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I glance at Snow, silently begging him to start church so this discussion can end. He stares at me, assessing, watching, and then he gives a curt nod as if he understands.
“What the patch binds together…”
We all recite the club motto, and just like that, I’m off the hook.
“Toga,” Snow says as he looks at our enforcer. “Give us an update on the security system at Barlow’s.”
Initially, Snow said the system was going to be my domain since it was my idea, but after Kennedy was punched in the face, I’ve been reluctant to do much outside of being with her. He and I discussed it privately, and I’ll take it over from Toga now that Kennedy’s back at her apartment.
“So far, so good,” Toga states. “Although, it’s hard to tell if it’s the system or Little Man’s presence at the bar. There haven’t been any problems that we’ve had to handle. There was a situation out front, some guy hitting on a group of women and not taking the hint that they weren’t interested, but there was a cop patrolling the area, and he intervened.”
“That must’ve been a different night than the attack that made the headlines yesterday,” Duck says flatly. “Two women held at gunpoint when they were trying to hail a cab. Plenty of witnesses but no one stepped in, so they were dragged into an alley and raped.”
“I talked to my buddy at the precinct,” Spark begins. “And the running theory is that there were two or more men for that attack. None of the witnesses are talking though, so it’ll be a hard one to solve.”
“No DNA or anything?” Magic asks.
“It’s too early to tell. There weren’t condoms left behind, the victims said their attackers wore masks and gloves, so no fingerprints. It’s a mess.”
“Dammit,” Snow barks. “This can’t keep happening. My fucking wife was downtown last night. What if it had happened to her?”
Fear curls a fist around my heart and squeezes. Kennedy lives downtown, works downtown. What if it happens to her?
“All of our ol’ ladies were,” Magic says. “And they’re home now, so they’re fine.”
“That’s not the point, and you know it,” Snow snaps. He takes a few deep breaths. “Okay, back on track… How's the rotation schedule going? Does it seem to be working out having the monitors for the system in the guard shack at our gate?”
“Yeah,” Duck says. “I’ve talked to all the prospects, and we’ve all worked a shift, and it’s not really any extra work to watch the monitors while we sit there. In fact, the consensus is that it makes the time go a little faster and isn’t quite as boring.”
“Good. Any proposed changes?” Snow asks. We all shake our heads. “Then do we start talking to other business owners to roll this whole thing out, or should we monitor Barlow’s for a bit longer?”
“I think we need to monitor Barlow’s for a bit longer,” I say. All eyes turn to me, and I shrug. “As awful as it is, until something actually goes down that we need to handle, we can’t be sure the system works. I’d hate to roll this out across the city, promising business owners that we can protect them and their customers, and then not be able to deliver on that promise because the system sucks.”
And the very selfish part of me wants more time with Kennedy before I have to shift my focus elsewhere.
“I agree with Dip,” Brady says. “We’ve worked hard for the community’s trust for so long, it’d be shit for this to blow that all up in our faces.”
Snow nods. “All in favor of waiting, say ‘aye’.”
The ayes have it.
“Let’s give it another month, see how things go,” Snow begins. “We’ll meet once a week to specifically discuss this. Now, any other business?”
“Nope.”
“Nah.”
“No, Prez.”
“No.”
“Church adjourned,” Snow states before looking at me. “Dip, stick around for a minute. I’d like to talk to you.”
“Ooo, somebody’s in trouble,” Carnie teases.
The others join him in his taunting, but I ignore it. I’ve done nothing wrong and am not the least bit worried. When it’s just Snow and I left, I stand and face him.
“What’s up, Prez?”
