They had a couple of perpetual thorns in their side. Like fucking Slater, who hated them because he wanted to develop the prime real estate they held. And because the Ravens had once successfully campaigned against one of his developments on environmentally fragile land adjacent to their own that might’ve impacted the zoning for their races. And because Maverick had been balls deep inside his wife-to-be. Maverick wasn’t sure which one of those made Slater hate them more. But, mostly, the Ravens had a symbiotic relationship with their neighbors, one that needed to be nurtured.
“So, what would be even more ambitious than all of that?” Mav asked.
“Donating all profits from the weekend to a local charity,” Jagger said. Bear looked a little like he might have a heart attack.
“How quickly could all that be pulled together?” Dare asked. They couldn’t wait too many weekends to get back up to their regular numbers, that much was clear.
“I’ve got a carnival company available the last Thursday through Saturday of the month, which would give us two weeks to plan.”
The first thought that Maverick had was perfect.
The second? That Saturday was Alexa’s wedding day. For fuck’s sake. At least he’d have something to do besides sit around and resist driving to the church so he could raise his hand when the preacher asked if anyone had any reasons why the happy couple shouldn’t marry.
Conversation pretty quickly fell in support of Jagger’s idea. The club had a rainy-day fund for exactly this kind of thing. Protecting their livelihood was more than a good enough reason to dip into it. Without their activities at the Green Valley Race Track, things would get tight fast. Certainly, the funding for their protective mission would largely disappear.
“The only hitch is that the county wants to move up our annual inspection before the event. I actually think it’s a good idea. Get our permits and paperwork in order. Have the county sign off that everything is as it should be,” Jagger said.
“Sounds like one more thing in our favor,” Dare said. “Let’s vote.” The vote was overwhelmingly in favor.
“I’ll get on it,” Jagger said.
“Talk to Haven,” Dare said. “Bet she’d make a bunch of stuff for a bake sale.”
Jagger winked. “Already did, and she already agreed.” Dare grinned, pride clear on the man’s face.
“Can I just buy everything she makes now?” Phoenix asked, feigning as if he was taking out his wallet. Maverick laughed, and everyone else did, too. You never had a better cookie or cinnamon bun than what Haven made, that was for sure. And damn, it was good to hear everyone just laughing and shooting the shit. With everything they’d been through, they hadn’t had nearly enough of that lately.
“You can,” Dare said. “But I have it on good authority that she, Bunny, and Cora are making dinner for us, so—”
A cell phone rang out, immediately silencing the ruckus that had risen up in the room. Dare’s expression revealed who it was before he even answered. “Nick, thanks for calling back so fast.”
“Of course,” he said, his voice sounding out through the speaker. “Sounded urgent.”
“It is,” Dare said. “I need to know if your contact has specifics on the Iron Cross’s whereabouts. Hangouts, headquarters, meeting places, that kind of thing.”
“Marz actually just got some new intel from our guy this morning.” Nick spoke to someone on his end for a minute. “He’s emailing it to you right now. Why? What’s going on?”
“I won’t draw this out,” Dare said. “We’re going after the Iron Cross. To be clear, we don’t want you involved, but we’d appreciate your team’s thoughts on carrying it out.”
Silence for a long moment. “Shit, okay,” Nick said. “I can’t say that I blame you, but this is complicated by the Feds. They have undercover agents on the inside.”
“Then you need to talk to your contact and get them out of there before it goes down. We’re not going for body count but that doesn’t mean there won’t be collateral,” Dare said, echoing Maverick’s own thoughts. “Just telling it straight up.”
“I hear you. I’m just not sure how much sway I have, Dare.” The concern was clear in Nick’s voice.
“I know you understand honor, justice, and loyalty, Nick. I’ve seen you live by it. Fight for it. Be willing to die for it. We might not have worn a uniform, but our code’s not all that different.” Dare’s expression was fierce, unyielding. Maverick couldn’t help but nod.
“Fuck, all right. I’ll see what I can do. And I’ll talk to the team and get you some thoughts.”
“Good. And Nick? Don’t wait. We’re riding on this as soon as possible.”
They hung up, and Dare tossed his phone to the table. “Board members and anyone else who can stick around to plan this thing out, stay here. Everyone else is dismissed. But be prepared to ride within the next twenty-four to forty-eight. We’ll stay in touch.” Eight members remained after the others filed out, and Dare nodded to the door. “Let’s head to my office and take a look at what Nick sent.”
It turned out to be gold.
Standing behind Dare’s desk chair while his cousin opened files revealing locations, layouts, numbers, and more, Maverick already felt the adrenaline of the coming fight surging through his blood.
Dare sat back in his chair, his gaze glued to the monitor. “Their headquarters is in the middle of a largely abandoned industrial area right on the water, and they’re not going to be there tomorrow night because they’ve got some big deal going down that the Feds are focused on.”
“That’s fucking perfect,” Maverick said. For what they had planned, it was exactly what they needed.
“Jesus, if I was a religious man I might almost say this was providence,” Phoenix said. Everyone nodded.
“Moving this fast makes me itchy as hell,” Caine said in a quiet voice. “But we might not get this kind of opening again.”
“The faster we get it done, the better,” Dare said. “Maximum impact with minimum possible risk.”
“Unless everything goes tits up,” Jagger said.
“As tits are wont to do,” Phoenix agreed.
Hands clasped over his belly, Dare nodded. “Then we spend tonight and tomorrow working on contingencies. But otherwise, let’s get the word out to all the brothers.” He peered up at Maverick. “We ride tomorrow night.”
Satisfaction was a tight coil in Mav’s gut. “This is the right call, D.”
His cousin nodded, and then he looked back to the open documents on the computer screen. “I know. I just hope it doesn’t cost us too much, because I’m not sure how much more we can stand to lose.”
CHAPTER 5
Why are you up so early?” Grant asked, coming up behind Alexa where she stood at the bathroom mirror carefully brushing on mascara. His arms wrapped around her stomach.