“Cash, shut up,” Trev said. “Duke, keep talking. My patience is counting to zero.”
“Jim lost a leg over there. He was blown up. I saved him. It was a bad situation for a long time for him. Trying to recover. His sister has been helping for years. I kept my distance because I had nothing to say to Jim. I couldn’t save him from himself. That’s the fucking truth. I was on my way back here when I stopped to take a piss. I heard voices and that’s when I saw what looked like a deal going down. I trapped one of the prospects, figuring he’d talk fastest and wouldn’t be all that missed right away. That’s the fucking truth.”
I looked around the table to my brothers. Like I had to get their approval.
“Keep going,” Trent said.
“That’s it,” I said. “I found out about the land and here I am now. Belle owns a few sections. Jim owns a few sections. The one that the Hell Five bought was owned by Jim.”
“Then we stop the deal,” Austin said.
“Can we do that, Cade?” Trev asked.
“We can do anything we want. But if things are in motion… being transferred… it’s going to be tricky.”
“Then we better move,” Xavier said.
“I’m trying to get all the information I can from Jim,” I said. “He’s a stubborn miserable prick to talk to.”
“I can see why you two are friends,” Trev said.
“Thanks, Prez,” I said. “Look, I am not fucking with you guys here. I’m not going behind anyone’s back. I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on before anyone makes a rash decision.”
“Because of your involvement in the situation,” Trent said.
“Fuck off, brother. You don’t know my fucking involvement in anything. If I wasn’t there to see the Hell Five we would be really screwed right now. Nobody can deny that. So I’m trying to get names, places, everything here. There’s no way in hell Jim just handed over paperwork to someone in the Hell Five. So if we find out who he dealt with and how this is done…”
“A dummy corp,” Cade said. “We all do it. You run certain business through dummy corps. Fuck. That’s how they did it. Probably some bullshit company that’s looking to acquire land. Probably hired some broker or agent to scope things out and approach your friend. That’s how it was done.”
“Even still,” Jasper said, “this is a big deal. The Russians are pissed at us.”
“So we get our information in line,” I said. “What choice do we have? You want to ride up there and put a bullet in Jim’s head? Belle’s head?”
“If this wasn’t your current pussy, what would you do?” Cash asked me.
I looked at him and refused to answer.
“Cash has a point,” Tristan said.
“Agreed,” Hudson added. “We put the pressure on. Right now. Hard.”
“That’s how you all feel then?” I asked.
The table all started to argue. It was an instant explosion. Everyone had a voice and an opinion. I stood there, catching some of the words, but my eyes were locked to Trev. I knew how he felt about Eden. And their unborn baby. Nobody knew how far back I went with Belle and Jim. In a way, they were my first family.
Trev finally stuck his fingers into his mouth and whistled loud. “My turn to talk.” The table was all his. “Everyone is right. The bottom line is that the Hell Five are looking to expand. They were looking at this piece of land long before we knew. They arranged to attack us as a way to get money to show faith on the purchase. Do I have proof of that? Fuck no. But I think we all can agree it lines up nicely. So that’s what I’m going to assume. That means someone ratted out our deal with the Russians. Is that worth exploring? Probably, but not now. Right now, I need you, Cade, to get on the phone with anyone you can to figure out the backdoor of this land deal and how we can stop it. I need to know if money is in escrow and how far along this is. Duke, you’ve got twenty-four hours. I expect you back here at this exact time tomorrow with something. I’m going to take Jasper and we’re going to call our brothers down in Frelen to fill them in. Just in case anything pushes down at them. We cannot let the Russians push us around and we cannot let them assume us to be part of anything we’re not.”
“What about the rest of us?” Cash asked.
“I want everyone out there. I want every fucking street corner, back alley, and dive bar checked and made well known that Back Down Devil is in fucking control. And if you find anyone in that shit crew, you send them a message.”