Tank
I stood on the top of the stairs for a while, staring out onto the vast stretch of my front lawn, the brown crisscrossing of Dakin’s gang’s tire tracks carved into the grass the only sign that they’d been there. Well, that and the faint traces of engine exhaust that hung in the air.
I was goddamn furious; furious that Dakin would make such demands of me in my home. I was furious that he’d gotten the upper hand. But more than being furious, I felt something else. Something like a sharp stabbing in heart, like someone was working a sliver of glass through it. I felt short of breath, like I was needed to sit down.
“You cool, boss?” asked Oslo.
“Fine,” I said, the word coming out in a gruff bark. “Just need to …”
I stumbled over to the step closest to me and took a seat. It was hard for me to put into words what I was feeling, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was about Star. First, she’d left. Then she’d learned that Dakin had wanted to use her as a bargaining chip. Then she’d left, the wrong impression etched into her mind. She didn’t realize that I’d had no intention of selling her out to Dakin like that, but when she’d come back at the time she did, that was just how it looked, like I was saying to Dakin, “Look, she’s not here, so I can’t trade her for guns.”
No wonder she was pissed off. I could hardly blame her for wanting to get the fuck out of here as fast as possible. Dakin was a real piece of shit, but it sounded like she’d already had experience with him. Devil you know, I suppose.
“You all right, Tank?” asked Oslo.
I wanted to mull around in my thoughts for a while, but I didn’t have time for a luxury like that. I needed to figure out a plan, and fast. I stood up and turned to Oslo.
“We can’t let this stand,” I said. “We let this pass without retribution then Dakin’s gonna think that all he’ll need to get what he wants is to pull up onto my front lawn and demand it. Maybe killing one of our own again in the process.”
“Bulldog’s dead, and Dakin’s the man who did it. Now he thinks he can just grab us by the balls whenever he wants a deal.”
I was liking Oslo more and more—he didn’t need to have shit explained to him.
“That’s right,” I said. “Call the boys over. Emergency fuckin’ meeting.”
Oslo nodded and went off inside the house, leaving me by myself. Which is what I wanted.
During the time it took the men to arrive, I wondered just what I wanted. I wanted to crush Dakin’s head like a goddamn melon, that’s for fuckin’ sure. But what about Star? Just what did I want with that girl? I was beginning to realize that the arrangement that we’d started out with—her being an expensive piece of property—just wasn’t going to cut it. So what did I want? A housewife? A fucking girlfriend?
I shuddered as these words entered my thoughts. I’d never, never, and I mean never, imagined myself to be the kind of guy who had a lady waiting for him at home. I was happy with my boys and my bike, and if I needed some ass every now and then, that was always in supply. But now, as I thought of Star, I wondered just what it would be like to have a woman like her, a woman who’d make me dinner, a woman I could take out for a night on the town, a woman I could slap on the ass and she’d giggle and tell me to cut it out, a woman I could make love to …
I rushed inside, the thoughts I was having about Star feeling like they’d been implanted by an alien or some shit. I poured myself a strong belt of whiskey and slammed it back. I knew I should’ve kept myself sober, but I just need to feel fucking normal again.
Soon, I could hear the engines of the Warhawks as they pulled up the house. I went out onto the porch to greet them, and I was happy to see bikes parked in the driveway and not on the goddamn front lawn, as Dakin’s crew had done. The boys filed into the house, and I directed them to the lounge. Once they were squared up and ready to go, I took my place at the front of the group.
“First thing’s first,” I said, pulling out a couple of bottles of whiskey and handing them to the men. “Oslo’s your new VP. He’s earned your respect, and that’s what I expect out of you. He’s a good man, and he’s going to be a huge help in the days to come.”
Oslo stood at my side, and while I could tell he was a little surprised by this decision, he played it cool. Still, I could see his chest puff out a little. I already knew I’d made the right decision—he was the king of keeping things close to the chest, not unstable like Cruiser could be. I needed a cool head and a sharp mind, and that’s what Oslo would bring to the table. The nods of the men made it clear that they agreed with my decision.
“What about Dakin?” piped a voice from the crowd.
“Yeah,” asked Bowie. “We gonna have war or what?”
Chatter broke out among the men, and Oslo raised his palms to quiet them down. They complied.
“Boss, can I say something?” asked Oslo.
I was a little surprised, but gave him a nod to go on.
“We know that this is about the girl,” he said. “More than that, but she’s the match that set off this whole powder keg.”
I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. Where was he going with this?
“And I did some talking with the boys before they came over, and we want you to know that if you wanna get this girl back, then we’re right there with you. We know she means more to you than just some piece of ass, and we’re gonna do whatever it takes to make things right.”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other as I weighed these words. As much as I hated having my affairs be public knowledge, it brought me a measure of pride to know that my boys had my back.
“You know what that means, right?” I asked the men. “It means war with Dakin’s crew. I’ve seen where Dakin’s set up shop—he’s got enough guns to take on the National Guard. And enough coke to keep his boys blitzed out of their minds until they’ve shot every last bullet.”
“This meant war as soon as Dakin started telling us what the fuck to do,” said Rex.
“It was war as soon as he killed Bulldog,” said Bowie.
The men all broke into a din of approving chatter.
They were right. If I’d thought that we’d be able to skate through this situation without coming to blows with Dakin and his crew, then I was out of my fucking mind. Still, this meant that my boys would be at risk. As much as I loved the life of an outlaw, seeing my men end up dead was a price that I never wanted to pay.
I raised my palms to bring silence back over the crew.
“Then we’re gonna have to hit them hard and fast,” I said. “They outnumber us, and we’ll never win a long, drawn-out war with a crew like that. They’d take us out, man by man, until we were wiped out. Then they’d have this region all to themselves.”
“Unacceptable,” said Oslo. “We can’t let a psycho like Dakin have control over this territory. His crew would squeeze every last drop out of the region and leave it to shit.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I said.
I measured my next words carefully. Whatever I decided next would have major consequences.
But I knew what needed to be done.
“We hit them tonight,” I said, striding back and forth in front of the crew. “We carve out the heart of the crew and leave them crippled.”
“And kill Dakin,” said Oslo.
“And we kill that fucker Dakin.”
“They’re not expecting a hit tonight. They’ll be at their headquarters, probably celebrating their ‘victory’ over the Warhawks. They won’t be expecting us to attack.”
“And that’s exactly why we’re gonna do it,” agreed Oslo.
“Then let’s not waste another second.”