Page 44 of The Devil's Conflict

“Not to mention, it was my woman who found out where one of their operations was and was almost killed by Dagger in the process,” Torque adds coldly. “And she’s the one who brought to our attention the kind of operation they are running in our territory. You really think that we want any of that shit to happen? For them to be harm’s way?”

My gaze is on Arson, who looks like he’s mulling over what’s been said. Finally, he says, “Magnum meant no disrespect.” He pins his Treasurer with a hard look, who gives a curt nod, before he continues, “You’re right, we’re not used to this kind of involvement with women in our club, but obviously it can’t be helped in this situation. We’ll do our best to understand that, but we’re set in our ways, so it’s going to be an adjustment. As for involving the new woman, Thea, it seems she’s not of the same circumstance as the others so perhaps it would be best to leave her out of it for now.”

“And now that we’re here, we can see if someone from our group can decipher it,” Cobra, their Road Captain, offers. He’s what I normally consider the quiet man of the group as well as one of the oldest. His hair is a long silver, with a long thick silver beard to match. His beer belly protrudes over his pants, and he’s got wrinkles and lines that prove the hardness of his life. His eyes are an amber color, and he wears a gold chain around his neck that was given to him by his first love all those years ago before she passed from cancer. He’s never been the same since, but I know he’s found another woman in his life, though he doesn’t mention her much.

“Any of you have any experience with ciphers and codes?” I ask, looking around the room.

“If anyone can solve it, it’d be Silver,” Crow, their secretary says. He’s one of the youngest men in their club. I wouldn’t put him past mid-thirties, with thick black hair that he keeps swept back in some kind of trendy style, and a barely there five o’clock shadow on his face. He looks too pretty to be a biker and has no visible tattoos. I don’t know much about him, but clearly he has no trouble rising in the ranks or speaking when the moment calls for it.

“I’m happy to look at it,” Silver offers. “Can’t hurt to have a fresh set of eyes on it.”

I glance at Bullet, and he nods. “Alright, you can get together with Cryos and Sniper to see if you can figure anything out,” Bullet tells him. “If after that nothing can be sorted, then we’ll revisit our other options.” I’m appeased by that but I also don’t have a good feeling in my gut either. Somehow the idea of letting Silver see the journals feels off, but I can’t pinpoint why, so I push the thought aside.

“Good,” Arson says with a nod. “Then we’ll figure out the rotations and get to work on finding out where these bastards are hiding. Could be that knowing you’ve asked for our help will flush him out.”

He might be on to something, but I also know that it might not be in the way he’s thinking. We just have to hope we find Vlad first and get him the hell out of the way.

It’s another hour before we finally have everything sorted and we leave Church. When we walk out, I’m not surprised to find Thea sitting and talking with the women, but it is a surprise to find Macy sitting in her lap, braiding her blonde hair into what is looking like a knotted mess. But Thea is just smiling and chatting with the other women, seemingly content.

I want to walk over to her, but we need to get to work on deciphering the journal, so I head toward Cryos’s office with Silver, Arson, Bullet, and Shadow. The faster we find out if Silvercan figure it out, the better. And I’m also a bit relieved that we won’t need to involve Thea.

Once we’re in Cryos’s office and he hands over both the copies we made of the notes in the journals and in the documents that Cryos’s contact sent us from Dagger and Misha’s phone, Silver flips through them. Nothing on his face give anything away until he finally says, “On first glance it looks like it’s a kind of basic code where you just flip some letters around in the words or sentence, but I imagine you already tried that?”

“You’d have to ask Crypt because he’s the one working on it,” Shadow replies. “He’s probably in his room. He’s still on medical rest from a couple of bad blows to the head in short succession recently. He might even be working on it now.”

“He’s a Prospect, isn’t he?” Arson asks, the disapproval clear in his tone.

“He’s a Prospect who has more experience with this than any of us and I’m not going to be sitting around and wasting time with my thumb up my ass trying to solve it,” Bullet tells him bluntly. “Arson, if you and your men have a problem with how we run our club, then I think we need to consider if this is going to be a good fit. We don’t need questions getting in the way when we have someone gunning for us.”

“And we’re not a 1%er club,” I add firmly. “So we don’t subscribe to the same life and rules that you do. If we were at your clubhouse, we wouldn’t be questioning the way you run your life.”

Arson is quiet for a moment and I see him share a glance with Silver. “I don’t mean any disrespect,” he finally says. “But you have to admit it’s strange and any other ally would say the same thing if they were here.”

“And we’re a bunch of ex-military men with a lot of strengths that most don’t have,” I reply sharply, irritated that this has to be defended yet again. “It’s not the first time we’ve involvedProspects, and I know that most allies have had Prospects brought into the inner workings of the clubs when the need calls for it. We are no different. We have lost one brother because of this, and if involving Crypt means we don’t lose any more, then we’re going to fucking do that. If you have a problem with it, then you and your men can leave and we’ll find someone else, or keep your thoughts to yourselves.”

Arson just regards me for a moment, his gaze and expression giving nothing away. Finally he says, “It’s going to be an adjustment for us considering how you run your club versus how we run ours. And considering that for a long time we’ve never had anything like this come up before, I’m sure you can understand our surprise.”

“I can, which is exactly why I’m not telling you to get out,” Bullet tells him tightly. “We’re well aware that we haven’t had to face anything like this as a club in many years, and if I had a choice, we wouldn’t ever. Especially not since Hammer and I worked damn fucking hard to get us out of that kind of life after what Bull and his minions put the rest of us through. We’re doing our best, considering what has been happening, and I’m using every fucking tool we have at our disposal to make sure that we don’t lose this fucking war that the Russians have brought to our door.” Then he gives him a furious look and adds, “And until you see your Old Lady lying in a hospital bed, unsure if she’s going to wake up or if you’re going to be alone for the rest of your days, then you can’t say shit to me about what you will or won’t do.” Then without another word, he stalks out, slamming the door behind him.

“Fuck,” Arson huffs, running a hand through his hair, then he strides out after Bullet, no doubt to repair the damage he’s just done.

“He always was one to cause trouble as soon as we got anywhere,” Silver remarks with a chuckle. “Now, I’m going tofind a quiet spot to work on this. Though I sometimes work better after I’ve had my cock sucked, so if you know if any of the women would be interested…” He waggles his brows at us, and I just roll my eyes.

“I’ll find one of the club girls for you,” Shadow offers drily. “But none of that shit is happening until after the kids have gone to bed. You know our rules, Silver, and if my daughter sees or hears something she shouldn’t, I’ll be kicking your ass myself.”

Silver waves a hand at him. “Of course not. Besides, I’m going to head outside, so just make sure she stays inside. And I prefer blondes, by the way.” He grins that, shooting me a wink, before heading out of the room, whistling.

I fight back the urge to follow him and warn him away from Thea, not missing that pointed statement, but I stay put, clenching my hands into fists at my side instead. “I’m probably going to end up killing him before this is over,” I mutter.

“Bowie and Frost probably have the perfect vantage point around here for you to do it so no one will see you,” Cryos offers back in amusement, clearly overhearing me as he sits down at his computer.

I don’t reply to that. Because Bowie and Frost might know places, but I know them all. Even the ones that no one knows will work best. Those I keep to myself because you never know when that kind of information is going to come in handy.

“I’m almost considering telling Rose and the rest of the Coven to make sure to keep these boys on their toes,” Shadow drawls. “You know, just to make the point that they have it easy with their women compared to us.”

I chuckle at that. “Something tells me that Rose would be all for that. She’s not a fan after their last visit. Well, not of Silver anyway. You think he’s going to be able to figure out those journal entries?”

Shadow is silent for a moment. “He’s smart, and maybe he’ll be able to figure it out, but I have my doubts. And if I’m going to be honest, I’m not all that comfortable to have someone outside the club looking at it.”

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