Page 67 of Brandon’s Mate

How he wanted in, with his own crew. Taking over some of the responsibilities the crows couldn’t handle—and implying that was just about all of them.

He was using just the right mix of bravado and respect. He promised Jax specialized vehicles through the auto repair shop, and a pipeline to weapons—whatever they wanted.

Jax was cautious, but clearly interested. He was probably fed up with babysitting Caleb.

“I’ll take your proposal to the boss,” Jax said. “He might agree to let your crew stay. How many of you are there?”

“Just me and Cox and my girlfriend, right now,” Brandon said. Remy snorted at Colt’s alias. Kitty shook her head. Brandon added, “But I have a couple more people I want to bring in.”

“Still not enough to handle everything the crows are doing,” Jax said. “But don’t bring in any more unless the boss okays it, or the deal’s definitely off. I’ll get back to you in a few days.”

“Here’s the thing,” Brandon said. “I can get you top of the line trucks, and I can customize anything you want. I can make you compartments in your trucks that the cops and DEA and Homeland Security will never find. But I don’t deal with underlings, and I don’t deal with people I don’t know and have never seen. I want to meet with your boss, and get his personal word on anything we agree to.”

Jax laughed. “Or what? You have three people in your crew, and one of them’s fucking pregnant. We could squash you like the ladybugs you are.”

Brandon didn’t rise to the bait. “We’re not trying to take you out,” he said. “We’re better off working with you. It’s not what I’ll do, it’s what your boss will miss out on.”

“I’m listening,” Jax said.

“I have a line on certain specialty items that would give him a major advantage in his territory expansion, especially defenses. Items of a magical nature.”

There was a long silence. Then Jax said, “Specifics.”

“Boss’s ears only,” Brandon said. “I deal with the decision-maker on that, or not at all.” She heard some chairs creak as if he was getting to his feet. “I think we’re done here. Let me know if there’s any interest.”

They heard footsteps as Brandon and Colt walked out of the room.

There was no sound for a few minutes. Then the microphone kicked on in the private office, and at the same time the cellphone tracker started up.

“Nailed it,” Remy said. “The software should track that call right to its source. Plus we’ll have a recording of Jax’s side of the conversation. If we’re lucky we’ll get a name.”

“Aren’t you going to put the speaker on?”

“We’ll replay it when Brandon and Colt get here. They’ll be pissed off if we start without them.”

Chapter 27

Colt and Brandon were back in ten minutes, hyped up on post-mission adrenalin.

Brandon asked, “Did it work? Did he call in to the boss?”

He clearly loved this kind of thing—the danger and the challenge. It was good to see him feeling good about himself for a change.

“Right after you left,” Remy said. “I let it record, so we could all listen to it at the same time.”

He hit a couple of buttons and the recording started to play.

“This is Jax. I need to talk to Raines. It’s important.”

Kitty saw Remy make a note of the name, with several different possible spellings.

Whoever answered the phone went to see if Raines was “available.”

After a minute, a new voice came on the line. “This is Raines. What’s wrong now?”

“Not wrong. Maybe a big break, maybe a hot mess.”

Jax explained to Raines about the offers “Ray Danvers” had made. When he finished, there was a short silence. Then Raines asked, “Do you think he’s serious about the magic items, or just blowing smoke?”