Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
They couldn’t mind hard work and paying dues, either.
The twelve of them were tight as fuck and Fletch would feel confident if any of them arrived to back him up during an incident.
That was what a real brotherhood should be like.
He studied the mural of their club’s patch painted on the wall near the poker table. The insignia in the center was made up of a skull and crossbones holding two handguns. “Honor” was engraved on one and the other said “loyalty.”
Honor and loyalty. All twelve of them had it.
He’d put his life on the line to save any of them and he assumed they’d do the same for him.
“No, this isn’t an official church meeting,” Crew answered Monty, “but like I said, I talked to Jamison about this first.”
“What the fuck’s this about, Crew?” Frasier asked.
“An opportunity to do some good.”
“We do good every damn day at our jobs,” Miller grumbled.
“This is something a little different,” Crew assured them. “A challenge, if you will.”
“For all of us?” Monty asked.
“No. Unfortunately, I can’t include you all. There are reasons for that and I’ll explain once I tell you what it is.”
“Then hurry the fuck up, I want to play a few hands of poker before I have to head home to my baby girl,” Decker bitched.
Fletch’s brow dropped low. “Isn’t your mom watching her?”
Decker had been raising his biological niece as his own daughter for over the past two years with help from his mother.
“Of course she is since I can’t leave a three-year-old alone, genius. She might be Val’s grandmother but it isn’t her job to watch my girl twenty-four seven. Especially since my mother thought she was done raising babies after me and my sister turned eighteen.”
“She would’ve been if your sister hadn’t—”
Decker cut off Finn. “Right. Old story, new day. Crew, get cracking with your story time so Gingerhole here can deal a hand and I can go home in time to read my Valee Girl her nightly bedtime story before she falls asleep.”
“Aww. Daddy Decker. How fucking sweet,” Finn said on a laugh. He quickly leaned out of the strike zone when Decker took a half-hearted swipe at him.
“You would’ve done the same. Any of you would have,” Decker growled. “Family is family, whether by blood or by bond.”
Nobody could argue that fact, so they didn’t.
Crew strode over to where Nox was sitting, pulled a stool away from the counter and sat on it at an angle so he could face everyone, including Nox.
“All right, pay attention,” Crew started, “there’s a few moving parts to what I’m proposing.”
Rez grinned. “You’re supposed to get down on one knee if you’re proposing. And, spoiler, Cross is already married so his ass is literally unavailable.”
Cross whipped a drink coaster at the club’s sergeant at arms and it bounced off his forehead.
“I’m starting to fucking regret this,” Crew muttered, scraping his fingers through his hair.
Fletch smothered a snort.
Finn didn’t bother smothering his and slammed the pack of cards face-down onto the green felt. “Okay, let’s hear it. We don’t have all night.”
Crew shook his head and sighed. “I’m warning you now, the next person to interrupt me is getting pepper-sprayed.”
Fletch groaned. Getting pepper-sprayed, even accidentally because of being downwind, sucked ass.
“Now you know how I feel trying to lead a meeting,” Jamison said to Crew. “It’s like dealing with a bunch of toddlers at daycare. And you’re one of them. Pepper spray might be better than a gavel.”
“I’ll do my best to behave in the future,” Crew assured him with a straight face.
Frasier released a long, loud hoot from over on the couch at Crew’s bald-faced lie.
“Get the fuck on with it! Jesus, Crew!” Nox exploded from over by the counter. “I know you like attention but this is fucking ridiculous.”
Crew pressed his lips flat and blew out his cheeks. When he finally released his held breath, he nodded. “Okay… I was tapped to lead part of a special multi-agency task force. The Tri-State Drug Task Force will consist of three groups of fifteen members each. As a senior special agent, I’m being put in charge of group two that will handle the southwest corner of PA. Group one will be concentrating on West Virginia, and group three will be covering the southeast corner of Ohio.”
“Who are they going after?” Jamison asked, abruptly sitting up straighter.
“The DEA’s ultimate target is a Mexican cartel.”
“What cartel is running drugs up here?” Nox asked, rubbing at his creased forehead.
“A cartel isn’t. At least, not directly,” Crew answered. “And we don’t know which cartel is involved yet. That’s one of many things the DEA needs to find out.”
Fletch shook his head. “Then who’s trafficking the drugs up here?”
Crew’s gaze swept the room before answering, “An MC.”
Silence filled the space around them for several seconds until “Jesus fuck,” burst from Cross. He ground the heels of his palms into his eye sockets while asking his next question. “Which MC?”