Page 55 of Ink's Devil

Beef hits the table with his fist. “Don’t fuckin’ care. As you well know, Pal, Tucson has helped the authorities out a time or two. We don’t want a gun battle behind Tits Up. So what we’re doing is staying out of sight to intervene if necessary. They’ll be going in loaded and armed. Just stay out of the line of fire and make damn sure nothing comes back on us.”

“What about the bowling alley and the tattoo parlour?”

Demon glances at his VP. “Beef and I talked this through. The cops’ focus is Tits Up, which makes us suspect they’ve had a tip off. Somehow, I think the SWAT team expects the strip club to be where the head honcho will turn up tonight. They must have something to convince them it’s worth their time.”

The VP takes over again. “Tits Up is where they’ve got their eyes tonight, so we’ll have ours there too. We’ll keep a presence at the other locations, but the aim is to be visible and make it too hot for anyone to make a buy. Their customers won’t want to face a Devil, so hopefully they’ll move on.”

“So at Tits Up,” I just want to make it clear, “we block the escape routes. If SWAT loses him, we pick him up.”

“Or them. We may be wrong assuming it’s just one man. He may have protection with him,” Beef confirms, “but that’s the essence of it. Pick him or them up, or herd him or them into the loving arms of the cops.”

There are a rumble of chuckles at his description. Yup. I expect the cops will get very up close and personal with whoever they catch.

We thrash around the details for a while until Prez and the VP are confident we all know our roles. Then the gavel comes down and we’re dismissed.

“What do you think about going in when we know the cops will be there?” Sparky asks me as I go to get myself a beer after the meeting.

“Couldn’t care less one way or another. We know the area like the back of our hands, the SWAT teams are probably working from Google maps.” I chuckle. “I know of at least one escape route that’s not shown. It’s not wide enough to be called an alley, but there’s a gap between buildings a thin man could squeeze down.”

“Hmm.” He frowns. “Must admit I’m worried about stray bullets heading our way.”

A hand claps down on my shoulder. “That’s why I’m making sure everyone wears their Kevlar vests.” It’s Thunder, who’s clearly in his sergeant-at-arms role. “Handguns only, nothing else. For self-protection. And we shoot anyone dealing, not cops.”

My eyes widen. Hell, if bullets start flying and a cop goes down, if it was from one of our guns… Christ, I don’t even like to think of the implications.

Thunder nods as though he’s reading my mind. “I expect the SWAT team to be closer to the action, using a pincer movement to catch the dealer red-handed. We don’t care about catching him in the act. It’s possible someone will spot the cops and double back. We’ll be there to nab them.”

If the cops do make an arrest, hopefully Cad will be able to discover who they’ve caught and we can try and track who’s behind it back from there. With any luck though, we’ll get him, or them, ourselves and do our own questioning.

According to Wills and Sparky backed up by the camera footage, any dealing that takes place is when the club’s been open a few hours. We aim to get there by eleven, so we can take up our positions well before we expect any action to start.

It’s not often nowadays that we do more than most citizens do, get up, go and do an honest day’s work, come home, drink, fuck and party, then go to bed. A few hours later get up and do it all over again. So to be sitting checking guns and ammunition, going over plans, and making sure everyone knows what role they’re to play gets the adrenaline rising. I find myself slipping back into the mindset I wore as a Marine.

Like all my brothers, I’m sick to death of someone fucking with us, and with any luck, tonight, it stops. Either we’ll get the bastard or the cops will. One way or another they’ll be off the streets. We can go back to running businesses clear of the drug trade and the mess that goes with that. At least we’ve got a heads-up about the police operation, and Beef was able to warn them we’d be around. Doesn’t sound like much can go wrong.

“Hey, Leatherneck. You found your temper yet?” Mace plonks himself down beside me. He takes some ammunition out of his cut, checks it, then puts it back.

I don’t apologise for snapping at him earlier. “Looking forward to seeing some action tonight?”

“Yes and no. Yes, as I want to take down this motherfucker. No, because I’m worried about the cops. They’re a bit too close in my estimation.”

I know what he means. “Take care, Mace,” I warn.

He now takes out his phone and checks the time, then replaces it. He’s fidgety. I know how he’s feeling. “So, this bitch, Beth. Twice she’s stayed over.”

I look at the ceiling, then back down. I could give him shit or admit the truth. “Reckon you might have to get used to seeing her leave in the morning.”

“Like that?” His eyes open wide.

“Like that,” I confirm.

“Cad run a check?”

I raise and lower my shoulders. “Don’t think there’s anything to find. But I asked him to look into her father. Something’s not right there.”

“But she’s not involved?”

“Nope.” My eyes narrow as I challenge him.

---