Page 38 of Last One Standing (Saint Brothers #5)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ANGEL

“Colette Barbier is definitely someone you don’t want to fuck with,” Nick stated over breakfast the following morning. “She’s got her fingers in all sorts of illegal pies.”

“Mason said he googled her, and there’s a lot of speculation that she’s in with Bratva and stuff.” JJ sipped his coffee.

“Yeah, that’s true. Noel was able to scuttle his way into the FBI and ATF database and located the agent in charge that’s dealing with Brick. He found out exactly what it is the Dead Kings are doing for Colette.” Nick gestured to Noel with flourish.

“Thank you, brother.” Noel sat up straighter. “So, we did in fact destroy property that was going to be going to Columbia for Colette.”

“Shit!” Matt yelped.

Noel waved him off. “No, no, calm down. Agent Waters, the one heading this thing, apparently is going to put together a shipment to cover Brick and his merry idiotic band of men.”

“Why? That seems stupid, dangerous, and a million other things.” It really didn’t make sense. They were going to likely use guns and drugs they had in holding, and they’d maybe be able to track the cartel, but that wouldn’t give them Colette, which was the reason they needed Brick.

“To get the cartel?” Noel shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I found out the shipment, and this operation, are taking place in two weeks. Which gives us time.”

“Time to what?” Phoenix asked.

“Time to make Brick the most hated man in the underworld and give us the upper hand.” Noel smiled like a kid who’d won the science fair.

“You have a plan?” I sat back, intrigued. The twins irritated me, but I didn’t doubt they were smart.

“I do.” Noel tapped the table in a drumroll.

“We get information to Colette that Brick is working for the FBI and the shipment is a setup. We explain to her that some rival biker gang destroyed her property, and because Brick is working with the FBI to nail her, they are supplying the guns and drugs to trap the cartel.”

“Uh…” Mason interrupted. “She’ll tell the cartel, and they’ll never catch them, and let’s be honest here—they are more ruthless and evil than the Dead Kings.”

“You’re not going to get everyone in this fight, Mason.” Shep wiped his mouth and sighed. “It would be great if we could, but we’re limited. Right now, we can’t have Colette targeting us. So Noel’s plan isn’t bad. She’ll be angry. We state that he’s done us wrong and started a war with us over it.”

“If she arranges a meeting with Brick, we could get her in the same place as him and eliminate them both, right?” JJ asked.

“Except she works with Bratva and the cartel. They won’t be very happy if we take her out,” Four countered.

“Unlessssssssss.” Nick cackled. “We make it look like the Kings took her out. They’ll be dead, so they won’t be able to retaliate, and we leave the cartel and Bratva to the alphabet authorities to fight another day.”

“Ideally this is brilliant, but you have to leave room for this to go horribly wrong, and then the cartel and whatever mafias will come to wipe us out too.” Matt cocked his head. “This is insane. You get that, right?”

“We do.” Noel beamed. “But we have no choice. Brick will throw us under the bus with either the FBI and ATF or Colette. If we don’t step in and do something drastic, we won’t be the ones standing when the dust settles.”

There was a somber silence as we all let what Noel said sink in.

This whole thing was bigger than we’d originally thought, but we were in the thick of it and backing down wasn’t an option.

Brick was coming after us even if we waved a white flag, which we would never do.

Colette was an obstacle in our way, but we could use it to our advantage. And that was what we were going to do.

“Okay, so how do we get in touch with Colette? It’s not like we can just call her cell phone,” Gabe scoffed.

Nick chuckled. “But that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Imagine her surprise the moment her very private, very untraceable phone rings, and she answers it from someone she never gave her number to. It would actually give us more power.”

“Are we giving her our names?” Phoenix bit his lip.

“Absolutely not,” I answered and glared at Nick. “She can’t know who we are.”

“Brick will likely tell her if cornered.” Kona’s lips thinned. “But, and don’t take offense to this, if she looks into you guys, she might think you’re all too small and that he’s lying more.”

Noel pointed at Kona. “That’s what we’ll go for.”

“This plan has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.” Matt covered his face with his hand.

“Swiss cheese floats.” Noel looked smug.

“Does it?” Gabe got up and probably was going to go see if it did, in fact, float.

“Okay, while Gabe goes and does science, let’s perfect this.” Nick sighed.

We spent the next hour deciding exactly what to say to Colette, how to get eyes on her, and how this would end. Evading the FBI might not be too hard since we were sure Carmichael hadn’t told them we knew about the deal with Brick.

“It’ll be better if Brick thinks his life is falling apart. It will make it harder for him to focus.” Four glared at the screen where we were putting our plan in place.

“How so?” Shep asked.

Kona was the one who answered. “You want to tell the club what Brick’s been doing without their knowledge?”

Four grinned, something he didn’t do often, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t unsettling. “Exactly.”

I nodded. “Let’s get that news to them.”

There was no way the Dead Kings were going to believe someone telling them their maniac leader was working with the FBI. They’d need solid proof.

“Tank would be who you’d want to get this info to,” Kona informed us. “He should be the VP now since the original one died at your shop, and I know sometimes he and Brick argue about the way the club is handled. He might actually believe this, and he could probably convince the rest it’s true.”

“Great. How do we get it to him?” Mason interjected.

“Me.” Kona’s offer was like being struck with lightning.

“Fuck, no!” I shouted, earning an eyebrow-raise from him.

“Excuse you?”

“Kona, if you go meet Tank, he’ll drag you back to Brick, and he’ll kill you.”

Kona rolled his eyes. “Were you all going to let me go undefended, unwatched? No, you’ll be close. I know Tank, and he’s not going to listen to any of you. I’m familiar with him, and while he’s a colossal asshole, he will believe me.”

“How do you know he won’t just shoot you when he sees you?” Gabe scowled. “We can’t defend you that fast.”

Kona lifted his arms up in frustration. “Then this won’t work. You have to trust me.”

“Kona’s right.” Pika had been silent through all this until now.

“I don’t want my brother anywhere near the Kings, but Tank is your best bet, and he will listen to Kona.

None of you can do it, and he won’t believe a text message or phone call.

If Tank sees Kona risked himself to get this news to him, it’ll mean something to him. ”

Kona hugged Pika. “Thank you.”

“Fine.” Noel sighed.

“Hold on. There has to be another way.” I wasn’t okay with this.

“Hey.” Kona’s voice was soft. “You won’t let anything happen to me.”

“Kona.” I turned, and he wrapped his arms around my midsection. “I’m not Superman.”

“No, you’re not. But this is the only way. You have to trust me like I trust you.” His expression was determined, and knew I wasn’t winning this.

“Okay.”

Right there, in front of my family, I cradled Kona’s face in my hands and kissed him…and ignored the catcalls that rang out.