currently wearing back in a low ponytail at the base of his neck, with a dark beard that he keeps cropped short to his face, and intense blue eyes that can go from amused to lethal in one blink. He’s even sporting some new piercings in his ears, and thicker silver chains around his neck that he didn’t have the last time I saw him. But once he gets talking, you realize just how smart the man is and knows it. He might be a biker, but the man has a genius IQ. Lucky for his club, he didn’t have any aspirations for such things, but his smarts have gotten them out of some tight spots in the past.

“Don’t remind me,” Bullet groans. “They’re all amazing women, but when the lot of them get together…” He leaves it at that and shakes his head, earning a few chuckles throughout the room. “I think the best course of action is having you help us patrol and search for Vlad and his men. We haven’t been able to find his base of operations.”

“And there’s no obvious signs of his men coming and going from one place? Not even those that you know are his right hands?” Dozer, their other Enforcer, asks curiously. The man is built like his namesake, and I’m surprised there’s a bike that can hold him. At full height, he tops out at six-eight, with thick muscle that he must spend hours a day working to keep, and I’d put him well over three hundred pounds. He’d give Hulk and Crypt a run for their money in a fight, that’s for damn sure. His eyes are a silvery gray, and he keeps his dark blond hair cut short, and his face clean shaven. His arms are covered in ink, and he’s currently standing at the back of the room, too large to sit down comfortably at the table. Not that it looks like he’s bothered.

“Nothing,” I answer. “The issue is wherever they are, they know we’re looking for them so they must have either somethingcompletely off grid that can’t be easily seen, even from satellites, or they are outside our territory where they know we won’t go looking. We do okay with the two clubs around us, but one of them we know is in Vlad’s pocket, so us being on their territory won’t be a good decision.”

Dozer nods. “And what’s this I hear about a journal or some shit?”

Bullet gives them all a rundown version of Dagger and his alliance with Dmitri and possibly other groups and then a small history of Bull’s connection. “We’re finding out that Dagger planned for him to get caught and he’s encrypted both the journals we’ve found, along with any other information we were able to get from Vlad’s former right-hand man, Misha. We only recently found the second journal, but considering Dagger and his penchant for making us run in circles, he’s probably got more around somewhere, and could be that none of these are anything and just decoys.”

“Sounds to me the fucker got what he deserved,” Arson quips.

“And you haven’t been able to crack whatever code is in those journals yet?” Whip, their Sergeant at Arms asks. Whip takes his road name seriously, and does that Indiana Jones impression with his whip on his hip at all times. It’s a thin piece of wrapped leather that he’s worked for years to perfect to his exact specifications. He’s got long silvery white hair that hangs down over his shoulders, dark green eyes, ink covering both arms and hands, both hands full of rings that look scuffed and worn, no doubt from the constant ass beatings the man doles out. He’s not known for being a kind man but to those he considers family or important to him in whatever obscure way matters to him.

Hell, there have been times I’ve seen him go off on members of his own club and they know better than to fight back against him. Even Dozer sometimes seems wary of him, which is exactlywhy I’ll keep a close eye on him while he’s here. We don’t need any fighting in house while we’re dealing with all this shit.

“One of our Prospects, Crypt, is former Special Forces and this was something he dealt with, so we have him working on it,” Shadow informs him. Then he glances at me before adding, “But we may have another faster option that we’re exploring.”

I scowl at that but don’t say anything. I want to rage that Thea is not going to be involved, because that is only inviting danger to her door and she’s been through enough. The surge of protectiveness I feel toward her has only grown since last night, and I know that she’s going to fight me tooth and nail on it. Thea isn’t going to cower after last night, she’ll run headfirst into the trouble.

Vlad isn’t playing anymore, and there is a very good chance when he realizes her connection to us, she’ll become a target, and I won’t be able to stand it.

“I take it that Sniper isn’t a fan of whatever that plan is,” Arson summarizes. “And that wouldn’t have anything to do with the sexy blonde that came down with him earlier, would it?”

I don’t react to his statement, just hold his gaze and ignore his growing grin.

“We haven’t decided what to do where the journal is concerned,” Bullet interjects. “But I’ll answer that because we need to get to work on it and fast before Vlad figures out you’re all here and launches another attack. Sniper’s woman, she’s former Special Forces as well, and one of her major skills was encryption and deciphering communications.”

“Why the fuck are you allowing a woman into club business? Or even considering it?” Magnum, their Treasurer, demands incredulously. “That goes against every biker rule out there.” Magnum gets his road name from his choice of weapon that he likes to carry around with him, but he’s also a bit of a wild card. He’s got thick black hair that he keeps brushed back outof his face and falls to the base of his neck. His beard gives off Wolverine vibes, with some strands of gray starting to show through. His eyes are a dark brown, and he’s got a couple of star tattoos on either side of them. If my memory serves, he’s done hard time in the past, and he’s not one you want to piss off and meet in a dark alley because he’s not afraid to go back.

“She works for the club as a specialist in our bodyguard and security business,” Bullet replies calmly, though I can sense the tension in his shoulders. He’s not one who likes his leadership questioned, but especially not from someone who is supposed to be our ally. “Also, she’s not involved in anything yet, because she hasn’t been briefed about anything that is going on with our club where she’s so new. However, all of the women have been targets one way or another and have had to be involved in club business in the past because Vlad has brought them into it. Thea has skills that could be helpful, and we’d be stupid not to consider it.”

“No women in club business, it’s that simple, so you should find another way,” Magnum says firmly. “I don’t even tell my Old Lady anything and she knows better than to ask. If your women are involving themselves, you need to take them in hand and remind them of their place.”

There are a few more murmurs of agreement from their men, but our men say nothing, stone-faced. I glance at Bullet, and we share a quick glance that says it might have been a mistake to bring them in on this one if this is their reaction.

“I think you’re all forgetting that we are not an outlaw club,” Viper reminds them smoothly, though his tone is firm. “We don’t have shit that they need to worry about overhearing and talking about in open court. And like Bullet already said, we didn’t involve them, they were involved by Vlad. They were put in situations where they told us what was going on. My woman works for the courts, she overheard Vlad bribing a judge and telling him to go after me. We had no idea, and she saved us ahell of a lot of time and headache. Shadow’s woman, and King’s woman were both taken and told by Dmitri before we killed his ass about parts of what is going on. So before you all start judging and critiquing us you might want to consider that.”

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