“Stop him,” he shouted, from behind me as we ran down the stairs. “Pipe! Wolf!”
The kid was a rookie; he didn’t know any better. He hadn’t been around long enough to know when I didn’t fight, when I surrendered, there was no one who could stop me. No one could stop my maker.
“Get out of my way,” I ordered my men who barricaded the staircase.
“Jimmy sent the video,” Riggs explained in a huff, handing my phone to Pipe. Bianci took Pipe’s place in blocking me from moving and Pipe hit play. I heard Jimmy’s voice again and I lost it. I wanted him in front of me and lurched for the phone as if I’d be able to pull him out of it. Riggs grabbed the back of my cut and Bianci stood in front of me, using his weight to push me back.
“Jesus Christ,” Pipe said, as Jimmy’s voice sounded stating his demands and threats.
“I will kill him and I’m going to smile as I do it,” I hissed.
“Chapel, now,” Pipe said, sternly.
“There’s no fucking time,” I said.
“Oh, so you have a plan? Because you’re right we don’t have a lot of fucking time and without a plan we’re fucked. So pull your fucking shit together and grab your gavel,” he shouted.
I didn’t have a plan, all I knew, all I cared about was killing Jimmy. I would be his judge and his jury and deliver him his sentence. But Pipe was right; I had the endgame and no way of getting to it.
I relented and followed the men into the chapel. I didn’t sit in my seat at the end of the table, I just leaned against the wall and looked at their faces. Each set of eyes pierced me, waiting for me to dictate some sort of direction, some sort of plan of action but I had nothing. I couldn’t get my head straight. All I saw was Reina and Blackie.
“We have twenty-four hours to give him what he wants,” Pipe informed everyone.
“We can’t get the drugs,” I said, kicking off the wall I was leaning on.
Pipe stared at me with confusion in his eyes. “I don’t follow, you just told us that was the plan from the beginning. You were going to supply him with the drugs and set him up. What’s the fucking problem?”
“The problem is that Blackie had the connection to the drugs with a club up north. He’s been controlling the deal with them. There isn’t enough time to go on a run, and even if there was what are we supposed to carry the product in, our saddlebags?” I retorted.
“Can I ask a question?” Mike said, gaining all of our attention. “Instead of focusing on giving this dickhead what he wants shouldn’t we be trying to figure out where he has Reina and Blackie? My girl was taken, and all I gave a fuck about was finding where she was and getting her back,” he added.
“If we don’t have something to bargain with when and if we find them, nothing stopping him from killing them,” Bones countered. “At least if we have the drugs we can try to arrange a meeting for the exchange.”
“We need the drugs,” Pipe agreed.
“You need to find where they are and fuck the drugs,” Mike insisted.
“What if we don’t choose one method and go with both?” Wolf questioned, but it sounded like he was asking himself and not the group. I looked to him, watched as he narrowed his eyes and worked shit out in his head.
Come on, give me something.
Anything.
“Don’t put all your eggs into one basket type of thing?” Bones asked, but Wolf didn’t answer. He was too wrapped in his train of thought to even hear him.
“We work on getting the drugs but while we’re doing that we try to uncover his location. If we can get him or one of his men to leave wherever he’s holding them and meet us, we can follow him back to where they are,” Pipe offered.
“It all comes down to the drugs,” Bones replied. “He’s not going to meet unless it’s to get the product.”
“Or make money,” Anthony supplied. “He’ll do anything for money, so if he needed to do a score he’d leave or send one of his earners,” he continued, lifting his eyes to mine. “No guarantees, brother but I think I have a way to him.”
I stared at him questionably until he broke our stare and turned his head, contemplating his plan.
“Work that shit out, whatever you need us to do, just say the word,” Pipe assured Anthony.
“That leaves the drugs,” Wolf said, and the room grew silent again.
“I know where we can get the drugs,” Riggs said, breaking the silence and turning his gaze to mine. “But if we do this, we might as well sign our own death certificates,” he added, giving me the first glimpse of his serious side.
“I’d rather sign my own death certificate than either of theirs,” I replied.
Last words.
We all utter them right before the end.
Before the mayhem takes over.
They were the last words I said that mattered.
My words became my vow to the woman I loved and the man I called my brother.
A promise from me to them.
My life or theirs.
Always theirs.