Page 60 of Jasper
“You need me to stick around? I wouldn’t mind taking a look through the footage we pulled.” Striker asks.
While our club IT guy is an officer, he tends to stay in the background. That’s where he feels most comfortable. “I canreport what you found, so if you’ve got work to do then I’ll not keep you. If we need you, I’ll shoot you a text.”
After he leaves, I close the door, then turn towards the war room. My old man has already made his way there. I realize that he’s left a lot of the decisions to me this morning, which is another sign that he’s handing over the reins.
I text our club officers’ group chat and call them in. That tiny conference room tucked into the back of the building gives us complete privacy. Slate, Onyx, and Mica all respond.
We’re all family here because this is the family business. My old man is the club president, but he’s lookin’ to step down which is exactly why I’m stepping up. Today, he’s sitting to my right, more silent than usual. Slate’s drinking straight from a thermos of coffee. Onyx is sitting with his arms crossed, waiting for the bad news. Mica leans forward on his elbows, his eyes sharp and alert as ever.
I look to our Prez to start the meeting, but he gestures for me to continue.
I place the external drive in the center of the table for everyone to see.
“The damn drone gave us more than we expected,” I say. “Surveillance footage of the fire and us evacuatin’ Tessa’s place was the tip of the iceberg.”
No one flinches. Slate mutters, “Figures. Nothing in our lives is ever fucking easy.”
He ain’t wrong about that, so I press on. “We discovered our club isn’t the only thing they’re interested in spying on. We pulled footage of Mayor Redman. Two nights before they hit me.They discovered he’s been cheating on his wife and might have a whole other family hidden away a couple of counties over.”
Mica snorts a laugh. “Stupid fucker. He can kiss his political career bye-bye.”
Slate frowns. “The fuck would the Hyenas want with the mayor?”
“Who the fuck knows,” I say. “They don’t seem to be the sharpest tools in the shed. Their Prez has a rap sheet a fuckin’ mile long. Maybe they want to blackmail him for favors. The mayor is extremely well connected.”
Onyx shifts. “They could be trying to push drugs in Cedar Falls. Or launder money, like we talked about before.”
“Or simply to leverage the cops into turning a blind eye to their operation,” our old man adds. “Never attribute the motivations of simple men to what can be explained by eagerness to commit low-level, simple crimes. That’s what they’re most familiar with, after all.”
Mica asks, “How long they been watching him?”
“Footage we pulled goes back two days before the fire. It might be longer. For all we know, they could have more drones in play. Then again, it could be this was the first one and we were lucky enough to take it out.”
Our old man picks up the drive, turns it in his fingers. “You think whatever they’re into is already in motion?”
“They’re not scoutin’ possibilities anymore,” I say. “They’ve set up shop in Cedar Falls.”
Mica leans in, voice low. “We warn the mayor?”
My old man eyes me, waiting for my answer.
I take a second.
“Yes. I see where you’re goin’ with this. If we warn him, he may start thinking of us as an ally, which could only work to our advantage. But I say we hold off for a bit.”
Mica raises an eyebrow. “Why hold off?”
“If we go to him now, he’ll panic. Maybe run his mouth. Maybe go to the cops. We can’t trust he’ll stay quiet. And if the Hyenas catch wind that we tipped him, they might decide to declare war against us before we can figure out who their backers are.”
Slate taps a finger against his thermos. “So what? We watch?”
“We gather more intel,” I say. “We confirm how long they’ve been watching him, and if they’ve made contact. We see who else the Hyenas have in their sights. Maybe they’re targeting a senator too, or the prosecuting attorney. If so, we can gather intel and sic the feds on them. You know they love a good RICO case.”
Our old man nods, slow and deliberate. “It’s smart to get the feds to take them if we can. They’ll be eager to get to the bottom of who their financial backers are, and we won’t have a slew of dead bodies to hide.”
There’s a long pause as everyone turns this over in their minds.
Our old man sets the drive down and looks around the table. “Anyone got something better?”
