Page 220 of Smooth Sailing

His son dead at his order, Hugger thought this was too good to be true.

“We believe that?” Hugger pushed.

“We do,” Sixx said.

“There a reason he didn’t just tell Buck this info when Buck tried to reach out ten fuckin’ times?” Hugger groused.

“Unfortunately, there is,” Sixx told him. “He thought it was hilarious, how much effort you all were putting into keeping safe two people he didn’t give a shit about.”

What an asshole.

But that was something he could believe about this guy, and at least it meant Di and Nolan were safe, and Dutch, Jag and Coe could go home.

He was sticking in Phoenix, at least for a while.

“And Maddy?” Hugger kept at Sixx.

“Maddy isn’t his problem,” Sixx replied. “She was, when he was trying to keep his son from tanking himself and the family business. She’s not anymore. There’s nothing that links Imran Babic with that trafficking ring. And the Feds have decimated it. They have the testimony of a good number of women, not to mention several players who are making deals. Madison might not even have to testify.”

Well, that was a huge fucking relief.

Hugger turned to Eight. “Any word on what his gig is with the clubs?”

Eight’s eyes darkened and he said, “Yeah. Back in Denver, Core and Brain got hold of an informant, that bein’ an informant of Babic’s. They did their work and found out that somehow, Babic learned about the situation with Chaos and Resurrection and Benito Valenzuela.”

Valenzuela was a name out of Chaos’s history books, just like Hugger’s bio-father was.

And like Hugger’s bio-father, the story wasn’t a fun one.

Therefore, Hugger didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“So what?”

“So, seems like Babic got it in his head he didn’t like the fact that two motorcycle clubs bested one of his kind,” Eight informed him. “For shits and grins, because this guy is one twisted motherfucker, thought he’d bump up against us and see how that shook out.”

Fucking hell.

Hugger studied Eight closely. “How much he know about Valenzuela?”

Eight’s voice went low. “Enough, but not any of that. No one knows anything about any of that.”

Hugger relaxed.

Only slightly.

“His army decimated, his business in ruins, is he maybe rethinking making that play?” Hugger asked.

“Would be hard,” Mace said. “Unless he smuggles himself back into the country, any point of entry he tried, he’d be arrested immediately. He could call the shots from South America, but without any soldiers left, not sure who he could trust that he’d reach out to for an operation that would have to be intricate and well-managed.”

“Men like him find their way to get around,” Hugger pointed out.

No one had a response to that.

“He’d also have to rebuild,” Cap added. “We suspect he’s living off hidden money, but he had bank accounts here, all of them healthy, now all of them are frozen, and as those wheels turn, no doubt they’re gonna get seized, along with all his property. So he doesn’t have near the resources he used to.”

“Not to mention, he made a mistake picking Bolivia,” Mace put in. “The extradition treaty we signed with them hasn’t been fruitful for the US, to the point it’s like it’s not there. Last person they allowed extradited was in the mid-nineties. They’re not fans of extraditing Bolivian nationals. But he’s not a Bolivian national. He got American citizenship in 1998. They’ve been made aware he’s there, the US government is in talks with them about extricating him, so he might need to make another move and do it soon.”

“So he’s gonna be on the run,” Hugger deduced.

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