Page 7 of The Devil's Conflict

“Good. You start tomorrow,” Shadow tells him. “Be here by eight, with your bike, and ready to work. We’ll get you all set up, and Eric can do your onboarding.”

Theo nods, shakes his and Viper’s hand, smacks Eric on the shoulder and then heads for the sleek black Dodge Challenger.

“Do I get to drive it now?” Theo asks Thea with a winning grin. “You know, now that I have a job and all that. I deserve a reward, right?”

Thea gives her brother a look that tells him to keep dreaming and a low chuckle escapes my mouth before I can hold it back. The only person that hears it is Bullet, who is standing next to me, and I can feel his probing gaze looking at me for a moment before he turns away. “Forget it,” Thea says as she heads for the driver’s side. “I’d like to live to see you start your job.” Then she climbs inside, and without so much as a glance my way, they’re driving off.

I force myself not to watch her leave, instead, firmly putting her out of my mind. We have more important things to focus on right now.

“Conference room?” Shadow asks. Bullet nods, and then we all make our way inside.

Once we’re into the building, Eric heads back to his desk and Bullet, King, and I follow Shadow and Viper into the conference room, shutting the door behind us. “What did you find out?” Shadow asks as we take our seats around the large table.

“It was definitely Vlad,” I tell them grimly. “We’ll discuss it more in Church, but Cryos was able to get into security feeds around the city and was able to track them to an abandoned car lot on the other side of the city where they ditched the SUV and got in another one waiting. Someone set the SUV on fire before they drove off, and the light was enough to get some facial features that Cryos could run.”

“And it came back to Vlad?” Viper asks.

“Well, Vlad’s men,” I correct.

“Which means we are about to have a war on our hands,” Shadow says grimly. “Though we knew it was coming. Especially with what happened with Eden and the fuckers in the apartment. I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t done this sooner.”

“The problem is we still don’t know where the son of a bitch is hiding out,” King points out.

“We need to step up our efforts on that,” Bullet agrees. “We’ll talk more about it in Church, but I want all hands-on deck, keeping an eye on the businesses. Do you have the manpower to do that?” he asks Shadow and Viper.

“We’re light on body guarding work so we can make it work,” Shadow answers. “Things would be easier if we had one more person to be the float between the clients we have going right now since it’s mostly just daily jobs, but we could always use Eric if needed and maybe we can get Rose to help us out in the meantime.”

“I’m sure she’d be up for that,” Bullet agrees.

“What we need is Thea to join us and then that would help out immensely. She could be our float without having to pull Eric,” Viper butts in, looking at me expectantly. “Though our VP over here might have pushed her off with whatever his deal is. Care to fill us in?”

They all look at me, and I shrug. “She was an officer under my command before I joined the Forces. Nothing more.”

“Nothing more?” Viper repeats incredulously. “Bullshit. What the hell was all that out there then? I thought she was either going to kiss you or punch you with the way she was looking at you.”

I refuse to react. “She was struggling and I gave her a push, even if she doesn’t think I did and thought I was just being an asshole. But she was close to quitting, and I knew if she did, she would regret it. She was pissed at me then but I watched her work harder, and smarter, than anyone else in her group. She excelled after that, and clearly made her way up through the ranks and into the Forces, which is no easy feat, especially as a woman.”

Shadow nods. “Yeah, it’s mostly a man’s world.”

“And she’s not going to turn down the job because of anything I said,” I assure him confidently. “Thea is made of sterner stuff than that. I do think her being the only woman here is going to be something that might hold her back.”

“What makes you say that?” Bullet asks.

“Just a feeling,” I say with a shrug. I know there’s more to it, but I’m not going to delve into it. It’s not my business and it’s not my problem.

Shadow and Viper look unconvinced, but they let it drop.

“Alright, I’m calling Church by the end of the day,” Bullet says briskly. “And we’re going to make a plan because we’re not going to let Vlad get away with this shit.”

“Do we need to plan on going full lockdown?” Shadow asks tightly. I glance at him and see the tension on his face and the hardness of his jaw. No doubt he’s thinking about his pregnant Old Lady and daughter.

“I’m not ruling it out.”

Personally, I have no issue with it since I live at the clubhouse anyway, but I also understand there are many brothers with Old Ladies and starting families who’d have. Syn and Stone for example, are expecting their first baby, and live next door to the clubhouse. Still, with that many people and adding in Shadow’s and Viper’s two kids, it will make the place crowded and that is something we have to prepare ourselves for.

“I’ll let Quinn know to be prepared,” Shadow says with a nod. “But for now, we continue as normal and I’ll make sure I’m the one to pick them up and take them to wherever they need to go.”

“I’ll do the same with Eden and Archer,” Viper agrees.

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