Abandoned Treasure

Nathan Storm’s POV

Oakland International Container Terminal

Friday, March 28th, 2008

“Alejandro,” I called to the President of the Oakland Sons of Tezcatlipoca Chapter. “It’s been a while.” I stopped in front of them, twenty or so feet away from the rear of my car. “Stay down and don’t look back,” I linked to Jade. “Let me handle this.”

“Nathan Storm,” Alejandro replied cooly. “You’re looking pretty good for a dead guy.”

“It has its advantages.”

VP Carlos looked past me to the car. “Who’s the feline? I don’t recognize her scent.”

“We work for the Oracle,” I replied. “She stays there while we talk.”

“No way,” Carlos replied. “Call her out here, or I’ll drag her out.”

He started to walk past me. I put my arm out to stop him, which had Mancon reaching for his pistol. “That isn’t the right play for the Club, Alejandro. You wanted to talk, and I’m here. Let’s talk.”

Both men looked to their President. “Why isn’t it the right play, Nathan?”

“The Oracle’s anonymity is her protection. If you pierce that, she cannot function as designed. That function is important to every were creature who doesn’t kiss the boots of the Werewolf Council.” They didn’t seem convinced. “Why the deception? Why was it so important to try and kidnap her representatives?”

“Money,” Carlos said. “She’s worth half a million, plus the information she stole is worth another five hundred thousand. You? I imagine the Council will pay to get their hands on you.”

I laughed. “The Council? Are you saying THEY are the ones behind this? Since when did the Sons become the Chairman's pet kitties?”

Carlos reacted quickly, sending a punch to my stomach that bent me over. “Fucking DOG. I should kill you for your disrespect.”

“I hate the Council more than you do,” I said as I caught my breath. “If we are talking about money, then this is business. Let’s talk about business like men. Alejandro can decide which business deal is in the Club’s best interests.”

The President grabbed Carlos’ shoulder and pulled him back. “What deal?”

“First, tell me what the Council offered.”

Alejandro looked at his Sergeant at Arms, who shrugged. “He’s not going anywhere with the information, boss. May as well get everything on the table.”

“Why not,” Alejandro agreed. “Word is that someone is fucking with the Bitterroot Pack. They hacked their network and stole money from their bank accounts. Around the same time, someone knocked off a warehouse they owned near Chicago and made off with a bunch of cash. Someone opened the safe before setting the place on fire. You know anything about that?”

“Of course. Bitterroot abused and killed my mate and my child. I’ll fuck with them as much as I can. It’s not my fault they are too lazy to change passwords and combinations.”

The President grinned at that. “It makes a lot more sense now. You took their drug money?” I nodded. “You know about our deliveries and our routes. Why didn’t you knock off the whole thing?”

“The Sons are not my enemy, Pres. The Council and Alpha Todd are. I wanted to hurt them, but I had no interest in harming your Club or your interests.”

“You think we are friends?”

“I think we had a lucrative business relationship, and you respect me for carrying out my part without any problems. I’d never betray you or the Club, Alejandro. It’s not in my character, and I know how the Club deals with people who steal from them. I made sure what I did to Alpha Todd didn’t blow back onto you.” The Son’s reputation for cruelty was well-known. Traitors and thieves would suffer prolonged and painful deaths, which is why no one fucked with their deal.

Alejandro nodded. “Todd is pissing me off. He demanded more money for transport to make up for his losses.”

“Working with the Packs is a bitter pill to swallow, isn't it? You can take their blood money, but long term? Killing us and taking out the Oracle hurts those who refuse to bend their knees to the Council. My companion and I are working to take down the Council. We’ve hurt them financially, and we will keep fucking with them.” I explained to them how the Oracle would empower the scattered rogues and other species against the centralized Packs and their entrenched bases. “Our hack of the Council files revealed all they know of us. Information can be worth more than money, guys. Money doesn’t mean shit if you are in prison or buried.”

“How can you help us,” Jose asked. He was a good Master at Arms because he looked at life through the lens of a war. He knew the value of good intelligence.

“At its core, the Oracle’s business model is its anonymity. We exchange information and broker goods and services with zero contact between the two. At its simplest, it would give the Club access to untraceable things like weapons, safe houses, and services. It also can function as a message service. The Oracle can pass coded messages between Club members in a way that defeats surveillance and law enforcement efforts. The Council is offering you a million dollars, but that is pennies compared to the money the larger Club brings in from its drug business. The Oracle can help keep you out of prison.”

The VP wasn’t convinced by my sales pitch. “We have ways to communicate, Nathan. We don’t need you.”

I shook my head at him. “The Feds can get a surveillance warrant on any computer or phone they can tie to the Club. Wiretaps are how you build RICO cases, and those are the sledgehammers that destroy clubs and put their leaders in prison for decades. I’m offering you a better system than that. It’s a system that connects every cat, wolf, coyote, bear, or bird that isn’t part of the Pack system. All of them are available and untraceable. Need new identification papers? Medical care? Cleanup? It’s there for a reasonable fee, and the Oracle will put it together for you.”

“The Oracle will still let us have those things after we turn you over to the Council,” he argued. “All we have to do is sign up.”

“No, she won’t,” I replied with a smirk. “The Oracle knows everything that has happened to us today, and she’s watching us live.” The three started looking around in a panic. “Your men didn’t take away her electronics, and she has cameras inside and outside the car. Every moment since we pulled into the Costco parking lot is live streaming to the Oracle’s server. If you kill us, the edited video goes to the FBI. Kidnapping, extortion, and murder are Federal crimes. When you have Club members on high-definition video in furtherance of a larger drug trafficking organization, that’s death penalty shit.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Alejandro said.

“It’s not my choice if I’m dead, is it?” I let them think about it for a moment.“ The Oracle is not your enemy until you make her one. It’s not the direction I want this unexpected meeting to go. I’d prefer we make a mutually beneficial business deal and walk away.”

Alejandro thought about it. “I’ll need more than a message service to sell this deal.”

I thought for a moment. “What would you need to secure your smuggling operation?”

“I need control of the docks, the transportation, and the money laundering.”

I nodded. “Longshoremen, Customs agents, truck drivers, State Patrol, local Sheriffs. Add in the Drug Enforcement Agency as well. Everyone with their hands out. A breakdown anywhere could lose the whole shipment.”

“Yeah. It’s expensive.”

“The Cartels operate in Mexico because they control the countryside and the police. Only a few military units and politicians dare oppose them. I can give you that here.”

“How?”

“Tell us who you need to compromise, and we’ll research a way in. Everyone has a vulnerability, Pres. For most people, it is money. Others want power, women, drugs, protection, or they have something to hide. We help you find the way.”

“What about the Feds? Even the Cartels can’t penetrate the DEA and Justice Department.”

“Only because the Cartels aren’t operating here. South of the border, they have everyone.” I knew Alejandro was considering it, but not all were convinced. Any decision would have to survive a Chapter vote, maybe even a vote of all the Chapter Presidents. “Give me a minute alone with my colleague?”

Alejandro nodded.

I walked to the passenger door, and Jade rolled down the window. “Do you have a hard drive with the stuff we took from the Council?”

“Yes.” She’d made multiple copies of it for security reasons.

She pulled it from the hiding place under the dashboard, then handed it to me. I waited until she rolled the window up before I returned to the three Werejaguars. “You said there was a reward to get the information back?”

“Half a million, cash,” Carlos said.

I handed Alejandro the portable drive. “Collect the money. It’s not your fault they are too stupid to realize there can be more than one copy out there.”

He grinned. “What about the half-million for the one who took it?”

“That’s up to you to figure out. If you can find a dead guy to blame it on, how will they know the difference? We got all the information we needed. The hacks will stop, so they’ll think you got him. Meanwhile, the Oracle and her associates will continue with our work.”

“That leaves you, Nathan. I imagine there would be a big price on your head if they knew you were alive.”

“I’m not alive, Alejandro. I’m a ghost, remember?”

That got a grin out of him.“I think I can sell that, but we need results. The Cartels have hackers, too. You need to prove your worth to us.”

“How?”

“Two of my club members got arrested with a kilo of coke. They are facing twenty years each, and the trial starts in July. Figure out how to get them off, and we can discuss a long-term deal with the entire Club.”

I had no idea how to do that, but I had no other way to keep us safe. I either entered into a criminal conspiracy with an outlaw biker gang, or I ended up in the trunk of a car as the container headed to Ghana.

I shook his hand.