King of Diamonds (Desert Sons MC Book 3) (2 page)

***

After dinner Marshall made some phone calls and arranged for all the Sons to meet at his house right after lunch tomorrow. This was a “business” meeting, so only those in the know were attending.

“We’re all set. Everyone will be here tomorrow about twelve-thirty,” Marshall said after he talked to the last Son.

“Good,” Jack said. “This won’t take long.”

“What are you planning, Jack?”

“I’m getting out. All the way out. I’m going to start a new life with a new identity.”

Marshall, startled, took a moment to consider the implications. “Where will you go?”

“I don’t know yet. But I will stay in touch.”

“Will you stay in New Mexico?”

“Probably not. I love it here, but… you know.”

“Yeah. I can’t blame you. Is that what you wanted to talk about tomorrow?”

“That’s part of it.”

“But there’s more?”

Jack grinned. “Oh yeah.”

CHAPTER TWO

It took a lot longer than normal to get the meeting called to order because
everyone
wanted to hear Jack and Tina’s story. After he told it three times, Jack had finally asked them to wait until the whole group was there. Then he would tell everyone at the same time.

“So I was standing at the pump waiting on her to come back out and I hear this guy scream. I didn’t know what the hell was going on so I ran in there,” Jack said as he was wrapping up their adventures. “It’s a good thing, too. She was about to kill these two guys that—”

“I was
not!”
Tina protested.

“Was one guy knocked out on the floor in a pool of his own blood? And was the other guy down on the floor puking his guts out after you stabbed him with an ink pen and kicked him in ‘nads?”

“Well, yeah, but...”

“And were you not trying to kick that same guy’s ribs in?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Like I said, I got there just in time to prevent her from killing these two guys. Anyway, we hauled ass out of there before the cops showed up and… here we are.”

Tina burned with embarrassment as Jack over-sensationalized the ruckus while everyone looked at her… then Greg, the Sons Treasurer, made a big show of scooting his chair a little bit farther away from her, much to the delight of the crowd.

“Jesus, Jack. You better not piss her off or the cops will be the least of your worries,” Brett said.

Brett’s comment started the ribbing, and though she felt like she would die of embarrassment, she couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s okay,” Michelle, the wife of the club President, said as she tried to ease Tina’s embarrassment. “We only pick on you if we like you.”

“That’s good. I’d hate to see what it’s like if you didn’t like me.”

Laughter rolled around the room again before Seth, the club President, spoke. “Sounds like you had… uhhh… an interesting week. But what did you want to talk to us about?”

Tina watched as Jack got to his feet. He was only the Vice-President of the club—a title consistently forced upon him—but he was clearly the leader. “First order of business. I want to thank each and every one of you for all you have brought to the Sons. It has been a privilege, and an honor, knowing each and every one of you.”

Jack waited while the Sons murmured in acknowledgement and returned his compliment. “What I wanted to tell everyone today is that I am going to pull one more job, and then I am closing up shop. The Sons may continue as a club, but I will no longer be a member, and…”

Tina flinched slightly at the uproar that last statement caused.

“Wait! Wait a minute! Let me finish!” Jack fanned the air with his hands as he called for quiet. “I’m dropping out of the business. I’m going to start a new life with a new identity.”

“Jack, this is
your
club!” Brett protested.

“It’s
our
club,” Jack countered. “It’s bigger than one person. But I can’t do this anymore. I have… other plans,” he said as he stared into Tina’s eyes.

Tina had to look away lest she was afraid she would start to cry.

“But! Before I do that, I plan to go out with a bang,” he continued.

“How?” Rachael asked.

“You know those Ferraris we stole? I’m going to steal them again.”

“What?” several voices shouted at once.

“That’s right. I’m going to take them right out from under the cops’ noses.”

“You’re crazy!” Rog said.

“You have a plan? Seth asked quietly.

“I do. But it’s high risk. I know we are all in this together, but that was then. This is now. If anyone wants to back out, now’s the time. No hard feelings.”

Seth looked at Michelle and she met his eyes and nodded slightly. “We’re in,” Seth said.

“We are too,” Nic said.

“I’m in,” Tina said.

There was a pause at first, but then Greg elected to join in, followed by Rachael, Brett, and then Cheryl. Jack waited. The people he
had
to have were on board, but after another pause, the remainder of the Sons joined in as well.

“Thank you,” Jack breathed, touched that every member backed him.

***

Jack spent the next two hours going over his plan. Several members offered ideas that were incorporated into the plan as the details were fleshed out. As the afternoon progressed Tina witnessed a transformation in the group. They had started out in begrudging support, probably out of loyalty to Jack, but as the plan came together the grim faces began to lighten. By the time the meeting was drawing to a close the Desert Sons were upbeat and excited.

“Same deal as before—but with no holdback for the club—agreed?” Jack said as the meeting drew to a close.

Seth waited a moment, then took charge. “All in favor?”

A chorus of
Aye
’s
was heard.

“Any opposed?”

The only sound was the whisper of the air conditioning.

“We’re in, Jack,” Seth said.

“Great! Any hint on the cars? Anything at all?” Jack asked as he looked at Cheryl and Brett, the two responsible for finding customers.

“I have a guy in South America that offered two million for the GTO… but I dropped it when the cars were impounded,” Cheryl said.

“Get back with him. Tell him unless someone comes forward for the lot, he has a deal.”

“Should I make him put down a deposit?” she asked.

“No. Not yet. I still want to sell these bitches as a lot if we can. You and Brett see what you can dig up. Don’t demand a deposit. We are doing this spec. No point in having to refund the money if we can’t deliver.”

Cheryl pursed her lips in determination.
Jack has never failed to come through. Brett and I are going to sell these fuckers if we have blow every millionaire in the world,
she thought. “We’ll get it done,” she said confidently.

“Fuckin’ A,” Brett added as he gave her a fist bump.

“Make it happen,” Jack said firmly. “There are three key people in this operation, and you and Brett are two of them.”

“We won’t let you down,” Brett said with a firm nod.

“Anything else?” Jack asked. When nobody spoke up, he turned to Seth. “I’m done.”

“Meeting adjourned,” Seth said. “Jack! I need to talk to you.”

“Okay. What is it?”

“Alone.”

“Oh. Okay. Stick around and we’ll talk later.”

***

“What’s bothering you?” Jack asked Seth after the rest of the Sons had left.

“You need some backup. Let me help.”

“You are helping. You’re going to get us someplace to store the cars and make sure everyone else is getting their tasks done.”

“You and Tina are taking on too much risk. I can help.”

“No. Absolutely not. Right now Tina and I are the only two the cops know about. I intend to keep it that way.”

“I understand. But if one of you gets caught… we need someone else to step in.”

“And that’s you?”

“I don’t think I can ask anyone else. I’m the President of Sons, so it’s my responsibility.”

“Thanks, Seth. I mean that. But no. You have a wife and a career to think about. I don’t want to put you, or any of the Sons, at risk.”

Seth’s jaw was set firmly and his brows furrowed, but his shoulders sagged slightly.. “Okay. At least keep me in the loop on your location and plans. I know you said you were playing this one by ear, but somebody needs to know what is going on in case the shit hits the fan.”

Jack slapped Seth on the shoulder as he chuckled. “Okay. But if the shit truly hits the fan, the best place for you to be is as far away from the shit as possible.”

“There is a lot riding on this. I just want to do everything possible to make sure it goes off without a hitch. Not like last time. Still no clue who tipped the cops?”

“No. It was bound to happen sooner or later I guess.”

“Okay. It still bothers me that they found the cars.”

“Yeah. Me too. I hope whoever tipped the cops chokes on that reward.”

“If they got it. You’re still on the loose.”

“Yeah. And I intend to stay that way.”

***

“What did Seth want?” Marshall asked after all the Sons were gone.

“Nothing much. He just wanted to play a bigger role in the plan.”

Marshall snorted. “He’s always looking for more. More profit. More sales. More responsibility. You would think after a while he would say, ‘Enough!’”

Jack chuckled. “That’s his job. You said yourself that when he became the sales manager, sales really started going up.”

“Yeah. But damn! I’m glad I don’t work for him. He’s on the rest of sales staff all the time.”

Jack chuckled. “Look at it this way: If he couldn’t sell the bikes, they wouldn’t need you to finance them, right?”

Marshall smiled. “I suppose you’re right. He’s a nice guy, but he is just so intense. And he has been getting worse lately. He’s going to give himself a heart attack if he doesn’t slow down. You know what he told me the other day? He wants to buy the dealership.”

“You’re kidding!”

“I’m not kidding. He told me he approached Mr. Hancock about it. He got shot down, but he’s only been there—what, five or six years? And he is already looking to take over?”

“He must be doing better that I thought,” Jack said with a grin. “Maybe that is what I will do when I drop out. I’ll go to work in a Harley dealership. Make big bucks like the finance and sales managers.”

Marshall chuckled. “Sales manager, maybe.”