Brain(24)
I tilted my head I agreement. “The online game that led to a half-dozen of us getting job offers.”
“You have to know why I didn’t take it, why didn’t you?” he asked.
“I was still in college, wasn’t ready to get a real job, and… I knew it was the government, and didn’t want to work for Uncle Sam.”
“Did you know it was the NSA?”
“The people who knocked on my door introduced themselves as NSA.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “They didn’t when they came calling on me. Not sure if that was because of my dad, or what.”
“Am I supposed to know who your dad is?”
* * * *
Brain
Fuck, I shouldn’t have mentioned my family. I tried to look nonchalant as I answered, “You said you only investigated the president of the Chattanooga and Atlanta chapters, and the club as a whole before accepting the job from the Disciples… so probably not.” I looked towards Duke. “I’m guessing you want to move her today?”
“You really think befriending her is the way to go?”
“We’d have never gotten information from her with torture. We’ve made the deal, Duke.”
Duke shook his head, looked at Grace a few seconds, back to me. “We’re gonna have two men on her for the next week. I’m gonna need you at the compound some of that time, so you can’t be with her all day. You can’t have McGyver, Dawg, Dozer, or Tank, and you don’t want Bash. I wouldn’t recommend Gonzo, but I’m not ruling him out. Figure out which two you want and I’ll notify them they’re on rotation. Up to you to figure out the schedule, but the three of you will need to work it so there’s always two on her, and you’re gonna be at the compound a lot.” He looked at her again, back to me. “You’ll have to brief them on protocol when you aren’t around. You don’t want her tied like Bash did, fine. Figure out how they can put her so she can’t escape.”
“Mr. Duke? Sir? If the MC’s going to arrange for me to get a new face and a new life, I don’t want to escape.”
Duke shook his head. “We need to make sure that’s the case this week, and no, I can’t tell you why.”
She gave him an appraising look and I knew she’d figure it out. Sure enough, a few seconds later she noted, “You’re going after the Disciples, and you want to make sure I don’t tell them?”
Duke merely raised his eyebrows, and Grace said, “If you trust me enough to let me in on the plans, I can help.”
“What do you want?”
She looked at me, back to Duke. “Nothing — just some goodwill between us. My initial research on the club made me think ya’ll were merely another gang, another rival of the Disciples, no better than them. Once Brain came after me and I dug deeper, I realized ya’ll aren’t like them. I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’re good, but you seem to have a set of your own morals you live by, and I can appreciate that.” She shrugged. “My deal with Brain is with all of you, and I don’t want to see any more of the MC get hurt. If I can help with the plans, I will.”
Duke looked at me, putting the ball in my court, and I told her, “Okay, Ice… Fuck, Grace. That’s hard to get used to.” I shook my head, took a breath, continued. “Draw up plans for how you’d go after them if money and technology were no object, and you had, say, a dozen men who knew how to handle weapons, and could take the Disciples fist-to-fist, if it comes to it. You’ll try to keep fatalities to a minimum on their side, to zero on our side.”
She nodded. “Give me until around noon tomorrow, to come up with it and perfect it?”
“Yeah,” Duke said, his eyes still appraising her. He looked to me, his mind not made up. “I’d planned to knock her out for the move.”
I nodded, knowing he was right and it was the best way to transport her, but it was going to piss her off, and it wasn’t the right move if we wanted her on our side. I sighed and turned away, so I wasn’t looking at either of them, composed my face, and then turned back and stepped to the coffee table to get my laptop.
“If Bash hadn’t humiliated her and tied her in such a painful position for so long, knocking her out again would piss her off, but she’d get over it.” I glanced at her, back to Duke. “I’ll run into town and buy a cheap laptop, something I can take apart and work on without too much trouble. I’ll put the software on she’ll need in order to come up with her plan and communicate it to us, and I’ll remove the wi-fi hardware, so there’s no way she can connect with it. We’ll wait until dark tonight to move her, and put her in the backseat of the Expedition with the laptop. I’ll follow on my bike.”