Page 73 of Smooth Sailing

“You gotta know if you do. And I gotta know I can trust you. So think, Di. You in, or are you gonna look after Suzette and talk her into getting safe and chatting with the Feds while the rest doesn’t touch you?”

“You’re kinda scaring me, Hugger,” she said quietly.

“Good,” he returned.

“It’s hard to make a decision about something I don’t know what I’m deciding at the same time being kinda entirely freaked out.”

“That’s the trust part.”

“I—”

“Diana, in or out.”

“I don’t?—”

He caught her by the jaw and got nose to nose with her again.

“In or out, baby.”

She stared into his eyes.

And whispered, “In.”

He knew that would be her answer.

And now for taking the risk.

“Resurrection MC is known by two other names.”

“Okay,” she said slowly.

“They’re known as the Angels of Vengeance.”

Her eyes got big.

“And the Angels of Death.”

Her lips parted.

“And both just got activated.”

“Oh my God,” she breathed.

“So, you got no part in that, but you got a part in this. You and Pete. You get Suzette talking. About herself, about what went down, about getting safe and giving up what she knows, and about why she picked you.”

“Why she picked me?”

“She got away and didn’t hole up. She went to the hospital. That is not a woman who’s given up. That’s a woman who wanted help. But she doesn’t trust the cops. She trusts you. We gotta know why she doesn’t trust cops. So we gotta know why she picked you.”

His hands moved as her head did in a nod.

“You gonna get on that?”

She nodded again.

Okay.

“Now, this is what’s gonna go down,” he began. “Mace knows Eight. He knows Resurrection. He knows what switch he just flipped. I don’t know his motivation. Maybe he did it on purpose. Maybe he did it to light some fires elsewhere. Scott is gonna look into things. He’s gonna hear things. It’s a good bet Mace is gonna tell him things. And Chaos is not about that. Neither is Aces. So we’re in a race right now, baby. I got no problem with what Eight and Muzz are intent to do. But me and Pete and Dutch can’t let it touch you, Suzette or Chaos. And the best chance we got to do that is get Babic in a cage and shut down his shit.”

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