“Good. I’m making sure our men don’t get the chance of making a call. Gonzalez put all of his men to work, and some of them will be with him in Fort Wills. Keep an eye and get Whizz to look into who he’s got connections with.”
“Will do. How’s Judi?” Tiny asked.
Devil paused, looking at his men. Ripper’s absence was felt by all of them. “She’s still in a coma. I don’t know if she’s going to come out of it.” He hung up the phone. “Whizz will have all the details we need.”
“Where are we going next?” Pussy asked.
“We’re going to pay a visit to our strip club. It’s time we put that place to ground.” Devil left the house, feeling the weight of Jerry’s death on his shoulders. Jerry, Ashley—they were deaths that should never have happened.
“Boss, do you think this will work?” Pussy stood beside his back as he straddled the machine.
“I don’t know if it will work, but it’ll certainly make me feel better.” He turned on the engine, preparing his machine to take off.
“I guess I have my doubts on what we can do.” Pussy shrugged, heading back to his bike.
He watched his men ready to take off and follow him.
Are you doing the right thing?
He thought about Lexie, his kids, all the lost lives he’d dealt with in the past. Yes, this was the right thing for him to do. Taking Gonzalez out one by one was the only way for them to get their revenge.
The ride to the strip club was uneventful. They passed the town as people got about their business. Some of the locals stopped to watch them pass. He ignored all of them, including a couple of women who showed off their br**sts. Devil wasn’t in the mood to deal with a fan club for the boys.
Outside of the strip club, he cut the engine, and he didn’t even wait for his men. He started to move through the building, taking down men. Girls and women screamed as they heard him coming.
His men started to fire bullets, aiming them at their enemy. Each time he fired a bullet he saw Lexie the other morning with a gun pointed at her head. He’d do everything in his power to protect her. Women screamed, and he finished firing his gun. When he was done, he grabbed the bottle of fuel he kept stored in the storage room for when he needed to fill his bike up.
Emptying out the bottle of fuel, he spread it over the room.
This was where he’d first met Lexie. The club that drew him back to this town.
“Boss, what are you doing?” Pussy asked.
“I’m not risking anything. We don’t take Gonzalez out then he’ll come back for her. I’m not giving Gonzalez a chance to ruin this for us. If we fail then I don’t want to make life easy for him. Yeah, it will cost us a lot of money to rebuild this place back up, but it’ll also piss him the f**k off.” Taking one good look around the room, Devil turned back to his men. He was preparing for everything. If they killed Gonzalez then he’d look at setting up a different business, perhaps. Either way, the strip club was going to go. “Get the f**k out.”
They all left the room, going out into the day’s light. He took out his lighter and struck up the flame. Staring around the room, he threw his lighter into the room and walked out.
Climbing onto his bike, Devil didn’t look back as he drove away from the club. Burning down the strip club was a little extreme, but after everything he’d witnessed, he didn’t want to have that club as part of the crew or the future.
****
Butch looked at Alex as he relayed all that he knew about Gonzalez. Their enemy was on the way to Fort Wills for the wedding. He didn’t know how Eva had worked so fast to get the town hall booked or even the decorations.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, he’s got several men on the force who will be there. He wants to take out several of our men tomorrow. Whizz is going down and then Zero and Tiny. Gonzalez wants to tear the clubs apart. He’s going to take out Devil and Pussy as well,” Butch said. He didn’t know why Gonzalez gave him this information, but he was going to use it to their advantage.
“Nothing makes sense about this,” Alex said.
“I know. He’s kept me at arms’ length, and now he starts giving me information. I don’t trust what he’s got to say.” Butch glanced over his shoulder to see Whizz sitting at the bar. The other man was sporting a frown as he stared down at his glass of water. He didn’t like the fact the other man was running out in the middle of the night to see Lacey.
This was a very difficult mission. Butch knew so much more, and yet he couldn’t tell Alex the truth.
“We’re going to have to believe that he’s lying or he’s telling you the truth to see what you’ll do.” Alex ran a finger over his lip, contemplating.
“I don’t care. We need to get the women in the safe house,” Butch said.
He’d made the necessary arrangements for the warehouse outside of town. For the last couple of days he’d been putting the finishing touches to make sure no one knew where the women were going.
“No, you don’t put the women to ground until Devil gets into town.” Alex shook his head. “Fuck, this is happening too fast. If we’re not careful this entire plan is going to fall down all around us.”
Butch wished he had a better idea. This was going to be their final time to get at Gonzalez. Ned had already sneaked three men into town. They were waiting for the go ahead to take out the men Whizz had found.
“We need to tell Tiny,” Butch said.
“No, we don’t. You need to do as I’ve asked and make sure nothing f**ks up between now and then.” Alex pushed past him leaving Butch to look where he was going.
Moving to the bar, Butch took a seat beside Whizz.
“What?” Whizz asked.
“I’m just making sure you’re okay,” Butch said.
“I’m fine. It’s interesting how we’ve all got a plan for what’s about to come.” Whizz lifted the glass to his lips and took a sip. “Shall we toast?” Whizz asked.
“To what?”
“To living and dying. Either one sounds pretty good about now.” Whizz took a sip and placed the glass back in front of him.
“Have you seen that woman again?” Butch asked.
“It’s none of your business who I’ve seen.”
“I think with Gonzalez around, you should be careful who you look toward for comfort,” Butch said.
“You’re starting to sound like a broken f**king record, Butch. You keep warning me about a woman you know nothing about. Back the f**k off, or I swear I’ll make sure you can’t f**king see for your actual wedding.” Whizz go to his feet and stormed off.