Omega's Gamble on Alphas

CHAPTER 5

Unexpectedly, a profound and rumbling voice spoke from the corner of the room where a huge man was sitting, half-suppressed by the shadows. His eyes reflected the glow like the eyes of an animal.

Butch Bartram. He was an alpha, and the one man in Clarity’s operation that was worth a damn, which was why Clarity liked to keep him close by for protection.

“You want me to go find him, Mr. Clarity? If he’s here in town, I’ll be able to catch his scent easily enough.”

Clarity waved his cigar dismissively. “No. If Lacerda doesn’t show up, he doesn’t get paid, simple as that.” He shifted his attention back to Whittaker and Guthrie. “Now tell me, how did everything go out at the Duffy Ranch? I trust the two of you were still able to complete your little mission without Lacerda’s help.”

The Duffy Ranch had been at the forefront of Clarity’s thoughts for a long time now.

Several years ago, he had extended an offer of marriage to Gaille Duffy. It wasn’t the woman he was after, it was her land… though that curvy little body of hers would have been a nice bonus.

The b***h, however, had turned him down. Apparently, she was too good for him. That was fine by Clarity. Just because he wouldn’t be taking her to bed, that didn’t mean he couldn’t f**k her in other ways.

Recently, he had purchased a rather sizable contract from Duffy’s former creditor, effectively placing the woman in his debt, and ever since, he’d done everything in his power to make sure she would have trouble paying off her loan.

Clarity had been sending his henchmen to sabotage her ranch in ways that wouldn’t look like foul play. They’d knocked down her fences, and released rattlesnakes into her barn—they’d even pushed boulders into the creek she used to irrigate her land.

And the plan was finally about to pay off. If the Duffy woman didn’t pay him within a fortnight, he’d be able to legally take the ranch as collateral.

Clarity didn’t care about the ranch either.

He wanted under itty had heard rumors that old man Duffy sometimes used Firestone to make his payments to the old creditor. Well, that firestone must have come from the ground under the ranch. Of course, a simple rancher wouldn’t have the means of getting the stuff out of the ground in an efficient way, so he’d only manage to bring out a little bit at a time.

Once Clarity got his hands on that land, he would set up a full-scale mining operation. He would be rich!

Of course, he was already… but now he’d be even richer.

“So?” Clarity growled at his men. “How did the operation go?”

The two men looked at each other nervously. At last, Whittaker spoke.

“Well, once it got dark, we were going to use our flints to start a brush fire out at the edge of the pastures you told us, but…”

“But what?”

“We got attacked, sir… by a wolf.”

“A wolf? Why didn’t you just shoot it?”

“Well, Mr. Clarity, you told us we weren't supposed to make any noise. Besides, this wasn’t normal. It was about as big as a damned grizzly bear, and its fur wasn’t gray, it was red. I saw it in the moonlight.”

Clarity snorted. “A red wolf? Nonsense. In this part of the country, red wolves are extinct.”

“Now that you mention it, sir, it did have a sort of odor to it.”

“Notstink, you imbecile! Extinct. It means dead and gone.”

“Oh. Well,l this one wasn’t dead, Mr. Clarity. It was alive and angry as hell. came running at us growling and snarling something fierce, so we hightailed it right out of there. We were lucky to get away alive.”

Clarity was just about to fling a few choice expletives at the two men when a knock came from outside. He motioned to Bartram, and the big alpha rose from his chair and opened the door.

The man on the other side was wiry and dirty-looking; despite having a youthful face, he was almost completely bald, aside from a few greasy strands of hair slicked back across his otherwise hairless pate. He came into the room practically shaking with excitement.

“Mr. Lacerda,” Clarity said. “How nice of you to finally join us. Hopefully, your evening has been more fruitful than your two i***t partners here.”

Larcerda nodded feverishly.

“It surely has, Mr. Clarity! I followed the Duffy woman over to Rosie Red Bottoms. She got into a conversation with a big, mean-looking alpha.” He glanced nervously at Bartram. “Not quite as big and mean-looking as Butch over there, but close. Anyhow, I sort of dropped eaves on ’em was talking’, first in the saloon and later on in the theater.”

Clarity made a rolling gesture with his hand.

“Get on with it, man. What did they talk about?”

Larcerda outlined what he’d overheard, and Clarity listened, a smile slowly creeping across his round face. By the end of it, he was grinning from ear to ear.

So, the firestone wasn’t underneath the ranch at all.

It was out in the desert, and the Duffy woman was going to lead them right to it. Maybe he could even get rid of the b***h in the process. After all, it was easy to hide a body out there in the desert.

“Lacerda, you’ve done well.” Clarity opened a drawer in his desk where he kept some cash. He drew out several bills, counted them, and then held them up for everyone to see.

“This is the money I was going to pay you fellows for tonight’s job. All three shares. However, since Whittaker and Guthrie didn’t accomplish anything, I’m going to give it all to you, Lacerda. You can divvy it up with your partners however you like.”

Clarity saw the other two men casting resentful glares in Lacerda’s direction.

Good.

If there was one thing Ned Clarity had recalled about being a leader, it was that you should always sustain resentment among your underlings. Give them a reason to stab each other in the back. It kept them from joining paths to stab you in yours.