by Jade Kuzma
“What about the scene?”
“Can’t go back there,” Ghost said. “Cops have it taped off like a biohazard.”
“That’s all right,” Garnet said. “Any evidence they find, Sutton will know about. He knows the right thing to do. He’ll bring it to us.”
“I’ll track down Stephanie,” Sully said. “She was one of the last people to talk to him. Maybe she’ll have something.”
Everybody had their heads down. We were all lost in thought, trying to put together a puzzle without knowing what the fuck the picture was.
A prospect was in the hospital. A guy who was probably a Triad was dead. This wasn’t some shit the club was gonna handle overnight.
“Anybody else got any ideas?” Garnet said.
He looked at all of us but nobody said anything.
“All right. We’ve all had a long night. Head back home. And make sure you watch your backs. If Nate got hit, maybe whoever did this is going after Reapers. There’s no telling—”
Garnet stopped when his phone rang in his pocket. We were all staring at him as he looked at the screen then answered it.
“Yeah?”
Garnet stared into the distance. I could hear a voice on the other line but I couldn’t make anything out. I was trying to read the expression on Garnet’s face but there was nothing. He was calm as the voice on the phone just kept going.
“Yeah,” Garnet sighed. “I got it.”
He hung his phone up.
“Who was that?” I said.
Garnet just stared at the screen on his phone. He hesitated for a second.
“It’s someone,” he said.
“Someone who?”
“Someone who wants to know why one of his men is dead.”
Endgame: Chapter 4
DECLAN
I’d known Lin for a long time now. He was always so calm and composed. I guess he had to be that way so that he didn’t draw any attention to himself. Chinese gangsters weren’t something you saw every day in Ivory.
Tonight was a little bit different though. He wasn’t saying anything. Just pacing back and forth as he stared at the ground. But even the way his heels hit the floor seemed a little harder than usual.
He was pissed. Shit, I was pissed, so I couldn’t exactly blame the motherfucker. I was prepared to let him get all of that shit off of his chest. I was just waiting for the steam to come out of his ears and his face to turn red.
He stopped pacing and suddenly turned to me, his hands behind his back.
“Do you mind telling me what happened?” he asked.
Can’t help you, pal.
I stared at him, trying to search for the right answer. But hesitating was reason enough for him to know that I didn’t have a response. I looked at Ghost but he remained silent just the same as me.
“Wei went missing a couple of days ago,” he said. “I didn’t realize he was missing though, until he stopped responding to everybody trying to reach out to him. He disappeared without a trace.”
“They found him,” Needle said.
Lin shot a glare at Needle.
“They did,” Lin said. “And what else did they find?”
“One of my own was shot, too,” I sighed. “Just a prospect. Young.”
“Is he dead, too?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “He’s in the hospital right now.”
“I see…”
Lin nodded in understanding. He seemed to have kept his composure but I knew he could snap at any moment.
“Tell me what you know,” he said.
“There were weapons at the scene. Your man apparently shot at mine. Mine shot back.”
“Are you saying your man was defending himself?”
“Nate’s not stupid enough to shoot a man for no reason. He might be young but he wouldn’t do something like that.”
“So you’re saying that Wei shot someone for no reason? Is that what you’re telling me?”
Lin took a step toward me, his head tilted back so he could look down his nose at me. I wasn’t about to be intimidated by him even though I knew what kind of clout he had.
“I’m not telling you anything besides what I know,” I said. “Weapons were found at the scene. They were both discharged. Maybe Nate shot first. Maybe they shot at the same time. Police forensics will find out eventually, but that’ll take some time. The autopsy report might say something, too—”
“Not good enough,” Lin interrupted me.
He took a step back then spun around. He looked at the two armed men in suits standing with him. I was half-expecting him to tell them to pull their weapons out. I was ready for anything at this point.
“We have a common interest,” he said. “My man was killed. Your man was shot. Perhaps you’re playing some little game with me.”
He turned back around to me. His jaw clenched, Lin’s stare was locked right on me.
“Perhaps you’re trying to play me for a fool,” he said.
“Why would I do something like that?” I said.
“Because maybe you don’t appreciate being told what to do by someone else. I’ve been around Ivory long enough to see how it works. BRIC… You ride the streets like you own this town. Maybe you told your man to shoot mine in response. To send a lesson to me.”
I scoffed at the idea. It was the dumbest suggestion I’d heard all night but considering Lin’s position, I guess the motherfucker had to put everything on the table.
“If I had a message to send to you, I’d tell it to you right to your face,” I said.
Lin walked back up to me. He was so close I could hear him breathing hard through his nose. It didn’t matter that the rest of the club had my back. I was ready for whatever Lin was about to do.
Then he did the thing I least expected him to do. He smirked at me then took a step back. All of the tension in the abandoned warehouse remained though. Everybody in the fucking room was in the dark. If there was a man who knew what the fuck was going on, he sure did a good job of hiding it.
“There’s someone else,” Ghost said suddenly.
“Someone else?” Lin said, one of his eyebrows arched.
“This is bigger than the club. This is bigger than you. There’s someone else involved.”
“I see… And who might this someone else be?”
Everybody was looking at my VP. He didn’t give the answer anybody wanted to hear. Just a sigh and a soft shake of his head.
“We don’t know—”
“You don’t know,” Lin said. “But you’re sure that someone else is involved.”
“I’m telling you. Nate wouldn’t shoot a man for no reason. And he sure as hell wouldn’t shoot one of your men.”
“You seem adamant about that.”
“Because it’s the fucking truth!”
Lin looked Ghost up and down for a second before turning back to me.
“If I wanted all of you dead, I would say so,” Lin said. “And there wouldn’t be anything any of you could do about it. If Wei really did shoot your man, he did it on his own. I agree that someone else is involved.”
“Maybe they put your man up to it,” I said.
“Not likely. Wei was one of my most loyal soldiers. Money. Drugs. Pussy. He had everything he could to keep him happy. I loved him like a brother. If there was something wrong, he would have told me. No, I didn’t put Wei up to this.”
Lin closed his eyes and sighed a deep breath. He appeared calmer than he did a few seconds ago. I couldn’t blame him for being pissed though, considering the circumstances.
“Someone murdered Wei,” he said. “Maybe it was your man. Maybe it was someone else. I want you to find the one responsible for it.”
“We’re already looking into it,” I said.
“Good. Because if you don’t find the man responsible for what happened to Wei… I’ll kill you all myself.”
I’d done business with Lin for more than a year now. Up to this point, he never lied to me. He
was a man of his word. The look in his eyes told me that this was just more of the same.
“I want answers,” he said. “I’m already dealing with other clubs in your town. I have no problem cutting you out. Are we clear, Cunningham?”
I looked at the rest of my club. They all just stared at me.
I was the president. I had to speak for all of them. Right now, they needed my leadership more than anything.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” I said.
Lin eyeballed the rest of the club. He didn’t say another word before spinning on his heel and marching out of the warehouse with his guards.
I looked at the other club members. They did a good job of hiding their concern. There wasn’t another group of guys I would rather be with in a situation like this. Now the problem was just getting out of this fucking situation.
“What’s the plan?” Sully asked.
“It’s been a long night,” I said. “Everybody take a break. Sleep on it. Come into the chapel tomorrow and we’ll lay everything out on the table.”
“Lin seems pissed,” Needle said.
“No shit. One of his soldiers just died and the man who did it is still out there.”
“What if it was Nate?” Petey said. “What if he just didn’t like the way the guy looked and did him right there?”
Everybody looked at one another. Ghost shook his head and scoffed.
“No chance,” he said.
“It’s still a possibility we have to consider,” Petey said. “Right?”
Petey looked at me. Petey was the smartest guy in the club. I guess that wasn’t saying much when you had a dumb prick like Needle hanging around.
Petey was the only one who was concerned. That’s because he was the only one who knew how dangerous someone like Lin could be.
I couldn’t let any of that shit get to any of us.
“Let’s not worry about it now,” I said. “Everybody go home and clear your heads. We’ll get to the bottom of this, one way or another.”
Endgame: Chapter 5
DAY TWO…
JON
This was more than just a prospect getting put in the hospital. Lin had a gun to our heads. The entire club was on the line.
We all sat around in the chapel that afternoon. Nobody looked like they got a good night’s sleep. Every man in the room was miserable.
“Everything is on the table. What have you got?”
Garnet looked at everybody. I had my doubts that anybody had come up with any answers.
“I’ll keep an eye out for Stephanie,” Sully said. “She might have been the last person to talk to Nate. You guys know where she’s at?”
“Steph will pop up,” Needle said. “A slut like that will be waiting to get on her knees for a club member. She might even be back at Finn’s tonight. A shooting isn’t gonna stop anybody from having their fun.”
“All right,” Garnet said. “We’ll keep an eye out for Stephanie. Anybody remember any other faces around Nate that night?”
“Maybe we could check the security cameras,” Brawn said.
“No chance,” I said. “They don’t have cameras in that alley in Finn’s. There’s no footage.”
“Almost like whoever did the shooting knew what they were doing,” Petey said.
Petey was the man with the most technical expertise in the club. Computers. Explosives. Weapons. He knew how shit worked.
“There might be other security footage,” Petey said.
“They won’t let us get to it,” I said. “A swarm of investigators already combed over the place. With a Triad gang member involved, Lieberman probably swooped in and confiscated all of the footage to go over it herself.”
“All right,” Garnet sighed. “We don’t have any witnesses. We don’t have any footage of the incident. What else do we have?”
He looked at everybody but nobody had the answers he was looking for. He shook his head and leaned back in his seat, staring off into the distance.
“One of our boys was shot,” he said. “We don’t have any leads.”
“Maybe we can narrow it down,” I said.
“How would we do that?” Needle said.
“It’s no secret that there are people out there who have beef with us. The Cobras for one.”
“Nah,” Needle said, shaking his head. “I don’t have any love for the Snakes but Katrina wouldn’t let her brother do some shit that would involve me. She knows better.”
“Maybe. There are other clubs, too. Maybe they’re jealous of our deal with the Chinese. Maybe they’re trying to take us out so they can take our place like the Vultures.”
“There are a lot of clubs in this town…”
“Look, all I’m saying is it’s a possibility.”
I turned to Garnet and he shrugged.
“You’re right,” he said. “It’s a possibility.”
“What do you suggest we do then?” Needle said. “We start questioning every club. It’s not like those motherfuckers are gonna give us a straight answer.”
“It’s worth a shot,” I said with a laugh. “I’m sure Brawn’s up for it.”
The big man winked at me. We were the only two men laughing at the situation. Needle started to get more frustrated.
“All right,” he said. “It might be another club. Maybe it’s a Vulture, too.”
“A Vulture?” Sully said. “We took care of all of them.”
“Did we? What exactly do we know about that fucking club? All we know, Cross had some more men working for him to avenge his death.”
“Now that you mention it…” Garnet said.
Everybody looked at the president but he kept staring off into the distance, lost in his thoughts.
“…Cross said something before he died. He talked about there being someone else. Someone more dangerous than him. Someone we should be worried about.”
He looked right at me. I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“…That’s a possibility,” I said. “If it’s someone even Cross is afraid of, they could pull something off like this. The problem is figuring out who that person is.”
“Lieberman,” Garnet said. “That’s who Lin mentioned. Cross was only trying to get the deal with the Chinese so he could rat them out. He was trying to save himself from getting locked up.”
It made some sense. Agent Lieberman had a vendetta against the club. Ever since she got here, she made that shit clear as day.
“Now we’re finally getting somewhere,” Needle said.
“Are we?” Sully said. “That doesn’t explain what happened. Lieberman killing a Triad member and then shooting Nate… Is she really capable of something like that?”
“Right now, I’ll believe anything,” Garnet said.
“Even so, that still doesn’t move us forward. If Lieberman is responsible for all of this, what the fuck are we gonna do? She’s a federal agent. We touch her, we’re getting locked away for the rest of our lives. That’s if the Triads don’t decide to kill us.”
Lieberman was dangerous. She wasn’t a friend of the club. She was gunning for the gang that we’d made a deal with.
“I don’t think so,” Sully said.
“What are you saying?” Needle said.
“I’m saying whether or not Lieberman is responsible, she’s not the one who got her hands dirty. She wasn’t the one responsible for the scene in the alley. That’s who we have to worry about.”
“I think I see what you’re getting at,” I said.
A light bulb turned on in my head.
“We start at the bottom,” I continued. “We find out what happened in the alley that night. Then we work our way up. Whoever is on top will get what’s coming to them.”
Garnet nodded to me. There was a bit of relief on his face. It made sense, all things considered. We were actually making some progress with the situation.
“Okay,” Garnet said. “We start at the bottom. We’ll get our answers. Lieberman. Another club. Out-of-towners.
Everything is a possibility. This is our town. They can hide but they won’t escape.”
Garnet looked around the table to see if anybody else had anything to say.
“Start looking,” Garnet said. “Needle, take Brawn with you and start talking to some other clubs. You’ve got some good will with the Cobras. Maybe they heard something.”
“This is just great,” Needle sighed. “Talking to a fucking Snake…”
“Petey, see what you can do about getting that security footage. Sully, track down Stephanie. Ghost…”
“Yeah?”
“…Check on Nate. You put him up. I think it makes sense you watch over him. He’s not dead yet. Maybe the person who did it will be looking to finish the job if he makes it.”
“That’s a good point. What about you?”
“I’ll talk to Sutton. Lieberman probably has her hands all over the scene because of the Triad involved but Sutton will give me some information on how the investigation is going.”
“Anybody else got anything?” I said to the other club members.
Everybody remained silent.
“All right,” Garnet said. “You’ve got your orders—”
“Hold on a second,” Sully said. “We’re forgetting something.”
“What’s that?”
“Nate was in that alley with a Triad member. They’ve both got bullets in them from each other’s pieces. What if that guy was trying to kill Nate? What if Nate really was just defending himself?”
“What are you saying?” Needle said. “You think Lin would really put a hit out on us?”
“Maybe it was a warning. Take out a prospect to keep us in line. We’ve all seen Lin for ourselves. He’s not happy about having to get his hands dirty by coming to Ivory. Maybe he’s planning on taking all of us out. You know, tie-up loose ends.”
“Cross ratting on him might have gotten him spooked,” I said. “He might be looking to burn all of the bridges that lead to him. It’d be the best way to avoid Lieberman.”
“All right,” Needle said. “Let’s say the Triads are coming for us. Then what? We gonna go to war with the fucking Triads?”