“Is that what I said to you, Rafe, when I welcomed you home?” Bard hissed. “Is that what Nic said? Or did we say you could go off and handle your business, as long as it was quick and quiet and you left the Reapers out of it?”
I couldn't move. Every muscle was clenched and cramping. I'd seen Reapers get executed when they'd betrayed the MC, but I'd never dreamed I'd have to worry about that someday, even while I was asking Boomer for help over the past few days.
I'd been so focused on keeping Jewel safe and bringing down Jester that I hadn't really considered the consequences. I'd been so desperate to keep us from getting killed by the Mancusos that I hadn't even thought about the possibility of being killed by my own MC for disobeying a direct order and putting them all at risk.
Each time a death sentence was carried out on a Reaper, he had to remove his cut first as a ceremonial gesture.
With a sinking feeling, I realized that I already wasn't wearing mine.
“We did everything we could for you when you were framed,” Bard said. He was pressing on the nerve in my neck so hard that his thumb was buried in my skin up to the first knuckle. “We paid for your lawyer. We took care of Rosie. We made sure your account was always full of money and that there were plenty of minutes on your phone card. We bribed and threatened as many guards as we could to keep you safe in there, so Jester's men couldn't all come at you at once and finish you off. And in return, all we asked was for you to think of someone other than yourself, and you couldn't even do that.”
I heard a gun cocking behind Bard. His eyebrows raised and he released the nerve in my neck, standing up slowly and turning around.
Jewel was pointing her gun at him.
“Get away from Rafe right now,” Jewel said. “I don't want to kill anyone, but I've already done it once today and I swear I'll do it again right here if you don't back off.”
Nic already had his gun drawn and pointed at Jewel, but Bard raised a hand, and Nic lowered the weapon. Boomer just watched, his eyes wide.
Bard eyed Jewel calmly. “You won't be doing any killing with the safety on, I'm afraid.”
Jewel squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet over Bard's left shoulder. This time, she didn't even flinch at the sound of the gunshot. I was impressed.
“Nice try,” Jewel said. “First thing I checked.”
Bard actually chuckled at that, nodding appreciatively. “Well played.”
“Put...the gun...down,” I gasped. My muscles were starting to loosen again, but the pain still lurked in every corner of my body.
Jewel glanced at me, confused. “But he's...”
“It's...all right,” I said. “He's right. About all of it. And what happens next is up to him.”
Jewel looked at me uncertainly, then lowered her gun.
I pulled myself to my feet, feeling the ground spin under me as I met Bard's gaze. “But if I'm gonna go, I'll go standing up like a man, and I'll go with your promise that nothing happens to her.”
“Oh, for Christ's sake, Rafe,” Nic said softly. There was pity in his voice. “Come on. You know we wouldn't hurt her.”
“I know we're not in the habit of carrying out executions in front of witnesses,” I said, “which means it doesn't matter what the fuck else I think I know. I need your word.”
“No one's getting executed tonight,” Bard said. “We wouldn't have brought you what you asked for if we were going to kill you. And now that you've dragged the Reapers into this disaster, we have no choice but to be in it all the way, for better or worse. But I'm deeply disappointed in you, Rafe. And you should know that if you're a Reaper for another hundred years, you'll never have another chance at wearing the VP patch.”
I sighed, lowering my head. “I understand. And thank you.”
“Don't thank us,” Nic said. “You didn't leave us much of a choice here, man. You know that. Now let's get inside and see what's on this memory stick you're so excited about.”
Chapter 31
Rafe
While Nic and Boomer turned on the laptop and plugged in the memory key, Bard opened the first aid kit and examined the holes in my arm.
“You did a good job dressing these wounds,” Bard said to Jewel as he dabbed them with disinfectant and taped gauze over them. “Have you had any medical training?”
“Not really,” Jewel answered. “I just did what seemed to make the most sense, which was keeping the bleeding to a minimum with the bandages and making sure they weren't tight enough to cut off the circulation.”
“That's smarter than a lot of people would've been,” Bard said. “They'd have tried a tourniquet because that's what movies told them to do, and Rafe might have ended up losing the arm.”
“Where's Giggles?” I asked Bard. Giggles was the Reapers' humorless resident medic, a former nurse who'd become hooked on pills and joined the MC after losing his license.
Bard scowled at me. “I sent him up to Madison,” he said. “After I found out what happened to the Reapers up there because of your bad judgment, I figured it was the least I could do for them by way of apology. You're stuck with me. You're welcome.”
I closed my eyes and nodded. I'd been a shithead. I knew I had all this coming and more.
“Okay, we've got it,” Nic said, pointing at the screen. “Not sure what it is, though.”
We all crowded around the small computer screen. The memory stick only had one file stored on it, labeled “FOT/DB.”
“Well, DB usually stands for database, at least among accountants,” Jewel offered. “But I don't know about the FOT.”
“Family of Thorns, I'll bet,” Boomer said. “Holy shit. If this is what I think it is...”
“Open it,” Bard said.
Boomer double-clicked on the file. A list of over two dozen Italian names appeared on the screen, including Angelo's and Jester's.
“There's Billy Finucci,” Boomer said, pointing to the name. “He's with the Mancusos, too. An' there's Jimmy the Fish, he's a bag man for the Russo family. An' look, here's Tommy Esposito an' Donnie Buono. They both work as torpedoes for the Rizzos. Jesus, there are even a couple of Bonaccorsos on this list.”
“If the crime families got their hands on this info, they'd know who among them belonged to the Thorns,” Nic said. “And every person on this list, including Jester, would end up in a hole in the ground. These Italians aren't big on divided loyalties in their ranks.”
“So we've got it?” Jewel asked. “We've got what it takes to blackmail Jester into leaving us alone?”
The other Reapers turned to look at me. Bard's lips were pressed into a thin line, but I could tell what he wanted to ask: Since when did I care about Jester “leaving me alone?” Since when did I care about anything but killing the bastard for what he'd done to me? I wasn't ready to tell her that had been my plan all along.
But the database had given me an idea.
“This is enough to get us in the door, at least,” I said. “I can use this memory stick as leverage to get Jester to meet with me. If he knows it's someplace safe and I can use it against him, he might be willing to settle this with me one on one, instead of siccing the whole Family of Thorns on me.”
“Yeah, but how are you supposed to arrange all this?” Nic asked. “I mean, we don't know where the Thorns hang out, and it's not like we can pick up the phone and call 1-800-THORN-ME or something. Staying hidden is kind of their main thing.”
I turned to Bard. I knew I was taking a huge risk bringing this up, but I didn't see any other option. “Boomer mentioned you were pretty cozy with Chicago's top cop.”
Bard shot Boomer a withering look. “Oh, he 'mentioned' that, did he? How forthcoming of him. Did he also happen to mention that my relationship with Superintendent Grady is personal and not to be exploited for MC business, let alone the business of a careless rogue member?”
“Hey, you want me to make this right?” I snapped. “This is how I can make it right. I can handle my shit and make sure there's no blowback from Thorns, Mancusos, or anyone else. But to do that, I need to know what your pal knows about the Thorns.”
Nic sighed. “I hate to admit it, Bard, but he's got a point. If we don't make a move on this fast, the gangsters really will start beating our doors down, and we'll be right back where we were a year ago.”
Bard considered this for a long moment, then squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed is temples. “Fine. I'll go outside and make the call.” He got up and left, slamming the kitchen door behind him.
Nic looked at me with heavy eyes. “Just so you know, Rafe, this shit almost went a whole other way. It took a lot for us to talk Bard into helping you out. Don't abuse that.”
“I won't,” I said. “I'm doing my best here, Nic.”
A few minutes later, Bard came back in. “There isn't much about the Thorns in the law enforcement databases, except for rumors of a yacht docked in Belmont Harbor. Some people say they conduct business there sometimes.”
“What's the name of the yacht?” I asked.
“Don't know,” Bard said.