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The Long Night gave a vague wave of his hand. “There’s always jockeying for power between the Devil’s Dozen members. It’s hard to avoid it among master criminals, as I’m sure you can imagine. I’ve been distracted by other concerns recently, and the Nobles’ continuing expansion throughout the state—with excellent financial results—caught the eye of a couple of my rivals. They set their sights on Paradise Bend and decided they’d grab it and everything associated with the organizations there out from under me before I realized what was happening.”
He shook his head, apparently at the folly of those rivals, and something clicked in my head. This tall tale suddenly made a sickening sort of sense.
“The Storm,” I said, my voice coming out in a hush. “And the Red Shark. That’s who you’re talking about—they’re in the Devil’s Dozen too, with the same kind of crazy code names.”
And this was why we’d never heard of them before, hadn’t had any idea where they’d come from. We’d been caught in the middle of a territory war involving gangs bigger than any of us could have dreamed existed before this meeting.
“Aren’t you a clever little thing?” the Long Night said with apparent amusement. I hated the patronizing note in his tone. Maybe this superiority complex came automatically with the knowledge that you reigned supreme over vast territories and millions of people, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“What is up with the weird names anyway?” Kaige asked, looking bewildered.
“They’re connected to traditional labels for the full moons, which are important to us for reasons you don’t need to know,” the Long Night said, and turned his attention back to me and Wylder. “Let’s focus on where you come in.”
Wylder’s jaw had hardened. “Yeah, I’m still waiting to hear about that. If you’re so all-powerful, why don’t you get rid of the idiots who’re trashing our home? Why’re you sitting back and letting us take all the blows?”
“At this moment, I have other, rather pressing responsibilities,” the Long Night said. “I’ve seen what you can do even with your meager resources, and it’s rather impressive. The Red Shark has backed off, but the Storm’s forces remain. Before I expend energy and manpower I’d prefer stayed elsewhere, I’d like to give you a chance to clean up the mess for me.”
“You want us to do your dirty work, possibly because you see us as expendable,” Rowan said evenly. “Why would we help you?”
The Long Night leaned forward on the table, his hands clasped in front of him. “I intend to protect what’s mine and keep my reputation intact. I need this conflict to end soon if I’m going to ensure that none of the others in the Devil’s Dozen get ideas about my territories being vulnerable.”
“That doesn’t answer his question,” Gideon said evenly.
The older man gave him a baleful look. “I was getting to that. I’ll offer you support in the form of information about the Storm’s operations and a certain amount of supplies. If you can run the Storm’s people out of Paradise Bend for good within a week, I’ll support both Mr. Noble and Miss Katz in running your respective organizations as you see fit. Besides that, I have other business opportunities to offer you in the long run once you’re done with the Storm.”
“Within a week?” I repeated. “That hardly gives us any time at all.”
The Long Night looked at me with his hollowed eyes. “That’s all I can afford before the risk to my status becomes too great. You’re lucky I’m offering you any opportunity at all. If you don’t come through, I’ll have to crack down on the fighting with everything I have—and that’ll mean a total clearing of the board. There won’t be anything left for you to call home, and none of you will be around to mourn that loss. I’ll knock down the Nobles and the Claws and everyone else with a stake in the underground businesses of the county and set up people who answer directly to me to run things.”
The Long Night’s gaze slid across us as we all took in that statement. His smile turned grim. “So, what do you say? Will you take the deal, or would you rather die?”
