Page 119 of Deserter

Tony seemed to deflate a little. A few more slip-ups with Comedian and he might just be where we wanted him. “What would you like, Comedian?”

“Bottle of Jack, Prospect.” He turned to Wolverine. “You want anything?”

Wolverine shook his head, still busy calculating all the mistakes we’d made tonight. I was sure of it. “I’m good.”

Tony turned to me. “I know what you want. Tequila. But, none of that cheap ass shit. You’ll only drink the ultra-premium stuff. If your Ol’ Lady asks, you’ll just say you had a beer or two.”

The buzzing from the tattoo gun stopped again and the room went deathly silent.

“And how the fuck would you know all that?” I asked calmly, even though his every word had just settled in my gut.

“I watched you. I feel like if I’m gonna be a biker, I better learn from the best, right?” He held up his fingers like guns and fired them in the air. “I’ll be right back.”

I pinched my lower lip between my thumb and index finger, knowing what Tony’s actions meant, but not wanting to believe that I’d missed it.

“Didn’t even break a sweat,” Comedian noted quietly, all traces of his smile gone.

Any other prospect would’ve been down on his knees, shaking in front of me. The only people who knew my drinking habits were the men who’d been riding with me for years and they didn’t go around sharing that shit like a bunch of southern ladies gettin’ together for tea.

The new guy had been tipped off and that meant one thing in my mind—we’d been infiltrated. Wolverine held a finger to his lips and began lifting cushions. Comedian got down on his hands and knees and searched underneath.

When their search turned up nothing, Wolverine unplugged my office telephone and lifted the handset before unscrewing the mouthpiece. He held up a small silver disk with green markings. “Bingo.”

I took it and turned it over in my hand, marveling at the fact that something no bigger than a half dollar was going to sink my entire club.

ATF… FBI… it didn’t fucking matter which alphabet agency was responsible. It was the fact that I hadn’t seen the goddamn signs.

Wolverine met my eyes and shook his head. “It’s worthless outside of the phone, but this don’t sit right with me. And the shit earlier with the Outlaws. You find it odd that there weren’t more of them there? This was the clubhouse they planted in our motherfuckin’ territory and they didn’t even try to defend it.”

That was what he’d been lost in thought over and once he mentioned it, I realized that I’d gotten so focused on winning that I hadn’t seen the victories that were being handed to me.

“If Tony’s a fuckin’ fed, then Nails is too. How much have they seen? What do they have on us?”

Comedian ran a finger under his nose. “More than enough to ensure we get a nice reservation booked at the iron B&B down south for the next fifty years to life.”

“He’s right,” Wolverine said. “Nails has been buying up weapons left and right. We should’ve seen it before now.”

“Fuck!” I slammed my fist down on the arm of the chair and Dagger rolled his chair away from me, holding the tattoo gun up in his hands like the cops had just stormed the place. Having realized we were done for the day, he packed up his shit and disappeared back out into the club.

I had no idea how much evidence they had against the club. If I thought getting arrested while my wife was in labor was my low point, I couldn’t imagine being carted off to federal prison for the rest of my natural life.

Bedtime stories read behind plexiglass partitions…

My girls watching me age in an orange jumpsuit…

Never feeling Celia’s body under mine again…

It was a goddamn nightmare.

Wolverine picked at the leather on the couch. “The Outlaws aren’t going to back down, Grey. They’re trying to make us think we’re winning. They’ll bide their time until we let our guard down and then drop the hammer. Game over.”

“He’s right,” Comedian added. “This ain’t winnin’. It’s a trap.”

Celia had warned me, hadn’t she?

I’d just been too fuckin’ proud to listen. A few of the clubs had gone running for the hills once they suffered a few losses and realized we didn’t back down from a fight.

I thought we’d wait them all out and take care of any stragglers once the smoke cleared. I hadn’t intended to start a war, but I sure as fuck planned on ending it.

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