The gag came out of his mouth. Every bit of saliva went with it. He had to work his jaw with his lips completely closed to make everything inside his mouth work properly again.
“Let my hands and feet go. I won’t do anything,” Dev countered, hoping he sounded truthful. Cash tilted him back on the two legs and pushed his chair forward again. The defiance embedded in his soul couldn’t help but try to actively make his body heavier to complicate the movement.
“We’ll take it in steps,” Cash said once Dev was settled. The frustrating man casually took his seat again as if he hadn’t made all the tension in the room palpable.
Dev held his tongue mainly to see what intel Shanna had that caused her to turn. His club, his brothers, and Keyes needed to know.
Nothing had changed for him. By doing this, they may have pushed him back into the underbelly of the club he’d been trying so hard to break free from.
Fuck the DEA.
Fuck the attorney general.
Fuck the AG whatever unit.
But he’d need his brothers’ help to exact the retribution he planned. They thought he was the devil before. They didn’t understand the meaning of fires of hell raining down on them. But they would…
Chapter 23
Cash watched silently as Shanna spoke in meticulous detail about what the DEA knew of Dev’s outlaw bike club activities. She didn’t reveal everything, only enough to make Dev understand the government was fully aware of the Disciples’ illicit drug dealings.
What Shanna didn’t know, what most people in this room didn’t understand, was how far reaching the drug operation really was and how much had been stolen from both the enormous drug loads as well as the actual money from the sale of those drugs. The theft of money was currently the hardest part to pinpoint.
The layers involved in moving those drugs were deep. The longer the questions went unanswered, the graver the danger for every member of the club, their families, and all the innocent undercover operatives involved in running those operations.
Cash had already risked too much by allowing Shanna to reveal so many truths to Dev, but he saw no other way to shift Dev’s allegiances. If they could somehow manage to gain Dev’s cooperation then prove his worth in the field, perhaps they could better determine the source of all the thievery before the cartel, or worse, the rogue agents, put their boots in the Disciples of Havoc brothers’ asses.
Havoc was too big. Tens of thousands of members worldwide. The potential bloodbath on American streets would rival any war zone.
If Dev didn’t cooperate, then Cash had played his cards all wrong and risked every person’s life inside this room as well as the lives of many innocent agents on the streets.
Dev would become collateral damage in keeping his operatives safe.
Cash’s stomach knotted. The stress of his actions had bile rising in his throat. He cared too deeply for Dev.
All the Dev-infused emotion had grown into something more… Cash couldn’t lose Dev, but he also knew there was no way this hardcore rebel could sit on the sidelines for any length of time. He’d have to incarcerate Dev. The image of Dev being completely alone in a federal jail cell with no access to anyone while Cash continued this investigation made his heart hurt.
Be positive, he lectured himself. So far so good. Cash had been able to unfasten the handcuffs at Dev’s wrists. The biker’s arms and hands were free now. The ones at his legs and feet were still tightly bound to the chair. Only because he didn’t trust anyone else with Dev’s security and they hadn’t gotten to the hardest part yet.
Cash wore nonchalance like a cloak. The one-two punch they were poised to give ate at his soul.
He had to give Shanna kudos. She’d put a lot of effort into preparing her approach to Dev. She had systematically skimmed over the details of the theft, making it clear that Dev had the ability to protect his club. Showing that at any point in the street transactions—from receiving the illegal goods to distribution—something could have easily gone awry. Never pointing fingers at the actual members of the club. The reins in the hierarchy needed to be tightened. Their father had become lazy, allowing too many opportunities for things to go wrong.
She explained how the local Dallas district attorney and their raid earlier in the year on the club and its holdings was unexpected on the federal level. Shanna described how she was responsible for finding the information on the relationship between the club brother, Ray-Ray, and the new Dallas district attorney.
She was damned good at presenting her case as if the Disciples were ultimately being used while still playing on Dev’s deep dislike for his father. Though they’d been at this explanation for a couple of hours, Dev finally started to engage, asking questions.
The last load of information that Shanna dumped was detailing different areas of Dev’s personal life. They hoped this intel held a strategic advantage.
Cash’s true hope was that Dev might redirect his vengeance and retribution to something that didn’t involve Cash’s head on a platter—if he’d interpreted Dev’s gagged threats correctly.
Maybe if Cash had had a few more days, he might have found another way.
It took effort to hold on to the sigh wanting to release as Shanna started with Dev’s younger years. The iPad rested in front of Dev on the table. With a swipe of her fingertip, she turned pages as she reminded him of their father’s physical and mental abuse. How he had taken the trouble a young Dev caused out on their mother. She flipped through the Child Protective Service reports, pages and pages outlining mistreatment.
Then came Keyes Dixon.
“Keep him out of this,” Dev threatened. Keyes’s lifelong protector raced forward, his tone dark and deadly. Dev’s scowl deepened as his gaze jumped from Shanna to Cash.
