Page 61 of Devil's Due

I nod. “Then you know your club. You know your men. Sure, you didn’t know Taser had a screw loose, but one bad apple doesn’t mean there’s more. What doyouthink, Demon?”

My reminder about the length of time he sat at his father’s left hand seems to have made him straighten. “Christ, Beef. You’re right. As VP or Prez I’d put money on Skull being exactly what he appears, a fresh patch around a strange table, worried about saying something out of line. Listening to learn how to behave. Have seen it before, will see it again. Wills and Dan will probably be much the same for the first couple of months.” His gaze is now assessing. “Wearing the prez’s hat is harder than I expected. Before I had Hell there to knock me around the head if I started taking a ride on the crazy train.”

“You need a VP,” I tell him abruptly. “Someone to bounce your ideas off. Thunder would help if you let him.”

“Thunder’s too busy telling me I’m not what he needs, to try to become that for me,” he says, drily.

Which brings me to the point of my visit to Pueblo. Maybe I can get this sorted, get Stevie back with the marshals again, and return to my home. Nothing stopping me now. Sally knows where she stands. Home. Fuck, I can almost smell Tucson in the air.

“I’m sure you’re aware of my difficulty,” Demon responds with a sharp look at me. “After all, that’s why you’re here. You’ve got a job to do, and Drummer won’t let you leave until it’s done.”

“You want me gone?”

His head bobs back and forth fast. “Not what I’m saying. But a president like Drummer doesn’t send out one of his most trusted men as an enforcer to another chapter unless there’s something to enforce.”

I lean forward, clasping my hands between my knees. “It’s not anything to do with you, Demon. Drummer’s just concerned you’re not running at full strength.”

His finger and thumb pinch the bridge of his nose. “I’ve been thinking on your suggestion about bringing someone in from the other chapters. Should have brought it up at church, but I’m concerned about the brothers’ reaction.”

I can’t see an alternative. “Then tell them to suck it up or stand up themselves.”

He huffs a laugh. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

His head now moves up, then down, then slowly rises again. “Have you got anyone in mind?”

“Other prezes won’t like it if you start poaching one of their VPs. So I think you need to start looking down, maybe an enforcer or sergeant-at-arms ready to move on.”

“Like?”

“I won’t suggest anyone from San Diego. They’re still finding their feet after what went down a couple of years back.” A bad business. The old president, Snake, and seven of his members had hatched a plan to get rid of Drummer, become the mother chapter, and point the Devils in the direction of the drug running game. Snake and the ringleaders are dead, the rest of the traitors out bad. I shudder just thinking about such a fate, preferring death myself. No reputable MC would take in a member who’d been put out in bad standing by his club. Not being a brother would kill me for sure.

“Understandable. Lost and Dart are making a go of it.”

Yes, Lost moved up to the top spot, Dart, his new VP, was a member from Tucson who’d gone to help the club out, found his place and stayed. He’s doing well, settled in now. “Vegas is more stable. How did you take to Indian and Twister while they were here?” Indian’s the sergeant-at-arms, Twister the enforcer.

Demon snorts. “Look, our clubhouse was burning down around us. Men acted okay, had our backs, but it wasn’t particularly conducive to conducting interviews.”

I run through the other men that I know in my head. I don’t know much about any of them. Rope and Cuff I know best, and certainly not for any ability that shows they would shine as a new VP. “Maybe ask Red?”

“Could. But then I’ve got the problem of men here not trusting them to have our backs.”

“It’s simple. Find a possible. Get them here under some pretext. Let them sit around the table, drink with the men, share the whores. Let everyone see what they’re made of. Gives them a chance to see if Pueblo suits them, and your members the chance to know their mettle.”

Demon’s eyes flare, for a second giving me the reason for his name. “Good fuckin’ idea, Beef.” His hand thumps the table. “That’s what I’ll do. If they don’t like it here, or don’t match up, no harm no foul. I’ll get onto Red in the morning.”

My mind can work on two things at once. Now we’ve at least got an approach to him getting a new VP, it circles back to the problem he called me in here for. “Getting back to Skull. You can’t go on gut feelings or crediting him with shit in his head that isn’t there. Take Rock, for example.” My reference brings a wistful smile to my lips. I miss my best friend. We’re still close, though not so much as when we used to share women before his girl Becca came along. She’s one he won’t share, and I can’t blame him for that, however much I’d like to persuade him.

“Rock?” His brow creases.

“When Drummer set him up and we thought he’d turned traitor? I was the last person to believe it, but Drummer had set all the evidence in place. Before he painted Rock in such a bad light, he had it in black and white so no one could question it.” With a grimace I continue, “Even I believed my best friend had turned bad.”

“Your point?”

“You’re looking for a problem which might not exist because Wraith said something. Best way to piss a brother off is to keep watching for him to take a step out of line. You let him prospect, patched him in. Give him the same trust you do everyone else until the point where you think he’s fucked up. Then look at it all twice and make sure your case against him is watertight. That brother’s already been on the right side when you thought he was wrong once, don’t make the same mistake again.”

Demon takes in a deep breath, holds it, then lets it out. “You talk a lot of fuckin’ sense, Brother.”

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