LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I’m not talking about Buck changing his mind or trying to save Damien. Pure E put himself at the scene and then threw shit in Taggart’s face by answering Damien’s phone. Same for the farmhouse last night when Neal was offed. It was bad enough torturin’ his brother and sister-in-law to death first, but to leave Taggart a fuckin’ message on the wall … that’s insane.”

      “I was there when you tried to talk Pure E out of it. All he did was get pissed off at you and say things are gonna be different.”

      “Different? Is that what you call it? He’s been national prez all of five days and we’ve taken out four people. Two who weren’t necessary. When Damien ran things, we tried to maintain the peace. We hadn’t whacked anyone for a couple years.”

      Whiskey Jake shrugged. “Pure E won the vote. Nothing we can do. You saw how pissed off he got when you tried to offer some advice.”

      “I know he was voted in, but we’ve done too much recruitin’ over the last few years. Lots of young blood in the club. They’re not smart enough to think of the future. We should have a rule that they can’t vote until they got ten years under their belt.”

      Whiskey Jake rolled his eyes. “Yeah, try and bring that in and you’ll find yourself starin’ up at the grass.”

      Lance scowled. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but why the fuck did you send word to meet again? Where’s Bazzoli, Crowe, and Buck?”

      “Bazzoli and Crowe are disposin’ of Damien. Buck’s around — he went to the shitter.” Whiskey Jake gave a nod of his head. “There he is.”

      Lance glanced over his shoulder and saw Buck heading over to where Hackman and Trapp were waiting. The men knew to watch their club presidents from a respectful distance and wouldn’t approach within earshot unless invited.

      Whiskey Jake cleared his throat, then turned his head and spit before answering. “Why I called the meetin’ is because of Damien’s old lady.”

      “Vicki? Buck was supposed to tell her that Damien split the country to keep himself out of jail. What changed?”

      “He told her all right — but she knows.”

      Lance leaned across the table. “Whaddaya mean, she knows?”

      “She knows. It wasn’t her lawyer’s secretary who called our lawyer askin’ about the charges being dropped against Buck because Damien ratted. It was Vicki pretendin’ to be the secretary. She set Damien up.”

      Lance’s mouth flopped open and he sat back in shock.

      “Buck met with her a couple hours ago. Earlier she told him she was going out, but she lied. She stayed home and was upstairs. She heard when Buck talked to Damien and watched when the guys came in and took him away.”

      “She wanted us to kill him? But why?”

      “She was pissed that he wouldn’t save Buck from bein’ charged when he beat that dealer to death. She also blamed him for Buck getting involved in the club.”

      “But didn’t she try to kill Taggart last week when they searched the house?”

      “Yup. That’s what tipped the scales for Damien. He made a deal with Taggart to let Vicki and Buck off.”

      “So he saves her ass and she responds by setting him up? That evil fucking bitch!”

      “Yeah, evil.” Whiskey Jake smirked. “Maybe she should marry Pure E now that she’s single.”

      Lance’s face must have shown his anger, for Whiskey Jack said, “Hey, lighten up, I’m only jokin’. That’s why I called a meeting. It’s to let Pure E know and find out what he wants done.”

      “Maybe he’ll want Buck to go back and do her,” Lance suggested. “Make a clean sweep of both his parents.”

      “Yeah, welcome to the club Buck-o-boy.”

      Lance shook his head. “This new management style — I’m gettin’ too old for this shit. It’s makin’ me think it’s time to retire.”

      “Movin’ down to the Caymans?”

      “Maybe for six months of the year. My kids are established here and now that we’ve got a grandson, things have changed. I’d still keep a place here.”

      “Well … we both got the capital to do that. Gotta admit, I’m gettin’ a little tired of managing whores and strippers. They’re always a headache. I imagine goin’ to your amusement centre every day must be a drag.”

      “It’s okay — but you’re right. I’m looking forward to enjoying the benefits of our real money.”

      “Thank fuck we didn’t go in with Damien.”

      “It wasn’t like he offered,” Lance noted. “He was smart to recommend we keep our money apart from his. You and I probably should’ve kept ours separate, too.”

      “Ours is safe,” Whiskey Jake replied. “The only connection was through the lawyer in Mexico. He got those files out of the office long before the Federales came by.”

      “I still question how the cops got on to Damien’s secret account.”

      Whiskey Jake looked puzzled. “What’re you talking about? Damien’s lawyer had another client who got busted and ratted out the lawyer. Rather than go down for money launderin’, the fuckin’ lawyer then ratted out Damien.”

      “So it appeared, but with Taggart involved, I’m always suspicious.”

      “What makes you so leery of Taggart?”

      Because I was once his rat and know how he operates. “He’s on the RCMP Intelligence Unit. I always wonder what they’re up to.”

      “You’re paranoid.” Whiskey Jake nodded suddenly. “The man’s arrived.”

      “Hey boys, what’s up?” Pure E asked as he approached. Lance slid over on the picnic bench to make room.

      “Wait’ll you hear this,” Whiskey Jake replied. “Buck came back with some interesting shit.” He then told Pure E that Buck had discovered it was Vicki who set Damien up for them to kill.

      Pure E looked taken back, then grinned. “Sounds like she doesn’t like rats, either.”

      “She manipulated us,” Lance said. “What do you want done?”

      Pure E glanced toward Hackman, Trapp, and Buck. He paused, then turned to Lance. “Normally I’d be pissed off, but if it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have known who ratted out our boatload of coke.”

      “Still, do you want the boys to take care of her?” Whiskey Jake asked.

      “No. She did us a big favour. Too bad she didn’t come to us direct, but either way, she did the right thing.”

      “She told Buck that she saw the guys take him away,” Whiskey Jake said.

      “So what?” Pure E scoffed. “It wasn’t like he put up a fight. It even fits in with the story that we snuck him out of the country. It’s not like the cops will ever find his body.”

      “But she knows we killed him,” Lance stated.

      “Fuck, who cares?” Pure E replied. “She’s part of it. She’s not gonna say anything. If word ever leaks out he was killed, we could say it’s a rumour we started to keep the cops from trying to find him.”

      “Guess that’d work, too,” Whiskey Jake said.

      Pure E snickered. “Wish I could’ve seen Taggart’s face today when he called to warn Damien.”

      “I still think that was a big mistake,” Lance said. “Pokin’ the bear with a sharp stick is never a good idea.”

      Pure E stared at

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