“And what do they all have on them that makes you say that?” I ask. “How are they worse than the others?”
“Well, Arson likes fire and booze, and from what I can tell, he’s also developing a bit of a habit for the white stuff. His personal account is showing some payments to a local dealer.”
“You think he doesn’t want anyone knowing he’s using? Otherwise why not just use whatever stash they’re running or selling?”
“He’s probably doing that too, but he can’t risk being short to whoever they’re selling to, right?”
I nod. “Alright. And Silver is probably along the same thing?”
“No, Silver doesn’t appear to be touching the drugs, but he likes to take risks. He’s got a healthy gambling addiction if the online casinos and large cash withdrawals are anything to go by. The other three are all a mixture of all of it. Gambling and drugs, and in the case of Crook, he also has a taste for prostitutes. And he’s not subtle about it. He buys one like once a week.”
“The way his Old Lady is, not surprised,” I grunt. “Alright, so we have a few potential high suspects from the Misfits. But what about our people? Anything else pop up?”
Cryos shakes his head. “Nothing. I went through everyone and everything I could possibly think of. Including Thea and Theo, just to make sure they aren’t working together to hide anything, but nothing. Not to mention they’ve both been out ofstate for the majority of their adult lives until a couple of months ago, and while that is technically enough time for Vlad to get his claws in them, nothing. Crypt is clean, as are Kaleb and Carson. The only thing about Kaleb, though, is that he has a little brother who’s gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd and looks like he’s getting himself in trouble with the cops and doing drugs.”
I tense at that. “You think that Vlad got to Kaleb because of his brother and turned him into a traitor?”
Cryos sighs. “I don’t want to think that, but I mean, we’ve already had that one Prospect, Matthew, that we had to deal with as being a rat for Dmitri when he was running shit. And if Kaleb’s brother has been threatened by Vlad, or even if Vlad is trying to make Kaleb pay off that debt by going after us from the inside, it makes sense.”
“Shit.” The evidence isn’t good. “And is there anything in Kaleb’s info that you have that might show him working with Vlad, even if it’s vague?”
“That’s just it, there’s nothing. He’s saving every penny he has, other than giving his mother money every time he gets paid. He gives her half of his check, and when I investigate her, she uses it to pay her rent and buy groceries. It’s almost instant. I did look into her finances a bit deeper too and she’s been bailing out her other son as much as she can afford. She gives the kid money from her meager work checks, but it’s not much and probably only going to feed his addiction.”
“And the brother’s finances?”
Cryos scoffs. “The kid isn’t making shit legally. I’ve found anywhere from five hundred to five grand hitting his account almost every other day. He’s either running or selling drugs, but he runs through it as fast as it comes in. Either on stupid shit, his car, or more drugs. Once he runs out of money, or he doesn’t get as much as he needs, he hits up his mother, and she gives him what she can.”
“But not Kaleb?”
“Not outwardly,” Cryos answers after a moment. “He’s taken out cash payments every month that I can’t trace. Nothing that’s the same amount that would make me think he was paying a bill or something.”
“And what are the amounts?”
“Anywhere from a hundred to five hundred. But it’s never the same date and never the same amount. Any other time, I might just think he was paying cash for bike repairs, or putting some money under the mattress for a rainy day that can’t be tracked in a bank account, but with the way things sit, I have to flag it and question.”
Fuck. I don’t want to think that Kaleb is a rat. It doesn’t seem like him. He’s too good a kid, works hard, and never seems to try and insert himself into anything that he shouldn’t. My gut is telling me it can’t be him, but I never thought Dagger was either, so how much can I trust that? “Before we approach him, we need to make sure that we have everything sorted,” I say after a moment. “Same with Arson and his crew.”
Cryos nods, his lips thin and grim. “As for everyone else, nothing obvious. This time, after I encountered everything with Kaleb, I backtracked through and went through all the connections. Family, friends, and even Old Ladies and their connections that might come that way. I mean, even Vlad knows how much we protect our women, and if he can get to us through one of them, he definitely will go that route.”
“What about Viper’s ex? Maggie? She still staying far away?”
“Yes, as far as I can tell. She got busted for drugs a couple of weeks ago, and she’s sitting in jail because no one will come and bail her out. The boyfriend she had is also in jail at the same time. Viper knows about it because she tried to call him to bail her out. Since she’s still there, safe to say that’s not happening.”
“Could she be having someone she met in jail be helping her out to get back at us, or try to get back on Vlad’s good side? If she’s in jail, she can’t pay, and Vlad will probably have people ready to take her out as soon as she’s free if she’s too far behind and can’t pay him back with interest.”
“I don’t think she’s that smart. I mean, I know she’s kind of clever, but really, if you’re as strung out on this shit as she has been that she basically neglected her own kid, she’s probably not planning on going to Vlad for anything other than her next fix.”
He has a point. “Alright, so that’s probably a dead end. So we have five Misfits and possibly one of our own that could be traitors. Or, worse, a mixture of all of them.”
“Short of interrogating them all and alerting them, how are we going to narrow it down?”
That’s the question, isn’t it?
“We need to get everyone together that is safe and figure out a plan. I’ve already called a meeting for midnight tonight in the car shed that Torque uses. It’s got cameras, and we also are far enough away that no one should overhear us.”
“Who’s on rotation tonight?” Cryos asks, pulling up the feeds around the grounds and clubhouse.
“Shadow and Frost have that sorted so you’ll have to ask one of them. Why?”
