Guns & Dusty Roads: The Iron Brotherhood Series by Samantha Westlake Read Free Book Online Page B

point, I say,” Gimli called out, taking the lead on the conversation.  “I’ve never liked how close we’ve been pushed and pulled with the Hellraisers.  This is just another example in a long tradition of them breaking their word, and we shouldn’t stand for it any longer!”
    “So what are you suggesting, dwarf?” called out another man, one that Kara didn’t know.  “We should go to war?”
    That question provoked shaking heads around the circle.  “Not worth it,” Kara heard muttered.  “They might be assholes, but not worth dying over.”
    Behind her, Cross cleared his throat.  “There may be another option,” he offered.
    It took a minute for the other men to fall silent, but eventually Cross had the floor.  “What, then?” asked one of the men of Cross.  “Hired guns?”
    “Of a sort,” he replied.  Kara turned just enough to look over her shoulder at the man, and he was sitting up straight.  He looked curiously regal and in control, as if he was the real leader of these men.  “For a matter like this, we don’t need strength or brute force.  Those will only land us in a bloody war, a long and drawn-out fight that ends with massive losses on both sides.  No one is suggesting a war.”
    “So what, then?”
    Cross lifted up his hand, tapping one finger against his temple.  “Cunning,” he replied, as if this was a clear answer.
    From the looks of the other men around the circle, it wasn’t getting through.  Even Gimli gave a snort through his hairy face.  “Boy, we know you’re smart, but you’ll have to spell it out for the rest of us,” he huffed.
    Indeed, Kara thought that Cross was being especially obtuse.  But the man must have realized this - and now, the FBI agent realized, the man had the rest of his gang focused on his every word, waiting for him to explain.  He knew what he was doing.
    “The Hellraisers are ramping up their criminal activities,” Cross explained.  “That’s the source of their revenue, and what’s giving them the power to throw their weight around like this.  They’ve got a whole web of connections, all built around the gun running and smuggling.”
    The men were nodding, but they didn’t yet see where this was going.  But they were listening, eating out of Cross’s palm.
    “But if that illegal enterprise collapses, then so will the Hellraisers’ entire web of operations,” Cross continued.  “That’s the linchpin in their setup - and it’s their weak point.”
    “I don’t follow,” Gimli insisted.  “They’ll know that, though, and they’ll make sure to be guarding that operation at every single step of the shipments.  We can’t break through that enough to disrupt it.”
    “We don’t need to,” Cross insisted.  “All we have to do is find out enough about it so that we can tip off the authorities - and then sit back and let the police and FBI do our dirty work for us.”
    The man leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and looking satisfied with himself, as the other bikers digested this.  Clearly, none of them had ever thought of using the resources of the police in this way - but Kara could already see nodding heads, and even a couple of grins from men who liked the idea of the Feds going into the line of fire instead of themselves.
    But Bear still looked angry, and he was growing angrier by the minute as he saw control slipping away from his grasp.  “Using the pigs?” he rasped out, fury evident in his words.  “You’re playing with fire, Cross.  What if we get caught up in the same net?”
    “We’ll make sure to only aim them where we want, when we’re ready,” Cross insisted.  He carefully looked at Kara.  “Kara here will make sure that they only hit the Hellraisers when we’re well out of the way.”
    Every eye in the room shot back to the woman in the middle of the circle.  “Her?” Bear asked, his voice icy.  “She’s connected to the pigs?”
    “I used to date one,” Kara said