Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“When this all began, I figured it was a power play, one to reduce the standing we have here. Then they began attacking the Road Kings’ charters, and it became apparent it was something much more. With the involvement of Azarov, and what we knew when the wedding alliance was established, it’s clear now that he’s a puppet in a huge game of power establishment.”
This wasn’t something that we didn’t know, but he had more.
“Ben’s spoken to the president of the Arizona chapter of the MC, the one who lost two men not long ago to this. He’s close to Ben’s cousin, Niro, so they’ve been doing some investigating there. So far, what they’ve discovered in terms of key players in this war means we need to fight hard.”
Oh fuck, I knew where this was going. I didn’t want to make these calls.
“Dad, my woman, and my kids are here—”
“And we’ll take good care of them. Once we have the false divorce papers and birth certificates back, we’ll move them into your house for protection.”
Dmitri let out a choking sound, getting both of our attention.
“I’m fairly certain that either Nell or her dad will kill you if you even suggest the MC isn’t enough to protect her.”
Not finding any of it even slightly amusing, I turned back to Dad, seeing his face looking weary now. “That’s because they’re not, son. If they were, we wouldn’t need to be involving the Greeks or the Irish.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Taras, call Nick the Greek, tell him we’re pulling our marker. After that, call Raig and explain it to him. We have a good relationship with the Ryans, and you’re both as close as you are with Benito. Make the calls and bring them in.”
“Christ, he’s bringing in the IRA,” Dmitri rasped, struggling to understand this move.
Leaning so that his elbows now supported him on his knees, Dad nodded thoughtfully.
“We need the shift in power, and to bring in support from other countries. The farther out our web is cast, the better chance we have to catch the bastards. Los Segadores have brought in a fucking ghost, Dmitri.
“He slips in and slips back out again without us knowing, and there’s only a few who can do that, Vadim being one of them. The Ryans, Scala, De Luca, and the others give us the extra power we need, while Vadim finds the ghost.”
Glancing briefly over at Dmitri, I nodded when I saw the resigned look on his face. We both knew this was the only move we could make now, it was just not one that we wanted to bring to Renegade Falls.
Still, we needed them.
Standing up, I reached for my phone and started walking to the door. “I’ll make the calls. Bag the cigar and keep it for when we need it.”
“Taras,” Dad called, and I looked over my shoulder at him as I reached for the door handle. “Eyes in the back of your head, son. You don’t turn your back on anyone. Ben says the paperwork will be ready quickly, so we’ll need to discuss how to play that, too.”
Smirking, I pulled the door open. “I know exactly how to play it. It looks like there’s a crack in the Azarovs plan, though, given that the dead member of their Bratva was a surprise, and likely a message to them that their time was up.”
Eight hours later…
I’d been in meeting after meeting today, and then I’d worked out to burn off the tension those meetings had brought me.
As a family who may not act legally, we’d also assisted law enforcement enough that we had some members of the government behind us.
With bodies turning up publicly, I’d had to explain the situation to some of them, assuring them that we’d take care of the people responsible quickly. Sometimes they were happy for us to take control to save them the headache, and this was one of them. Not that they had a choice, but I didn’t have to tell them that.
As I’d been doing this, another body had been discovered after it was thrown off the edge of a bridge.
This time, the man had been killed the same way as the others, but he’d also had a rope looped around his neck, instead of being left on the ground. The length of it had stopped him three feet above the ground on the interstate, and had been timed to coincide with three Mac trucks traveling in a convoy for a company.
The first one hit him and caused a pile-up on the road, ensuring enough attention was drawn by news channels and civilians to the body and what was written on him.
9 11
Fedorov
The 911 could have been a message to our law enforcement friends, but nowadays, people understandably attributed it to the atrocities of 9-11, the day the world stood still.