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"The risk/reward ratio is high," Conor agreed.
"We’re talking about destroying people’s lives."
"You really got a problem with that,Whistler?" I retorted, watching as Eoghan’s cheeks flushed at my use of his handle. "Destroying their lives means more leverage over them. That won’t buy trust, but it exerts pressure. That should let you sleep easier at night." Grateful that that shut him up, I continued, "In the meantime, look through the notes Savannah and Conor have made for us about how they induct new members."
"Do you think they're still working the same pattern when everything has changed?" Declan asked.
"I think where there's a vacuum, something will always try to fall into that empty space. It's how nature works."
"Plus, the NWS is a massive business. There's a lot of money depending on them staying afloat."
I nodded at Conor. "Once we get into the NWS, that's when we figure out how to take down the others."
"We need a backup plan," Brennan muttered. "It ain’t enough to go into this with just the one strategy in motion."
"I have one. We use the ECD for that."
"How?" Finn asked.
"I want the ECD to be our sledgehammers where the Sparrows are concerned. Keegan has a grudge against them. I want to know what that grudge is.
"Whatever it might be, we use them as the force, not the Five Points, so that we look clean when we take over from theFamigliaas their front."
"How can you use a sledgehammer against a secret society?" Declan asked. "It’s not like they gather together often."
"We have to dig into the NWS one by one. Prison ain’t enough. Death is. We get them running scared, and that’s how we swoop in. I offer the Sparrows safety. I offer them the Points as a front, all the while, the ECD are taking them out. That’s howweinfiltrate."
"That shouldn’t be a backup plan," Conor argued. "That should be something we’re working on at the same time."
"Fine. I just need to get a handle on the ECD."
"When are you meeting with them again?" Finn inquired. "Or hasn’t he given you any specifics other than ‘before Thanksgiving?’"
"Whenever it is, I’ll be there," Brennan intoned, shooting me a warning glance before I could answer. "Don’t even try to stop me."
"I wasn’t going to," I bit out. "Keegan said they’re meeting a couple days before Thanksgiving. A church hall over on 9th Avenue."
"The fuckers were meeting on our turf?"
I understood Dec’s irritation. "They got big balls; that’s all I can say."
"Half of their numbers are Five Points." Eoghan’s declaration had all of us scowling as we thought about the many goddamn phoenix tattoos we’d come across the day of the hanging. "Meeting in Hell’s Kitchen would make sense because it wouldn’t raise any brows."
Declan leaned forward. "You decided what we’re going to do with the Pointers who betrayed us?"
"We use them harder than the others. They want to play on both teams, then they get double the workload."
My brothers nodded their agreement at me, and that was when I decided to come clean about some other shit I’d been plotting.
Knowing it was a long shot, and knowing that I had to sell it, I blew out a breath. "You guys are going to have to help me figure this out, but I want Shay in the White House."
Declan snorted. "The kid can't even put his socks away, Aidan, and you want him in the Oval Office? He'll change his fucking mind about the president being his dream job. That's what kids do."
"Well, we need to make sure that doesn't happen, and between now and then, we need to figure out how to make ourselves look as respectable as possible."
"Why do you want him to be president?" Declan demanded, sitting up straighter when he realized I wasn't pissing around.
"Isn’t that obvious?" Brennan retorted, to which Declan flipped him the bird.
