“Let’s cut to it,” I said. “Who has the vendetta out on The Kings?”
Churchill’s coal black eyes shifted to me. “Vendetta?”
“Four of our brothers and an old lady have been murdered,” Bull said calmly. “We figured you might know something about that.”
Churchill barely moved. He was sitting up straight, his shoulders back, his hands in his lap. He didn’t exude the authority of a man with a big, powerful physique; he exuded the authority of a psychopath.
“Check your surroundings, gentlemen. I’m in prison.” He slowly raised his arms at his side like a messiah. “How would I know?”
“Drop the bullshit, Churchill. You know any of us could run the planet from inside here,” I said, glancing around the visitors’ area of the medium-security prison. “I don’t have time to do your little dance. So how about you just fucking give us the information and we’ll consider it a gesture of good will from the Southern Sons to The Kings. How does that sound?”
A small smile curled on Churchill’s small lips. “Cade Calley. Just as ballsy as your old man. I heard you’re the new VP.” His black eyes slid to Bull. “I’m impressed.”
Bull didn’t move as he spoke. “Yippee-ki-yay. Stop wasting my time. You have all the time in the world, I don’t.”
“Well, that is true, I guess.” He looked unfazed. “But before we talk, how about you do me a favor.”
Bull looked unimpressed.
“What’s the favor?” I asked.
“I’ve had some privileges removed lately,” he said, his eyes gleaming like polished obsidian. “Seems my cellmate came upon some trouble and cut himself . . . shaving.” Meaning Churchill had cut him. He leaned closer to the glass. “He wouldn’t stop talking. So I made him. But you didn’t hear that from me.”
My jaw tightened. Churchill was a menace.
No, he was a fucking psychopath.
“Get to the point,” I said, my patience running out.
“One of your men is inside here.”
He was talking about Zakk, one of our club brothers who was inside for assault. He’d caught his old lady in a compromising position with her boss, and in a fit of rage had beat him to a pulp.
“I’m not allowed things. But I have a list of items I would like. You can get those items to him and he can get them to me.” Churchill smiled and it was snake-like. Slimy.
“Items?” Bull asked.
“Cigarettes. Tobacco. Chocolate. Condoms. Simple items.”
“Condoms?” I raised an eyebrow.
“For trade, you see. They’re popular in here.”
Right.
“Fine, you’ll have those items by the end of the day,” Bull said. “Now cut to the chase, who has the vendetta with the Kings? Is it any of the rival clubs?”
Churchill smiled but it was cold.
“It’s not anyone we know. Not the Southern Sons, or the Rebels. And it’s not The Knights or the Tribe either. Behemoth and Saber put out feelers to their affiliates, too, but there is no vendetta in play. It might be better for you to think of this as personal. Not club related.” He smiled. And again it was cold and reptilian. Then he stood up and stared down at us, his dead, shark eyes raising the hairs on my arms. “It’s funny, really. Sometimes the very thing we should be afraid of is right in our own home.”
And with that, he turned his back and walked away.
Bull stood up and put his glasses back on. “I’m calling chapel. Now.”
INDY
While Cade was visiting the prison, I was doing a little investigation of my own. I was on my break at work, lying on a hospital bed while a colleague rolled an ultrasound transponder around on my flat stomach. Her name was Lani and she was another emergency room doctor. A few years older than me, she had a kind and gentle nature about her, and a smile that was as calming as it was attractive. She was also someone I knew I could trust. She wasn’t one for gossip or judgment.
In one of my hands was a pregnancy test I’d taken in the bathroom half an hour earlier.
It was positive.
And now Lani was doing an ultrasound to confirm it.
I let out a puff of air not believing just how poor the timing was. The last thing we needed was for me to be pregnant. Not with everything going on. And if Cade knew . . . he’d go stupid trying to protect me. I put an arm over my eyes to hide the tears brimming in them. I didn’t want Lani to see them. I didn’t want her to know what a mess this whole situation was.
“Now, just relax,” she said, leaning forward and hitting some of the buttons on the ultrasound machine.
“Thanks for doing this,” I said softly.
“I take it this wasn’t planned?”
I shook my head.
“And I’m hazarding a guess that it’s bad timing.”
“Boy, you’re good at this,” I said.