Page 205 of The Fire We Make

His mind raced, the alcohol still lingering in his blood stream did nothing to calm him. If anything, it made his theories more heinous and his anger more potent.

“King, you called this emergency meeting,” Salvatore spoke first to begin the meeting.

“I did,” Ace replied, his voice clear.

“The floor is yours,” Zachariah waved him on. Ace made eye contact with his grandfather and with a slight, resigned nod, Zachariah gave his final blessing.

Ace nodded, then turned to make eye contact with the rest of the elders.

“I’m requesting authorization to execute a member of a Council family.”

The room stilled as everyone looked around. The rule had been put in place at the Council’s inception but it hadn't been used in generations.

“Who?” Delroy asked.

“Isaac Kincaid.”

Shocked conversation erupted around the table but they were all muffled by Gerald’s shout of outrage.

“Everyone please calm down,” Delroy boomed, quieting the room. “Have a seat Kincaid.”

“Like hell I will! On what grounds?” He aimed his question to Ace.

“He put a hit out on me and worked with law enforcement to sabotage our operations— violating not one, but two Council laws,” Ace answered.

“Bullshit!” he spat.

“Those are big accusations, King. I hope you came with proof to back it up,” Andre Reyes said.

Ace stood and Jrue silently handed over four identical thick folders.

Ace slid one in front of each elder, then slapped the final one on the oak table in front of Gerald.

Each folder included the extensive proof they’d been able to gather, starting with text messages commandeered from the phones of men no longer in the land of the living, and ending with bank transfers linked to Kincaid Corp.

Security footage of Isaac meeting with Marco.

Shipment manifests that were accessed by his IP address.

Transcripts of the anonymous calls he made to the police station.

The only thing that could be heard was the flipping of pages and mumbled rebukes as the files made their rounds.

“Unacceptable.”

“What a fucking disgrace.“

“If you don’t take him out I will.”

“He jeopardized our entire network.”

“This...This is fake, he didn’t do this,” Gerald protested but the ire in his voice from earlier had long dissipated.

“I assure you, it’s very real,” Ace confirmed. “Maybe he should be here to defend himself. Where is he?”

“He… I… I haven’t seen him in days.”

“Interesting. Does he often disappear without notice or is it only when he’s running? I’ve already killed the men he worked with, surely he knows he’s next.”