Page 120 of Deserter

“What do we do?”

Wolverine’s eyes widened as he looked up from where he was picking a hole in the arm of the couch. “You askin’ me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, old man, I am. Been doing shit my way for the last five years and as you can see, it ain’t working out real well at the moment. I’m open to suggestions.”

He and Comedian exchanged a look and nodded grimly.

“What?” I snapped. “You two got something you wanna share with the rest of the class?”

Wolverine sighed. “Grey, I think it’s time to look at exit strategies.”

“Exit strategies? Tucking our tails between our legs and running? That don’t sound like a plan, old man.”

I should’ve known he wouldn’t have had anything useful to add to the discussion. He’d forgotten what it was like to run this club.

He leaned forward, pointing his finger in my direction. “Now, listen to me for a goddamn minute. What’d I tell you when you were a kid? Hmmm? You remember that far back?”

I shrugged. “You said a lot of shit, Wolverine. How am I supposed to know?”

“I told you that you never announce you’re bringing a war. Well, you screwed the pooch on that one, didn’t ya? Way I see it, we got two options. We keep fighting until the feds close in on us, or we let everyone think they’ve won. What do these motherfuckers want more than anything, Comedian?”

He grinned. “Grey’s head on a spike?”

“Something like that. We need something to shift the focus off our club and onto the Outlaws. So, we give them what they want.”

I held up my hand. “Wait a fuckin’ minute. Are you suggesting killing me as an option to winning the war?”

This was the worst fucking idea he’d ever had.

“Calm your nuts, Grey,” Wolverine calmly replied. “Ain’t suggesting that we send you to the Reaper, although there are days it sure sounds nice. No, we need to solve two problems right now. Get the Outlaws and the feds off our asses.

“We set the Outlaws up for murder and the feds start looking at them. Now, I think we caught this early. If Nails is just now bringing in reinforcements, it means he don’t have enough to take us down on his own.”

There was a knock at the door and Tony walked in, carrying drinks like a goddamn waitress. “Here we are. Bottle of Jack for Comedian and top-shelf tequila for Grey.”

Wolverine tilted his chin up and growled, “Get the fuck out.”

Tony slinked out of the room and shut the door behind him. He waited a minute before continuing. “They took your DNA when you got arrested couple years ago, yeah?”

“Yeah, said it was standard procedure. Why?”

He grinned. “Well, that’s your saving grace. You’re gonna be donating some blood to save lives—how’s that sound?”

I didn’t have the faintest idea what was going on but nodded anyway.

“Good. I’ll bring Lucy in to start taking your blood every day. Once we get enough, we call the Outlaws in for a ceasefire agreement—”

“Fuck no,” I interjected. “Why don’t we cap the feds now and then go after the Outlaws?”

“We send the feds to meet the Reaper now and we’ll be sitting behind bars before ever getting near the Outlaws. At that point, you can kiss your family goodbye because they won’t hesitate to take them out.” Comedian had gone back to staring at the ceiling, but his voice was laced with anger.

He had a point and as much as I wanted to be the brains behind this operation, it was clear that I was out of my element. “Go on,” I directed them. “Tell me what you need from me.”

Wolverine’s mouth flattened into a thin line. “We call in the Outlaws to meet, somewhere neutral. We sit down at the table and agree to their terms to end the war. Let it go a few days and then invite them out to the clubhouse. Call in the Nomads to ambush and take out our feds at the same time.

“Police come in and find bodies and your blood… enough that it becomes obvious you didn’t walk out of there on your own. They search for a body until losing interest and shifting their focus to the real culprit—the Outlaws. Meanwhile, we relocate down south, giving the illusion that the club’s folding, and wait for the dust to settle.”

I nodded, still not understanding how it was going to work. “When do we move Celia and the girls?”

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