Page 29 of Brick

"Does this have to do with her sister? Did you find out more information on her?" Hook asks.

"It does have to do with her, though she's still missing. The other night when Luna's place was broken into, we don't think they were there for her per se, but for this." I seesaw the thumb drive between my fingers, and the rest of the guys grow somber. They all know it has something to do with the seven-oh-sevens, and if they are already willing to break in and hurt someone for what's on the drive, it must be important to them. And we are in possession of it. That means the fight is coming to us.

I don't have to spell it out for the guys. Shit is about to get real.

Soon after, Light comes in with a large flat-screen TV. I'm sure it's one of the throwaways he's got in his shop. Every so often, he just shows up with refurbished shit. I'm just glad he's not out stealing it. We don't have a hook or anything for it, so he just places it up against the wall so we all can see it. After he plugs it in, he connects his computer to it and then reaches over for the thumb drive.

I hand it over to him and instantly feel lighter with it out of my possession.

It's dead silence in the room while Light gets it set up and then presses play. It starts in the same place I saw it start last night: Dutch beating a man in a chair. This time, I don't have to stop it because none of us find it too hard to keep watching. Every last person in this club has seen the worst of society. We know just how bad things can get.

When it's finally over, over thirty minutes worth of footage, we have more information on the street gang than I ever wanted, including certain members of the gang making plans to come take us out.

Now it went from a problem to personal.

I can't be sure that Dutch knows what's going on, but I know if Daly is involved with it, it's probably because he's going to use it to get back into the group or, better yet, maybe overthrow Dutch.

"We can't ignore this shit," Semi's gruff voice snaps me to attention.

"No shit. The question is, what the hell do we do with it without getting any of our people hurt? If this shit goes to the cops, Dutch is done for; if we do nothing, not only do we lose out on finding Wendy, but there's a very real chance that all of our days are numbered. I'm thinking we've got to pull Dutch's chain. Let him know there's more snakes in his grass and see if he'll work with us instead of against us."

"You know that's going to be a hard sell. He doesn't see us as equals. He thinks because we don't go around shooting and robbing people, we're just wannabes," Pipe answers.

"I don't give a fuck what he thinks of us. Right now, we've got him by the balls. We know who in his operation to look out for, and at any given moment, we could drop this off to the cops,and he'll be in jail for life. I'm not sure he's built for that life." I let my eyes roam around the room, just trying to feel out where everyone else might stand on this.

"Are you doing this all for that woman?" Torch questions. The words are coming from his mouth, but I swear they came from Semi's brain. Semi is a good brother, but he never fails to check us, even me, if he feels like shit is off.

"You don't get to fucking question who or what I'm doing it for. You want to sit back and wait for these bastards to roll up on us and take us out? Say that. You want to try and get ahead of it? Say that. But don't fucking question my motives. Ever. In your fucking life." I stand from my seat, just waiting for him to say another word.

I would have no trouble going toe-to-toe with anyone in this room, and if Torch keeps poking the bear, I just might have to.

"No, Brick is right," Hook speaks up. "It doesn't matter who this started out for; it involves us now. Honestly, it's partially our fault for letting those bastards think we'd be such easy targets. It's damn near sickening to think we're the easy kill they think we are."

A round of grumbles starts through the group, and soon after, they are all nodding in agreement.

I glare at Torch a second more before I sit back down and take a breath; I need to keep this calm. "Now that we know the stakes and what these assholes are planning to do, what's the vote? Do we sit on this information, give it to the cops, or try to talk this shit out with Dutch even though it might go bad?"

Light leans forward and stares at me. "Well, we picked out prime locations to dump the bodies if it comes to that. Doesn't make sense to let them go to waste."

I laugh at that.

After the shit that went down with Bea and Hook, I knew it was going to be impossible to keep on skating by without getting our hands dirty. I would try my best, but if someone had to go, I wanted to make sure we had a place to put them. Seems like we're going to use those graves a lot sooner than I was expecting.

I look around the room, and everyone votes. It's unanimous. I'm going to have to take another meeting with Dutch. Let's see what else this bastard has up his sleeve.

Thirteen

Luna

To sayI'm nervous would be an understatement.

Brick warned me several times that I should just stay at the clubhouse, and I can see from the other guys' faces that they don't want me here, but I'm not going to sit back and wait. I've been in bad situations because of my sister before. This is just another day in my family.

By the time we get there, Brick is still trying to get me to sit it out, but as we're walking toward a group of men who all look like they're willing to shoot us down in a heartbeat, he changes his tune.

"We're just here to talk. They may get a bit upset, but it shouldn't be anything more than talking." Brick whispers in my ear and pulls me closer to his side.

I nod but keep my head on a swivel. I check the corners and the small alleyway, looking to see if my sister is here, but that hope quickly dies when I don't see her.

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