“I got every office in the warehouse bugged, Knight. I know all this shit. And Raid told me himself when Georgia called him in to find David Littleton. He found him. He turned him over. And David Littleton hasn’t been seen since. The labs are on Turner’s radar. Comings and goings and deliveries being monitored. But none of that is linked to any of the Shades physically or on paper. Georgia has it compartmentalized. Even her closest men, Harkin and Leary, don’t deal with those labs directly. And Vincent Shade doesn’t even know they exist. So until one of those fuckers slips up, I cannot use any of it to hurt the House of Shade.”

He took in a deep breath and finished.

“You dragged Creed and Sylvie up here the only time of year it’s worth livin’ in Phoenix and you did it for nothing. I have it covered.”

Knight looked impressed.

Nick tried not to be annoyed.

“For some reason, Georgia isn’t saying shit,” he went on. “Vincent doesn’t know she’s reestablishing a foothold in the Denver drug market. I don’t know why. But my guess is, she’s been frustrated for years with his incompetent management, not to mention he’s made it clear she’s his heir, but he’s dismissive and condescending both to her face and in talking about her to others. If that was me, I wouldn’t put up with it for long. I reckon she’s feeling the same since she’s put up with it for seriously long, is fed up and setting up for a takeover.”

“That makes sense,” Knight said.

“The problem with that is that if Georgia is the brains and the power behind their now-successful but illegal operations, and her father doesn’t know shit, I got nothin’ to feed to Turner to take Vincent Shade down.”

“Sylvie and Creed report Harkin, who has for a long time been considered Shade’s most trusted lieutenant, is no longer Shade’s man. Not only him but also Tom Leary are both tied to her skirt. So you get dirt on Georgia and you gotta jump that gun to keep your girl safe, least you can take Harkin down because they’re tight so we know he’s in deep with Georgia Shade and her production labs.”

“The plan never was to take Harkin down, Knight. He was following orders but he pulled the trigger. The plan has always been to take Harkin out.”

Knight’s gaze on him was intent but he said nothing against Nick’s decree.

“Thank fuck Marcus and my protection hasn’t worn thin,” Knight muttered.