Savage could see Plank’s dawning comprehension. “This has been going on for a long time. Shit. The slimy bastards. They’re taking us apart from the inside. Making us doubt one another. Taking pieces of our territory and getting us to turn on our friends and allies.”
“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.