Own the Wind (Chaos #1)(103)

“Sleepin’,” Shy answered.

“She’s doin’ okay,” Tack muttered.

“She’ll be out awhile, but I still wanna have this shit done and get back to her before she wakes up,” Shy went on.

Tack jerked up his chin, Hop slid off the stool, and they moved out to their bikes, Tack on his phone.

They waited until Tack finished his calls before they started up and roared out, Tack in the lead, Hop and Shy riding side by side behind him.

Tack and his lieutenants arrived at the rendezvous point first. They were off their bikes and waiting when the first vehicle pulled up.

An unmarked cop car carrying Mitch Lawson and Brock Lucas, both detectives with the DPD. Both tight with Tack due to complicated history, this history complicated because it had to do with women and, in Lawson’s case, kids.

Shy watched the men exit the car and approach and it wasn’t lost on Shy that both men, even behind shades, clocked the bandage at his neck.

Lawson looked to Tack. “Word is, last night, you bought yourself a problem.”

“My daughter’s best friend got herself a habit. No supplier is a good one with that habit but she still managed to pick the worst,” Tack confirmed.

Lucas tipped his head to Shy. “She learn a lesson?”

“We’ll see,” Tack muttered as a gray Camaro made its approach and all eyes turned to watch Hawk Delgado park and fold out of his vehicle. His right-hand man, Jorge, folded himself out of the passenger side.

Unlike Lawson and Lucas, as he moved to them, Delgado’s face was not assessing. He was pissed.

When he stopped at the group, eyes locked to Tack, he stated, “After the meet, we have words.”

“Not a big fan of collateral damage,” Tack returned, his way of saying there would be no words after the meet. He did what he did and Hawk had to deal.

“You needed that girl, you saw Elvira there, you knew we were working a job, all you had to do was call me,” Hawk shot back.

“Do not shit me,” Tack bit out. “You’re workin’ a job, it’s about the job, and your job was not about that girl. Fifty-fifty chance you’d let that girl swing and her time was up. She means somethin’ to my daughter. I had to move and I didn’t have the option of takin’ any of the limited time I had to negotiate with you.”

Shy watched Hawk’s mouth get tight which meant he conceded the point.

“Right,” Lucas cut in to change the subject before the mood deteriorated further. “It’s not a secret Chaos has been havin’ problems with Benito for a while. It’s also not a secret DPD has always had problems with him since he’s a piece-of-shit scumbag. What was a secret until last night was that Delgado’s got somethin’ workin’ with this and it was blown. Now Benito’s gonna be more determined to carve into Chaos territory, and Hawk’s out there, seein’ as they’ve probably already traced Elvira to his operation.” Lucas trained his shades on Delgado. “Not to mention, Malik is all kinds of pissed because Elvira was made before you did whatever you’re gettin’ paid to do, you didn’t discuss her involvement with him, and she’s now seriously vulnerable.”

“She’s got protection and part of that is sleepin’ with a cop,” Delgado returned. “The rest of it is me.”

This was formidable. They all knew that.

But so was Benito. They all knew that too.

“Now we know the lay of the land,” Lawson pointed out. “We also know that the time has come to put an end to Benito’s operation.”

“That time came about two years ago,” Hop threw out.

“Not gonna argue that,” Lucas stated. “But that didn’t happen and I think it hasn’t escaped anybody that this shit was simmering. Now the situation is all kinds of hot.”

“Extreme,” Tack agreed, then declared, “War.”

“Chaos and Delgado,” Shy added, looking at Hawk. “I think, man, Benito’s more pissed at you, and he’s a weasel. Have a mind to your back.”

“I always do,” Delgado replied.

“Then have a mind to everything,” Shy went on. “Weasels are slick motherf*ckers who can go underground. He might not come at your back. He might dig up from underneath.”

“Not tellin’ me somethin’ I don’t know,” Delgado said.

“What he’s tellin’ you that you don’t know is this is now a team effort,” Tack announced. “That’s why we called this meeting. You’re a target. Elvira’s a target. Chaos is a target. Benito’s an anything-goes man, so right now it is all eyes, all ears, all hands, all firepower…” Tack looked to Lucas and Lawson and finished, “… all in.”

Shy looked through the men and was not surprised when not one said anything.

Tacit agreement.

Lucas and Lawson might be cops, but their bond with Tack was such that it wasn’t just about taking down a drug-dealing  p**n  producer. With Chaos in Benito’s sights, it was more.

Delgado and Tack were always butting heads, but Tack took Delgado’s woman’s back during an intense situation, which meant he also took Delgado’s. In return, Delgado took Tack’s back when things got extreme with Cherry. Shit like that didn’t go down without ties forming. Ties that bind.