“It was a dumb idea anyway,” Reagen said, trying to stay strong.
“Tony didn’t think so.”
“He didn’t think so because it was your idea. Come on, Kara, Tony is smitten by you, everyone can see it but you.”
We heard a motorcycle engine cut off outside the window and then footsteps. We stopped talking and held our breaths. There were all kinds of banging noises coming from outside. Then, a hiss and a pop and another and another. Four hisses, four pops. I realized it was the tires of our bikes. Someone out there knew we were here and they were fucking up our bikes to make sure we couldn’t get away.
Then we heard a scuffle, the sound of a gunshot, and the thud of a body hitting the wall. We smothered our mouths to keep from screaming. More bike engines, another gunshot, and then more of a scuffle.
I pulled my gun out, crawling to the door, ready to go out there and help. No way could I leave them alone in this when I was Prez now too. But then Reagen pulled me down.
“What the fuck, Kara? If they didn’t kill you, then Tony would.”
Then a siren was heard in the distance, slowly getting louder. My cell began to ring. “Get out here quick!” Tony shouted. We ran out of the bathroom, out of the shop, and jumped on the back of their bikes. There was no time to grab helmets or to find a way to get our bikes out of there. Shit, there went my new bike, and it was evidence, technically. Maybe Tony had a clean-up crew who could help, but that wasn’t the priority.
We sped out of there. We ducked down an alley as a police car whizzed by. “You two are never to go to that coffee shop again, do you hear me?”
I nodded and then shouted, “Yes!” I clung to Tony as we headed back to the clubhouse.
Tony parked his bike. “Tell me you still have the dope.”
“I do. And the money.”
“Good. We can put that back in the safe. This is why we don’t get outsiders involved in our shit. That guy’s blood is on both of you.”
“I got involved too,” Seth said, hanging his head. He was such a big teddy bear. I could see why Reagen was so into him. I looked back at Tony, trying to decipher what Reagen had told me. Were there signs? He didn’t fuck me till he got drunk, same as me. So, where was it coming from? And if it was true, what did I even want to do with that information? I was supposed to be making things work with Eric, not fucking Tony and wondering what he felt for me.
“Of course, you fucking did,” Tony snarled. “Get your asses inside. Those Blue Diablos don’t fuck around. No more trips with just the two of you. You stay with one of us at all times. We got lucky, but we might not be so lucky next time.” Why did that give me a chill thinking about Tony coming with me everywhere?
“Next time it could be one of us they shoot,” Seth seconded.
“Who got shot?” I asked.
“A Blue Diablo. Manager at the coffee shop had a shotgun.”
“What about our bikes?” I asked.
“Totaled. If we’re lucky, the police won’t impound them and I can send a tow truck to retrieve them,” Tony said.
“Okay, we need a new plan.”
“Why don’t we go with your original idea, set him up?”
“Did your guy send the message?”
“Not yet.”
“Let’s do that first.”
“Yeah, I don’t think your father will come near us after we do that.”
“Let’s use the kid,” Tony suggested.
“I thought you were going to turn the kid,” Seth spoke up with his bleeding heart. I tried not to scoff at how soft Reagen had made him. It was kinda cute, though. But this was why Tony and I wouldn’t work. Neither one of us could afford to go soft. At least Eric would never expect that of me.
“I was, but this will be better. Seth, go beat him up, then we’ll set him free. He’ll tell Maxum that we found the stash. Maxum will come looking for it.”
Cover the kid in the dope. A little proof that we found the stash, and that way it can’t get sold on the street if it’s wasted,” I suggested.
“Kara, I was so wrong about you.” Tony laughed.
Fuck, I was in trouble here, wasn’t I?
Our wishes were carried out and the kid was sent on his way, bloodied and dusted with dope. We set the bait and got the Crypt Keepers to join in on the ambush. Then, it was just a waiting game. Just after closing, a group of guys dressed in black showed up at the bar.
Crypt Keepers took every last one of them out, but Maxum never showed.
“What a fucking coward. He can never do anything himself,” Tony cursed.
I knew better. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a coward, not in the way Tony thought. If motivated, he would look his best friend in the eye and take them out. “Or he expected a trap, so he sent disposables.”
“No. He’s a fucking coward, hiding out and sending others to do his dirty work. Alright, well, that was a bust. Time to send a fucking bloody message.” Tony got on the phone, and in the dead of night just before dawn, the deed was carried out. It was reported back that the dynamite blew a fucking hole in the side of his house, but no one was home. He had gone underground somewhere or was hiding out at the Shadow Order’s clubhouse. We already knew he wasn’t with the Blue Diablos, even though he kept sending them to do his bidding.
Three strikes against us put Tony in the foulest of moods, making him unpleasant to deal with,
