Page 22 of The Devil's Ice

So Wolf crossed his arms, and carried on glaring. Sure enough, Viper opened his big stupid mouth and started blabbing:

“You’ll be staying down here twenty-four/seven. If I want to talk to you, I’ll do it through the door. If you don’t talk back, the boys will take turns coming in here and caving your fucking skull in until youdotalk to me. They’re already lining up for the chance to smash your face into the floor, Connor, believe me.”

Wolf stayed completely still, now in a more relaxed pose.

“We won’t let you starve, but don’t expect more than one meal a day. We’ll slide the tray through that panel on the door, so if you aren’t there to take it, you can fucking eat it off the floor.” He took a deep breath. “Or not. I don’t actually give a shit.”

Reminding himself that he, Scars, King, and the police had planned for every single eventuality – even this one, though they’d considered it a pretty negligible risk – Wolf held his rock-solid calm. Yeah, he’d get the shit kicked out of him and probablywaymore than once, but Viperstillneeded Wolf for information. Viper was weeks away from landing every single one of Dawson Kinney’s dirty contracts, just a couple of months away from solving every single one of his money woes. Faster if he went for the bogus cabin story.

So, yeah. Wolf might be stuck here, but he was still useful, and even though he had no clue where he was standing right now, Bale’s high-up inside man in The Hellions would know. He’d pass all the intel on to the cops, and they’d keep watch over him, wherever he was. He was still OK, despite Preacher pointing a gun at his head.

“So.” Viper stared at him. “Nothing to say?”

Wolf gave a tiny shrug, but stayed silent. Viper and Preacher exchanged glances… and then started laughing, full-on belly laughing. This wasn’t amused laughing, it wasn’t even ‘we got one over on you’ laughing. No. This was ‘you’re not in on the joke, you fucking idiot’ laughing, and it was chilling.

Thatwas when Wolf felt the first true stab of fear. Something was very,verywrong here, and he was suddenly struggling to keep his calm.

“Jesus Christ, Connor.” Viper almost sounded friendly. “Aren’t you at all curious why your clothes are gone?”

Wolf shrugged again, more cautiously this time. “I assume you were lookin’ to see if I was wired or hidin’ a weapon.”

“Not justwired,” Viper said, ignoring the weapon guess. “Matt Kingston and the cops bothloveto put tracking patches on their buddies, and some of them are clear and smaller than a SIM card – almost impossible to see on bare skin with just a quick look. Some are implanted under the skin. We had to do a real check forthosetoo.”

Wolf had been put on high alert at King’s name being uttered, and he’d heard very little after ‘cops’.Whywas Viper talking about King?Howdid he know anything about Denton and Bale?Whatdid he know? Howmuch?

Because he clearly fuckin’ knowssomethin’.

“Oh,right.” Viper smirked so hard that his black eyes almost disappeared. “Forgot to mention that I knew any ofthat, didn’t I?”

Wolf held his stare, fought hard to stay quiet. It was pretty goddam obvious that Viper was bursting to tell him what was going on, and Wolf needed to know –he just wasn’t sure that hewantedto.

“Youstillhaven’t twigged yet, have you?” Viper said, greatly amused. “Give it a minute, the penny will drop. You’re a smart boy, huh?”

And just like that, Wolf suddenlysaw. He saw completely and totally, and that meant that not only washefucked, so was everyone that he loved and cared about.

“Ah,” Viper said quietly, watching the realization dawn across Wolf’s face, as bright as a sunrise. “Thereit is. Now you’re all caught up.”

“Bale’s in your pocket,” Wolf said, trying to keep his breathing steady and slow as he listed off every single thing that had just become crystal clear. “Denton doesn’t know that. Thereisno inside man in the MC. That was just somethin’ that Bale said to get us to trust him and makehimthe point man on all communications with your club, so now he can say whatever the fuck he wants, and nobody will know that I’m missin’ or anythin’s wrong.” He sucked a breath into his contracting chest, reminded himself that that last part wasn’t strictly true, with the decoy plan that he and Scars had set up. Scars would know thatsomethingwas up – but it would take weeks. “Thereareno money problems that Crusher left behind. You have zero interest in takin’ things away from Kinney and his Blood Crew. This was all an elaborate plan to get me here.”

Viper laughed again. “Good job, Connor. Too bad you didn’t have this brainwave this morning, huh?”

“Why, though? Why go to all of this trouble?” Wolf asked, still not getting that part. “Why not just fuckin’ take me out comin’ home one night? Or shoot me in the head the second I walked into your club?”

“Because this is not aboutyou,” Viper said crisply. “Not really.”

“So who’s it about?”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Viper said, shaking his head and wagging his finger at Wolf, like he was a naughty student. “Why should I spoil all the fun? How about we give you some time to think about it some more? We can talk again tomorrow. Maybe.”

“I got it,” Wolf said as Viper and Preacher turned to go; he didn’treallyget it, but it was a calculated shot in the dark to keep the other man in the room and talking. “You want to end The Road Devils completely, don’t you? Crusher wanted to foryears, but never got the chance.”

“He nevermadethe chance,” Viper corrected him, and also confirmed Wolf’s suspicions. “The man was a full-on fucking psycho, as you well know, and so he was great at the brutal bloodshed side of things – but he was a shitty planner. He reacted to situations better than anyone, but he didn’t have the first clue how to be proactive, how tocreatesituations. Create opportunities.”

“And you do.”

Casually, as if Viper was gesturing at a new painting on his office wall, he waved his hand around the room, at Wolf’s naked body. “What doyouthink?”

“How long?”

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