Page 56 of The Devil's Conflict

“Someone needs to get back out to that cabin and search around to see if anything can be found,” Viper agrees. “And check the woods to see if we can find an entrance somewhere,because I think you’re right, there is probably one somewhere out there, and in that thick of a forest, we could walk right by it without realizing it’s there.”

“Cryos, how are those locations coming?” Bullet asks.

“I’ll be done in about three minutes or so,” he answers absently as he continues to type.

“We need to get us one of these guys,” Angel remarks with a grin. “Damn handy to have. Cryos, you sure you don’t want to come and help us out? We probably pay better.”

“Not unless I want the CIA breathing down my neck,” Cryos answers simply, still typing away. “But thanks.”

“Well, if you know someone who would be interested, let us know,” Arson tells him. “Would help us out on planning our own runs and stashes.”

No one says anything to that as we patiently wait for Cryos to finish. When he does, he throws an image of a map with dots up on the screen. “All the locations decoded are there,” he says with a pleased smile. “And from what I can tell, they’re all in wooded areas where there is low traffic, or in businesses that no one would think would be a front for anything illegal.”

“I see the garage they’ve been using,” Torque says. “Along with the pawn shop and the restaurant we knew they were using.”

“And the cabin just down the road,” I agree, staring at it. I narrow my eyes, taking them all in. I count about twenty, and that’s only from a couple of pages of the journal. “Silver, how many more pages do you think there are to be decoded?” I ask, turning my head to look at him.

“At last count, ten more, but most of them only have a few listed on each, so in total, probably about another twenty, maybe twenty-five.”

“So we’re looking at forty-five, maybe fifty depending on how he coded things,” I summarize, looking back at the map. “Andthat’s just here in our city. We know they’re operating outside of ours as well, but I doubt Dagger would have those if Bull didn’t include them in the journal.”

“Before we had these two neighboring clubs, our club was at war with the one that was there for years but eventually left town,” Bullet explains. “So it would explain why there is nothing outside our territory’s borders. We step one toe in that direction, we’d be in a gun fight instantly. The President at the time, Fido I think he went by, he was a mean son of a bitch that shot first and asked questions later. He was old school, and he didn’t take well to disrespect, which Bull liked to do as often as possible. I need to think of the name, because it’s been well over forty years now. The club dissolved after Bull killed Fido in a shootout at their gate when Fido went after one of our shipments at the time.”

“Wasn’t it something like the Wolfhounds or something?” Arson muses.

“Yeah, sounds about right. They were as bad as Bull in the shit they used to do, but they were also the kind that had been through both World Wars and some of them fuckers were messed the hell up,” Bullet replies grimly. “But after they disbanded, the Satan’s Swords took over and we reached a truce so we left them be. Though I think that had more to do with Bull knowing the President at the time as an old buddy from school or something. Otherwise, I have a feeling Bull would have tried to take over the other territory too.”

“Are we sure Bull didn’t rely on them if he was such good buddies?” I reason, my mind swirling with possibilities. “I mean, sure, we don’t have locations in the journal, but it could be that he had another one for that side.”

“What is with you assholes and journals?” Whip huffs. “First rule is you never write this shit down.”

“Well, we should be grateful he did or we’d be going into all of this blind,” I point out calmly.

“And if Dagger hid one back-up journal, then there is a very good chance he hid more,” Shadow agrees.

“Could be worth another look in some of the other buildings,” Bowie agrees.

“We’re already spreading ourselves thin with trying to find their hideouts and keeping this place protected,” Bullet says with a shake of his head. “What we need to do is focus on these, and then we worry about another journal or other locations outside of our territory later. Vlad is probably already gearing up to strike again, and I want to try and cut it off at the pass before he or that explosion happy helper of his try to take us out.”

There’s a murmur of agreement around the table, but the Misfits, though they mostly look uncaring. Most of them are probably wishing they didn’t have to deal with this at all, but they’re here, so too fucking bad for them.

“I say we pick a couple to go and check,” Cobra suggests, leaning forward as he stares up at the screen. “No point in trying to get to all of them, because that would be next to impossible. But we need to see if the locations are right, and how they’re operating so we can make a plan of attack. We want to put a large hole in their operation, but we don’t have the manpower or ability to blow it completely up. Yet.”

“He’s right,” Frost agrees with a nod Cobra’s way. “First place we need to look is that cabin and try to catch them before they move whatever is in there. They were there until the early morning, and I set up a camera of our own, but nothing has shown anyone coming in or out since. Now’s the time to strike.”

“And we should have some check out a few places around town that are off the beaten path,” Shadow agrees. “Even checking on the other side of town so we’re not too close together for them to ambush us or get to one spot quickly to confront us if they realize we’re there.”

“Agreed,” Bullet says with a nod. “We also need to make sure we have enough men here for rounds and to keep the women and kids safe.”

“Thea is going to be their guard since she’s here,” I tell him.

There’s another murmur of conversation at that statement, but I ignore it as Bullet looks at me, arching a brow at me in surprise. “She agreed?” he asks dubiously.

I nod. “Her job is a security guard, and since she can’t go into the office, this will keep her busy and we’ll pay her the same as if she was working. Not to mention, she can blend in with the women easily if shit goes south. She’s trained to be silent and deadly, and she’ll make sure they’re safe.”

“So, what, you don’t trust us to keep them safe?” Whiskey demands, clearly offended considering the sneer on his face.

I meet his gaze head-on. “I trust all my brothers, including you, to keep them safe. But with Thea, the rest of you have more freedom to help us find these locations and take Vlad down as quickly as possible. Simple as that.”

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