Page 71 of The Devil's Conflict

“We haven’t had issues with them in well over thirty years,” Bullet replies. “And I just talked with their Presidents a few days ago telling them we were thinking of doing a run, but would need to go through their territory for it, and they were all for it.”

“So you don’t think that they’re trying to expand their territories then?”

“I would be damn surprised considering how big of ones they each have,” Shadow interjects. “But I suppose anything is possible. Though, you know yourself, this isn’t the way clubs operate. If they wanted our territory, they would approach us first, and if we resisted, then maybe, but nothing of the sort has happened.”

Sergeant Valdez nods, but I don’t think he’s convinced. Fine with me if it keeps him from sniffing around us too much. Vlad is probably hoping this very thing is going to happen and we’re going to be distracted with the cops while he moves his operation around so we can’t find it.

He’s going to be sorely disappointed, because we’re never going to allow that to happen.

“Alright, well, I have a few things to look into,” he says, putting the book away. “We haven’t had a problem with your MC since you all went straight decades ago, so I have to think that whatever is going on isn’t on your end. But that doesn’t mean others aren’t going to try their luck.”

“Any report on where and how the fire started?” Bullet asks the Fire Chief, Dennis Bates, who is listening to this little chat with rapt attention. No doubt he’ll be talking with his men about this later.

“From all reports, it seems that a large SUV pulled up and fire bombs were tossed through the windows. But, with how fast those flames went up, I have a feeling that’s not the only place it started,” Chief Bates replies. “It’s coming from all sides, so I would say that someone was around back and did the actual work while the others distracted the front.”

“Was it the same at the garage?” I ask.

Chief Bates nods. “We’ll know more once the Arson Investigator gets in to look once we have the fire out. But it’s definitely deliberate.”

“Any chance you have camera footage we can get?” Sergeant Valdez asks.

Bullet looks at Shadow. “Call Cryos and have him collect everything and send it over to Sergeant Valdez. Both buildings, and any other cameras we have that might be helpful.” Viper nods and steps away, putting his phone to his ear.

“Appreciate it,” Sergeant Valdez remarks. “I’m going to contact the neighboring businesses as well to see if they have anything that might be helpful. I have officers speaking with witnesses, so they could give us a description to help us figure out who is behind this.”

“Anything you need, Sergeant, and you have it,” Bullet says, a touch of relief and gratefulness in his voice. Who knew Bullet could be a damn good actor? Then again, he does have to live with Rose, so I can imagine he’s had some practice along the way.

The Chief and Sergeant walk away to continue their work, leaving us alone. Timber and Bowie make their way over. The other brothers, except Medic and Cryos who stayed back atthe clubhouse, are over at the mechanic shop dealing with that fucking mess.

“I heard one of the cops talking to a woman who saw the men who threw the fire bombs into the building,” Bowie says in a low voice. “She said that they were all big, scary looking, wore masks over their faces, but were wearing suits. And also heard one of them speaking and she wasn’t sure what nationality, but she thought maybe Russian or maybe Czech.”

Bullet explains to them what the Chief and Sergeant told us, and Bowie nods. “I have a vantage point laid out on another building behind us,” he murmurs. “Once things settle down, I’ll look and see what I can find.”

Bullet nods. “Good. Viper, get on the phone with the insurance companies and make sure the claims get started. We’ll talk more in Church about where we go from here.” Viper does as ordered, turning away already making the call.

The next few hours is us standing around and waiting for the fire to be extinguished. And during that time, we get updates from Torque, Stone and King from the garage. The garage fire was dealt with faster than this one. Though that probably has something to do with the fire station being less than a block over. The only sections that were destroyed were the waiting room and Torque’s office at the back. At least we still will be able to possibly have one functioning business rather than starting from the ground up with both.

When the fire crews finally leave and it’s only the cops, we’re allowed to get closer to assess the damage. Shadow and Viper’s faces turn foreboding as they stare at the husk of a building. They will rebuild, and we’ll make sure that it’s stronger and better than before.

Finally, we head back to the clubhouse, though my entire body is tense. This is a full-on attack, and I have a very bad feeling next up will be the clubhouse. We might have to makesome hard decisions and as much as they won’t want to, the women and kids might have to be sent away to be safe.

Thea won’t like that, but she’ll do it because she’ll know it’s for the best. That, and she’ll be the one in charge of their safety.

When we walk inside, Bullet bellows, “Church! Now!” Then he turns to me and says, “I’m going to want to know how much Thea has worked out, but we’ll hold off on that for now. When I ask for her, you get her since she’s your woman.”

I nod, not disputing the claiming of her. Because she is mine. “Arson and his men won’t like it,” I warn him as we head for the Church room door.

“I don’t give a flying fuck. I want this bastard finished, and if she gets it done faster, then I’ll make sure it happens,” he says, a dark determination in his voice that has me nodding again in agreement. Glad to see we’re on the same page.

The door slams behind us, and I know Crypt is the one on the door this time. The room is silent as we take our seats, and I can see the tension on everyone’s face. “Report,” Bullet barks, clearly not bothering to wait.

“We have confirmation from witnesses that men in SUVs threw fire bombs into the buildings, and that at both sites they heard men talking Russian,” King immediately answers. “We also have accounts of men going in the back to do the same. The fire was caught fast enough at the garage that once we fix up the water damage and the fire damage in the two rooms, we can still operate. The security company is toast. I heard one of the firefighters say that the whole place will have to be torn down, the structure is extremely unstable. They are worried the whole thing will fall on someone if they even tried to walk in there now.”

Cryos clicks a few buttons and pulls up the security feed. “I sent this all over to the cops, but everything the witnesses reported is accurate. I was able to get the license plates on theSUVs, and while they have come back as stolen, the men that get out of them are all the same heights and size at each location.”

“So they went to one and then the other one,” I summarize. “And from the response, I think it’s safe to say they went to the security company first and then the garage?”

Cryos nods. “That’s what the timestamps indicate. I also did note the types of SUVs are the ones that Vlad and his men like to use.”

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