Page 3 of Colt

2

Colt

Viking pounded his gavel on the table, calling our meeting to order. It was a tight fit tonight with us hosting some members from our various chapters. The Desert Sinners were having problems with the Phantoms MC, who seemed to have popped up out of nowhere in recent months. I suggested bringing Ice in to help with the situation since it appeared the Phantoms were making a push north. Viking invited the other chapters to keep all of us on the same page.

“I was just talking to Ice, and we think the Phantoms are planning to make a move sooner than we expected,” Viking announced to the group once everyone quieted down. The move Viking spoke of was opening a direct route between Mexico and Canada for all of their illegal activities, which included human trafficking, gun-running, and drug dealing. We stayed away from sex trafficking, but we didn’t appreciate them attempting to steal our drug clientele right out from under us.

All eyes turned toward the visiting president. “We were given some intel that shows they’re currently up north in Idaho, trying to make deals with a couple of other clubs. We think they may be trying to boost their numbers so they can strike when they get back.”

The idea that they were seeking out reinforcements made the situation more pressing. The Phantoms were a new club, but the rate at which they were growing was alarming. Almost as troubling as their willingness to take us on since we were one of the largest clubs west of the Rockies.

“Do we have any idea how long they’ll be gone?” I asked.

We prided ourselves on our excellent intel, but the Phantoms were proving to be difficult to track. We suspected they were receiving financial assistance from someone or multiple people not associated with another club. The question of where the assistance was coming from still needed to be answered.

“Not yet, but I have a few people I’m talking to. We should know something soon,” Ice informed us.

“Maybe we need to go to them before they have time to get their shit together,” Wolf suggested.

I didn’t disagree with him. It felt like we were sitting ducks waiting for them to strike first.

“We have a better chance of taking them out if we fight them in our territory,” Viking stated. “We don’t know who they’ve managed to align themselves with. At least here at home, we know who we can trust.”

Viking had a point, but I didn’t like it. Waiting to have someone come after us didn’t sit well with me. We continued to discuss our plans to deal with the Phantoms for the better part of an hour when Ice brought up a good, albeit risky, idea to the table, and now it was up for a vote.

We needed to set up some surveillance to see where they were getting their funding and backing, and Ice wanted to use a couple of our guys to help get that information. While I was apprehensive about sending our guys away when we were facing a threat here at home, I didn’t have any better ideas.

“Okay, all in favor of our fact-finding mission,” Viking motioned.

A round of “ayes” went up around the room. The motion passed unanimously, and Viking adjourned the meeting. I was out of my seat and ready to make my way back to Ember before anyone else got up.

I’d only seen Ember a handful of times since her dad caught me sneaking out of her room seven years ago. It wasn’t my finest moment, but at twenty-four years old, I’d found it impossible to ignore the red-haired bombshell who had been flirting with me all night. Joker, Ember’s dad and then president, had been adamant that if I wanted to keep my balls intact, whatever occurred that night with his daughter had better been a one-time thing. She planned to go to school, and he didn’t want her settling down until she accomplished her goals.

Because I knew Joker, I’d taken his threat seriously. After that visit, I’d looked for her when the Reno chapter visited but never saw her again. I figured she’d moved on with someone else. But tonight, I’d immediately noticed she hadn’t been wearing a property patch.

“Hey, man. You got a second?” Fitz asked as I entered the hallway.

I let out a groan before turning around, knowing this was going to delay my mission to get back to the party. I didn’t want someone else going after who I was determined to make mine for the night. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I was going to talk to Viking, but it looks like he’ll be tied up for a while.”

I looked back in the room as others exited and saw Viking in deep conversation with Mac. He was probably talking to him about Kate’s safety should anything go down over the next few weeks. Never thought I’d see the day Mac was so completely pussy-whipped. And while I gave him shit about it any time I could, I was happy for him. Kate was a good one, and it was apparent she loved him.

“I want in on the Reno job,” Fitz stated as we started to walk toward the main room.

Shit. I knew we needed to send a couple of our best guys, but not having Fitz here in Vegas if shit went down could fuck us over.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“We owe it to Joker to make sure Ice has our full support.”

Joker may not have been my biggest fan, but Fitz had always respected him, so I could understand his determination to help out with this situation.

“We can sit down with Viking tomorrow to work out the details. I’m sure he’ll be on board.”

“Besides, the scenery up there isn’t so bad,” he added, looking at something in the main room.

I turned in the same direction to see what he was looking at and saw Ember. Fitz was one of the few who knew my history with her, and I could tell he was enjoying giving me shit. I was about to tell him to fuck off when I saw something that had me grinding my teeth so hard I thought my molars were in danger of cracking.