Page 55 of The Devil’s Escape (The Devil’s Soldiers #7)
“Who did you call in?” Angel questions. Bullet says nothing, narrowing his eyes.
Angel sighs. “Right, nothing until we tell you what we know. Alright, here’s what we have.
Like I said before, Arson and Silver have been making a lot of moves in the last few months to try and solidify our routes and our operations.
They’ve been making deals without club consensus and keeping us five out of the loop.
” I note that no one looks surprised by that information.
Still, I can’t imagine this club doing that.
They work so well together. “We started getting suspicious, and we’ve been keeping tabs,” Angel continues tiredly.
“Silver’s the one who’s been trying to get most of the deals worked out and bringing them to Arson once he’s got it mostly ironed out. ”
“Just Silver? No one else?” Bullet asks, gaze intense. I can practically see the wheels in his head spinning.
Angel nods. “As far as we can tell. He and Crook have gone once or twice to places that no one could figure out, so the two of them may be the ones working on getting it all sorted, but I think it’s mostly Silver.”
“Silver’s Arson’s right-hand man when it comes to anything club-related,” Trix adds grimly.
“The two of them are always riding together, doing shit together. Hell, I think there was talk at one point that Arson wanted Silver to take one of his daughters as an Old Lady because that would make him family. Silver resisted that, saying he doesn’t want to be tied down, but there were rumors that Silver and Arson’s daughter were screwing around for awhile about a month ago.
Haven’t seen the girl around much since, so we haven’t been able to find out if it’s true or not. ”
“When did they start working with Vlad?” Sniper demands.
“We don’t know the exact time frame, but it was just before you called us in that we five were really getting cut out of meetings and discussions the others were having.
Hell, they had Church one night without telling any of us, and the only reason we found out was that we got back from a run earlier than expected.
” Angel scoffs darkly. “That was when we knew shit was going down and really started to pay attention more. When we walked in on that meeting, they were finishing up talking about something to do with Russians, and that they had a perfect setup for the club to take over running for them. They weren’t happy with other MCs in the area, and one in particular was causing problems. They shut the entire discussion down quickly after that, and they put away all the papers and maps on the tables as quickly as possible. ”
“They had routes all across the lower states mapped out and into Mexico,” Diesel adds. “Different colors and shit too.”
“Different suppliers,” Torque guesses darkly. “You said that they were making deals with the Cartels, Russians, and possibly Italians?”
“That’s what we were able to gather, but the Russians are the big suppliers on their list. The Cartels and Italians mean getting things across the borders, but the Russians, they had the setup already figured out here, and the products would come from other areas that wouldn’t affect anything with the operations here,” Dozer rumbles out.
“They have everything coming in from West Coast ports,” Thea states.
When everyone looks at her, she arches a brow.
“Remember that operation I was part of before that resulted in all those arrests? We tracked them to the West Coast and made sure to document all the shipments we intercepted meticulously. The East Coast is mostly controlled by the Italians and other Eastern European crime groups, but the Russians, Japanese, and Chinese all smuggle their things in from the west purely due to proximity and getting things into the country faster.”
I blink at that rush of information. Wow, I really have been living under a rock. I had no idea about any of that.
“All that’s true, but the Russians have networks all across the country from the West Coast set up that the others probably don’t,” King adds grimly.
“And where we are, we’re the perfect intersection between the eastern states and the border.
Dagger knew that, and that’s why he approached them with the locations that Bull set up.
Not only did he make it so that he would fuck us over for what happened with Bull, but it gave them the ability to pay him good money and set up an operation that’s been running under our noses for years and we never had any clue.
This is an intricate operation, and one that they’ve perfected since. ”
“And they wanted MCs to help them with the final legs of getting it where it needs to go,” Bullet finishes.
“Being that Dagger sold those locations out, they knew they couldn’t come to us, so they went around us.
They went to the Wild Devils, and they took them up on it, but being so close to us, they had to be careful how they ran their operations so we didn’t get suspicious.
It could be that Vlad isn’t happy with how careful or slow they’re being, so he saw another opportunity to find another way to get his shit out to the other states faster with another club. ”
“A bonus being that they’re a known ally of ours,” Hulk states bitterly. I squeeze his arm comfortingly.
“You think that Vlad reached out to them and not the other way around?” Sniper asks him.
Hulk shrugs, and I tilt my head to look at him. “I wouldn’t put it past him. Maybe he saw it as a way to convince them to get us out of the way. Give the Misfits more, get rid of the other clubs, including us, and they’ve got their distribution lines set up exactly the way they want them.”
“Does Arson want to move the club?” Bullet asks Angel. “Or is it that he wants a second chapter he can control and profit from?”
Angel sighs. “Honestly, I don’t know. Before, I’d have said a second chapter, but Arson’s getting more and more paranoid, so I can’t see him leaving something this big up to anyone else. Especially not after everything that’s happened here.”
“Probably from all this shit he’s been snorting,” Cryos remarks drily. Angel and the others start a little, and I get the feeling that that statement isn’t one they expected.
“Nah, Arson’s a lot of things, but he’s never touched that shit other then some weed and maybe a few pills now and then during a party,” Dozer argues.
“Drew a hard line on all of us that we didn’t touch any of that shit because that’s how product goes missing and we end up dead from the suppliers we run for. ”
“Well, he’s changed his tune because I was able to find the evidence that says otherwise,” Cryos states derisively. Like he’s not sure why someone would dare to question him on that. I glance at Hulk, who just rolls his eyes slightly. Clearly, Cryos has an ego. Great.
“There’s no point in arguing over shit like that,” Angel snaps. “If you found that out, then it makes sense why they’re all acting the way they have been. It also explains why he’s eager to get his hands on this route.”
“We just let your entire club know of all the secret locations that Dagger sold out, but with Thea’s help we gave you all the locations where Vlad was actually storing all the shit he’s peddling,” Sniper hisses, thrusting a hand through his hair.
“Is that why they were insistent that Silver look at the journal?” Thea asks. I don’t know what the hell this journal is, but clearly, it’s important. I make a mental note to ask Hulk about it later. Along with all the other questions running around in my head.
Drugs? Guns? Routes? Holy shit, this is messed up.
“He probably was trying to figure out the locations on his own to give to Arson,” Sniper agrees. He looks over at Bullet. “Wanna bet that he’s going to stupidly try to screw over Vlad?”
“You think that he is working with Vlad with the hope that we take him out, leaving his territory open for the taking. Including all the products that Vlad is moving around,” Bullet says slowly, and I can practically hear the puzzle pieces in everyone’s minds falling into place.
“He can’t be that fucking stupid,” Sting sputters out.
“I know Arson is an idiot on a good day, but that is suicide. For him, his family, and the rest of us. Vlad isn’t going to care that some of us aren’t involved in this.
We’re all painted under the same brush in this situation.
What about our Old Ladies? Our fucking families? His own fucking Old Lady and family?”
“Drugs don’t make smart men,” Angel reminds him grimly.
On that, he and I can agree. I’ve seen far too many drug addicts in the ER suffering from different stages of their addictions.
I’ve also seen the violence that drugs involve in their families and their friends.
People dying because they try to help or get in between them and what they crave the most.
“Do you know where they’re going to be going?” Hulk asks. “We know what they’re doing. What they’re planning, but we don’t know where they might be heading. They’re going to do their best to lose Frost, Bowie, and Viper.”
“Cryos, do you have cameras and audio in the cells?” Bullet demands.
“Yes,” Cryos answers. “I’ll go and pull it up.” He rushes out of the room, a grim look on his face.
“What else did you hear while you were in there?” Bullet asks. He’s calmed down some, but I can still sense the danger lurking under the surface. “Now's your chance to come clean about anything that Cryos is going to pick up on the audio.”
“They were fighting amongst each other to get the hell out of there before shit hit the fan,” Angel replies.
“I don’t remember the words exactly, but I wanted answers and demanded them.
Arson didn’t take too kindly to it and punched me in the face.
Told me never to question him and called me a disgrace for going against him in front of you when everything went down up here.
Made them look weak by telling them all to lower their weapons.
I fell, and my ears were ringing, so I didn’t hear much more before they started beating on us. ”
“They never mentioned Vlad specifically, but they said that if they didn’t get to their contact before shit went down here, then there was no way they could make their play,” Sting suddenly blurts out, straightening.
“And if you think he’s going to try and double-cross Vlad, then this must be what he’s planning. ”
“Would he do that before you guys aren’t out of the way and risk pissing off Vlad and having him going after them?” I ask. Everyone looks at me, and I wince. “Sorry, I know I’m not part of this; it just came out.”
I’ve probably overstepped by saying anything. This whole MC thing is difficult to keep up with. I hope Hulk isn’t upset with me for saying anything. The last thing I want is for him to be in trouble for something I ran my mouth about.
“No, that’s a smart thought, angel,” Hulk assures me, tightening his arm around me, making me relax.
I glance at everyone else, and no one looks upset either.
“Arson might be stupid, but there’s no way that he’ll risk Vlad coming after him.
So whatever play he’s talking about won’t be to double-cross him.
They’re probably going to meet up with Vlad or Nikolai and tell them that we’re on to them and give them all the details so that they can attack us sooner. ”
“Which means we don’t have a lot of time before they come our way,” Sniper finishes, mouth set into a grim line. “We need to hear back from Frost, Bowie, and Viper before we make any moves, but we need to get ready. We have no idea what’s coming our way yet.”
That is exactly what I’m afraid of. I need to get the kids out of here. Now.