I looked at Dust and grit my teeth. His eyes were closed, and his pulse was slowing in my hands, but he held on.
“Just keep it together a little bit longer, brother,” I whispered, gingerly squeezing his hand.
We'd get him patched up. Then Joker and me would figure out how the fuck we'd kill every last one of the miserable shits who'd jumped us.
They'd made it personal, too, the stupid fucks, the very second they'd mentioned Cora. And pushing our Prez against the wall, causing him to slice his own fuckin' throat?
They were already dead.
God willing, we'd smoke 'em without any more of our boys suffering for it.
We stood around while Laynie show up, worked her magic, and then got him into her car. The woman was always a beast under pressure, patching guys up and saving lives, but she worked like a double demon on her own son.
Soon as she had him stable, riding with her to the clinic, we got on our bikes and rode straight to the clubhouse. The old mustangs with their bikes in the shop would have to wait. Club business trumped civilian shit any day of the week, and it had never been this serious.
Half an hour later, we were all in the meeting room. Felt strange to see the Prez's chair empty – or close enough.
Bingo sat in it like a fuckin' person, his massive, hairy body taking up the full seat. Everybody watched the big dog, his lazy tongue hanging outta his mouth, ignorant to the heavy cloud hanging over the club.
“Think you oughta let him sit there?” Sixty said, lighting a smoke.#p#分页标题#e#
“Prez ain't dead. Better him than any of us. He's keeping it warm.” Joker looked at me, and I nodded, putting my fists on the table.
“We've gotta figure out how we're gonna handle this shit. No telling how long Dust'll be out of commission 'til Laynie fills us in.”
“We can't go after 'em. Fuckers own Atlanta with their mob connections. Outstate Georgia's Deads' territory. They've got themselves a moat surrounding their asses, made of our worst enemies.” Skin tried to reason, like he always did.
“Yeah,” I said, wishing like hell it weren't true. Brother was right. “We don't have the numbers and we don't know the territory well enough to hit 'em where they live. Chances are their old school ties to every mafia and gang in Dixie would tell 'em we're coming, too.”
“What do we do?” Crawl pushed his shaggy black hair back. “Don't give a shit what we decide, just as long as it means they die.”
“Everybody's on the same page there, brother. We can't be fuckin' idiots. Need to watch our asses,” I said. “Let's look at the situation. We've bought ourselves some time, giving 'em their guns. They came in all pissed about that dead fuck, Jimmy, foaming at the mouth so much they didn't give a shit about tearing up our partnership.”
“Go on.” Joker had his knife out, holding it by the blade. Crazy fucker looked like he wanted to push his fingers down on it, slice them clean off.
Who the hell ever knew what was rolling through his head?
“We'll lure them onto our turf for another round. This time, we'll find out when they're back. We won't be caught with our pants around our ankles again.”
“Lure them?” Sixty snorted. “Shit, bro, it won't take much. Red Beard said he'd be back if he found out we fucked 'em on anything else.”
“Yeah, and we have.” Everybody looked at me. “Cora. They're gonna find out about her sooner or later. It's my job to keep her safe. Seeing the Prez take a hit made me realize I can't do it as long as they're breathing. I'll let 'em find out she's ours – mine – but I'll make damned sure they don't come within ten miles of where I've got her holed up.”
“Fuck me – you're using your girl as bait?” Skin's eyes narrowed. He looked at me, then at Joker.
The Veep looked up, suddenly done playing Russian roulette with his knife. “He's right. Girl's the only lure we got.”
Steam nearly shot out my fuckin' ears. I hated hearing her talked about like a goddamned piece of meat. I really fuckin' hated that this was the only way to keep her safe and do justice.
My fist hit the table. “Look, I'm the last fuckin' guy at this table who wants to do any of this. Red Beard's an arrogant piece of shit with a temper like a damned volcano. You saw what he did to Prez.”
“Yeah,” Skin growled. “We all saw.”
“How do you think he'll react when he hears we've got Jimmy's girl? Bastard thinks we double-crossed him once. Twice – he'll flip his shit. The Torches'll come roaring into town for blood. We'll have a bear trap ready to snap their fucking legs off. Cora's never gonna be in a lick of danger, if I've got anything to say about it.”