“That’s what we believe they’re doing, yes, and oftentimes using the women to do it. The women have no idea it’s happening. They’re innocent victims.” Czar wanted to reiterate that point. The Diamondbacks already didn’t treat their women the way Czar felt they should. He didn’t want to throw the women under the bus and have the men treat them even worse.
“How do you want to play this, Czar? You clearly have a plan.”
Czar nodded. “We’ve got our people working, but we have to move faster. They’ve had time to put their assassins in the field. I want to know how many are here and who they are. We need names, and we need them fast.” He jerked his chin toward Tawny, who was standing with a group of other women, laughing. Her gaze kept straying to Savage and Plank. She looked … greedy. Hungry. Pierce stood halfway between her and his president, but his gaze had followed Alena and Destroyer into the crowd.
Plank lowered his voice. “That bitch. She’s doing a good job of tearing apart our club all on her own. She tried to start trouble between my wife and me. You think she’s involved in this?”
“I don’t know, but her name came up just enough times when we were listening in on the Venomous club to wonder who she was working for—you, them or someone else. In any case, I feel it’s necessary to find out.”
Judge cleared his throat. “Didn’t want to bother you with this, Plank, didn’t think it was worth it since my old lady brought it straight to me and we already had plans to take care of …” He broke off and then started again. “Tawny tried to get my old lady, Theresa, to help her get to you. Said she could do you and blame it on Alena, that she already sowed that seed. I could step up and take your place. Theresa told her to shut the hell up and never talk like that around her again. She came straight to me and told me what Tawny said. I assured her I’d take care of it.”
“That fucking bitch was going to kill me and blame it on Torpedo Ink?” Plank demanded.
“That’s what she told Theresa. And she was spreading that gossip, that Alena wanted to show everyone that she could be as badass as the men in her club, and everyone would believe she did it.” Judge glanced at Czar.
The men of Torpedo Ink wore their expressionless masks. They simply watched the Diamondbacks. Savage could feel the fury pouring off his brothers in waves, but nothing showed on their faces. He did what he always did: he bled the rage from Czar first. Their president needed to be thinking with a clear head. Then he drew from the others in small increments, just enough to keep the anger contained and all of his brothers thinking straight. He buried the rage deep, where it swirled hot and dangerous but kept under cover, where he was used to containing it.
“What do you need from us, Czar?”
“We have a quiet place we can take anyone we need to interrogate already set up. Thing is, Tawny looks to be protected by your enforcer. We don’t want to start a war with your crew. We’ve already got bad blood between our clubs because of what happened between Pierce and Alena. He had every right to make his choice. His bad luck to choose Tawny. Alena is locked down for the night. She’s with Destroyer, and he’ll watch over her. I give you my word we’ll return Pierce’s woman alive to him, but he can’t be around objecting to anything we do to get what we need. Nor do we want that shit recorded. You want us to run with this, you have to let us do it without interference; otherwise, we’ve warned you and we’ve done our part. We’ll step aside, and Pierce can get the information you need.”
Savage could see that Plank wanted to let the Diamondbacks handle the interrogation. He despised Tawny at this point. Already she had cost them far too much and would continue to do so. Plank was aware he wasn’t blameless. He had bought into the rumors she’d spread, and that embarrassed him. He was the leader of his chapter, and he was responsible.
In spite of the fact that Czar wanted the information for their own purposes and there was no way the Diamondbacks would get everything they needed from Tawny, nor would they share, Savage hoped Plank would insist they be the ones to question her. Savage knew what interrogating Tawny would entail. He would have to allow her to make her play for him, and the idea was sickening. He also didn’t like what he would have to do to get information from her. They needed names, and everything Code had found out indicated she could provide them, at least give them enough to start the hunt up the ladder. Savage just didn’t want to be the one to take her apart.
Before Plank could make up his mind, Shark suddenly interrupted. “Savage, you brought your woman, Seychelle, with you, didn’t you?”
Savage froze. His ice-cold gaze slid sideways to land on Shark. A killer’s eyes. There was an instant of recognition in the circle of Diamondbacks. A shift as Lion and Judge moved to close ranks on Plank and yet try to include Shark in their protection. They recognized a threat, and all Savage had done was look at him. He was still looking, unmoving, a shadow come to life, the assassin unmasked.
Savage. You have to stand down.
Tony doesn’t get Seychelle.
Take a breath and let me handle this. You’re too close to the end of your cycle, and you’re pulling in too much rage from the rest of us. Trust me to do this.
“Tony.” Czar kept his voice even and calm. “Out of respect, we don’t bring your women into meetings, and we expect that you leave ours out as well. One of our women was already disrespected and continues to be so every time she meets one of you playing your silly video of her like teenagers, like you did in the bar a couple of weeks ago. We take that shit because we gave our word to Plank and we keep our word. Please don’t take that for weakness. That would be a big mistake.” Even issuing the warning, his tone didn’t change.
“There’s no need to bring other women into this,” Plank agreed immediately, sending Tony a warning look.
“I wasn’t being disrespectful of her,” Shark said. “Just the opposite. I believe she could help all of us. She has a gift that might allow her to identify any of our women who might have the suggestion planted in them.”
“How could she do that?” There was real interest in Plank’s voice.
There was silence as everyone looked at Shark. Savage had never taken his death stare from him. Czar watched him closely as well.
He doesn’t know for certain, and he’s got a hidden agenda, Savage. I think he hopes Seychelle can identify something Brandon did to him.
She won’t have to if he’s dead.
You can’t start a war here.
Watch me. She can’t do what they want her to do. Putting out that much psychic energy would kill her. He knows it if he knows anything about psychic energy.
I’m betting he doesn’t. Not really. Look at Lion, his brother. He’s in the dark as well. They suspect something is wrong with them, but not what it is. I’m betting they’re worried they’re spreading this dissent among their brothers.
That would make sense and explain the sudden interest in Seychelle and her capabilities. Absinthe was somewhere close. So was Scarlet. Both had extraordinary abilities to ferret out truth. Savage wouldn’t mind seeing the two of them interrogate Tony.
Tony cleared his throat. “I’ll admit I don’t know exactly how it works. But she can do it. I’m certain of it. She has that ability. They only brought a few women with them. Five. That’s it. They have another full chapter with them from Trinity. Two women. They knew there was trouble, and they brought women capable of helping them in a fight. Seychelle is the exception.”