Page 30 of Bond

Bond kisses my forehead, wrapping me in his arms. I sigh and relax for the first time since he woke me up. “It’s going to be okay, baby. We have a plan and we’re good at what we do,” Bond reassures me.

“Now, let’s get in there so Bull can fill us in on what’s going to happen, and we can get this lot dealt with so we can go back to living our lives. We have a house to build and siblings for Daisy to make.”

Laughing slightly, I wipe at the tears that have gathered under my eyes, squeezing him one more time before letting go completely and walking into the room they’d been using for Church. By the time we leave there, I’m no longer worried; they’ve thought about everything, and now it’s just a waiting game until the Mambas make a move.

Dex Macgregor still has people watching them in the city, so at least we’ll have advanced warning of their arrival and can get into our places.

They can only really come at us from the road as the hotel backs onto the river, so we only have to watch from one direction. Blaze, Cairo, and Skinny have set up several booby traps, and Skinny has the place wired tight with cameras all over the place. He’ll be monitoring them along with Josie and feeding us information through our earpieces.

Noni and I will be on the roof with Jill, helping her spot and also picking off those we can from up high.

The men will be on the ground doing what they did best.

I know the Mambas will come in guns blazing, thinking a big show of force will be intimidating. I can’t wait to see Jason’s face when he realises he is outgunned by men who are ten times the man he is.

CHAPTER 14

BULL

Our temporary Church slowly fills up with Bond and Rochelle bringing up the rear. I know she feels guilty that this is all somehow her fault. And while yes, it’s because of her that this skirmish has been brought to a head so quickly, it would have happened eventually anyway. Especially with the information we’d received when we’d spoken to the shop owners and the people from our town. All of them knew of this gang and most had had run-ins with them. When we’d explained what was happening, there had been volunteers to offer help, which we’d declined.

It was bad enough that my brothers and our women were putting our lives on the line; I didn’t want any others on my conscience.

Bond closed the door behind him, and I turned towards the screen that Skinny had set up. There were pictures on there of the main men in the gang with their names under them. Most of them looked drugged up and in ill health, and I hoped that this would help us, although we all knew that if they were high, it could change the entire outcome.

Turning back to the room, I look at Rochelle and ask, “Tell us what you can about this lot and who you think will come with them. Do they have any military training? Anything you can tell us about them will be helpful.”

“I know them all,” Rochelle replies, “They’ll all come except for the one in the third row. He’s different from the others; he doesn’t take drugs, and he manages all their finances. I think if he thought he’d get away with it, he’d take over.”

“Mmh,” I hum as I think over what she’s just said. “Do you know him? Would he speak to you?”

Rochelle looks uncertain. “His name is Dindi. I don’t know if he’ll speak to me. I didn’t have much to do with him. I do know he’s not a thug like the others; he’s educated and thinks things through. He did stop Jared from hitting me once, and he’s always been polite and kind when I’ve had anything to do with him, but,” she shrugs, “I honestly don’t know if he’ll speak to me. Why, what are you thinking?”

“If he’s interested in a coup and taking over, then it might be beneficial for us to speak to him. Make a deal that if he keeps his shit to the city and doesn’t encroach on us, we’ll leave him alone; but if he doesn’t want to take the deal, then we’ll take every last one of them out. He’s got to be haemorrhaging money paying everyone off, and if they’re using more than they’re selling, they’ll be broke before long. But we want inside information on who’s coming and when.”

“You want to make a deal like that?” Cairo looks surprised and a little angry.

I hold up my hand, “I don’t like it any more than you do. But we can’t have a war that’s going to continue forever; we don’t have the manpower, and yes, we have allies, but I’d rather get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

“Now I’m not saying we become best friends with this guy, but if he stays on his side of the country, I’d rather leave it to the authorities and Dex to deal with if they want to. From what I understand, until Jared and Jason, they mostly ran under theradar, and drugs weren’t sold by them; they were the go-between that passed it on. It’s only been in the last five years that things have escalated. So, no, I’m not happy about making the deal, but to keep all of us safe, I will.

“You all let me know what you think, and if you’re happy with it, we’ll get Rochelle to call Dindi, and we can hear what he has to say.”

I look around the table, and while there was some indecision, they know I’m right; we can’t afford to have an ongoing war, and it will be. We need to put this to bed so that we can get our families back and continue to build our businesses. I’d known that Cairo would have a problem with it, having lost his sister to drugs. He hated anything to do with them.

“Okay,” Cairo nods his agreement. “Let’s put it to a vote.”

“Aye,” Blaze agrees, “I’m good with us calling this guy.”

“Aye,” Bond puts his vote in, and so we went around the table until all votes were recorded.

Handing my phone to Rochelle, I tell her, “Call him but put it on speakerphone.”

Rochelle takes the phone and enters the number I give her. We wait while it rings until someone picks up and answers with, “Hello.”

Rochelle takes a nervous breath before she replies, “Dindi, it’s Rochelle.”

“Rochelle, why are you calling me? Do you know how much of a problem you and your father have caused?” His words were harsh, but he didn’t sound it. He sounded more curious than anything, as if he was questioning where her head was at.

---