The story was that he’d landed a politician for a client, and he blackmailed him into giving him access to military grade weapons. Fang took our weapons business because he could provide clients with things that couldn’t be purchased legally, and it was all clean. Nothing was traceable back to anyone so long as nobody was caught red-handed. That also meant that Fang and his goons had access to some pretty heavy duty toys for themselves, and they were not afraid to use them.
Guys like Fang really made the streets more dangerous than they needed to be. The rest of us just provided services and goods. Fang offered up game changers. His prowess in the weapons game hit us on two fronts. Not only did our supplier go under, but our security business took a pretty serious hit. We had some clients who were extremely loyal because they preferred our clean-up service to anyone else they’d ever used, but most people went with the guy who had the biggest guns. We couldn’t blame them.
“Yeah, you’re right, Gage. His guys have the equipment to see and hear us even in the dead of night when we’re not making a single noise.”
I saw a few worried looks.
“Guys, don’t sweat it. If anything goes wrong, we just do what we do. We kill everyone,” I added with a hearty laugh.
That got their spirits up.
“I mean, really, what good is this sort of thing if it doesn’t lead to a fight? And we know that if it turns into a fight, we’ve got them. They may have better weapons, but they don’t have the balls,” I said.
One of the things we were known for was our ability to fight. The Hell’s Overlords MC had been built on bar and street fights. We used to go into bars just to start fights until we got so big that it was beginning to undermine the rest of our business.
“Well, are we ready?” I asked everyone.
They all threw their fists in the air.
“Everyone got a weapon?” I asked.
I watched as the senior members all pulled their assault rifles around to the front. Gage also pulled a shiny silver revolver out of his waistband. Sometimes, I thought he should have been an outlaw in the Old West, not on the city streets of urban America.
“Then let’s go,” I told them.
Of course, they ran off yelling, howling, and whistling to get the other members riled up and ready to launch an all-out attack on our biggest rival.
“Andre,” I snapped as he walked past me with his gun in the air.
“Yes, sir?” He stopped dead in his tracks and turned with a frightened look in his eyes.
“You’re staying back. We need someone to watch HQ while we’re out,” I told him.
He let out a sigh that was equal parts relief and disappointment. He was obviously relieved that I wasn’t scolding him for letting Sasha out of his sight, and he was understandably disappointed that I wasn’t letting him tag along.
“It’s an important job, brother. I need you come through for me. Don’t drop the ball on this one, got it?”
“Got it.”
“Alright. Close the bay doors behind us after we leave. Lock this place down while we’re gone.”
“I don’t get to keep anyone here with me?” he asked.
I looked at Dante, and he shrugged.
“Up to you, boss,” he said.
“Yeah, grab three guys to stay back with you. Stay armed. Stay vigilant. It’s possible Fang knows we’re on the way, and if he decides to pull anything, you need to be able to buy enough time to let us know.” I looked right into his young, scared eyes. Sometimes I wondered what I had been thinking by making him a senior member, but he had the muscle and weapons know-how that we needed. He didn’t have any common sense whatsoever, but if you told him to hit it or shoot it, it was handled with precision.
Dante and I walked to our bikes in the noise of everyone gunning their engines. We watched as Andre grabbed a few guys, stopping them from riding out and convincing them to stay with him. It really humorous. They looked at us for confirmation that he wasn’t just losing his mind, and we simply nodded to let them know it was legit.
We pulled out of HQ and into the afternoon light. This was the kind of business that was usually handled at night. We hoped that handling it in the afternoon, in broad fucking daylight, would give us a bit of an advantage over Fang and his goons.
Chapter 14
Sasha
After listening to Fang’s voicemails, all of which just amounted to being worried about my well-being and wanting to hear from me to make sure I was alright, I decided it was time to take action. Since Cole wouldn’t listen to me about not going after Fang, since he wanted to lie to my face and tell me they just wanted to talk to him, I decided it was time to call my boss and let him know what was going on.