Chapter 15

Chapter 15: As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.

- William Shakespeare

Micah

Hunter plays with the dials on the radio as we make our way to Priest's garage. After a moment, he finds what he's looking for and leans back in contentedly in his seat. "So, you and Sophia are together?" He asks with a sly smile. I shrug my shoulders and stare straight ahead. "Yeah, it just kind of happened." He snorts and takes his cell phone out to play around with it. "Dude, just letting you know that if I knew about it, I would have never hit on her." I nod my head and reply. "It's fine. Like I said, it just happened. Now, if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it." I say, hoping that he'd drop the subject.

However, Hunter does not know the meaning of the word quit. He continues to talk about his fun night with Sophia's friend Maleah, and Priest's weird cyborg eyes. "The dude still wears his sunglasses and walks with a cane. He says it's because people are freaked out by his eyes. I guess I can't blame him. His eyes are a little freaky looking. Yet women still flock to the guy. It's crazy…"

I ignore his nervous chatter as I push down on the gas pedal. Thankfully, I don't have to listen to him for long because Priest meets us as soon as we pull into the garage. "Gideon is on his way. I also called Outlaw to see if he has anything on his end. I've taken the liberty to draw up the plans from the club and run some surveillance on the ins and outs of the neighborhood. I love how dependent and ignorant people are of technology." He says with a slick shark smile as he turns and leads us up the stairs.

Hunter and I follow him and take a seat in front of the monitor. Priest clicks a button, and the monitor comes on, displaying an architectural floor plan. "Okay, here are the latest blueprints for the club." He uses some kind of pointer to highlight a few parts of the plans. "These are the private rooms and the stage. From what I gather, the offices are located in the back. But that's not the most interesting part of this…" He drifts off as he comes close and points a finger towards what looks like an empty space. "If you look closely, you'll see an empty area. But it's not actually empty space. You see, during the time of prohibition, people used to build underground tunnels to transport liquor and any other illegal contraband. Sound familiar?" He says with a raised brow.

I'm about to answer his question when Gideon and Outlaw, aka Declan Archer, walk in the door. Declan is a tall bastard too. His hair is dark, nearly black, and his eyes are a deep blue color, whereas Gideon is golden-haired with obsidian eyes. Declan is a true black Irish and quite a deadly fucker. The men are a true contrast. We all shake hands in greeting. Unlike Gideon and I, Declan and I are not overly friendly, but we respect each other. Hunter is a little more enthusiastic in his greeting when he steps forward and shakes the men's hands. "Reaper, Outlaw. How's it going?" Both men nod and smile in greeting at Hunter's excited tone. Priest clears his throat and gestures to a few open chairs. "Can we get to this or what?" We all nod and take a seat as Priest continues with his strategy.

"It took us time to sift through a few surveillance videos but came up with very little. We saw a few of the men in Kazik's payroll, but unfortunately, not Kazik." I shake my head in disappointment and stand up to get a better look at the information. I guess I'm hoping that I'll find something that he might have missed, which is wishful thinking on my part. Priest is a pretty thorough guy.

"How do you know that Kazik is there then?" Declan asks with a serious frown. Priest looks towards me. "Hunter, Savage, and I have been doing some research on the information we found. And we believe that all paths lead to this club. It just makes sense. The club is a central area for any kind of clandestine trafficking. Ilya Sardoff and Stojan Malijc both have businesses nearby. They also tend to frequent this club more than any others. You can see their visits on the videos. There's no other reason for Kazik's most trusted generals to meet there other than to report to Kazik."

Everyone becomes serious as they consider the implication of Kazik's whereabouts. Gideon rises from the chair and claps his hands excitedly. "Okay then, I say we do some recon at the club tonight and see what information we can get." His words seem to spur something in us because everyone moves hastily out the door. Feeling safer with the knowledge that neither Kazik nor his generals are in the club at the moment, we all decide to set up surveillance near the club while Hunter and Outlaw go in and look around. We figured that Hunter and Outlaw would be the safest choice because Kazik has never crossed paths with either of them.

Once we drop them off, Priest, Gideon, and I decided to have our stakeout on the empty top floor of a building across the street. That's the problem with the recession. A lot of people lost their homes and businesses. Some of the buildings that were under construction were left unfinished because they went bankrupt.

The place we decide to settle in is large with exposed brick walls, several plastic-covered windows, and rotted and scarred wooden floors. You can hear the whistle of the air sifting through the windows and a cool breeze permeating the empty rooms. We decided to set up shop in the living area with surveillance cameras that are pointed in the direction of the club. Hunter set some state of the art computer equipment across a foldout table. We watch through the camera as Hunter and Outlaw make their way inside the club.

Hunter has several bugs that he's going to install inside a few of the offices. They're both wearing communication earbuds and transmitters to maintain contact. We listen for a few hours as Outlaw befriends a few of Kazik's men and orders a few drinks. Somehow, Hunter manages to find his way into one of the offices.

Doing a stakeout might sound fun to some, but to me, it's the most unexciting part of my job. Right now, Priest, Gideon, and I are sitting in lounge chairs listening to the conversations in the club. Eventually, Priest leans back in his seat and lifts a questioning brow. I don't even need to ask. I already know what he's thinking. However, I don't give in easily. Ignoring his look, I gaze at the monitor and feign interest. I should have known that Priest wouldn't take the hint, though. "You slept with her?" He asks with a reproving tone.

Looking away from the screen, I gaze back at Priest. "Let me guess, Hunter told you? Doesn't that kid know to keep his damn mouth shut? That's what we do for a living for fuck's sake." He chuckles, giving me a careless shrug. "What did you expect? The kid idolizes you. Plus, it's not like he's keeping a Confradia secret." I snort at his comment. "Yeah, Well, I'm going to kick his ass anyway. As for Sophia, it just happened."

He raises a suggestive brow. "And?" I shrug. "And I don't know what to do about it." Gideon turns to me with a bemused grin. "Did you enjoy it?" My mouth dries at his question. "Of course, I did. It was amazing. It's just so complicated now. Not just because our parents are married, but because of Kazik. You know that bastard hates me more than he hates you, and he kidnapped Jade. What do you think he'd do if he found out about Sophia?"

Gideon nods grimly. "Yeah, but something I learned about this whole situation is that we will always have enemies. It's the path we chose. What I do know is that it's a hard life, and it gets harder if we don't find something to soften it. I worry about Jade every day, but when I think about life without her, and all I feel is despair. After all of these years of working for the Confradia, I've rationalized that I'm just killing people who need to be killed. But it wasn't until I met Jade that I understand that I wasn't a monster. I also realized that I need her more than she needs me. Not just because I love her, but because she keeps me grounded. And she makes me feel like I matter. Without her love, I'm just a sociopathic monster. And now I know that I will do anything to protect her."

I shake my head and inhale deeply. "I know what you mean. I've wanted Sophia for so long. And when I'm with her, I feel…lighter. She makes me feel like a regular man. I definitely don't regret sleeping with her. And I know that she's waiting for me to make a choice. But what if it's the wrong choice?" Priest shakes his head and slumps back in his chair with a sigh. Slipping off his shades, he rubs the crown of his nose and looks in my direction. His eyes are pretty freaky when you think about them. They are a clear silver color, and you can barely see the irises. He lowers his hand and gazes into my eyes with a direct look. "Look, Savage, I don't know about love or any of that stuff. But what I do know is that you've had a thing for this woman for years. Perhaps it works out, or perhaps it doesn't. However, at this point, I'd say you owe it to yourself to find out."

My thoughts whirl at his honest words. I've fought for so long to do the right thing, and I'll I've gotten is heartache. I try every day to make the world a better place and ask very little in exchange. And I've denied myself the one thing I want most in the world.

Priest snaps me out of my thoughts a moment later when he snorts and crosses his legs with a sardonic laugh. "Look at us. We're like a bunch of women sitting here talking about our emotions. God save me from men in love. I'm so glad that I'm single." Gideon sighs and utters in bemusement. "You can laugh about it now. But wait until you meet your match, and she makes you second guess everything you feel. Then we'll see who is sending out a prayer." Priest's face contorts with horror then settles into an arrogant smirk. "I doubt that will ever happen."

All conversation is halted when Hunter's voice comes over the transmitter. "Hey guys, we're ready to come out." Priest, Gideon, and I rise from our chairs to meet them at the door. Outlaw walks in with a grim look followed by an excited Hunter.

"What's up?" Priest asks as he leans a shoulder on a brick column near the door. Gideon and I cross our arms and listen attentively while Outlaw slides his tongue over his teeth and nudges his chin towards Hunter. "While Hunter was strategically placing the bugs, I got to speak to a few of the dancers. There's definitely something shady going on in there. A few of the male employees alluded to providing services for the right amount of money. Some of the dancers also mentioned that the club is closed on specific dates for special meetings. Which makes no sense if they're a legit club working under legal bounds." Hunter nods his head enthusiastically and moves towards the monitors to plug some kind of drive into a laptop.

"While Outlaw was chatting the staff up, I was able to get into one of the back offices. I escorted one of the girls into a private room and paid her to dance for one of the men. Once she got him out of the room, I was able to upload one of the hard drives. I also found a few other things while I was in the back." He clicks a few buttons and takes a step back.

After a moment, a video comes on the screen. Hunter points at a few things as the video rolls. "If you look at the video, you'll see that there are large metal crates and a few money machines. I wasn't able to catch much, but it's enough evidence to tell us that something shady is going on. All we can do now is wait for the equipment to pick up any illegal activities, or, better yet, catch Kazik. Either way, we'll get something soon."

We all stand and watch the video Hunter recorded. There are several large human-sized crates and empty tables around it. And a few boxes stamped with medical symbols on them. "What would they need those boxes for?" Hunter pauses the video and clicks a few buttons to magnify the screen. The men narrow their eyes and lean forward to get a closer look.

Gideon's breath hitches as he looks at me. "Do you remember when we were in Kazik's boat?" I nod my head and think back to what I might have seen, then a memory surfaces. "One of the rooms he took us to had boxes like those stacked against a wall. Maybe they're used for storing drugs and transporting them. It would be easy to transfer drugs under the guise of medical equipment."

Outlaw clears his throat and gestures toward the crates in the videos. "We need to get back into that club and check those boxes." Priest nods and glances at us before he looks back at the screen. "Let's see what the equipment picks up. Once we get a better idea of what we're facing, we can meet tomorrow and talk again. Right now, it's late, and I think we need to clear our heads." Gideon nods. "I agree. How about you join us in crashing the girls' night out. They're at some bar in Midtown drinking and having fun. There'll be free drinks." Hunter claps his hands. "Hell yeah!"

Gideon and I roll our eyes in amusement as we lead them out the door. As I drive the Camaro to the club, I can't help but think about Sophia and making love to her again. I guess Gideon is right. Sophia does make me forget what I am.