Nolan: Return to Signal Bend by Susan Fanetti

but nobody was in a particularly joking mood.
     
    Dom answered, “The Brazen Bulls had Nomads up north, working with the Cree. It’s Eight Ball sent me word. That’s how I know it’s legit. Vega is hiding out north of Lake Winnipeg.”
     
    “Jesus on a pogo stick,” Tommy grumbled. “Did the Nomads engage?”
     
    “No. Far as we know, Vega doesn’t know he’s been made. Nomads called Eight. But the Bulls know that Vega is Horde business, so Eight backed his guys off.”
     
    Thinking about those sideline meetings of Badger’s, Nolan asked, “How old is this intel?”
     
    Badger met his eyes. “Three weeks.”
     
    “And you’ve been sitting on it all that time.”
     
    “I had to make a decision about what was best for the club, if it was right to even bring it up.”
     
    “That’s not your call to make.”
     
    “Yeah, Nolan, it is. We’ve voted more than once to put our back to Vega and move forward. That’s the right call. We are not that club anymore.”
     
    The muscles in Nolan’s hands had begun to ache from the effort he was making to keep them from coiling into fists. “We haven’t voted since he fucked SoCal and got Riley killed.”
     
    Bart turned blazing eyes on Nolan and finally spoke. “Don’t you bring her name into this room. That’s not yours to do.”
     
    “Bart—”
     
    “No. Make your case, but do not use my wife to do it.”
     
    Losing his internal fight, Nolan slammed his fist on the table. “He’s got to die. If he doesn’t, he’ll just rear his head again and take more of what we love away. Ten years since Vega killed Hav. Ten years . He’s still on some fucked-up crusade to end drugs by any means necessary, and he doesn’t care who the fuck gets hurt.”
     
    Double A held up a calming hand. “You don’t know that’s still true. He lost his own wife and children last summer. And his cover is fully destroyed now. He’s Most Wanted with four cartels. He’s in hiding. His days of being a threat are over.”
     
    Nolan laughed bitterly. “You’re an asshole if you believe that, A. You say he’s in the sights of four cartels, and yet he’s still breathing. We found him accidentally. I’d say the odds are good he’s still protected. And that means he’s still somebody’s asset.”
     
    Showdown leaned on the table and turned toward Nolan. “You need to think with your head, son. Not your heart. We’re not on anybody’s radar now. Vega doesn’t have it in for us personally, and even if he’s still fighting, we’re not on that battlefield anymore. Vega gave us Santaveria to pay for what he did to Hav—and what he did to the rest of us.” Show glanced at Len, at Isaac, and then at Badger before he set his eyes again on Nolan. “That debt is paid.”
     
    “It’s not! What I’m owed is not paid.” Nauseated with rage, Nolan again turned his regard to Bart. “Come on, man. You can’t let what he did just go .”
     
    “I killed the man who sent the men who killed my wife. Emilio Zapata. Not Vega.”
     
    “Vega engineered the whole thing! He was why we were working with Dora. He hid behind her and manipulated us all. It was his plan that put Riley in Zapata’s crosshairs. You have to see that.”
     
    “If you say her name in this room again, I will beat you unconscious.”
     
    Tommy cut in before Nolan could respond. “You’re laying SoCal business on this table, Nolan. What happened out west is not our vote.”
     
    “I’m laying Night Horde business on this table. We’re all brothers, right? One club.”
     
    Badger held up his hand. “Let’s vote it. The question on the table is whether to pursue retaliation against David Vega.”
     
    Once again, Nolan was the only vote in favor.
     
     
    ~oOo~
     
     
    When they were done in the Keep, Nolan wanted to get out as quickly as he could. Fuck the party. He needed to ride. But he wasn’t even all the way through the Keep door when he felt the iron grip of Len’s hand on his