Page 4 of Glacier

***

I looked up from my screen when Lawless, my long-time best friend and brother, threw himself into the chair opposite me. Raising an eyebrow, I waited.

There was nothing quiet about Lawless. He was a smooth-talking motherfucker who’d talked himself out of many situations with his silver tongue. Lawless loved to talk; if he wasn’t talking, then it was time to worry.

“Shipment’s arriving tomorrow.”

“Okay, and?”

“Jude called. Been some chatter about the ATF starting an investigation.”

“Fuck,” I growled with irritation, running a hand over my jaw. “It happens, Lawless. Any idea why they're looking at us? Did Jude have any other information?”

Lawless shook his head, his dark eyes serious. “Lurch isn’t happy. Says he has a bad feeling. His sister called him.”

“Ah, fucking hell.”

If Lurch’s sister had called, it wasn’t good.

Sitting back in my chair, I steepled my fingers under my chin, contemplating this latest clusterfuck. We'd had a peaceful year so far. I guessed it was time for us to be tested again. A fucking pain in the ass, but when you did what we did, you learned to roll with it and hope nobody ended up in prison.

But we couldn’t do much without more information.

“Get Zero on it. See what he can find. I’ll contact Jude.”

Lawless nodded and left. The man usually never shut up, so his silence meant he was worried.

I opened my bottom drawer, selected one of the burner phones, and plugged in a number I’d memorised long ago.

My call was answered instantly.

“Hey.”

“Can you talk?”

“Hang on.”

I waited. We’d run this show many times over the years since we’d come to an agreement.

“Okay. All clear. I’m guessing Lawless understood my message.”

“Yeah, he did. What can you tell me?”

“Not much at the moment. I only heard the chatter this afternoon, but I didn’t like it. We keep our town clean, and the last thing I want is the ATF here stirring shit up. Most of the residents won’t talk, but there’s always one who’s pissed off.”

He wasn’t wrong. There were those who didn’t like the club, but for the most part, the townsfolk were okay with us keeping them safe and our town clear of drugs.

“Not sure how we got on their radar,” I replied. “We’ve never had issues with guns. The fighting? Sure. Especially when we’ve had a sore loser, but not the guns.”

“Check your suppliers and who you deliver to. Maybe someone talked,” Jude pointed out.

I always thought Jude would’ve made a good biker, but he preferred to work in the grey, using the law when necessary.

“I’ve got Zero on it. Keep in touch.”

“Yeah, man, of course.”

“You guys need anything?” I asked.