Talon (Uncompromising #1)(43)

“Both single but that’s not the point.”

“It’s my favor, I’ll ask them.”

“Fuck, man, come on. You know what they’ll say. They’re both fresh outta deployments. They’re itching for adrenaline.”

“So let ’em have it.”

“Damn it, this goes south, it’s on you.” André dialed his phone.

I didn’t wait to hear the outcome. I grabbed my own phone and called Candle.

He picked up on the first ring. “That didn’t take long,” he said tiredly.

“You motherfucker,” I spat. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”

Candle sighed. “I told you, you’d owe us.”

“I thought you had more respect for innocent victims, women especially.” It was everything I could do to keep from yelling.

“You know I do.” His tone warned I was skating on thin ice.

I didn’t give a shit. “He fuckin’ stabbed her,” I ground out.

“Like father, like son. What do you want me to say? You’re the one who made the deal.”

Wait. What? “What the fuck are you talkin’ about, like father, like son?”

“Christ, for a Naval-trained medic, you’re dumb as shit. Who the hell do you think Carter’s father is?”

I had no fucking clue. “Who?”

“Stone Hawkins.”

For one crushing second, my heart stopped then picked up and slammed against my ribs.

I kicked over the coffee table.

“Stone fucking Hawkins? The president of the Lone Coasters?” How the fuck had I missed this? “He has daughters.” From three different club whores, all of whom had hit on me at one time or another. I avoided them like the plague.

“And one son. Randy the prize,” Candle bit out sarcastically.

Randy and a bunch of stray LCs I could handle. But this? Going up against the most notorious MC on the East coast? I sunk to the couch in despair. Stone Hawkins was a ruthless son of a bitch who’d skated over every murder and trafficking charge that’d ever come his way. Rumor had it he was vicious and sadistic and the perfect leader for the violent MC.

I asked the one thing that stood out. “Why haven’t I seen Randy in a cut before today?”

Candle snorted. “Stone stripped him of it years ago. He was sick of Randy’s bullshit. Said if he ever wanted it back, he’d have to prove himself. My guess is taking out Maldonado was Randy’s perfect in.”

“What do you mean, you guess? You’re Stone’s fuckin’ Sergeant-at-Arms.”

Candle snorted. “In name only. Stone Hawkins is an island.”

An island with a three-hundred-man army. “Don’t bullshit me. You knew this was goin’ down.” Goddamn asshole.

“Look.” Candle sighed. “You ever repeat this, I’ll fucking make you burn. Stone’s been after Maldonado for a partnership for years. Maldonado controls the whole area from Fort Lauderdale to the marker in Key West. No one can get any shipments past his territory without greasing him. Stone pays a steep price to get his shit through Maldonado’s network. He’s been trying to negotiate a piece of Maldonado’s territory in exchange for a kickback. Maldonado said no. You and I both know a dead Maldonado is easier to deal with.”

“You set me up.”

“I didn’t set up shit. You came to me. But truth is, I wanted Maldonado dead for my own reasons.”

Fucking liar. “How fuckin’ convenient.”

“Believe me or not, I don’t give a shit.”

“You should give a shit. The LCs don’t have the right kinda manpower to cover a part of Maldonado’s territory, let alone handle the shit Maldonado’s men are gonna unleash when they find out your club’s behind this.” The LCs were gun runners, not organized crime. Maldonado spent his whole career greasing pigs and politicians to make a network of invisible entry points in ports for product and then staffed those ports with legit union   labor. If you wanted illegal product coming through south Florida, you paid Maldonado.

“That’s what I told Stone but he wasn’t listening for shit. You think I want to be at war with them? That’s fucking suicide.”

“What the fuck did you think was gonna happen when you made the call to off Maldonado?” Jesus fuck. I didn’t know the background on this shit when I asked him for this. “You shoulda passed on this and you know it.”

“It was never going to point back at us or the LCs, not the way I was going about it. I wasn’t using the MC for this.”

“You fuckin’ liar.”

“I’m telling you the truth! You think I want to die at the hands of some fucking cartel? You think I want to be a part of this organized crime bullshit? ‘Live free or die’ doesn’t mean I sell my soul to grease port authorities so human trafficking and heroine junkies and God knows who else can poison the air I breathe. I’m a goddamn mechanic.”