He found Maverick and Phoenix in his office waiting for him, both of them wearing troubled, agitated expressions. “Happy fucking Monday morning,” Dare said as he pushed the door mostly shut and dropped into the chair at his desk.
“Yeah,” Phoenix said. “That about sums this up. Got two calls this morning. One from Marz and one from the Iron Cross. The two confirmed one basic point—refugees from the Church Gang are not only being taken in by the Iron Cross, but the Iron Cross is recruiting them. Hard. Word on the street is that it’s a join-or-die-type invitation, and it seems to be working. Because Dominic, the buyer who called from the Iron Cross, made a point of demonstrating that he knew the specifics of our inventory. He could only have gotten that intel from a Churchman who knew what the original arms deal—the one where we picked up the hardware—was supposed to entail.”
“Shit,” Dare said. “They’re probably going after intel like that as much as building their ranks.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Phoenix said. “Hoping to defuse this, I told Dominic we were already in talks with another buyer but that we’d be happy to do business with them another time. He told me to walk away from the other deal.”
That feeling of dread that Dare had been feeling the past few weeks ballooned inside his chest and weighed down on his shoulders. And not just because this group could be the source of new threats to the Ravens and their interests. If the Iron Cross could get that kind of specific intel on the arms inventory, they could certainly find out about Haven and the reward. Or maybe already had.
“Makes you wonder why he thinks he has the leverage to make that demand,” Maverick said, those dark blue eyes flashing.
“Yeah,” Dare said. “It sure does. So the question is, do we sell them all, part, or none, and let the shit fall where it may. Damnit, I don’t want to give them anything, especially pulling this bullshit.”
Phoenix shook his head. “Neither do I. We could always call their bluff. They’re clearly desperate for the guns. Maybe without them they’re all bark and no bite.”
“Did Marz have any other insight on them?” Dare asked, his mind racing through all the ways this could play out.
“Just that by all accounts, the Iron Cross is best situated to come out on top when the dust settles. They were already strong competitors of the Church Gang, so they’ve got market share and territory, and they seem to have stepped into the power vacuum the fastest to grab up everything the Churchmen had.”
“So there’s gotta be some bite there,” Dare said, his gut telling him they were going to have to do some kind of business with these jackholes. And this was why the Ravens stayed out of guns and drugs as much as they could.
Knee bouncing, Maverick sighed. “I think we gotta meet them halfway. I hate it, especially pulling this punk-ass bullshit. But if we give them nothing, we risk another war we want no part of. If we give them everything, we let them think they can walk all over us. We give them part of the inventory and it’s a good-faith gesture, one that’s on our own terms, one that says we made an effort despite being in talks with someone else.”
“Yeah. That’s where I’m landing, too,” Dare said. “Which means we need to set up some terms and find a drop spot. Nowhere near here. I want it done as soon as possible. Get these fuckers off our backs.”
Phoenix nodded. “Goddamned Churchmen just won’t die.”
“No shit. You know what? When you talk to this Dominic asshole, make the deal contingent on their agreement that they hold no sway over our betting activities in the city. No doubt they know about them at this point. Ike op erates unmolested or they can go fuck themselves,” Dare said. Years ago, that had been one of the points of contention between the Raven Riders and the Church Gang, one that had taken a few knock-down fights before they’d reached an uneasy détente.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Maverick said. “That right there actually makes the deal make sense for us. We don’t want to fight that fight all over again.”
“Agreed. We don’t want to fight at all.” Dare sighed, thoughts racing. “They don’t get any of the sniper rifles. Make it clear those are gone. They can have the AKs and the Glocks. Remind them that our shit is high quality, courtesy of Uncle Sam, and push them on price. Tell them it’s a convenience fee for walking on the other deal,” Dare said, scratching at the scruff on his jaw.
“Got it,” Phoenix said.
“Good. Then make the call, Phoenix. And play it cool.” Dare had total faith that his Road Captain could handle this. Phoenix could be smooth as glass and charming as all fuck when he wanted, winning him guys who wanted to be his friend and girls who wanted to be his lay in equal measure.
“I told him I’d call him back around nine. So consider it done,” Phoenix said.